I'm getting conflicting info and downright unhelpful feedback from various dealers about towing, capacity and such. So after reading most of the posts on this forum related to choosing between gas/diesel, 150/250 and capacities, I've decided to go with a 250 gas crew cab to tow a 7300 GVWR trailer with an empty 837# young weight. Will be going cross country, through the Rockies and in a few years through Canada up to Alaska.

In choosing my configuration, the Ford BUILD app assumes you know why you'd choose between different tire options, axle ratios.

I keep seeing 3.73 for towing so I chose that extra option but I can have either locking or limited slip. There is nothing on the build site explaining why I'd want either. Can someone offer insight for my towing use? That said, any rationale behind the 4.3?

My assumption is that if I went for the 10k towing package or the camper option it would give me beefier front suspension at the cost of a much rougher ride. Seeing how I'm only at 7300# and I'm doing the 250 largely for stoping power and a stronger frame, I don't need the upgraded front suspension. Am I off base? We will have 4 making the trip so needs to be somewhat comfortable to ride in.

It comes with LT275/65Rx18E BSW A/S Tires but there are options for LT275/70Rx18E BSW Plus A/T Tires and LT275/70Rx18E OWL A/T Tires. Any reasons to use either of these for towing? For that matter, is 20" offering anything other than looks?

There was no option for a tow package with larger radiator and transmission cooler as on the 150 so I picked the only upgrade offered which was a larger alternator of unspecified amperage. Do people add the upgraded coolers later or does the 250 not need them?

For perspective, my current pickup is a 1952 Dodge B3B and a 1967 Kaiser M715 weapons carrier. Neither are of much help in choosing a modern truck but both were best of class in their day.

Thanks to all in advance especially for a first post that may unintentionally have loaded questions as this would be my first Ford truck.

 

1952 Dodge eh? Decided to take the plunge and upgrade a bit I see. Are you going to trade it in?

Welcome to FTE!

 

Electronic locking 4.30 gears. Electronic locking will lock both rear tires together if needing extra traction in snow, dirt, anything.
At tires for higher gawr no with either 18" or 20" tires. Gawr is ideally what you don't want to be over weight on.
As far as different Springs with different packages and ride quality, you won't notice a difference. I would get the camper package.

Read through the forum or search, a lot of these questions have full threads devoted to answering them.

Good luck on the future purchase!

 

Transmission cooler is standard and radiator is already designed for towing.

 

For the 250 gasser (which is what I have) towing 7300 will be a cinch. I'd go with the 4.30 electronic locking rear. It will give you more oomph, and it isn't seeming to do much on reducing my mpg.

Don't bother with the camper package unless you're using a slide-in camnper. But I'm guessing your bumper pulling an airstream - so no need for the camper package.

The 10k GVWR package doesn't change anything other than a sticker. Ford lets you choose between 10000 and 9900 GVWR on the sticker due to stupid states with vastly different costs of registration.

Tires - AS vs AT is just how aggressive a tread you want. If you're never planning on leaving pavement, AS is probably fine. 18 vs 20 - the 20 inch AT will give you a few hunderd pounds per tire more TIRE capacity, but doesn't change the trucks GVWR. You'll be fine with either size. Other than that, the 20's are also good for draining your wallet faster when replacements are needed, and they do fill out the wheel wells a bit more.

No extra cooling required.

Enjoy the truck. I'm loving mine.

 

The camper package also adds the rear stabilizer bar and auxiliary springs. For $160 definitely worth those two things. I don't care about the slide in sticker but you will pay nearly $160 just to add a stabilizer bar after factory.


The AT tires are rated at a higher payload compared to the AS tires. That is the reason I would choose those compared to AS tires. The AT tires from factory aren't going to give you much more traction as they are a very basic AT tire.

 

The gas engine models can either have 3.73 or 4.30. The general idea is that the 3.73 axle will let the engine turn less RPM's at speed and therefore get better fuel economy. The 4.30 gears let the engine turn more RPMs and work a little less hard. You will get quicker acceleration and a little more pulling power, but probably a little less fuel economy. I've had two gas Super Duty trucks with 3.73's and they would pull your trailer quite well. The 4.30 would pull it even better.

Open/Locked/Limited Slip options: These are unrelated to which axle ratio you pick, except that the only option with 4.30 is to also get the locking rear differential. 3.73 can be open or locking. Limited Slip is only available on DRW trucks since they cannot have the locker. Locking is the way to go.

The 10k is only a sticker package for legal purposes. Does not change anything else. Snowplow package would give you the stiffest front springs. It does not change the ride quality very much at all. Your rear springs have a much bigger effect. The "camper package" is not meant to enhance towing a trailer, but rather for those users who have a slide-in-bed truck camper. It gives you a rear anti-roll bar and the extra overload springs. I believe this also slightly increases your spring "rate" which is how much weight it takes to start to bend the springs. Higher spring rates mean you can carry more but at the expense of ride quality. The rear roll bar is not really needed for general towing as you plan, but it really doesn't affect ride quality either. Overall, with the brand new 2017 Super Duty frame, and tweaked suspension, I think you will be very happy with the F-250 ride quality.

Tires are always a trade-off. The 275x65x18 are the smallest 18" tire (17" are smaller still) and in my opinion do not fill the large wheel-wells very nicely. However, they will offer the quickest acceleration and the best fuel economy...simply because they weigh less and shorter tires have the same affect of a higher axle ratio. A/S is going to be the smoothest down the highway and best fuel economy but the worst in snow, mud, or dirt. The Ford "A/T" tires are going to be either Michelin LTX AT2's or GoodYear Wrangler w/ Kevlar tires. The Michelins are about as smooth as it gets down the road with only very modest snow and dirt capabilities over the A/S. The Wranglers are much more aggressive for dirt and also carry the snowflake symbol of an approved snow tire. However, they may be slightly noisier down the road. Larger tire sizes do give you more weight capacity for the tire to handle. Personally, I have always found the 275x70x18 to be the sweet spot of looks, economy, and performance...in the A/T version.

BSW vs OWL is simply your preference. Do you like the tire brand to be outlined in white on the side of the tire or do you prefer it to blend in because it is black?

As has been mentioned, Super Duty is designed from the start for heavy hauling and towing...no upgrades are offered. The F-250 has an additional transmission and oil cooler, and a very large radiator as standard equipment. There are a few different alternator options, and some come standard based upon certain options you select. The base alternator is 157A...more than enough for most users. Other options I believe are a 200A and a 220A. These are useful if you are using a snowplow with an electric hydraulic pump, or to assist charging the house batteries of a travel trailer.

 

Thank You all for these very helpful replies. Just picked up my trailer and got to meet and talk to several 250 and 2500 owners in a trailer setting and came away feeling the SD platform is going to be just right.

We took the info posted here to a third dealer and I'm a little closer to figuring out what to order or do a Cars search for. What seems obvious to a 250 owner just isn't to someone new to the brand.

 

I've had great success working with the Ford Build chat team. They searched the entire country for dealers who had my specs and I can't speak highly enough of them.

So it's coming down to ordering one exactly the way I want or taking what might be on the floor. Leaves me with three remaining questions:

1) If you have the Max Trailer Tow option (535), I see it adds additional leaf springs to handle the higher load rating. A few of the vehicles on the floor have this feature and while I have absolutely no need for more capacity as I was just on the edge with an F150, is there any reason to believe this would result in a rougher ride than without it? The option comes with Max Springs.
2) If you have the Trailer Tow Technology package, in hindsight do you think the extra cameras make a difference?
3) Finally, if you have the adaptive steering, does it make a difference either?

Appreciate all the feedback here. I've come a very long way in understanding the F250 and the tradeoffs vs the 2500 from GM. This is truly a remarkable vehicle.

 

1) Not sure about the Max Trailer Tow Option. I went with the camper option for the uprated suspension bits. I have no issues concerning ride quality. But I'm also coming from a 2001 F-250.
2) I did go with the Ultimate Trailer Tow Camera Package. I enjoy having the extra cameras. It makes navigating in tight areas a breeze. It is a useful option, but it could be made even more useful if Ford would have allowed for things like the mirror cameras activating with the blinkers, and the trailer camera to be on all the time when driving.
3) Don't have adaptive steering. No real complaints with not having it either. It could be I don't know what I'm missing, but I'm good with that.

 

"I'm getting conflicting info and downright unhelpful feedback from various dealers about towing, capacity and such. So after reading most of the posts on this forum related to choosing between gas/diesel, 150/250 and capacities, I've decided to go with a 250 gas crew cab to tow a 7300 GVWR trailer with an empty 837# young weight. Will be going cross country, through the Rockies and in a few years through Canada up to Alaska."


With as much driving and pulling a trailer I would really think hard about upgrading to the diesel instead of gas if it was me buying... The reason is with diesel it is going to pull a lot better in mountains and getting diesel is really easy on the nerves when it come time to fill up while on the road.. A lot of "gas" stations are not really set up when someone is pulling a trailer. Where when getting "diesel" well those stations are set up so someone with a trailer can have room to pull in and out a whole lot easier... Just my opinion that's all...............

 

The gasser will pull that trailer just fine.

 

Don't think the Max Tow package is worth it for that small a trailer. If anything it will just degrade ride quality.

The cameras are nice as others have pointed out. Sure is nice to be able to see real close to the front corners when working in tight spots. A good spotter can do the same job for you, but good spotters are hard to find (they rarely live with you)

Adaptive steering may be awesome.. I've got it, and I can't say I notice it, but that is how it should be if it's really well designed. Since I can't turn it off/on, it's hard to remember what my old truck was like. But I do THINK it makes for less steering input when backing up the trailer and such..

 

If you are referring to the Max Trailer Tow package (Order Code 535), it forces you into a 6.7L Diesel so the Axle Ratio's and tire option recommendation will change significantly.

From the sounds of your original post you will be traveling/camping across the US and parts of Canada with a trailer and 4 people in the truck. Selecting the 18 or 20" AT tires vs the AS tires will increase your payload. I would opt for the AT tires just to make sure you don't exceed your GAWR when fully loaded with people, camping supplies, and trailer tounge weight.

As mentioned earlier, I am going to add the Camper package to my order, not because I will be using a slide in, but it will upgrade your front springs to the mid weight springs and add the sway bar and Rear Auxillary spring. The Aux spring should not effect your ride quality when empty but will help when you get the truck fully loaded.

 

My truck is probably pretty similar to what you will end up with, and I got it for the exact same reasons you are. Here are my observations:

1) I think the Max Trailer Tow package is only available on the F250 Diesel. Either way, if you aren't towing anything bigger, I'd skip it.
2) I don't, and don't miss it. But then again, you know they say you can't miss what you've never had. I have driven other cars with the 360 camera and overall find them to not be very useful. The standard back up camera with the sync system, when zoomed in, is very useful for hooking up the trailer.
3) Again, no adaptive steering, and haven't experienced it. But the standard steering does take considerable more effort and rotations than say a F150. The adaptive steering might help with that if it is a concern.

As far as 3.73 versus 4.30 on the 6.2. With your trailer the 3.73 would be good, and would give you marginally better MPG's on the interstate. However, if you are only using this vehicle to tow, and not primarily as a every day ride, then I'd definitely opt for the 4.30's.

4.30's are hard to find on dealer lots.

Final note, I drove a F250 with the snow plow prep (heavy front springs) and you can definitely tell a difference between a standard f250 and a snow plow prepped one. For your needs, I'd definitely go with a standard sprung F250. Mine rides about a good as a F150 and tows my approx 8800 lbs TT very well (at least 100 times better than my old Expedition or my fathers F150, so you are making a good decision going with the 250).