I agree on the Tow Haul.

If the rest of the tranny selections were as hinky as tow haul, I would really be disappointed.

i have used tow haul a couple of times just to assure myself that i do not like the way it lurches around and has the engine screaming a lot when it is obvious that the R's do not need to be that high.

I get along just fine without it.

 

The TH has a lot to be desired but after towing so the truck adjust to the load the D mode works a lot better than the TH with firm shifts but I like the manual mode the best.

Denny

 

Wow that's when we're planning to go too. Maybe we'll see you there - glad you're enjoying the truck

 

Our roaming is done for a while so the 6.2 will get a little rest form pulling for a few months. I have to say I love this truck inside and out

After we dropped out of the high elevations (we are now at 150 ft) I was able to pull in Drive and let the truck shift between 5th and 6th with the cruise control set, I used the Tow Haul when coming into and going through towns to take advantage of the transmission braking but shifted back into Drive or Manual when on the open road. I used E10 the whole trip and 89, 87 and 85 octane fuel. The 89 was Nebraska's blend that is regular gas with 10% mixed in to make 89, the 85 is blended for the higher elevations and that is what I burned most of the time. The one surprising thing was when we dropped out of the high elevations for a short time with a full load of 85 octane the motor never pinged like my V10 did but with a little less power than it had with 87 or 89 at the same altitude. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the truck to go back to the none towing mode. I know it doesn't feel like the same truck now that I think it's broke in, with as hard as I pulled it I think I accelerated the break in period . I've put about 50 none towing miles on the truck and the transmission still has good firm shifts and the 6.2 will set your back in the seat if you get on it. After this trip I won't even think twice when it comes to pulling anywhere in the US.

Overall the truck averaged 8 mpg on this trip, I feel good about 8 considering where and what we pulled. When we where coming into Yuma (between Quartzite and Yuma) I reset the instant mpg and it was getting a little under 10 but that is going from 1K to 150 ft. The lowest was 6.6 but that was into a very heavy wind between Salt Lake City and Elko NV pulling a good grade after the Salt Flats. I'm thinking that it will end up getting about the same pulling mileage as my 2V V10 but empty it will be a big improvement. I know some are getting better pulling mileage but I'm pulling a 16K 12.5 high by 8.5 wide trailer (box).

Overall I think the 6.2 is going to be a very tough reliable motor and the 6 speed and 4.30 gears make it a very solid capable tow vehicle.

Denny

 

Denny,

If you have it, I would be VERY interested in seeing your GPS route over the past few weeks towing that beast.

 

No I don't but I will set down and figure out the route we took, with the National Parks closed we wandered around a lot.

Denny

 

I have a 2014 F350 SRW with a 6.2L and 4.30s. The truck has almost 1,500 miles on it and when I was pulling our loaded gooseneck trailer I was a little bummed out. I was expecting a little more power out of my truck especially with the 4.30 gears. Quite honestly my old '82 F350 SRW that I put a mild built carbed 460 in could have pulled the same load with greater ease. And my '82 F350 has a 4 speed manual with 4.10s which would have givin it a disavantage over the 6 speed auto and 4.30s that my 2014 F350 has. Don't get me wrong my 2014 F350 is a nice truck I just wish it had more grunt for towing.

 

Just noticed this. If that '06 Dmax is anything like one a friend had, your 6.2 is a monster. Friends '06 completely stock would pull with or better than my '02 Dmax with exhaust and tuner. It was the only diesel he left stock until he got an '08 6.4. He didn't want to mess with all the pollution stuff on the 6.4 and didn't have it long.

 

Give it a little more time to break in, you also have to pull for a while to adjust for towing.

Denny

 

Glad to see you had an awsum trip Denny.

Our schedules are just opposite. We will be pulling out of IL headed just south of Myrtle Beach to Huntington Beach State park in a couple of weeks. We will stay for a month, then dead head back until Jan and then get serious. Tampa and the FL panhandle here we come.

I have a 12 F250, so this will be the second romp through the Smokies with the 11.5K fifth wheel.

I am gonna get on the scales when I drag it out of the barn so I know exactly where I stand on the weight.

 

Denny, it will be interesting to see the route that you took. My wife and I traveled cross country in 05 with our new then 6.0L and had a great trip. Probably many of the places that you went to and some that we saw that were closed for you. We plan to take our new 2014 6.2L westward in early spring so we have a few months to put on some local miles before our trip. I hope the truck comes in before December as the salesman seemed to imply. We will see, and our first trip will be over to Disney to see the Christmas lighting. Is it still recommended that you not tow before 500 miles? I sorta remember that being said but don't know if that is so.

 

Been a busy day so getting the desert out and off my truck.

Our trip started at our home base in Nebraska south of Kearney at Harlan County Lake.
US 183 north to I-80
I-80 all the way to Rock Springs Wy Not much to see so far
US 191 south to Flaming Gorge National Rec Area
US 191 south to US 40 then east to Dinosaur National Monument Little did we know this was our last National Rec Area
US 40 west to I-80
I-80 to Salt Lake City
I-80 west Elko NV
South to Spring Creek Our friends property
Backtrack to Wells NV
South on US-93 to Ely
Made a wrong turn and ended up on 318 I was following our friends
318 to US 93
US 93 to 168
168 to I-15
I-15 to 59
59/383 to Alt 89
Alt 89 to Jacob Lake We had reservations for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon that we couldn't cancel, 1500 ft to 8000 ft.
Alt 89 to US 89
US 89 to I-40
I-40 to Williams AZ We had reservations for the South Rim, it's a fun area even without the Grand Canyon.
I-40 to 68
68 to Laughlin NV
Backroads to I-40
I-40 east to 95
95 south to Quartzite
95 south Yuma
We had a lot of dry camping spots along the way, the trip was just short of 5 weeks, most of it we will have to do agian when the parks are open. We also planned on parks in California but bypassed all of them. We put a little over 2600 miles, we also only had full hookups for 5 nights until we got to Yuma.

Denny

 

RVPULLER- well you saw a lot of things that we haven't seen yet. We did go through 80 and stayed in Cheyenne for a week to see the Daddy of em all Rodeo. Then stayed at Rock Springs before going to Salt Lake City. My wife did some genealogy research at the Mormon library for a week before we headed down I 15 to Bryce and Zion Canyons. We hope to go back to Utah and see Moab and Arches with a side trip to Dinosaur NP. Did you think the dinosaur park was worth visiting? We have seen footprints in Connecticut preserved in a building where they once roamed but not much else. So, just curious as to what one can expect to see at this park.

 

Yes Dinosaur NM is worth the side trip, we stayed at Green Mountain CG in the park it's dry camp. You will see a lot of fossilized bones, more than anywhere else. All our trips out west when my parents and sister lived in Oregon we bypassed it because we were on vacation and didn't have time now we have time.

Denny

 

One last entry, now that we have been driving around unloaded for awhile this isn't the same truck we left with. It's faster off the line and the transmission fells more in tune with the motor. The more I drive it the more I love it, it's just fun to drive. We will be sitting in Yuma for a few months so no more towing for a while, we really don't even drive the truck that much because we use petal power. The truck now has 6K miles most of them pulling.

Denny