Sounds like a great truck although you will not get wonderful fuel mileage. It should pull and carry pretty well for you.

Dave / Believer45

 

My 2000 F-150, reg. cab, 4.6, auto, 3:55, trlr. pkg., handles well a 4,000 lb. travel trailer, loaded. That truck is rated at 7200 lbs., and gets about 11 mpg when towing.

 

Another diesel vote here.

I was in a similar shopping situation and held out for the 1-ton diesel.
I had to hunt but found a good one. (see gallery)
It's older, but man can it pull.
Now I don't worry about what I hook up to it.

Am on the learning curve with the diesel engine. Takes a little getting used to, but well worth the effort.

Best of luck.

 

I have done quiet a bit of towing in my day, and your axle gear ratios will be a big factor in how much you can tow. I have a '88 F-250 4x4 w/ 460 fuelie and a 5 speed. The only down fall is that it has 3.55 gears. I live in the mountians of Virginia so we have some pretty steep hill arround here. I have towed 20,000lbs on numerous occasions, and the truck handles it fine, but its really slow going. There are some hills that I can only pull in 2nd, one that I can only pull in 1st, lol. As far as long distance towing, I only really like to pull 10,000lbs. I'm sure that if I put some 4.10 or 4.56 gears in it it would tow better, but I like the half way decent milage I get with the 3.55's.

 

Big block , how bad millage would 4.10's give you? I am thinking of swaping my 3.55's for 4.10'S

 

I have an 84 F-250 5.8 4 speed manual with 4.10 gears. Last tank was 10.3 mpg.

 

This is the same set-up I have on my recently purchased '86. Any hints, cautions I should be looking out for?

thanks

 

Well, I can only say my own experience here, and a few variables apply, but my dad's truck is an F250 extended cab with auto trans, 6.9 diesel, and 3.54 gears, and it only ever got around 12 mpg and had trouble pulling heavy loads and maintain decent speed on hills, but I get 13 right now with my 86 F250 4speed with 4.10. Mine is a standard cab, and both are 4x4. I enjoy plenty of power with it as well. I recently bought this truck and will be changing a few things, and hope the mileage will come up. I opened up the intake a bit, so it should do something. But when it comes to towing, gears make or break a good tow rig, and a few cubes never hurt. I don't know the gears, but I have had 2 vans (150) that had 351, and towed ok, and got 10-12 mpg, had a 89 250 pickup with 5 speed, and got 12 mpg. I f you want to pull, you either give up mileage for daily running, or you give up the ability to tow happily when you need. I happen to tow often enough that I choose to have an enjoyable drive.