Ok, guys. I know there are a lot of you out there that have worked the 3V V10. Now's your time to help a newbie. I'm prepping for a big trip up North this summer and was wondering what your experiences are with heavy tows.

My proposed set-up is a 44' gooseneck enclosed hauler and two cars with accompanying supplies. The way I figure it, I'm going to be bumping up against max loads 22,500 GCWR and 15,500 Trailer Weights.

Truck stats:
2008 F-250 V10
4X4 Crew Cab w/ 6.5' bed
4.30 gearing

Total distance for the trip will be ~3,000 miles. My questions are:

1. What are your experiences with such loads over the distances?
2. What should be on my checklist before the haul and during the haul?

I know a DRW diesel would be better, but, don't have have one, so let's keep responses limited to what I've got, please.

Thanks!

 

fresh oil change and guages to monitor.
I don't think you have much to worry about, other then the large amounts of gas you'll burn

 

Brakes. Very good functioning brakes on both the truck and trailer. Don't care whats powering it, stopping the rig when needed is priority one IMO.

 

I would look into synthetic ATF, X-fer case oil, and diff. fluid. Keep an eye on that trans temp.

E rated tires at max psi. Maybe air bags?

 

Fresh oil, good brakes and your gas card. I tow the same weight regularly but I only go about 100 miles each way. The truck never complains. Did you get a tune from 5 star yet. I wish I had 4.30's instead of the 4.10's but it still does fine. I think you will also find yourself wishing the truck had a bigger fuel tank.

 

And if you do any kind of stop and go travel with that weight, even with upgraded front brakes, you will soon find out that the stock rear pads won't hold up either. (That's why I now have Hawk SuperDuty pads at all four corners.)

 

Like everyone said, have your gas card ready! I towed a toy hauler that weighed about that, maybe a little more with the toys in it and averaged about 4.5 throughout a 500 mile trip. Make sure your trailer brakes are good and take your time getting there.

 

Thanks for the comments, everyone! 4.5 mpg? You're killing me...

 

I got 4.5 one time. 50 mph headwind. about 50 miles later wind wasn't bad and went back to 9 mpg, towing 12,500 and my golf cart. Wind is a killer.

 

It's not just the wind, it's the frontal area that you're trying to push against. You could load a flatbed trailer to the same weight as a enclosed trailer and generally you will get better mileage because you aren't dragging a sail down the road. And ATL, yes, 4.5mpg hurt my feelings badly!

 

Great input here!

All I can do is confirm all you've heard.
And there are two main sources for plummeting fuel economy:
1) Weight - but that affects mostly during acceleration or when climbing hills. Takes a lot more power to do so. But not so much once up to speed.
2) Aerodynamics: THAT is the biggie while at cruise speed. As mentioned, frontal area means drag. Enclosed trailers are much worse than flatbeds, or a boat.

With my travel trailer, I've seen anything from 4 mpg to 10 mpg.
Trying to hold 55 mph with 30 mph headwind? That was 4. Burned a full tank every 120-150 miles coming home across Nevada. And I have the big tank. If a long haul with stiff head winds, I now try to delay the trip until the wind dies down.
Holding 60 mph with 20 mph tailwind? That was an easy 10 mpg!

Keep in mind aerodynamic drag goes up with speed difference CUBED. And what matters is speed of air going over trailer, not trailer over ground.
Examples: going 2x faster takes 8X as much power.
More useful examples:
55 to 65 mph? That is only 18% faster, but results in 64% more drag.
55 to 70? That 25% gets you more than twice the drag, requiring double the fuel.


And if your luck is like mine, if there is any wind when towing a big load, 90% of the time it will be a headwind!
Not sure how that works... But it sure hurts the pocketbook!

 

Works that way for me too!

 

Thanks again, everyone. Plenty of great info here. Have to say that I'm really happy that none of you is warning me about the weight! That was easily my biggest concern.

 

Now that you've mentioned it, what is your pin weight with that trailer? Will it exceed your rear GAWR?

 

You have me there. Not really sure I understand the question.