Hey Guys,

We have ordered a 250 Lariat with a 6.9 box. The main reason we purchased this is to pull our 28 ft Airstream camper. It has a tongue weight of about 900 and we use a Blue Ox hitch. This is our 4th camper over the last 20 years so we have 1000’s of miles under our belt towing. We have seen several photos of flipped campers and are now wondering if we should order a 350. I’m sure we are sufficiently powered with the 250 but what do we gain if we upgrade to a 350? We had a ProPride hitch on our previous camper and when we purchased the new camper the dealer suggested the Blue Ox. We are still towing with the Expedition until the new truck comes in. This will be my daily driver, but I don’t drive than 7000 miles a year. Will the 350 be a much rougher ride? I should also mention that I ordered the 7.3 motor and the camper package.

Thanks,

 

The differences between a modern F-250 and F-350 SRW range between significant and essentially zero. Tell us more about your F-250 configuration: which engine, major options, etc.

More later,
Jim / crewzer

 

Did you order the camper package if so you basically have a Standard 350, possibly not as high of a gcwr depending on configuration.

CAMPER PACKAGE (471) Availability: ●Optional on XL, XLT, Lariat and King Ranch® (DRW only), Platinum (DRW)

Not available with:
●20" Wheels and Tires
●Pickup Box Delete (66D)
●Heavy-Service Front Suspension Package (67H)
★Tremor Off-Road Package (17Y)

Includes:
●Extra heavy-service front springs (4x2) (2 up upgrade above the spring computer selected as a consequence of options chosen. Not included if maximum springs have been computer selected as standard equipment)
●Heavy-service front springs (4x4) (1 up upgrade above the spring computer selected as a consequence of options chosen. Not included if maximum springs have been computer selected as standard equipment)
●Rear auxiliary springs (F-250 only; Std. on 350)
●Rear stabilizer bar (SRW only)
●Slide-in camper certification

 

Did you order the camper package if so you basically have a Standard 350, possibly not as high of a gcwr depending on configuration.

CAMPER PACKAGE (471) Availability: ●Optional on XL, XLT, Lariat and King Ranch® (DRW only), Platinum (DRW)

Not available with:
●20" Wheels and Tires
●Pickup Box Delete (66D)
●Heavy-Service Front Suspension Package (67H)
★Tremor Off-Road Package (17Y)

Includes:
●Extra heavy-service front springs (4x2) (2 up upgrade above the spring computer selected as a consequence of options chosen. Not included if maximum springs have been computer selected as standard equipment)
●Heavy-service front springs (4x4) (1 up upgrade above the spring computer selected as a consequence of options chosen. Not included if maximum springs have been computer selected as standard equipment)
●Rear auxiliary springs (F-250 only; Std. on 350)
●Rear stabilizer bar (SRW only)
●Slide-in camper certification

 

For travel trailer towing, the 250 is more than adequate The main difference you would notice is cargo capacity. I purchased an 2022 F350, CCSB, XLT with a 7.3L, 3.73 gears and have 4011 cargo. A similarly equipped 250 is about 1000 pounds less.

But, in some states, the 350 takes a massive hit in registration costs and insurance.

As a side note, why would you switch from a ProPride to anything from Blue Ox? Propride is the absolute best for sway.

comparing the ProPride, two Blue Ox, Equalizer, Curt TruTrack and Weigh Safe hitches. The main issue with ProPride is it costs 3.2 times the next highest cost (Weigh Safe).

 

In my opinion, any configuration of the f250 is more than enough truck for the airstream. 3/4 ton trucks are good pairings for many large travel trailers. They struggle with payload issues with 5th wheels. You should be fine with the blue ox for that setup too. Not sure why the trailer dealer told you to get a blue ox instead of the propride hitch. If I am not mistaken that is similar to a Hensley. It is far superior to any other hitch on the market. You may experience some sway with the blue ox. I did with a half ton towing a trailer smaller than yours. I switched to a Hensley. Most trailer flip overs are related to driver error caused my sway.

good luck

 

With you having a 250 gasser on order, you should have plenty of weight carrying capacity for your AS. Search this forum, people have posted pictures of their door stickers to help people assess GVWRs of the various truck configurations. BUT, if your order can be amended easily with no penalties/delays, for a relatively small incremental up-charge, I'd opt for the 350 that comes with the legal 11.5k # GVWR door sticker. You'll not need to ever think about truck load out weight. Ride quality, IMO, is not noticeably degraded. When my camping season comes to end here in MI, I air down the rear tires to 65-70 psi to soften the ride a bit more. Also, check over at Airforums.com in the tow vehicle sub-forum on AS and Super Duty combinations, lots of postings.

Below is my '18 350 diesel SB. The 25' AS has a ~900# TW.

Recent scale ticket

 

250 will be fine for that load. I think my 350 rides great, MUCH improved over my previous generation F250. For daily use I also lower tire pressures, 55 front 50 rear. The camper package ads a rear sway bar that will affect the ride some. Really intended for an in the bed camper more than towing a camper. I wouldn't order it unless fitting a slide in camper personally. If registration and insurance costs are not a major issue in your state I would buy the F350.

 

7000 miles a year, I would do the 4.30 gear for sure.

If you hit the highway a lot I would skip the camper package and get a 350 srw 7.3/3.73.

With the camper package I would consider putting the 2019 rear blocks in it as the front will sit a little higher. I would upgrade shocks personally.

 

Go from the other direction. Rather than ask us if you should get an F-350, instead tell us why you opted for an F-250 ... particularly since you were/are ordering. The reasons you chose an F-250 could be important.

I find that highly unlikely. I believe the fictional dry hitch weight of those trailers is about 900 lbs. Make sure you're not being conned into looking at those silly dry weights. It's about the same as asking a 50 year old man how much he weighs and getting a reply of, "Well, I weighed 160 lbs in high school."

 

I went with the truck in my sig to tow an 8,000lb trailer. It tows it like it isn’t there until you hit the mountains, then it knows it’s there. I wanted more than enough truck to handle that load and got it. I have 3,417lbs of cargo capacity. You will have plenty of truck for what you are towing.

 

I will add that my 2021 F350 rides great empty. I can't imagine a 250 rides noticeably better, especially when towing.

 

The main reason to buy the 350 is resale, depending on where you are there can be a significant difference in value. I'm not saying it's justified but in this area a 250 is seen as a gal's grocery getter pickup , if you tow and everyone does they want a 350.

 

I ended up with a 350 with my current truck only because that’s what the dealership had, I sure don’t need a 350, it’s questionable if I even need a 250. I am not seeing any drawbacks to having the 350 over the 250. If I was to order out a truck I would get another 350, but I would take a 250 if there was one on the lot as I wouldn’t be maxing out the 250 very often.

 

I went with a 6.7 250 to pull our small, 6000 lb GVW camper. Honestly, it's more than we need, and we don't really have plans to upgrade, but can see us going to something like a 25ish foot Airstream one day. 5th wheels aren't really something we are interested in... I just knew that after pulling our camper the last 4 years with our Pathfinder, I wanted something that could pull it with ease, and this truck does that!

I also added the snow plow/camper package and the HCTT package along with the 18" AT tires. These packages actually made the truck a 350, but with the badging for a 250, and of course a derated GVWR (10800 vs 11500). Mechanically there is no difference now between my truck and a 350, except the badge and the yellow door sticker. I say this because I am actually quite pleased with how the truck drives/rides. Before I rented a 250 last year for a long camper tour I had no clue what the deference between a half ton, 3/4 ton or a 1 ton was. When the rental place told me the night before that they only had a 1 ton in stock I thought "Wow! This thing is way bigger than even the 250 I thought I was getting!" Turns out, when I showed up the next morning they had a 2020 6.7 F250 with 52 miles on it they gave me. That's when I knew I wanted this truck for myself! But I was still expecting a 350 to be so much worse when driving...

Well, now that I have my own truck and is configured exactly like a 350, there's not difference, and I was pleasantly surprised in how good I think it rides. Don't get me wrong, it's no luxury car type of ride... our Pathfinder (platinum) was actually a really comfortable ride, but I have no complaints with mine. I did air down the tires to around 50 psi for driving around town, but other than that, nothing has been changed. I figure I may change out the shocks in a couple of years, which I hear also helps... But, the ride quality of these are good in my opinion... of course this is subjective though.

Anyway, being that my truck is over the magic 10000 number, my truck will also be subjected to all the licensing and registration fees like that of a 350, and in this case, I should have just went with a 350 I guess... but, it was several hundred dollars less expensive to get my truck built this way than to start with a 350, and also, for whatever reason, an F350 would have made my insurance rates higher according to my agent. So, in the end, it did cost me less money to stick with what I have. I have seen a lot of threads and talk about no one has ever seen anyone buy a 250 and not say I wish I would have just gotten a 350... well, I am one of them. If I had to do it again, I would go this route again and get another 250 with the add ons. I have 3016 lb payload and only plan to use less than 2000 lbs, so I have plenty left, even to upgrade to the slightly larger Airstream if we ever do so. I also don't mind going all the way to my max payload and GVWR since I know that my truck can handle more being that it is no different from the higher rated 350.

I'd say for what you want to do with it, I would stick with the 250. Being that you got the 7.3, you will end up with about the same payload rating as I did. Mine is an XLT with no heavy add ons though, so it depends on what you added to your Lariat. As for hitches, while I haven't used either, I agree with the others, the PP is a better hitch than the Blue Ox. For me, I went with an Anderson WDH. I was using an EAZ Lift hitch that the dealer gave me when we bought ours, which has been a good WDH, but it was time to replace it. Besides, my new truck has a 3" receiver, and I wanted a WDH with a 3" shank so I didn't have to use the reducer sleeves. I should get it hooked up next week and start using it soon after to see how I like it.

Anyway, good luck in your decision... with that camper I don't think you will go wrong either way!