Hey all, I'm not trying to start up the old warn-out gas/diesel debate . I have a V10 that suits <b><i>most</i></b> of my needs better than the diesel would (i.e. mostly very short trips ~=1mi). Since I have this huge truck, I talked my wife into going out and buying a travel trailer (SouthernDually talked me out of a 5th-wheel because I have SRW). Anyway, it's 32 feet long (36 counting the hitch and bumper), 11 feet tall, 8 feet wide, and the front of it is totally flat. It weighs 9000-9500 lbs. The day I brought it home, it was driving me rather than me pulling it - you might've seen me swerving all over I-35 north of KC in both lanes and the right shoulder . That problem was mostly caused by the wind gusting from the side and me not knowing how tight to go with the sway controller - I also didn't expect to have to drive 25 MPH below the limit. I've gotten over most of the swaying (unless I'm being passed by a semi, pickup, or minivan), but still seem to have a HP problem at speed. Going through the steep hills in the campgrounds (and dragging it through ditches ) doesn't give me any problem at all - the V10 is more than enough power for this. But, when I get on the highway it can't get into the overdrive gear even on a flat surface and acts like it would prefer to run in second gear up hills. It's all I can do to hold 55 on about a 2% grade.

With all this in mind, these are my questions:<ol><li>Is this all due to wind resistance? <li>I'm not used to running 4000 rpms on long trips - is this hard on the engine/tranny? <li>Anything I can do to protect them? <li>Anything I can do to make it pull better?</ol>

 

I tow a 27 ft. 7000 lb SunnyBrook Travel Trailer with a 2000 F-250 4X4 V-10 Ext cab SWB with ease. I use a Reese WD hitch with a single sway control. I can feel the back of the trailer get a little loose when a semi passes me, which is very rare. I can pull at 70 mph and the engine isn't even working hard.

All I can say is that is one big trailer, 32 ft at 9000 + lbs. You have a ton (no pun intended, you have 2000 lbs over me) more weight than I do. As far as your stability problems go I would insure the tongue weight on the trailer is correct. Also make sure your WD hitch is set up correctly. My Reese hitch has detailed instructions on how everything should be set. You have to measure points on the front and rear of the truck several times. This is something you are not going to do in 15 minutes. With a trailer that long due to the long moment-arm you may have to have dual sway controls.

As far as your performance goes, I think you are just towing a lot of weight. You can increase your Hp with headers, chips, throttle bodies etc.

Questions:
1. Wind resistance plays a large role. I can feel it with my truck when I hit around 40 MPH.

2. 4000 rpms is hard on your pocket book. I can't imagine the gas mileage your were not getting. It won't hurt the transmission unless you constantly drop in and out of OD.

3.To protect the transmission you should have a aux. cooler, and be using a good synthetic fluid. A tranny temp gauge is a must to monitor your fluid temps.

4. Banks Power Pack

 

Is that 9000 - 9500 for your trailer "dry weight" or a "fully loaded weight"?

Your F350's GCWR is 17,000 lbs
Not sure of the exact weight of your truck loaded with passangers and cargo but I would imagine it's at least 7000lbs.

So with this combination of weight and the 3.73 axle ratio I would think your going to have some slow towing

 

I own a F250, CC, SWB, 4x4, 4.30. The difference I see is your truck has a 3.73; with the weight you’re pulling you need the 4.30. I regularly pull my trailer 24' 9000lbs. in overdrive. At 65 this puts my RPM's around 2200, this seems to be around 90% of peak torque. Also you might want to invest in a sway bar, it will help!

 

I tow a 30' TT with my truck and have no problems. I have a 99 V10 which has less stock HP than your newer V10, but I have added Banks headers, Diablo chip, K&N airfilter, Gibson cat-back and other stuff. I believe the main difference is that I have the 4.30 rear end gears.


Best regards,

Jeff

 

I pull a 30 ft trailer 9000 lb, and I went with the dual sway controls and it helped out alot. My brother pulls a trailer the same length as yours and he could beleive the difference the secound sway controler made. As for pulling on the freeway I can pull the speed limits fine (65-75 mph). I live in Utah and theres alot of hills and the truck does just fine. I've added a chip, gen II k&n, power aide spacer and magna flow muffler and mandral bent 3 inch exhaust that exits out in front of the rear tires. The aftermarket horses really woke my truck up. The gas milage is about the same as stock unloaded, about 11,12 city 14,15 highway. On the highway loaded 9,10 mpg.


1999 ford f-250 sd 4X4 sc 373 auto V-10 leveled with 285's

 

Everyone has pretty much summed it up. I'd add that with 36 feet in trailer I'd spend the $$$ and get a Hensley hitch. A header/intake kit such as Banks Power Pack or Borla parts would help somewhat too. You're stuck with the 3.73 gears. 4.30's is what you need.

 

When I had a 7.3, My friend had a v-10. I had 373 gears , he had 430 Hauling about the same weight, car trailer and car to the track, he had a little bit over me. I was very surprised. I also hauled my parents 32ft tag a long trail to the beach 3 times. With the right load levelers and sway control bar, it hauled nice. I could have had air bags, for when the fresh water tank was filled. It really draged the truck to the ground. The best thing i found to do when a tractor trail tried to pass me, was to just pull a way. I would rather pass them be passed. It seemed fine when i was on the throttle, but got a little loose when i got off the throttle or hit the brakes. I am waiting to see what my new truck is going to do with the trailer. I might be glad i saved my stock tires, The 37's have a lot of sidewall

 

You mentioned sway controller. Do you have a weight distribution hitch. This will take some weight off the rear axle and add some to the steer axle. I used it on my 1/2 ton pulling a 4000 pound trailer and it helped significantly.

 

I pull a 36' Dutchmen 5th wheel with my 99 V10 CC SRW 3.73 auto. The trailer weighs about 10,000lb loaded. I can pull in OD on flat ground, no headwind. Any strain and I go to 3rd gear, were the truck pulls just fine. The truck seems to pull best at 60mph. I get about 9mph towing. So far I have been happy towing. Would I like the diesel while towing? Sure.

But I only tow 10% of the time. A lot of my driving is to work (4 miles) and around town (1-2 miles). The gas engine is best in these situations.

I don't know why your RV dealer did not recommend the 5th wheel. I have had no trouble controlling my rig.

Pete

 

ya i do, to my suprise, i had them as tight as they could go, i think about 2-3 links from the bar, and it still put the truck way down. It has a lot of waight on the hitch though, mainly when the water tank is full

 

Gotta believe - this is the difference between 3.73 and 4.30 axle gears.

Even with 3.73s, my V10 with a manual trans could pull loaded traincars on an idle, but try to get a 10,000 lb trailer up to highway speeds, and my V10 is a panting dog. It just seems to lose its power quickly at 2500 RPM and above.

I tow less than 10% of the time, and the rig is a true workhorse around town and jobsites, so I put up with it for the better mileage, but every 5 years when it's time to replace the rig, I go thru the same descision process.

 

1 if you are swaying all over look into a sway bar. It is a friction divice that mounts on a little ball on the hitch and bolts to the trailer it will take most of the sway out
2nd make sure your air PSI is at max in the rear tires. Not what it says on the tire but what it says on the door.
3rd if theese don't work try and find a panhard (sp) bar. What it does is locate the rear axle in a center poition, all wheel travel is still the same but the axle can not move side to side.
last check your toung weight make sure it is not more than 10% of your trailer, you can change this buy moving the axle forward or rearward on the trailer. to little and you lift the rear of the truck to much anb you raise the front both are not great for control.

As for the RPM's that is more a factor of the auto than the motor, I have driven or owned PSD and V10 with autos and man trany and if you pull a lot the auto is not really an option in my oppinion. I have an auto now but I do not tow as much as I used to. I find the V10 has plenty power to pull but the trans shifts down anyway, the PSD did the same thing but with the 6 speed I never needed to down shift to maintain speed.

 

TT over 5th???

Up until recently, towed a TT with Grand Cherokee, 18', then 26', and finally 32' latest over the course of 12 years. Towing with my F250 with a 30' 5th for the past 2 years is no comparison. In a word GREAT. No question a 5th wheel towes better than a TT. No sway at all, just a littl hard gettin used to the slower trailer response when backing up.

Trailer tips scale at 11300#, truck and gear about 7000#, for a total of 18.3 k# (limit on 99 # with 4:30/V10).

Stable. Yup. Working. Yup, but truck is running the trailer, not the other way around. Gas mileage. Don't want to know (I have gas stations marked on map).

Have towed over the rockies a couple of times through Jasper Alberta with out any issues. I keep the speed at 65 mph, on cruise, OD off unless on flat so tranny doesn't hunt. Can weave the rig through the eye of a needle, and no issue with the semis or the grades.

A diesel might be better for towing operating cost wise, however, I'd be out of legal due to added diesel weight. V10 just about a torquey, with a few more horses for good stop light pick up unloaded. Cost about 5k$ less to0, and a better daily driver.

Bottom line, love the V10/F250 CC/430 combo for towing. Next time I'll get the 350/V10 for the added GVWR to add some safety margin.

Greg

 

First off, let me thank everyone for your responses. I'll clarify my setup a little for those who asked... I do have an equalizing hitch and a single sway controller. They didn't give me the instructions on setting anything up, nor did they go over it much with me ("just put the chains on the equalizer at the third link and tighten the sway controller a little when getting on the highway"). Well, I found out that I had to tighten the sway all the way down and even added a little with the other adjustment - this helped a lot. The TT is a Sprinter 320RLS. It has two big slide-outs that cause the weight. The dry weight is 8300#, and I know I have at least 700# of stuff in it.

Next steps:
<li>4-point hitch (combines equalizing and dual sway without connecting/removing as I get on/off the highway)
<li>Diablo chip
<li>Guages
<li>Tranny fluid change & valve (Any one know what the valve is that I need to beef up the tranny to handle the added HP? I can't remember exactly what it's called, but I know Diablo has one at the FTE store.)

Unfortunately, changing to a 5th-wheel isn't an option - it's only a month old and only used twice, so we'd lose around $5k on a trade. I only have 3200 miles on the truck, so gear changes would have to be done through a dealer to protect the warranty. It would cost me about $1650 to change to 4.30s (Labor - 11.4 hrs @ $65=$741, Rear ring & pinion - $258, Front ring & pinion - $505, grease - 8 qts @ $17=$136, locking additive - 4 @ $3.50=$14, & 7.125% tax on everything but labor).