A little background is in order. I purchased a 1999 F350 2wd DRW V10 with 73k on the clock in April this year. This truck is in really nice shape, no rust, full maintenance records for the past 10 years. I replaced all 6 tires (old age circa 2004), rear shocks and a front end alignment, all performed at the shop that has done all of the maint. since 2009. Front end is tight, full tune up at 70k. I love the way this truck rides and took it on a couple local (>50 mile) camping trips without issue. My camper is a 2017 Jayco TT and weight loaded for our current trip is circa 6100 lbs. We travelled from the Rochester NY area to Fenwick Island / Rehoboth Beach DE and traveled a good portion through the PA mountains. When up to speed the truck had no trouble handling the elevation changes. However, when traffic was slowed due to congestion or construction, it was a struggle to get up to speed. We're talking foot to the floor and 1 ro 1.5 miles to break 60 mph! BTW, truck has 4:30 rear end. Also, normal non towing mpg is around 11 - 11.5. No problem, didn't buy this for fuel savings. Towing we got 7.0 to 7.4 mpg.
Now, to compare with my 2016 5.0 CC SB F150, I was getting 10 - 12.5 mpg through the Green and White mountains in VT and NH. Also, there was NO problem with elevation.

So, my goal was to keep the F350 primarily for towing and sell the F150. I bought a Jeep Wrangler for a daily driver. I figured if we ever decided to upgrade our TT I would have enough "truck" for anything we may want to get into. The V10 has been utilized for construction, motor homes and has a proven track record. Am I expecting too much from this set up? Is there anyting I should investigate for upgrade? Or just bit the bullet and go Diesel? Thanks in advance for any thoughts, personal experience, etc. I'm just a couple years in to larger TT so I may be expecting too much from this old girl. Also, the previous owner was a truck camper guy who traveled mostly regional, WNY, CNY, Adirondacks, etc.

 

For that year truck the horsepower wasnt even 290.... 2001 got a jump as did 2005. I would think with 430's it would be fine..Also its a heavy truck...Double check the gearing sounds like a 3.73 to me. Look on the tag on the rear end.

On edit 275 hp.

 

The truck had 275hp and 410tq stock, it was rathee anemic from day one and not much better 20 years later. Check your axle ratio most 2wd trucks were 3.73 with 4.10 as the option.

 

This all sounds similar to our 2002 Excur and TH.
What diameter tires did you install and are you sure it has a 4.30 rear end?

 

Going from memory on the rear end. I did get a copy of the build sheet from Ford and it was a 4:xx rear end, 4:30 is stuck in my mind for some reason. We're still on the road and I can check when we get home next week. I bought the OEM Stock tire size.

Joe A.

 

Not an expert , but, a 1ton truck should be plenty of truck for medium sized tt.
Doubt it's a 430, although that year 6 8 is no powerhouse , if you've not drivin a modular engine, they are highwinders it's okay to put your foot in it .
If you were expecting big torque and hp this ain't it
If it still doesn't fit the bill trade her in.

 

I also have a 99 F350 DRW but mine is a 4x4. I tow a 10K 5th wheel in the mountains of Oregon. This is at the upper limit of the rated towing capacity. Altidudes range from 0 to 5500 foot. My truck will climb at 45mph. I try to keep the rpm to around 3K while climbing. I find that this is the best balance for transmission and engine cooling while climbing. My biggest challenge has been transmission cooling and I have done several things to minimize this problem. If you don't already have a transmission temp gauge, you need one. My opinion is that you are expecting too much for the truck to maintain 55 mph while climbing a mountain.

 

I think you're right! When I saw the this truck advertised, it clicked all the right boxes for me. I researched this specific truck re: issues, maint. records, etc., but did not do an in depth review of the series as a whole. The 10th digit on my VIN is an X which confirms this is the 275 HP engine. Any mods to improve performance don't seem to be cost effective. Overall I love how this truck tows, long wheelbase, DRW very stable and effortless.
Now that I know this is what it is, I'm ok with it, at least for the short term. If we start venturing out to real elevations, a change will be made.

Thank you all for your responses!!

 

If I'm not mistaken, isn't that a non-PI version of the engine? Can't they be converted to the later PI version fairly easy? Not sure what the overall cost is.

 

It's not going to win races. Sounds about normal to me. I think you are expecting too much. Also, the V10 wants rpms.. it loves rpms. I know it sounds scary at first but it can handle it.
I've gone uphill towing a big tractor and had my pedal to the floor and it was in 1st gear. Screaming engine.. But it did fine.

 

This ^^^

 

As mentioned above, the V10 loves RPMs. I have pulled a lot of weight over some pretty big mountains with ours, and I just have to keep my foot in it. Our 6.0 accelerates with a heavy load better, but at the top of the steeper sections it is going no faster or sometimes not as fast as it is rev limited compared to the V10, which will happily (if with great sound and fury) spin at 5k in first gear if needed. I believe the biggest limiting factor with towing is the 4R100, just too much of a step between gears. That one extra gear in the 5R makes a big difference.

 

My 99 responded really well to a set of Borla headers and Borla cat-back. They don't exist anymore but there are others. With that low of mileage I wouldn't hesitate to install a set. Lots of life left. 4.30 gears is where it's at tho.

 

I think what you need to look at to make better inferences is what is your total GCWR. From what I find that truck would either be 17,000 (3.73's) or 20,000 (4.30's) GCWR. If you have 3.73's I bet you could be nearer the max GCWR than you think which would degrade the performance much more.

I don't have a 99 but my 08 has a max towing of 14,100lbs and a GCWR of 21,500. If I hook up my empty 4000lb dump trailer there's not big a noticeable difference in performance. If hook up my enclosed trailer, with equipment inside, its getting more noticeable (~7000lbs). My 5th wheel camper (~ 8-9k/lbs) it's definitely there and needs much more pedal input while towing. When I've had the dump trailer fully loaded to its 14,000lb capacity that truck is working hard.

My point? The closer I am to the max GCWR the tougher that truck needs to work and performance will drop. If you are at 3.73, with the gears, I think you'd be surprised how close you are to that GCWR number, even with that trailer. That in itself would cause a performance drop.


If you look at Tom's video here of a 2000 and then look at the others you can see much noticeable differences in each model. Especially the 2 V10's

 

Here's the thread! Check it out. Was interesting to see. There are a ton of meetups to watch

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...june-26th.html