Can I Get an Honest Anwser?
 

I'm thinking about buying a new truck. It will be a F350 DRW with a 6.2L if I do. PowerStrokes are too expensive and too unreilable for me. Will my choice pull a 30' gooseneck trailer that will be loaded as high as 20k? Lastly, my biggest pet peeves are automatic transmissions. Unfortunately Ford for some reason dropped the manual transmission option in 2010. If I knew that Ford was going to put manual transmissions back in their trucks I'd wait before buying a slush-box. Basically, will the 6.2L gas be man enough for heavy towing or will it be a waste of money?

DCP, I don't know if you will find someone towing those weights around so I thought I would comment on my thoughts since I have a 2012 F250 with 4.3 rear.

The way i read the charts, you will not find Ford recommending that you can tow that much comfortably with the 6.2. Recommend you stop in when passing a dealership and grab a brochure and check out the ratings.

On the slush box issue. Check out the features of the Ford new 6 speed automatic. It has been a while since there were really slush boxes on the road. The torque converter locks up early on. Also you can put the trans in "M" which stands for manual and shift it electrically as you please. You can also limit top gears electrically when in drive.

Most ive towed with mine has been 7500lbs and honestly i dont think it wuld handle 20,000 under normal conditions. If its hauling farm equiptment 5 miles down the road at 25mph sure it will be fine. But not for highway/hilly use. Ive had it on the governor with my ~14000 gcvw trying to get up some west virginia hills. 27000lbs gcvw wiuld definently be 1st gear at 5800 rpm so i guess the automatic isnt really an issue! It wont be shifting anyway

If i was you and had my heart set on a gasser (i prefer them as well) it would be a 2010 6.8 with the zf6 (i also prefer a manual like you). For that kind of weight i would also look at 4.56 or 4.88 rear end. This would limit the top end and wouldnt work if you are one of those guys that like to go 80mph but would be fine otherwise.

If you need new the 6.8 and 4.88 rears can still be had in f450 chassis cab configuration and is rated at 18000k. But really for 20,000lb trailer id look at a medium duty truck.


I feel the same as you and when i saw that 2010 was the end of the standard transmission i went out and bought the last of the "real pickups"; a regular cab, v8 manual trans, manual transfer case. Im glad i have it! Just wish i had found a v10 but i was too late...

My brother bought a 2012 F450 cab and chassis with the 6.8L V10. The truck really pulls well, but the stupid automatic transmission really sucks. The transmission is very shifty and it likes to down shift into 2nd gear going down the road, which tries to blow up the V10. And yes, a medium duty truck or a single axle semi, I've been keeping my eye open for a good used one that is close to where I live. Lastly, My local Ford dealer had 2010 standard cab F250 with V10 and a six speed. Lastly, I think Dodge is to only that still has a manual transmission option, but who wants a Dodge?

I almost bought a dodge! Unitl i test drove it! A barebones cummins dodge was only 5k more than my 5.4 still not worth it though!

Do you already have a cdl anyway? For 20k medium/heavyduty is really the way to go. Anything that puts out 300+hp *can* pull it; but that is alot of weight for a light truck to handle. If you are willing to go with a semi you dont have to compete with the rv hauler/toy hauler guys that are driving up prices on the medium duty internationals and freightliners. However if you dont already have a cdl they are the way to go

20k 5th wheel? Short answer...No way.

The limitation isn't the 6.2L really...but the truck itself. You'd need to look into the F450 and F550...at a minimum...IMHO.


biz
:-X21

We pull those kinda loads all the time with my brothers '08 dually with a PowerStroke. I even pull the same trailer with about 16K on it with a '82 F350 SRW with a 400 small block. Both trucks handle the load quite well.

Where I live, non-commercial farmers don't need CDLs.

Yes...but I'm sure not legally...with regards to the '82. :-wink


biz
:-X21

Actually, since the '82 SRW is lighter than my brother's '08 DRW, the '82 is rated for more payload. Since I'm a non-commercial farm the cops leave us alone.

I'm with Anomic on this one. Pulling 9720 lb 5er last week my 6.2L SRW 3.73 RE wanted to drop down into 2nd gear when I tried passing someone doing 50mph on flat land. It made my head hurt and my toes curl going nowhere and the engine screaming at 5500rpm's. Brake assist is VERY aggressive when descending 3 degrees while in tow-haul also; thus I learned quickly to deactivate that feature.

I just talked with a guy here in our RV Park that tows a 40' 5th wheel with a boat behind that with a 2011 F350 SRW 4x4 with a 6.2L gas. He gets about 6 mpg towing about 16 empty. He has 28,000 miles on it. He says it has the power a bit off compared to a diesel in the hills. He pulls from Utah to Arizona.
He likes it & after several 7.3 diesels he feels as you do, way too expensive, extra $5000-$6000 option, diesel is $.50/gal higher than gas. then add the additive @$14/qt, The new diesels are not getting enough added mileage to offset the costs. These are his words not mine. He daughter works for Ford so he got special pricing.
Hope this helps.
Craig

I pull an 11.5 K high profile fifth wheel. It has been on a test drive on fairly flat highway. With no head wind it easuily bumps along in 6th with cruise on. Have the 4.30 diffy though.

20 mph headwind I spent a lot of time in 5th gear.

But none of that high winding stuff, think I hit 35oo once.

I definitely agree on the tihing being way too aggressive for me when in tow haul and doing a little braking going down hill. That is wild.

I got the 3.73 rear end because I only pull approx 4K miles/yr with remaining 8K miles basically being no load miles. (Same reason I could not justify diesel this time.) I may be looking at changing to a 4.30 RE if "no load" mpg is not much difference. With the 3.73 on hills pulling 9720 lb 5er here's what is happening:
1 deg, 60 mph, 3rd gear, 3500 rpm
2 deg, 55 mph, 3rd gear, 3200 rpm
2 deg, 60 mph, 3rd gear, 3500 rpm
3 deg, 55 mph, 3rd gear, 3500 rpm
4 deg, 45 mph, 2nd gear, 4100 rpm
4 deg, 50 mph, 2nd gear, 4500 rpm

4 deg downhill, 60mph, downshifts to 2nd and turns 5100-5500 rpm (in tow-haul mode)
Wish I could have a 4.30 when towing and do a drop-n-swap with a 3.73 when not towing. HA!

I walked around the Ford lot tonight and to be honest, I'm not too impressed with these new trucks. For one thing they are expensive and their build quality seems fairly low for my standards. At this point, I'm seriously thinking about putting $10,000 into my old truck and walking away from the idea of buying a new one.