Good evening to all !!

I am Julio De La Rosa, a SFC in the US Army with 19 years of services and really looking forward to retirement. Station at Fort Huachuca, AZ.

My wife (also a SFC) and I just purchased a Jayco Seismic ToyHauler that is a 45 foot beast with a 14,000 lbs dry weight. I need a truck to pull this baby around, i test drove a 2018 Cummings i6 6.7 Dodge, a 2014 F450 DRW King Ranch and a 2017 F350 DRW all in the same day.......and i am having a hard time deciding with one to go with. I rather get a truck that can pull a lot of weight with a 5th Wheel set up and have more power than i need instead of being short on pull capacity and find out the hard way when climbing to the mountains in AZ.

May I have your assesstments and recommendations on this vehicles and what might be the best option for my set up? i will truly appreciate your help.

v/r
Julio

 

Any of those trucks would have enough power to pull the trailer with authority since the 3/4 ton to 1 1/2 ton trucks for each brand all use the same engines and all are more than powerful enough. They also use the same transmissions. They differ in suspension, with the 3/4 ton (F-250/2500) series having the lowest towing capacity due to the lowest rear axle GAWR, and the 1 1/2 ton (F-550/5500) series trucks having the highest capacity.

The difference between the F-350 and F-450 is that the F-450 uses 19.5" medium duty truck wheels and a Dana S110 rear axle which are much heavier than the F-350's 17" light truck wheels and Sterling rear axle. This also limits how fast the F-450 can go, many 19.5" tires are only rated to 65 mph and the low axle ratios (4.63 and 5.13 IIRC) mean the F-450 may not be as happy going at "full interstate speed" while an F-350's 4.11 or 4.30 rear end and tires rated for 99 mph (Q) or better are much happier at those speeds. (Do also realize ST trailer tires are rated for 65 mph tops- don't exceed that loaded or you WILL regret it.)

I'd personally get a Work Truck or XL (not a King Ranch) F-350 DRW with a 6.2 V8, but that's me. I also often listen to AM radio and wish Ford still offered vinyl seats in trucks like they did in Dad's old '80 F-100.

Also, thank you for your service, much appreciated.

 

Welcome to the site Julio! I've got a '17 F-350 DRW thats used to tow our 39' Fuzion 371 toyhauler. 3020 lbs pin weight and grosses out over 16K pounds. The 350 pulls this trailer easily and with the DRW's its very stable at highway speeds doing it. The F-450 has a shorter turning radius due to the different front end width. I drive mine daily and find no problems with the vehicles size. I'm out in the country so not too much traffic to contend with. I get anywhere from 16 to 18 mpg depending on speed unloaded and 9 to 10 mpg when towing also depending on speed. My truck has the 4.10 gears but with the 450 you get the 4.30's and no other options. I have close to 7K miles on my truck and have been well satisfied so far. Thanks for serving our country Julio from an old Vietnam Era Vet!

 

Welcome Julio and I hope you enjoy our forum. Ditto what Blue oval and Paw's posted.
FYI I have an 1982 F250 with a 300 I6 (4.9 straight 6) and had it licensed for 15K. I pulled around 12 to 13K gooseneck horse trailer and it did fine.
For reference the E450 ambulances with a box run around 12K loaded and would top out at about 90 mph. The E350 vans would top at about 100 mph. The all had 7.3s and the same transmission. The difference was the axle and gear set.

Rod

 

Thank you for your service.


Welcome from the central coast of California

 

Thanks for joining, it's great to have you here

Tony