So, To say that I am beyond impressed is an understatement.

I have now towed a 10K travel trailer over 1500 miles and worked my way through some techniques and styles.

I have a 2017 F350 CCSB King Ranch in Blue Jeans and Caribou. Pics are on my phone but I will add them shortly.

I have adaptive cruise control, and the towing package. With the combination of this plus exhaust brake in auto mode, tow/haul mode and some other tweaks, it has been the best and smoothest towing experience I have ever had.

So, first hook up took a little work as I had not worked out the hitch zoom yet. Make sure you know how to do this.....Amazing!! Every Hook up after that easy as pie with no help required. Cameras and back up sensors are amazing.

Step two, tow/haul mode and exhaust brake. As I pulled away with the trailer hooked up and headed towards the interstate, I was surprised at how easily it pulled. I often read "pulls like it is not even there..." I always find that interesting because I want to know that the trailer is there, however I have a much better understanding of what is probably meant. There was no strain as the engine smoothly worked through the gears. The truck and trailer were at 65 before I had realized it, and we easily transitioned to the interstate. The truck hesitated in fifth gear but not longer than I would have desired. Then it shifted to 6th and rpm's dropped and truck running smoothly.

Step three, Cruise control!!?? Well, I have read on the forum concerns towing with the adaptive cruise control so I drove for awhile without but could not resist turning it on. I initially set it super conservative with 4 bars. the following distance was super far and I steadily moved it down as my confidence with the program increased. The truck smoothly slowed down every time there was traffic in front of me. There was a time or two where people moved back in front of me quickly, and the truck responded smoothly and "adapted" quickly. It didn't slow down if the person was moving obviously faster than me, and it matched speed smoothly if they were only slightly faster than me. My confidence in the system grew quickly and I find myself cruising with one bar set and in rain and shine no issues. The only drawback I found was initially, I found myself cruising much slower than I had set the cruise at, as the slow down on the normal speed gauge isn't super noticeable and the cruise never gets the solid line through it that says cruise is cancelled. So, I made the display the digital speedometer and the slow downs were more obvious and after it slowed a mph or two and with appropriate distance I would let the cruise control pass the slower vehicle in front. I just threw the signal on and moved over and the truck realized the traffic was no longer in front it smoothly accelerated to pass. Occasionally I would push on the go faster pedal to help out but this turned out to not be the norm. So, crazy as it sounds I found myself able to go several hours without touching the gas or brake pedal.

Step four, time to fill up. Well, It was time to get off the interstate. I exited and started pressing the brake pedal and the combination of trailer brakes and exhaust brake combo is easily the best I have ever seen. The truck and trailer were so easy to slow and felt shockingly smooth and steady. I was able to slow down much quicker than I had imagined. Going through Atlanta, there was a time where I had to stop very quickly. Traffic had gone from 60 to under 30 in seconds. In a bit of a panic I jumped on the brakes( feel free to critique... I know lots of you have lots more trailer truck experience than I do.) . I was waiting for the large shudder or swerve as I quickly tried to stop the truck and trailer. NONE! The truck smoothly and quickly slowed and was tracking straight ahead, no swerve, no crazy jerking from behind. SUPER IMPRESSED! Probably could have come to a complete stop if required.

So, at the pump, I found that I was getting 9-10 MPG towing 10K, using the cruise as described, Mostly flat and cruising at 70 MPH. Not the best in the world, but certainly not a number I am unhappy with.

Transmission thoughts, I am by no means an expert but I was super happy with the shift points both up and down point. I did not have to lock out any gears nor did I downshift intentionally. Every time I thought it should downshift for a hill, it did. When I felt I needed a bit more speed before jumping up to 6th, it did exactly that.

Question for readers out there though: Is there a way to have tow haul mode and exhaust brake stay in auto after a shutdown? I found that I had to turn them back on every time I started back up. My truck did recognize when the truck was hooked up and not though, which was nice.

Final thoughts: The truck was bought as a daily driver and towing machine. I have not really tried out the daily driver part yet, but towing machine IT IS! Super impressed and makes me want to camp even more! Please hit me up if you have questions.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far,
Matt

 

Sounds like a winner!! I can't wait to hook the travel trailer to mine. I'm about 10,000 as well.

 

The owner's manual is pretty explicit about not using ACC while towing.

It's curious that they don't lockout the feature when a trailer is detected. Hmm.

Did you notice any odd behavior from the trailer being coasting while the tow vehicle was slowing down to maintain the adaptive cruise distance? Honestly, using this while towing would be a dream for many of my towing trips up the 5 in Northern California.

 

 

Great description, gives me a lot to think about in anticipation of towing with the 2017 for the first time.

 

Yes, there is conflicting info on the website and in the owner's manual. There are a few posts on here about that topic.

All that being said, I did not notice any coasting or anything crazy from the truck or the trailer. Being completely honest, it worked even better than I could have imagined.

My guess is that the loss of control might be possible if you came up on someone doing some super slow speed on the interstate and allowing the truck to come roaring up. Even then, I think if you are an interactive driver and monitoring the system I don't see it being a problem. Just my opinion of course.

I felt I was constantly watching the display and matching what was outside. I was able to start predicting when the truck radar would pick up the vehicle in front (if you have not seen it work in the truck yet, the truck displays a small car in the display when the radar picks up something in front otherwise it is blank). If I felt this part wasn't working I would cancel the cruise manually (although I never had to do that.)

 

Now I can't wait to give this a go. Thanks for describing this in such detail!

 

 

wb6anp, thank you for posting that video. I've been using the ACC for a few weeks and I really like it. I didn't know that the gap could be set and now I do. I think I might increase mine by one bar.

 

I usually keep ine at 2 to 3 on our freeways, lets the truck respond sooner to traffic and idiot drivers.

 

I thought one of the major selling points of the truck was the ACC and how it worked with the truck and trailer brakes to be safe.

 

Looks somebody needs a bigger camper now!

 

The owner's manual is incorrect (copy/paste error likely), and that has been confirmed by Ford employees.

Correct. Ford has touted it's use with over 30k lbs behind the truck. I'm really looking forward to using it on those long drives with the fiver in tow.

 

Awesome! Thanks - that's one of the main reasons I bought the truck - towing our 18k fifth wheel 1700 miles a few times a year

 

Great write up. We will be towing a 9500 TT in a few weeks and then a 2k round trip to Disney and Myrtle Beach for Spring break.


Can you elaborate on the hitch zoom? What is this?