No. The 300 is good in a tractor or in an F150 with little load on it. An 8500 lb camper plus the weight of the truck and the load is too much for the 300 to maintain 55-60 unless it is completely flat ground with little to no head wind.

If your '04 pulls it just fine, use it to pull it and buy a small eco-car for the daily. I would even put money on it that the 300 would get worse mileage towing that load than the V10.

 

Ive crossed the scales well over 10k with trailer which is neither safe or legal but it handled it good with my heavy spring setup. 96 f150 w/300. Wanna tow? Come on down the forumand join us idi guys. Since i got my 7.3 idi dually i never strain my 150 now

 

Did you ready my last post lol. Had an IDIT, and hated it. Im sure it had issues, but it got 11 mpg unloaded and wouldn't pull my camper worth a darn. Traded it in for a loss on my V10 and never looked back

 

Yep missed that one. My 7000 pound 350 gets 12mpg with a worn injector pump non turbo. Some claim 19-20 properly tuned. A buddy of mine had a 84 f250 4spd 300 and got 2 mpg better than my 96 f150 300 same road same size tire. I got 14 and he got 16. Love my 300 though.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...it-a-slug.html

 

That doesn't prove much. Could be a F-250 with spacers and badges lol

 

I love to fish but do not own a boat so I haven't had to try towing one. I'm a mechanic so I've pulled many a vehicle with the 300. The biggest probably being an 84 Chevy C10 on an auto transport. I couldn't go over 55, but I drug that thing 5 hours back home haha.

That was in my now parted out 87 2WD with the Four Speed Overdrive manual not the granny gear.

I finally installed a hitch on the E250 so that is now my car hauler since it also has my tools. E40D and I believe it's got 3.73s in the rear. Again another 300. I've drug 3 with that so far, largest being a minivan on a tow dolly.

These aren't heavy heavy loads but I do lean towards the van as the better tow vehicle and that's probably only because my truck had so much play in the steering haha. Never fixed it.

I do have a new truck not on the road and it's got the 302 and granny trans and is 4wd. I will see how that does one day but the van is most convenient mainly cause if I need to air up some flat tires I have my air compressor and stuff right there.