what makes a better tow vehical, long wheel base or shot .i want to pull about 9000lb and 33ft.

 

It depends on where the load will be hooked up to the tow vehicle. A receiver hitch, the longer the wheelbase the better. For a 5th wheel or gooseneck, it doesn't matter much, but you do need a longbed to have enough room when maneuvering.

 

thats what i was thinking . i need to pull a travel trailer not a 5er .looked at used truck last night but past it up , it was a 250 s/c short bed.with a v10

 

Get a longbed crewcab if you can find one. That way when you upgrade (which you will) you can put a 5th wheel hitch in there. I wouldn't get a shortbed truck to tow unless I knew for a fact I wouldn't be upgrading to a 5th wheel at some point.

 

I tow both a fifth and a 24 ft tag trailer with a 250, CC, short bed. I use a sliding hitch with the 5th. The wheelbase on a Super Duty short bed is still quite long. A F 150 reg cab shortbox is a short wheel base.

 

i had a 97 150 4.6 s/c short box pulled 26 ft tt it sucked . SO stepped up to a 2001 5.4 250 s/c with a long bed .NOW i need more power to pull the bigger trailer. the 5.4 is way under powered.
this time I will leave room to upgrade without getting a new to me truck again thanks for the help

 

I tow with a 2001 F250 v10 2x4 Crew Cab "short bed" with 4.10 gears. The short bed dosen't seem to make much diference on the TT and the v10 has NO problem pulling anything under 10000 pounds, especially if you let that beauty hum in the higher RPM range (4000+/-).

-Jerry

 

Other things being equal, go for the longest wheelbase for more directional stability. While mfr's tow ratings might be equal, because they are based only on powertrain, a short wb suv is not as good as a long wb pickup.

Jim

 

I didn't realise we were talking about motors as well. My Superduty is a 6.0L PSD with a six speed. There is no lack of power.

 

hell, Any SD would make a decent tow vehicle as far as wheelbase is concerned.

 

Exactly! PSD ! PMS!!! LOL

 

Just for clarification regarding short bed and 5th wheels. If the 5th wheel hitch is right at , or extends past the head of the trailer you should not have a problem with the truck cab being hit by the trailer unless you are getting real wild. The jproblem is usually with fivers having the hitch well back of the head.

 

up date !!! I made the move to the power stroke . I just picked it up 2002 f350 4x4 c/c short bed 7.3 with 74000 on the od .now need more money to get that trailer I wanted! thanks for the input .

 

4.10 gears were not offered with the V10, F250 until 2005. Did you swap them out?

 

I have an F250 SC short bed with the V-10 and when I pull my 31' Dutchmen Travel Trailer it rides like it's on rails. of course I have an Equalizer hitch on that smoothes things out too but depending on what you are planning to tow, it would probably be a great tow vehicle.