We have a 1996 F350 SRW 4.10 4x4 Crew 7.3L. We bought it in Set 2009. In the past 6 years we have had 11K worth of repairs/maintance put into our truck in various places.

2010 We bought a 1977 KIT truck camper with a 3K dry. Towed fine. didnt even know it was back there.

2012 we upgraded to a 1978 24Ft 5Vr, 5800lbs dry. Towed fine didnt know it was back there.

Last week we upgraded to a 36.5 Foot 5vr. 11K lbs dry. Tow did not do fine.
For the first time in all our towing, our truck was so bogged down going up this hill on the way home, it actually downshifted into 1st gear. seriously I could have gotten out and walked up the hill faster. By the time we got up the hill, we have about 25 cars behind us we had to pull over and let go by. I could not believe it. I had the thought we might stop fully on this hill and start rolling backwards.

This is also the first time our trailer brake controller could not work right towing a trailer. it just would not match up with the trailer no matter what we did, the brakes on this trailer squeeked every time we came to a stop. wow, it was so loud. my god it was almost embarrasssing.

Several things have transpired since we brought home the trailer. Not only are these *suddenly* appearant repairs needed (like I went to dump the grey tank and pulled the cap off only to have it all dump on me, due to the cable actuator valves no longer closing-like they didnt know that--)

We found out (after we brought it home) the people we bought it from flipped the axels at some point. This rig started at 11.6 feet high from factory. The flip added about 6 inches, so now the height is about 12 feet. Obviously raising the center of gravity will have cnsequences depending on where you start at COG.

I know people do it all the time, but mostly I have seen the posts pertaining to rigs that have a super low center of gravity, so that 6 inches may not have the same effects as it will raising it on such a high trailer already.

The landing gear appears to be damaged somehow, the feet are bent in a half circle, so we bought new 9" diameter feet, and when they arrived, they wont fit right so the trailer does not sit on these feet it will go as far as sitting on the pin, which obviously wont work for weight distribution.

The end of the rig is higher than the front, no matter how I try and stabalize it , it wont even out. So it is quite plain most of the weight on this trailer is on the front. Which concerns me greatly.

The scissor jacks in the back who knows what appened to them--one is bend sideways.

Parked - the trailer sways left to right with ANY movement. If the wind blows, the trailer starts swaying. This is with a pin stabilizer on it with 5K weight limit. Suggesting the landing gear is not rated for the wight that is on it.

I am thinking we have acombination of issues happening. We are experienced towers, not lifelong but we have towed enough miles to know this a very different issue and perplexing.

Our TV shows a TR of 12.5 K with all the additional helpers (tranny cooler, air bags, 5th wheel package ext..) GCWR of about 20K.

yet the tow was just so bad.

We now need to take the rig in to have it evaluated at the nearest service station but we live in between two grades. Going down we have 8% and going up is 6%. This presents a big problem for us. Also, since Caltrans put all this crap in the middle lane in the higway where we live-( to go down the grade to Mike Thompsens RV) we must first drive 7 miles up the 6% grade to then make the first left, circle around come back to the highway then, go back down the 6% grade and then down the 8% grade to then come back uphill 10 miles 8% to get home AFTER we have the trailer evaluated.

So My question is,

is an 1996 F350 not enough to tow a 5vr even staying within our limits?
Could it be the trailer and the truck?
Where should we concentrate our efforts to find out where we are going wrong?

thanks

 

As far as pulling power you doubled your weight and your hight because of the 5th wheel. Is your truck a Power Stroke, if not the none turbocharged 7.3 were not power houses.

Pull your trailer brakes and check them or have them checked.

You can buy a dump valve for the end of your sewer line to hold the Grey water back, I use one because our grey will leak some times.

The trailer is sitting high in the back because the axles are flipped, have them changed back when you check the brakes.

Sissor jacks are not stabilizers they are levelers, buy a rear stabilizer.

Denny

 

There is so much going on here...where to start.


First like Denny said, your truck is out classed.


I think at this point with the trailer there are so many issues. I would write them down and then go about 1 repair at a time. Take the safety issues first.


I am thinking the landing legs and brakes.


Height of the trailer is not the big issue. When you upgrade the truck that will probably work itself out.

 

Man, this sounds like a nightmare, so I am going to ask right off, can you afford to dump it?

I can only echo what has already been said about the truck to fiver match-up. My neighbor pulls a large fiver with his 99 Powerstroke and it can only make about 20 mph on our largest grades and we don't have many here is Tennessee.

Some of the stuff sounds minor. Fix the dump valve, get new rear stabilizers and it will stop swaying all over (that is not a landing gear issue), new pads for the landing gear are not expensive and bent ones are common. I do not think you will have what you want, even with the axles flipped back.

I think there is the potential here for you to dump a lot of money into something that will not give you what you want and I would be cautious about trying to fix it by throwing parts at it. Suppose you are given a list of things to do and still nothing, but a lot more money down the drain?

Sorry,

Steve

 

I hate to say this but the truck is maxed out+. When you went to fifth wheel you added a lot of wind résistance and weight. Our 6.0 I knew was maxed when we got our fifth wheel. I told wife no mountains until we got a different tow rig. Which we just got last week. As far as your fifth wheel. It is all fixable but how much can you do or willing to spend on it, that is the big question. Apparently you really loved it( or you wouldn't have gotten it). Just sit down and take a deep breath make a list then concentrate on them. It will be a long process but you'll get through it. Good luck.

 

I think that sums it up very well. Anything is fixable, but this fix may require more truck. Than you have repairs to make on the fiver and that may require dealer hours, those don't come cheaply.

So often what I see happen with projects is the owner tires of them before they are done or simply does them and sell the camper, never receiving what they put into it so good money is lost.

I know everyone wants to tread lightly with this one so as not to hurt feelings, I do too, but I am saying here to the OP the same thing I say to potential customers who find themselves in the same situation, "I can fix anything, but are you sure you want to pay for it?" The costs could be heavy on this one as I am guessing it is a long ways from having been babied.

My two cents,

Steve

 

No need to tread lightly. I was already thinking "Money Pit" when I did my first post.

However, I wanted to get some insight from other people who tow and specifically tow with a Ford. While iRV.net is great for most things rv , specifically towing with a Ford I like to come here.

We discussed dumping it yesterday.
We paid cash for the rig, 16K. So I guess the only blessing I can see is that although there are issues here, at least we are not in the hole on payments. But we wont get away with that on a new truck. There will be paymnts and they will not be payments for a car, they will be 600$+ Mo.

We will need post 2008 Ford Diesel to make the hump over the 6.0 L shortcoming, and used 2008+ are 30K-35K with high APR for being used. All of the loans are 60-72 months give or take Used or New. If APR is say 10-15% for a used car loan 30-35K, at the end of the day we will pay round about the same as .9% APR new on 50K.

The new 5vr inside is immaculate. They fixed what needed to be fixed on the inside asap. However exterior is something else. So we have running gear issues.
stabalizing issues. We had to put some new stuff on the roof last week hatches and what not. I ordered new valves --manual, I am doing away with the cables too unreliable, not to mention there is 125$ difference for replacing the manual valve with the cable valve.

Next thing I guess is New tow vehicle. We just got the 7.3 out of the shop 2 weeks ago (we had some front end stuff done before we took delivery )and the Dealer told us they wont be taking it for repairs again, They said "We put a cap on the year vehicle we will service any longer and no vehicles past year 2000 will be admitted for service".

SO,
from what you guys say we need a full coach assessment, a new TV. Which is where we were leaning as well.

Thanks to ALL the best advice is honest advice. no sugar coating needed.

Cheers!

 

It will take some time. Fix those items and then see where you stand. March 08 build date or later. Then skip 2011.

 

The most important thing is the structure. If there is water damage, you did not know about, dump it, unless you can make the repair yourself. The other stuff is pretty much nothing. A couple of hundred here, a bit less there. You can find the parts on eBay for less than my wholesale cost. The biggie is the labor.

Cable valves are okay if they are installed correctly, but they seldom are and even then, if you dump in some valve lube when they start to stick it is nothing. Usually folks just keep pulling them until the cable comes free of the valve. Most likely the cable just pulled free. That is also a nothing repair other than dropping the darn belly. Also, as Denny suggested, you can use a secondary dump valve at the end of the line and just forget the cable valve. A few bucks and no labor.

Of course, you still have to pull it with something.

Steve

 

Thank you very much for the input. What happened in 2011 to the models? We knew about the 6.0 (2004-2007 right?) but had not read yet about the 2011's.

That explains all the 2011's we have seen for sale. No 2010's or 2009's that we could find though.

I appreciate the input, we dont know anyone else that has a Ford truck or tows anything.

No water damage was found pre-buy. Post buy we removed the vents to look inside the ceiling and saw nothing. its untouched. no stains or anything suggesting there were leaks. no smell of mold either.

We had that in the first camper we bought, the truck camper. horrible. total rebuild required. took 1 year to complete. terrible.

TV --what are the thoughts new vs used ending price wise?

 

are the albums people can create able to be viewed by other forum posters? If so I will creat one with pics for reference.

 

certainly. You can post here in an album or if you have photobucket or the other popular ones .

 

Regarding new vs used trucks, I know there are arguments both ways. I buy used not being able to emotionally get past the new prices. We have been looking new, but each time we do, we have a hard time justifying the cost. All my trucks so far have been used and I normally run em to about 200,000, which I have found is where mine start to act up. Then we start shopping for a new used one. I know there are warranty considerations and all, but I haven't had enough problem so a warranty would have ever been a concern. Our 02 only has 68,000 miles on it, so it will probably be around a while yet.

Man, the new ones sure are pretty though!

Steve

 

First year growing pains with the 6.7 by Nov, Dec Ford worked out the issue. If you go to the diesel 6.7 section all the info is there.

 

Not sure why you are scared of the 6.0😄
I had an 05 F250 lariat 2wd that I pulled my 5th wheel with for 8 months. My fifth wheel is 42' long and weighs about 14k lbs. I just traded it in for an 06 F350 DRW with 6.0l. You can find a good used 6.0 for $15-20k. (At least in Texas you can). Then if needed, spend $3-5k to bullet proof it. You'll be way less out of pocket than a newer 6.7. The 6.4s had there issues as well and their mph is terrible.

The good thing about the 6.0 is it doesn't have the DPF or DEF to deal with. A lot of help here on the 6.0 forum. Something to consider. Just my .02

Good luck with your decision and happy camping