New Diesel owner - '07 F350 SC 4x4 DRW

[4x4Given]

Hello,

Wife and I are new owners of a 2007 F350 SC 4x4 DRW. We bought it to use as a tow rig for our future 5th wheel. Hope to be able to learn from y'll on this forum and contribute as well.

Humbly,

Dutch

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by 4x4Given

... 2007 F350 SC 4x4 DRW. We bought it to use as a tow rig for our future 5th wheel.

Hi, 4x4Given, and welcome to TheDieselStop.

You bought a heck of a good tow vehicle for any fifth-wheel RV with a GVWR of up to about 13,500 pounds, assuming you have the normal F-350 DRW and not the one with the TowBoss pkg.

Here's a nice RV, Holiday Rambler, 32 to 34' long, with a GVWR of less than 13,000 that your truck could tote even if it doesn't have the TowBoss pkg.
Holiday Rambler Savoy LX

If you have the TowBoss pkg, then you can raise the max GVWR of the 5er to about 16,000 pounds. With that, you go go to a heavier trailer, maybe the Holiday Rambler Alumascape, 32 to 36' long with a GVWR of 14,400.
Holiday Rambler Alumascaape

Or the most popular new 5er the past few years has been the Keystone Montana. If you have the TowBoss pkg, then you can tow any of the various Montana models without exceeding the GCWR of your tow vehicle. They have GVWR from about 13,715 to a little over 15,000. But any new Montana will overload your dually if you don't have the TowBoss pkg.

Those are big, heavy RV trailers, but they make some even bigger and heavier. I hope you don't have your heart set on a huge toy hauler or luxury RV with a GVWR of 18,000 to 20,000 pounds, because they will overload your tow vehicle, even if you have the TowBoss pkg. Ford makes the F-450 for those puppies.

[4x4Given]

Thanks for the "welcome". It does have the factory trailer towing package, with the dash mounted brake controller and the "Tow/Haul" button on the shifter. The door sticker says the GVWR is 13,000#. We're looking at getting an Open Range R398RLS, which has a UW of 10,995# GVW of 13,960#. So, I’m not sure if we’re OK or not. Right now, it has BFG AT tires LT245 75 17E on it and we’ll be replacing them before we tow. Not sure with what, other than it will be a load range E / All Season type tire.

Also, the truck has a headache rack and tool box, though I think the tool box will have to be removed to tow a 5er. That's fine, I have a guy at work that wants to buy the headache rack and tool box anyway. And it came with a B&W Turnover Ball goose neck hitch and has trailer wiring both in the bed and under the rear bumper (there's a hitch there too).

I traded in a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, 2WD, auto, 4.0L, with 145K miles. They gave us $4,500, which made us happy because we were figuring to get about $2,500. The truck had just been dropped from $17,999 to $14,999, so cost, trade and TTL (out the door) was $11,335. The truck has 148K miles and seems to be in good condition. It starts, runs, rides and drives very well. Hopefully, it will work for us.

Here are a few pics of the truck as we found it, on the lot.

[herkybc130]

Smoky...

Is the Tow Boss package similiar to the Texas Trailer Tow package?


Herk

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by 4x4Given

The door sticker says the GVWR is 13,000#.

GVWR is not the limiter on most 2007 DRWs. Your trailer will probably have about 2,500 pounds hitch weight, so that leaves 10,500 pounds max truck weight before you exceed the GVWR of the truck. But GCWR will probably be your limiter. See below.

We're looking at getting an Open Range R398RLS, which has a UW of 10,995# GVW of 13,960#. So, I’m not sure if we’re OK or not.

Ignore unloaded weight. Nobody travels with an unloaded RV. GVWR of the trailer is the key. That trailer probably has a wet and loaded hitch weight of about 18 percent, or around 2,500 pounds.

If you load the trailer to the GVWR of 13,960, that leaves 9,540 pounds max weight for the wet and loaded tow vehicle, including people, tools, hitch, bed liner, full tank of diesel, everything. That's do-able, but you'll have to be weight consious. Travel with empty holding tanks and only enough fresh water to get you to the next water source.

Right now, it has BFG AT tires LT245 75 17E on it and we’ll be replacing them before we tow. Not sure with what, other than it will be a load range E / All Season type tire.

Stick with the stock-size tires. Several tire companies make that size. My choice would be Michelin LTX A/T2 in that size. The tread pattern is very close to an all season tread.
LTX A/T2: Light Truck Tires: Michelin Tires

But if you insist on an A/S tread, then the GoodYear Wrangler SR/A or the Cooper Discoverer HT is probably the one I'd buy.
Goodyear Wrangler SR-A

Cooper Tires - Discoverer H/T

And it came with a B&W Turnover Ball goose neck hitch and has trailer wiring both in the bed and under the rear bumper (there's a hitch there too).

Since it already has the TurnOverBall, then you first choice for a 5er hitch should be the B&W Companion hitch.
B&W Companion Fifth-wheel hitch

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by herkybc130

Is the Tow Boss package similiar to the Texas Trailer Tow package?

Sorry, Herk, but I'm not familiar with the Texas Trailer Tow Pkg.

The 2007 TowBoss pkg was a Ford factory option available only on the F-350 DRW with diesel engine, automatic tranny and trailer brake controller. It replaced the standard Dana 80 3.73 ratio open axle or the optional Dana 80 4.10 ratio limited slip with a heavier-duty Dana 80 design axle with 4.30 ratio and limited slip. It increased GCWR from 23,500 to 26,000.

Ford still offers the TowBoss pkg on 2010 models, but now it has a 4.10 limited slip rear axle.