Got a 94 7.3L 1 ton 15 passenger van;

I often pull a 4 ton 16' trailer with a van on board. Done this several times, the 4 ton seems OK but I have a 6 ton 20' trailer that I never have used; do not know if these vans will pull it. I see regular F350 Pickups pulling 6 ton or greater (the trailers look bigger than my 16'). Both vans have the E40D trans; does the F350 & the 1 ton van have the same trans? Could I pull the 6 ton with no trouble to the trans?

Thanks Tater

 

Not to be too much of a hard case, but....

1) Read the owner's manual - 12K has got to exceed the official towing capacity.
2) "Can it tow" doesn't explain whether you live in the mountains or on flat land, or whether you're towing it 15 miles or 700 miles.
3) Transmission cooling would be critical. I suspect your transmission would run VERY hot with that towing load.
4) Braking/emergency maneuvers could be scary.
5) You need an F350 with a gooseneck trailer if you're going to regularly tow 12K lbs.

 

Legality and sanity aside:

The trannies are probably the same. The gasser E4OD might have a lighter-duty component or two inside. That said, the E-series is notorious for not cooling as much as the F-series. It's one of the reasons, I believe, that the 7.3 diesel (and the 6.0) in the E-series are de-rated (less power) than the F-series. To keep the heat down. (intake/exhaust are also to blame, but that's another subject)

So, I wouldn't expect it to last as long as the exact same tranny in an F-series.

 

Yes the transmition in the 1 ton pick up is the same as the transmition in the 1 ton van.
I wouldn't expect any more problems with the van pulling your trailer then if you had a pick up.

 

Thanks for the replies. I went to the Ford Dealer today to check on towing. The 7.3 has a 9300 GVW & the 7.5 has a 9100 GVW. The Ford service tech said that he was not sure on that old of a model what it could pull. He did say that the GVW was for the van, trailer & whatever was loaded on it. I took the van to the recycle scales & it weighed in at 6440 lbs; a 6 ton trailer weighs 2200 lbs, so that means I can only haul about 660 lbs. I thought GVW was the trailer plus the load; is the service tech wrong, cause I have pulled a 4 ton w/another van on it (that combo would be about 4 ton+)?

Thanks Tater

 

GCWR is weight of vehicle plus weight of trailer
GVWR is gross vehicle weight rateing

 

I am normally pretty savvy on things in general, but I am not read up on the GVW, so thanks for the info.

Tater