Hello Guys, I have searched the forum and there is no "door sticker" on my truck. I have a 1986 F250 XLT 4X4 6.9L Diesel Dually N/A with a zf 5 speed tranny and 10.25" rear end and 4.10 gear ratio. Anyone out there know what my towing capacity would be for a 5th wheel trailer? My 5th wheel has a dry hitch weight of 1300 lbs. and a gross vehicle weight of 8800 lbs. All my tires are rated for heavier, but I am not sure what the truck towing capacity really is. Will my truck handle this weight? Thanks a bunch.

Pete

 

It will get it moving and tow it just fine, but stopping it will be the issue.

 

Thanks ctubutis! Yeah I kinda knew stopping would be most imprtant. I am putting heavy duty brakes all around with the reman master cylinder. I just wasn't sure if the truck would like towing the 5th wheel...Thanks again,

Pete

 

Read your owners manual. it will give you the GCWR for your combination. Weigh your truck normally loaded and subtract that weight from your listed GCVW and that is your EXACT towing capacity from a Ford, legal, insurance and DMV regulation.

There is no "set" amount that ALL F250's willl tow/rating. ALL towing ratings are listed as "up to", NOT will. A heavy crew cab 4wd will tow LESS than a stripped regular cab 2wd as they both have the same GCWR.

As to the axle capacities, without the REQUIRED by federal law vehicle sticker, whomever removed it should be banned from ever owning a Ford truck again you are going to have to try and determine which axle ratings you have from your vin.

There is no way for anyone on this website, without knowing your EXACT truck weight and how YOU load it to say with any authority what you can tow up to. Without knowing the EXACT weights, it would only be a best guess. But highlight the "guess" part. It is all a simple numbers game, at least from a Legal - Insurance - DMV - Fords perspective.

The good thing is that all of the diesels were built on the HD chassis, alll have the full floater rear axle, so you shod have the higher payload packages / axle ratings from the factory, given that it is a dually will really help with the capacity / towing.

The manual is a negative for towing though. Even though the ZF is a strong trans, the clutch is the weak point here, and most likely you will be rated to tow less with a manual than a auto.

Good trailer brakes are a must - otherwise as previously noted, stopping WILL be a issue.

David

 

Of course the guy that owns no manual transmissions is gonna bash them. If you know how to drive a manual well, you should be able to tow more than with an auto.

 

Again, PLEASE read what I have posted - it is not the manual that is the problem, it is the clutch. Period. I think I stated that fairly well. I did not "slam" any manual. I did however "slam" the clutch, at least the one that Ford installs. I even stated that the ZF (or NP435, T18 & T-19 for that matter) is/are a very strong transmission. No matter how stong that transmission is, if it is behind a weak clutch, then it means that a manual equipped truck, at least the way Ford builds them is capable of towing less.

Not quite sure what you are basing your "if you know how to drive a manual you can tow more than a auto" - well that is in direct conflict to ALL of Ford written towing guides, at least for the vast majority of there light duty trucks. if it is your personal feelings, well then you are certainly entitled to think anyway you want, and I support you 100% on that. Please just don't portray it as fact when it is a opinion.

Perhaps you take exception with my sig, well to set the record straight on that, here are my feelings....

I will add that as a card caring CDL driver, I have driven MORE than my fair share of manuals. While a 10 seed RR will shift like butter in the right hands, my problem is with the ergonomicly incorrect medium duty manuals.

In fact my friend, I have a 4" scar on my right shoulder from years of shifting balky medium duty transmissions. The surgery repaired what was repairable, but the joint is just flat wore out. I in fact have a severaly damaged left knee and ankle from years of shifting overly stiff clutches that have to be used when shifting a balky medium duty transmission, while that 10 speed RR only uses the clutch to start and stop and is a JOY to drive in everthing but traffic.

You are right, as I lay in bed at night, in pain, I don't care for manuals. They are a dead game in anything being produced currently in anything up thru a class six truck. All it took for automatics to catch up and vastly surpass manuals was enough gears and lock up torque converts. been done, and has been done in our trucks for some time now.

Fact - Autoshifts are catching on more and more in the class 7 and 8 trucks, so that will be a blessing. Even automatics are starting to show up. Yippee!

Fact - Automatics have taken over for any serious off road rock crawler.

Fact - It has been proven in fleet usages that automatics are easier on the drivetrains.

Fact - It has been proven that a modern automatic is eveybit as fuel efficient as a manual, in some cases they are MORE fuel efficient.

41 years ago my C600 was built with a automatic - a Allison MT30 6 speed, lockup TQ with hydralic retarder - a device that mimicks compression braking on a manual trans. Again, NO benifit there for a manual either. 41 years ago the Allison automatic was the winner. It has proably saved more that one shoulder over the years. No winner for the C-6 being produced then though in the same comparison. Not enough gears and no lock up. Things havve changed now though, and I would hope so in 41 years. I sure have changed.

Now the youngsters no longer have to face what I face everyday. And, I will add brother, that I am not alone. One guy at work has had two surgeries due to shifting.

Just not enough people like me, although day by day we are gaining strength, that will step up and challenge what has been, and now is woefully outdated, the "manual transmission" being better standard.

Yeah, you are right I am slamming manual transmissions - NOT in my origional post, I simply stated what is common knowledge, that the clutch is the weak point. But now, in answer to your post, I am slamming manuals.

BUT, if it is your personal preferece to drive a manual, that is certainly your choice and I respect that 100%. If it is your opinion that manuals are better, I again support that 100%. But I will challenge it when posted as fact. As I respected the origional OP's truck with a manual, again, I will say it again, I ONLY pointed out the Ford clutch issue that is common knowedge n this great board.

David

 

Even as a lover of manuals I have to say "AMEN"

 

There was no such thing as a FACTORY F250 dually. The dual rear wheel option was only offered on the F350. There were many F250's converted to dual rear wheels. Some were done "right" by swapping in the wider axle, others were done by adding adapters to space out the mounting flange.
If your truck has the spacers, then the axle cannot handle the same weight as the true dually axle. However, the weights you stated are not overly excessive, so it should be able to handle it just fine, so long as the braking is addressed. Not only does the truck need brakes in top condition, but the trailer should also have functional brakes, properly hooked up to operate with the truck's brakes.
Being a 6.9L N/A diesel, it will pull the trailer, but don't get in a hurry. On longer hills, you will be slowing down quite a bit. I'd advise adding an EGT gauge if you are going to be running in lots of hilly terrain. It could save melting down the engine.
On the other hand, adding an aftermarket turbo will greatly improve the towing power of the engine, and could increase the overall MPG at the same time.

 

I agree, your truck is not factory built. No f250 with dually rear wheels, and I am not certain about this, but someone else said there where no dually 4x4's unless it was a chassis-cab truck from the factory. I know later on you could get a dually 4x4 pickup, but I don't know the year they started offering it.

So it makes sense your truck was originally a 4x4 single rear wheel f250, and someone added the dually rearend and the heavier frontend with the dually adapters. So you will never know the "official" weight and towing capacity, since it's a custom configuration.

 

I have seen several of these F250's that were dualies, at least out here in Washigton. I have always wondered about some of them, although they were being sold new on the dealers lots as a custom coach built by Centurion. I know, I drove one, a two tome blue F250 Super cab with a custom Centurion interior. It was a 460 though. Keep my 83 F250 Supercab 6.9 / 4 spd though.

But, if it a home built dually, accrding to federal law, as well as what the dmv and insurance companies base there standards on, it remains unchanged from what the truck was built as, by the complete vehicle manufacture, in this case Ford.

That said, I don't know if the OP's truck is a centurion or some other builders truck or home built??

Any reputable custom builder would have recertified the vehicle to new ratings, and would have applied there paticular plate stating so. Perhaps it is in a different location?

But, barring this recert plate and/or any other documentation (IE a DMV record showing the higher GVW) or origional build sheet by a complete vehicle builder, legaly, per the dmv and by insirance standards, this truck has no more capacity than as built - IE single rear wheel F250.

David

 

David,

Please don't take offense at what I'm about to say, I do this pretty much any time things
like this are said no matter who the author is. I do it in an attempt to try and keep
Internet-based misinformation from being perpetuated on FTE.

That being said, the above apparent Statements of Fact concerning (U.S.) laws - please
provide links (or other credible & verifiable information) to authoritative sources where
these claims can be verified.

Again, this isn't to be a jerk, but nobody here knows you from Adam, why should
anybody believe you over the next guy?

We need to also clarify that we're talking about the United States here; FTE is a
worldwide community and laws differ across the globe.

-chris

 

Hey Guys, you are all right about the F250 dually thing...No such thing was built at the factory for my year model for sure...I found out what I really have...Tucked away on the front inside door jam was a new sticker from Mobility Industries in California...Upon further research I found out the truck was originally an F-350. What they did was put a 250 xlt body on a 350 chassis along with a 5 speed tranny for a customer who did not like the 350 cab. He wanted power windows, seats, etc...and did not want four doors...Why? No one has a clue, he just liked 250 upgraded cabs. Also when the original vin# was run through Ford's vin decoder and the build sheet for the original truck, it turned out to be true with all the info I could find about the truck. I also found out the truck is rated at 10000 gvw. I also found out the 6.9L engine is a long block reman. The engine has 104,000 miles while the chassis is supposedy to have 267,000 miles. I tried to confirm all this...by checking out the rear end and front end and the size of the leaf springs. Seems all is right...the rear is the double floating ford 10.5 in 12 bolt 4.11 and the leaf springs are wider than f-250 springs front and rear. I cannot find any evidence of of spacers or adapters.

Also I used to drive big trucks and am partial to manuals, but I agree the newer and upcoming auto trannies are very well worth their salt. Well that's all I know for now and would like to thank all of you guys for chiming in on this one cuz all of your comments have prodded me to research further about the truck. I think every guy or gal should know the complete history on their trucks when they can...thanks again...and if anyone has any more good advice or comments, please post 'em.

Pete

 

Update...I meant to say 4.10 rear end...not 4.11

 

According to the 1981 owners manual, Ford does not recommend you tow anything at all with a manual transmission. So the towing capacity according to the "book", for manual transmissions is zero.

Just something to concider with insurance or other issues...

 

Hello, Is it possible the book meant not to tow a vehicle behind the truck with a manual tranny without first pulling the driveshaft? Reason...before auto trannies, manuals were the only thing to tow with. What makes the tow capacities work for different vehicles for the most part, but not all are the braking capabilities of the towing vehicle for its size. Granted some vehicles should not tow a thing over 10 lbs...LOL but also remember that laws from the various states require trailer brakes of some sort after the trailer weight exceeds a certain weight. Now, even if the tow vehicle can stop a trailer all on its own up to a certain rating...the various states do not trust the braking capabilities of tow vehicles, especially since they know a lot of people don't, won't, or can't do the maintenance or understand towing period so the law had to step in and make some rules...Anyway, just a thought...

Pete