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Figured I would start a thread sharing my towing experience with our new 2020 F450 shop truck over the next year. We run a shop called Fathouse Fabrications. Our core focus is 2011 up mustangs. We manufactured a high end twin turbo system for the 2015 up mustangs. Our customers come from all over the country and some outside. As we have grown we have had the need to be able to tow multiple vehicles. Our older 2017 F250 just wasn't up to the task to tow a large 2 car trailer, so hence this sweet new F450. Most of the cars we work on are the GT350s. As these are very special cars most of our customers elect to have us handle the transport for them, which we prefer after seeing some of the trailers these online hotshot transport companies run. We have two trailers that will primarily get used behind it. The first trailer is a 2018 single car Intech 24' bumper pull enclosed. This one will get used to do most customer pickup and deliveries. The other trailer is a 2007 ATC 48' two car gooseneck trailer. This will primarily be used when going to events. If we have the need for more than 2 cars, we also have a 2017 F150 that can pull the intech trailer if need be.
My first trip is tonight. I will be towing a GT350 with our 1000R package from Indianapolis area to Omaha Nebraska. It will be about a 630 mile trip each way. I post up the trip data details and do the hand math as well when possible. I'm curious what kind of MPG numbers this truck will achieve versus our previous truck. I'm also very curious what the difference will be between the two trailers. I do think the 4.30 gear is a bit overkill, but I'm sure it will be nice when hooked up to the 48' trailer loaded down. Anyways here is some pics of the first load.
Figured I would start a thread sharing my towing experience with our new 2020 F450 shop truck over the next year. We run a shop called Fathouse Fabrications. Our core focus is 2011 up mustangs. We manufactured a high end twin turbo system for the 2015 up mustangs. Our customers come from all over the country and some outside. As we have grown we have had the need to be able to tow multiple vehicles. Our older 2017 F250 just wasn't up to the task to tow a large 2 car trailer, so hence this sweet new F450. Most of the cars we work on are the GT350s. As these are very special cars most of our customers elect to have us handle the transport for them, which we prefer after seeing some of the trailers these online hotshot transport companies run. We have two trailers that will primarily get used behind it. The first trailer is a 2018 single car Intech 24' bumper pull enclosed. This one will get used to do most customer pickup and deliveries. The other trailer is a 2007 ATC 48' two car gooseneck trailer. This will primarily be used when going to events. If we have the need for more than 2 cars, we also have a 2017 F150 that can pull the intech trailer if need be.
My first trip is tonight. I will be towing a GT350 with our 1000R package from Indianapolis area to Omaha Nebraska. It will be about a 630 mile trip each way. I post up the trip data details and do the hand math as well when possible. I'm curious what kind of MPG numbers this truck will achieve versus our previous truck. I'm also very curious what the difference will be between the two trailers. I do think the 4.30 gear is a bit overkill, but I'm sure it will be nice when hooked up to the 48' trailer loaded down. Anyways here is some pics of the first load.
Hi John - How about putting a white/blue GT350 in that trailer and bring it back to Maryland?????? You'll love the way the F-450 pulls, effortlessly.
Well made it back into town last night with no issues on the entire trip. The truck towed wonderfully. Definitely a little less stressful driving experience than the F250 was. While the F250 drove nice, it was more susceptible to sway from the wind or when passing other large vehicles. I was hoping for better fuel economy than it got (10 speed trans and what not), but knew going in that the 4.30 rear gear and being a larger truck we probably weren't going to get as good as fuel economy as the F250 was able to pull down. So the trip ended up being about 618 miles each way. This was from just south of Indianapolis, Indiana to Omaha, Nebraska. On the way out I was driving into the wind and according to the trip/fuel screen only achieved about 8.6 MPG. On the way back it fared better showing 9.9. I used the cruse control for the entire trip and stayed usually around 68-69 mph. There were plenty of long sweeping hills and descends that I could have increased speed on the down hill and slowly rolled off on the uphill, but didn't fell like fussing with it on this trip. I wanted to see what the truck would do letting it do its thing. There was no traffic or construction dealys on this trip either, so it was almost always on the cruise. I did take a one hour nap with the truck idling the entire time as it was only 1 degree outside at the time I stopped. The final tally according to the truck was 9.2 MPG average. However according to the hand calculations it looks like it only achieved 8.8 MPG. The old truck would have probably got around 10.2-10.5 driving at that speed/conditions based on past experience. With that being said it was a pleasant relaxing trip and looking forward to more journeys to come.
Hi John - How about putting a white/blue GT350 in that trailer and bring it back to Maryland?????? You'll love the way the F-450 pulls, effortlessly.
We can do that! You will have to make sure I don't try and swap you trucks while I'm out there though! Its finally going back together as we speak. Just got the short block and heads back together and sat on the new tubular K-member. The next few days it will get the engine dressed up and the trans reinstalled and put back into the car. It will hopefully be moved down to fab mid next week. Jeremy has to fab up the drag setup intercooler pipes and intercooler. He will also be working on fabing the required brackets to make this K-member work with the GT350 ride height sensors and what not. Once it gets done at fab we will have a few more things to finish up like mounting the new shiftier setup and interior stuff and finally assembly items. Then it will be ready to go run some 7s!!!
