Well as of friday i had about 700 miles on the truck so i decided to hook up to the camper and see how she does.

coming from a LWB dually 350 to the SWB 250 non-dually had me worried about sway and read sag.

the sag was more than i expected or wanted so i readjusted the weight distribution hitch (added two washers to the Equalizer) and she leveled out nice and even. The camper is 36' bumper to ball, weighs about 10K and an estimated tongue weight of about 1100lbs...havent actually weighted it so it may be more.

i took off on hwy 431 heading north which is mostly two lane with a few small towns and the occassional truck passing lane.

i put it in tow/haul for the entire trip which was about 50 miles each way (100 round trip). Pulling at 50 to 65mph....mostly around 60, i averaged 12 mpg on the way up and 11.5 on the way back going mostly 65 with 6th gear locked out a lot of the way back.

She is not lacking any power thats for sure. at one point leaving Roanoke, AL there is a hill thats about 6.5% for about 1/2 mile. I was following traffic going about 50mph at the bottom. As the truck passing lane opened up i accelerated (not hard...it dropped easy in to to 5th) and passed all the traffic and topped the hill at about 70mph. Could have gone a lot faster because i wasnt pushing it much at all.

On the way back the winds started to pick up as all the rains this weekend moved closer to our area. this caused the camper to wag around a bit. nothing dangerous just more than the old truck would have done...which i expected, but honestly expected the difference to be more.

Owners manual says to keep it under 70 for the first 500 towing miles which shouldnt be a problem. 65 mph is the speed limit while towing and seems to be a good speed for the truck also.

All in all i am quite impressed!!!! the ease that she started from a complete stop was amazing, at speed when she went to 6th gear at 50 mph i could tell the camper was there but with 6th locked out i could forget the camper was there if it weren't for the occassional twitch from the trailer sway.

i cant wait to get it on the interstate and pull for a greater distance....i feel like if i can keep it at a steady 65-70 mph i can get closer to 13mpg.

i'm a happy camper

thanks for listening.....

 

Great report and great mileage too. I just finished a 1100 mile trip this weekend no trailer this time. Drove at 75-80 most all the way with around 100 miles of in town driving over the weaken and averaged 17.1 MPG We are doing this same trip at the end of july and I will have a very similar set-up to yours bumper pull 30 ft. 10k trailer. If I get around 12 and can cruise at 65 I too will be one happy camper!

 

Just curious, why lock out 6th gear? My trailer is about the same weight. Tranny does a nice job finding where it wants to be. this is the first truck I can tow with, and actually use cruise control too.

 

Excellent report, glad to hear it. My new Baby will be here in a few days and could be your trucks twin sister! Cant wait.

 

just playin with my new toys...

however the truck likes to go to 6th gear as quickly as possible so at 45-50 mph towing in 6th gear there was little throttle response...transmission shifts smoothly back and forth from 6th to 5th and 5th to 6th but at times i just want it to stay where i want it and where i feel it feels comfortable towing.

at 60+ with my weight i have no issues just cruising in 6th.

 

I'll add that it was the same with my old truck as well. Six speed manual and it didnt like being in 6th gear at 50mph either. there was a dead spot between 55 and 65. it didnt like being in 5th at 55+ and didnt like being in 6th much below 65. flat ground was ok but rolling hills killed the momentum even at 60 in 6th.

also...with the old truck...watching the EGT guage all the time i got used to keeping the RPM's up a bit to keep EGT's down and the turbo from fluttering.

i didnt see any EGT issues with my pull in the new truck....EGT#1 barely broke 900 a few time. Using CTS

 

This new truck is about 150 HP and 300 lbft stronger than your old one and that extra gear HELPS !
You will find with testing that you can actually put it in M6 and let the torque pull MOST small hills with ease....
much less drama and more mpg than the cruise downshifting on the uphills to keep the speed up, upshifting as you crest, then downshifting on the downhills to keep the speed DOWN !!!

That's the method that seems to work for me and my 5th wheel totaling 23k GCW.

WAIT, what am I doing trying to help a Bama fan ?!?!?!

Geaux Tigas !!! shoulda, coulda !!!! stupid coaching and even stupider quarterback - Deer in the headlights the whole game !

 

not quite that much more.

i had 325/700 at the rear wheels with the old truck.

i'll try the manual mode next time....but it really did fine in 6th....i was mainly playing with the options i currently have

 

Oh, so it was tuned !
I had a 7.3 and until I tuned it - it was a dog

congrats on the new truck - still learning mine too !

 

i can only imagine how you guys felt watching that game....even i was a little disapointed in LSU....

but if it had been a close game everyone would have said Bama didnt deserve it.

 

Wahoo, thats great to hear! I only have 200 miles on mine but can't wait to hook her up to my fiver. Do you have the trailer sway option? Just curious how well that works.

__________________
2012 F350 6.7L 4x4 Lariat Ultimate FX4, Chrome package, KR, Nav, SRW, CC, LB, 11.5K GVWR, 3.55 ELA
Traded: 2006 F350 6.0L 4x4 Lariat, SRW CC LB

 

I do but I don't think it ever initiated. With you having a 5th wheel, 350, and LWB I don't think you will have any trouble at all with sway

 

I just came back from a 1200 mile trip pulling my 5th wheel and it was great. got 12.4 on the way there, and 12.2 on the way back...pulling 10,000 lbs. 65,000 kms on the truck now, and this is the best pulling mileage to date.

--
Gordon

 

I have the trailer sway package and how would I know if it worked or not
sorta like washington saying they saved 10,000 jobs and stopped the recession - how do u prove a negative ?

some trips it sways, some it's rock solid...

I correlate it to driving north and south versus east and west ....
(course 90% of our windy days are north or south winds so maybe THAT has something to do with it - ya think ? )

 

I get your point. The dealer explained it to me like so... If you have the option enabled and a big semi passes you by fast on a straight stretch of highway the sway option will compensate for wind turbulence by applying independent braking and keep the truck straight. He also said you can even let go of the steering wheel.
Really?! I'm not about to test that part of it.