Hello all, just wanted to give another towing report before summer is out of here. First, a little history on the truck: Bought new in January 2011: 2011 F250 SRW 4X4 Lariat Crew Cab, 6.7, 3.55 gears with a 6" lift and 37x13.50/20 Toyo Open Country MT tires. 42,015 miles on truck at start of trip, mostly highway miles with approx. 5-6K of towing prior to trip. Average hand calculated mpg to and from work (90% interstate 16 miles each way) had been consistently 13.7. Warranty work done to truck: New BCM from recall notice, EGR Valve replacement along with cooler, DEF lines replaced that were pinched from shipping to Texas via train from factory (a line froze and busted at the weak point in February 2011). Now to the trip info!
2700 miles round trip from DFW to the Grand Canyon from July 20th until August 2nd pulling approx. 9000lb. 37' Open Range Travel Trailer along with approx. 1350lbs. of gear (coolers, ice, etc.) Our route took us from DFW to Carlsbad, NM, then up to Alamogordo, NM, over to Tuscon, AZ through Phoenix to Flagstaff into Grand Canyon. Return route was GC to Albuquerque, NM to Amarillo, TX to DFW. Average fuel economy hand calculated was 9.1 mpg. for the entire trip including about 400 miles of driving while the camper stayed cool at camp.
Hottest oil temps seen were 248 and transmission was at 212, both only seen this high during climbs in excess of 5 minutes or so and the temps cooled quickly once the engine rpm slowed a bit. I did not take it easy on the truck, nor abuse it lol, I went as fast as safely possible up the passes and was passing most cars/trucks on the road. Max elevation/grade 8850' and 10% respectively. The truck did seem to lose power at the higher elevations and warmer engine temps, but this was not an issue for me.

Interesting notes:
Oil change just before I left, took 2400 miles for the typewriter noise to go away lol.
Used approx. 2.5 gallons of DEF (took a jug with me just in case) and topped the tank off about 500 miles from home.
Only 2 active regens noted entire trip, both after filling up with diesel that was labeled as "up to 20% bio-diesel"
First full tank mpg since returning hand calculated at 18.4 mpg g I guess I blew out 40K miles of city driving soot.

Probably more to tell, but I cannot think of it all right now. Thanks for reading. Good day!

 

spunky, thanks for sharing the trip report and good news.
Glad you got to see what these trucks do best !

 

Sounds like a great time.

 

I gotta say, the route that you took did have some challenges. I-17 from Phoenix to Flag will test everything, including your patience! Great report and seems to fall in line with the norm. Glad you all had a great trip and a great time!

 

Pics or it didn't happen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We took basically the same trip in a motorhome years ago....
great, great trip !

Fort Stockton, Pecos, Hopi indian res, Petrified forest, Ruidoso, lessor grand canyon, grand canyon, carlsbad, Albuquerque, Denver, etc...

Raton Pass was QUITE a climb coming home !!! and the volcano range surprised us --> http://www.americansouthwest.net/new...-monument.html

 

Hey Spunky,
Nice sounding trip! Interested where you stayed at the Canyon.
The bride and I will be making a little over 2000mi on our trip to WDW next month. Really looking forward to the road with this truck. We've put about 3800 mi on the 5th since we bought it in Jan and this will be the longest trip with it to date. Our 5th GVW is 12780# with 3020# on the pin. On mostly level highways we manage 12+mpg which pleases me to no end. These trucks were just born to pull.
Would like to see some pics if 'ya got 'em.

 

Thanks all, it was a great trip! I will try to post some pics soon, they are on my wife's camera that still has not been unpacked.

Red: We stayed at Trailer Village on the South Rim. It had water/electric/sewer/cable and is operated by Xanterra Resorts (a private concession) but is only about a 1/2 mile from the rim and General Store/Restaurant. I would recommend bringing most of your groceries with you as the General Store was somewhat expensive on basic goods. It is also worth noting to heed the warning about the Ravens, they will tear up your sewer hose looking for a meal which makes quite the mess with the black water tank I would also recommend eating out at least once in the town of Tusayan about 5 miles out of the park. Big E's Steakhouse was a little pricey but had a magic show about every 10 minutes on stage that was really enjoyable.

On another note, if going the southern route (I10 through Tuscon) I would recommend stopping at the Pima Air Museum. We are not generally airplane museum fans but had a great time and our tour guide was really great and knew an incredible amount of information about all of the planes/jets.