I have a 2006 F250 6.0L, and I am thinking of getting the Banks Big Hoss Bundle for my truck, and the reason is I will be towing a 42 foot Toy Hauler. Is this bundle worth the money and will I notice the power and torque when towing the toy hauler. Is the stock 6.0 muscle enough to tow the toy hauler? Any feed back is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Mano

 

Personally speaking...I'd be careful with anything that has Bank's name on it and the 5R110 (tranny behind the 6.0L). Banks has a bad reputation around here as a tranny killer. The 6.0L will drag anything you can legally drop on the hitch and do it well. I've gone as high as 15k pounds off the rear and the truck had no problem running 75mph on the interstate. You may have to take the weight of that 42' toy hauler into consideration.

 

Be careful.......you may want to get that monster weighted. It's pretty big for a 250....I think you are limited to 14.5k Gross.....a 450 goes to 24k

 

My 5th wheel toy hauler is going to be between 17000 and 18000 pounds when loaded, is that going to be to much for my 6.0 F250. If it is, is there anything I can do to the truck to accomidate the wight?

 

That's allot of weight on a 3/4 ton. For sure your going to need to look at some form of helpers on the rear axle just to keep the frame off the axle. I'm not saying the F250 can't do it...it just allot of weight to control on a SRW set up. A F350 would be the lightest I'd want to pull that with. The engine/tranny are the same...thus it will pull it; it's just a matter of safety & control.

 

Agreed. It's not a matter of being able to, it's a matter of control and safety.

As to the original subject: The Banks plumbing is good stuff but the electronics leave a LOT to be desired. You can get a LOT better stuff for a lot less $$$ if you'll just shop around a bit.

 

I've pulled between 15 and 16k about three times with my truck. The first two times I had too much pin weight and it was obviously overloaded. It sat the rear down too far. While I never felt out of control, I did just feel a little uncomfortable with that much weight.

The other time the load was better balanced and I didn't even know I was over spec until I reached the scale.

So it can be done. Good trailer brakes are really necessary. And I really wouldn't want to do it regularly. If it was a regular deal, with that much weight, I'd want a F-350 dually.

 

The prob is not PULLING it, it's the stress on the truck and STOPPING it! But you are also overweight. If you get stopped and weighed, ???????

 

you make the call on the weight aspect. if you want to keep the truck i would invest in an airlift system. next head studs if you looking to put a programmer on to help because with that much weight the gaskets will give sooner or later esp with a tuner. after that id say get an exhaust and an egde insight cts to monitor everything. after all thats done get a sct and use only the tow tune

 

Bolts will give a whole lot sooner then the gaskets will if everything else is kosher.

I wouldn't be towing that much weight with a tuner like Banks. To each their own (and the OP may never have a problem if they go that route), but I wouldn't do it.

 

Bottom line, you get in a wreck and the police do the weight math and you'r in deep doo doo. Your insurance could possibly disown you. The 350 only gives you another 500 lbs. Add ons are not recognized normally by the state police.

 

I have a SCT programmer and can monitor everything with it. I plan on getting the head boltz replaced and make sure that everything is working properly. I think that the only time that it will be overweight is when I have my Baja in the back of it. I really don't plan on going on long trips that often maybe once a month. Most of the time I will just be relocating from one camp spot to another and the Baja bug will most likely not be in the toy hauler when I move it around. I am also looking into airbags for the rear or leaf spring helpers to assist with the weight. My truck has a 6 inch lift on it and I am not sure if that is going to make a difference either. I am also asking the dealership of the toy hauler for their advice on if the 250 is good to go to tow/haul it around. Thanks for all the advice, I will keep it all in mind, and after my first trip I'll post updates to let you know how the truck handled the weight.
Thanks
Mano

 

The Toy Hauler is 41 ft long and here are the inportant weight info for the hauler:
GVW: 18,000
Dry Weight: 14,080
Payload Capacity: 3,920
Hitch Weight: 3,600

My Baja is under 2000 pounds and with my things put in the toy hauler I should be under the 18k or 17k mark I hope. NOt sure if this info makes adifference, but all the relpys I have gotten are making me think hard on this weight issue, dont want to mess up my truck nor the toy hauler..

Mano

 

Is that once a month with the Baja in it? I would actually call that pretty often. Once a month, that's 12 times a year. 2-6 times a year wouldn't be that often to me, but that's my definition of "not that often". Some, I'm sure, will disagree.

I hate lifts. Lifts end up "costing" you more then just the purchase price and installation of the kit itself. Can make it damn inconvenient to tow trailers as well.

Might want to keep into consideration is that with your current setup, it might be sufficient to haul everything as long as everything is perfect with regard to travel conditions (all types of conditions you can think of), however, if they are off or are bad conditions, you could be in some trouble with your rig. I've seen people on the interstate that had rigs that could start, pull, stop what they were hauling if they were given the appropriate amount of space and time to do so, but if anything had to be done "on the fly", they were in trouble.

When you are hauling that much weight, pretty frequently (12x a year) it's better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it. Particularly when you are having to deal with people in other vehicles that aren't thinking crap about how they need to act around a person hauling something like that.

 

Tex, Thanks for the reply, I'll keep your advice in mind. Once I am on the road I'll be keeping my eye out for trouble ahead of me, I'll be the slow one on the road..

Mano