G'day guys. Need some no frills advice here. I usually hang out in the 7.3L diesel forum and have always been able to count on FTE for straight-shooters.

So, I'm about to pull the trigger on a 2012 F150 Ecoboost to replace my 1990 Chevy 1/2T daily driver. It's got max tow on it, 3.73, long box and crew cab.

Our F350 has almost a quarter million on it, and we keep cars for a very long time. Would want this new F150 to eventually take on our 8200# travel trailer. I know the truck is rated to 11k, but can these really do it well without getting shaken all over the road?

Also, what are the the real MPG's you guys are getting? Dealer paints a rosy picture, obviously...

Thank you for the advice.

 

I have towed my 7500lb 20x7x7 enclosed race trailer with mine once so far and it did amazing. It pulled in 6th gear only bumping to 5th on the big hills. Running 60mph i was averaging around 11-12 mpg, when i jumped to 70, it was running around 10mpg. Mileage will be about par for every other tow vehicle. It takes a certain amount of fuel to move a mass.

The truck didnt even know the trailer was back there. It is worlds above my 99 F-150 5.4l.

Unloaded i have seen 17-18 highway, and 14-15 mixed driving. This is with a 6 mile commute to work for mixed driving.

My father has a Screw XLT 4x4 eboost and gets same mileage as i do right now. He as seeing over 20 on all highway trips.

 

Welcome to the F150 end of the forum.

I tow a 2006 Hornet 31BHS (bunk house slide) and the last time across the scales it weighed 8600+ pounds.

I get 8 mpg while towing that trailer. With the proper hitch and sway control you will have a stable platform for towing. Mine is not max tow and has the 3.55 gears.

Any thing else specific I can answer?

 

Only tow a 3500 lb boat but have been getting 15+. Having said that, I have to stay at 70 mph or slightly under to get best mileage. That applies without the trailer as well. I have 3.73s and 18 inch on my 2011 FX4 and rt now, in the dead of Minnesota winter, with idle time, am averaging about 15 in mixed suburban driving (35-50 mph) and 20 on the hwy. Summer driving has shown about 16 in mixed and 21 hwy consistently. Only have 15M on the truck but no problems. To get the mileage, I've got to hold no more than 70. Once over 70, mileage starts to drop off. I use mid-grade (89) fuel and find I get significantly better mileage with it. I wish I could get good gas, this ethanol is not the best.

 

I towed a 8k# camper and got 8-10 depending on the wind. Turn off the trailer sway control...for some reason I seemed to get better mileage with it off...

 

Thanks for the responses fellas and the tips about sway control. I'm not sure how to turn that off, but I guess I'll read the owner's manual when I pick up this new truck.

Appreciate the honest feedback. I can always count on FTE for that.

 

Just went about 3hrs today up into mountains in maryland for a job for the day pulling a super line tandem axle tilt back flat bed rated to hold over 10k so probably weights at least a few thousand pounds with only about 1k lbs on it in the form of a tall palet of boxes and I'd guess close to 1k lbs in the bed I reset the trip-o-meter just to see how I'd do mpg mostly hwy plus some up in mountains ended up including some twisting and slow moving on a couple trail like roads ended up with 13.5 at the end of the day stayed around 60-65 on the hwy I tend to get worse mileage over 70

 

i pulled with a 09 5.4 with the six speed pulling a 7700# trailer and found it very refined. the trailer is a tall faced and inclosed and it gets good mileage in the hills and great mileages in the flats. i get high 9's in the hills and 11 to 12 in the flats but i never go over the double nickle. i have never tried the trick with the traction control but if you got a sway control bar hey giver a shot. good luck.

 

Holy Smokes...that is the mother of run on sentences!

 

You will have no problems towing 8200lbs with that setup. Your only concern should be your trucks payload. I have a 2011 Screw Ecoboost with max tow and 6.5' bed and with my 33' 7600lb(wet) travel trailer hooked up I'm just under my trucks GVWR(7700lbs) by 160lbs when we are loaded up and ready to camp. That's with only the kids bikes,fishing gear and my Weber Q grill in the bed of the truck. The two questions I have is what is the tongue weight on your trailer? And is the 8200lbs the dry weight of your trailer or loaded weight? Otherwise the performance of these little monsters is incredible! I too came from a 7.3 Powerstroke with the old 4spd trans and can honestly say that the Ecoboost tows just as good if not better because of the new 6sp transmission. If you haven't purchased the the truck yet you can always get one with the HD pkg along with the max tow and then you will have nothing at all to worry about!

 

 

It's pretty easy to tell if I came on the forums after a long day or in a rush, because I post like a teenage girl talking about the guy she likes.

Must post grammar be d#mned!

 

I have a 11 ecoscrew 3.3 towing my 3,000 # dual axle with my small tractor tlb I don't know it's there until I hit a hill that kills every one else then it might down shift to 4th I keep it under 65 and get 15.5 to 17 mph , with out trailer average 22+ , the other day coming home the roads were damp I got into it and at about 40 MPH the right rear broke loose, this thing is the scariest that I've driven in a long time except for my Cobra replica with a 5.0 with a little puff in it about 425 HP.

 

LOL

 

Pulled the trigger on it after all, ended up with a 2012 supercrew/ecoboost, long bed with max tow. Got about 8.5 mpg hauling our 8k travel trailer out through the coast range from Portland. Pulled fine, was able to maintain 60-65 on the grades even. Not convinced about the tow/haul button. Seems to love the high rpms with that thing on, even though you might have no throttle on it. Any opinions there?

Also, turned off the elec sway control and stuck with the old school manual sway bar. It must be the extra 3k of weight on our 350 has spoiled me, because the 150 seemed pretty squirrelly, quite a bit less stable when going around curves. Lighter duty tires probably have a lot to do with that as well.

Finally, the brake controller. Obviously, you're pretty much stuck with the Ford-installed one. No boost setting is a detractor, this is pretty useful braking hard on wet downgrades (happens a lot in Oregon in the winter). Wish you could fine tune the gain by tenths of a volt instead of half-volt increments. 6.0 isn't enough and 6.5 is instalock.

So, overall, it's serviceable and far more comfortable on the interior but missing the extra weight, mileage (12 mpg towing this with the 7.3), stability, and braking performance of the 350.

Thanks again for all the feedback, allowing us to make an informed decision here. All your advice was dead on.