I used to have a 1990 F150 RC SWB 4x4 302 M5OD 3.55 and I towed trucks and small tractors all over Texas and some of Ark (on a 16' trailer) with it. The Ford rated tow capacity was 3500 lbs, don't think I was ever under that but it still had the original clutch in it at 225K miles. Take what you will from that.

 

this is a noob question but what speed were you able to go and can you go into OD

Thanks

 

Dont forget. he has no hills where he was towing

 

Granted I was pulling the car on a dolly, but I got 14.5MPG -> 4.9 w/ M5R2 and 3.08.

 

It will be fine. I towed a 1968 plymouth roadrunner on a 20 ft equipment trailer behind a lifted f150 with a 4.9/M5OD from Tucson to Minneapolis and back without a problem.

 

It varied depending on the load and the terrain. In general, tho, on flat interstate, I could do 60-65 and use OD and CC. Any hills encountered required a downshift to 4th and loss of speed. Really, stopping is a bigger deal, the F150 of that era did not have a lot of brakes, so you gotta plan your stops way ahead.

Don't get to Texas or Arkansas much, do ya?

 

Off topic but i need help with this topic too....can a dana 60/ 90 F350 fit on a car dolly? It says up to a 91" wheel to wheel for the car dolly... anyone know if the 350 will fit??

 

I remember looking it up when I was contemplating pulling my truck... If I remember correctly, the tires would rub, but it would fit assuming there's nothing on the dolly that would impede the hubs from hitting (assuming SRW Dana 60)

If you're looking at a U-haul, be careful what you do. I don't think U-haul rents any car dolly's that are rated to pull a truck. I think they have a maximum weight of 3500# or so for the load.

 

If you call texas or Arkansas hills, then you have never been to NJ or PA

 

Most of the time U haul wont even rent you one of them trailers or dollys if you tell them what your towing. they err on the REALLY safe side of things!

Tell them your pulling a small car like a beetle or miata.

 

Yeah i was gonna do that, say im pulling a small car. i dont need to go far.
My dad always taught me--rules are ment to be broken!

 

302/M5OD/3.55 here. Pulling about 4500 pounds, there's a lot of downshifting. It's better at 70mph than 60 or 65 because it gets the RPM up above 2000 where it starts making power. Of course, your 300 will have a totally different torque curve and will likely be a lot happier below 2000 RPM.

I hate to say "if you're going to run 70mph" because you should always do this anyway. But especially if you plan to run faster than 65mph (and with the distance you're traveling), make sure your trailer tires and wheel bearings are in nothing short of top notch condition. Think about it...half of the blowout incidents you see along the side of the road are the boat, camper and utility trailers that spend 360 days of the year outside in the sun, with the cheap Chinese tires rotting away. Don't be a statistic.

 

That right there says it all IMO, this truck is not properly equipped for towing so you're just asking for trouble. And like Brad said you're not going to get more tan 8-10mpg towing anyway and it'll be the slowest thing on the road so why not just take the 1-ton and be safe.

 

he put in a stage two clutch though so that should help also where did you get your numbers my auto 92 with 3.08 are rated to tow 0-6200 pounds this is on the door sticker and in the owners manual (Axle code 18)

 

I suspect those numbers are from the owners manual, the numbers in my '90 owners manual are slightly different but close, and yes tow ratings are lower for manual transmissions vs autos. The calibration decal on the drivers door pillar also has an axle code which will tell you what gear ratio the truck has, this really doesn't matter however because the load you plan to tow is above the trucks rating for all gear ratios except 4.10, so not only is this not advised it's illegal so you better hope you don't get stopped by a state trooper... those guys have no sense of humor.