Aw man, I towed my off road rig with it the other day and there is a series of hills just outside of town. I hit cruise control at 55 and went. When that thing dropped to 3rd gear I think it was and tach'd out the motor to maintain the speed; and it sure as hell did. Though, I've decided through the hilly sections I'll drive manually so I'm not ripping on the motor that hard.

 

Where are your RPM's sitting at running 65 mph, also while towing?

Thanks

 

SPD - My RPMs are right at 2500 at 65mph while towing my 5er, as close I can tell on the analog dial.

 

Ok, thanks.. Just looked at the torque curve.. So around the 65 mph-where I like to tow- the torque curve chart states about 350-360 torque at about 190Hp, if at 2500 rpms.. 4000 to 5500 is the optimal performance range... Thanks for the help. Does she feels sluggish towing a 65mph

 

SPD - Actually at 65mph it is not sluggish at all. Naturally, depending if it is on flat ground or fairly steep hills it all changes. On the flat I sometimes find it almost difficult to stay at 65mph, it wants to creep up to 70mph very easily, but I have ST tires and stay within the tire range. Have no reason to go faster anyway.

If you're following someone at 50mph and ya want to pass them fairly quickly .... forget it, the tranny will drop down to 2nd, engine will scream, and it will slowly gain speed (or not). From that aspect I do miss the bowtie DMax/Allison Tranny, but I've learned to drive differently.

I don't pay a lot of attention to the torque curve charts etc because there are too many variables in real life that really change that info. The shape of the 5er has a ton of impact on how the truck performs (IMO). Listening to the engine scream at 4.5-5k RPMs just means to me that it's burning more dino-corn.

In steeper hills I miss having a diesel because of the loss of momentum, but I continue to slow down in real life, so I'm learning to slow down while towing also.

 

Retread65,


Nicely put. I have been eyeballing the 6.4 Ram and the 6.2 Ford for the next tow vehicle if I decide to leave the diesel.. The Ram-only from youtube videos-seems to have a bad drop-off I think from 2 to 3 or 3 to 4 gears and less room in the CC. So I think I have narrowed it down to the 6.2. My trailer is 7100 dry and 9500 fully loaded. So no where near your weight. Thanks for your input...

 

 

My 2015 F350 with my 2007 Gulfstream Mako. It's GVWR is 11,200 lbs and the truck tows it great! My worst towing mpg was 7.7 in the hills of Vermont and my best was 9.5 mpg. It tows this load very well, almost as good as my old 6.0 PSD. I also miss the torque of the diesel but this engine definitely surprised me. All I need to do is plan ahead for the hills so the truck does not kick down a couple gears and start revving high.

 

This is my rig - 2015 Reflection 303 w/3 slides, GCVWR 18,340 lb; 10,500 lb of trailer with 2,200 lbs on the pin. (truck without the 303RLS weighed 7740 lb)