I have a 1994 F250 Special Duty 2wd with a 5.8L (351), EFI gas engine we use for towing our fifth wheel. Since we just got a new, bigger & heavier fifth wheel, the 351 needs some serious help towing this 12,000 lb. camper. It only weighs about 3K pounds more than our older fifth wheel. Boy does it know it. Especially go up hill.

We don't want to trade it off at this time if we can keep from it. It only has 70k miles.

Does anyone know how I might get some more torque and power out of this truck to better tow our new fifth wheel. The truck is supposedly set up to tow 12K pounds. They must have meant going down hill.

Current specs: 410 lmited slip 1 ton non-dually rear end, three speed auto HD trainy w/electonic OD on end of gear shift.

Can a chip be changed, timing adjusted, Etc?

Thanks,

Ohio Fifth Wheeler

 

Welcome to FTE. Check out some of our sponsors. I don't know if they make a chip for that old or not. Is your engine running right? I had a 351 in a small stake truck. It was just ok. Not great power. I don't know about timing etc. Maybe somebody else can address that. Maybe you can do something with a cam, intake and exhaust. There are engine forums where you might get more info on how to get more get up and go. Good luck with it.

 

You're overweight with that setup, and even with a 9,000lb trailer, you were, too. Check your vehicle manual to see what your Gross Combined Weight Rating is. I think you'll find that it's around 13,000lbs., which means that a 6,000lb truck plus 12,000lb trailer puts you WAY over. The 351 from that year is an ok engine for a truck with a heavy payload, but not for heavy pulling. I'd look into a different engine or a different truck (460, 6.8l, 7.3l diesel, etc.)

I just checked the manual for my '93 F250 HD. The heaviest trailer that can be pulled is 8200lbs for a reg cab with an auto tranny, 4.10 rear and 5.8L engine. Supercab, crew cab, 4x4 and manual tranny all reduce that number by varying amounts. And, GCWR is a max of 13,000lbs like I said above.

Jason

 

I have a '92 F350 SRW 4x4 CrewCab with a 351 engine, C6 auto trans, and 4.56 gears and I really could not imagine towing 12,000 lbs with this truck. I have pulled up to 8000 lbs with it when it had 3.55 gears in it and performance was pathetic. I was also over my then-GCWR of 11,500 lbs. It does better with the 4.56's but not enough to be towing over 8000 lbs, in my opinion.

I would either go back to a lighter trailer or get a more powerful truck. I agree that a 460 or diesel would be a much better choice.

Even with a 460 and a 4.10 axle ratio though, the GCWR is still only 16,500 lbs, and a 12,000 lb trailer is still over the rating when you consider that your truck probably weighs 5500 -6000lbs (mine weighs 6500 lbs). A Powerstroke diesel with 4.10 ratio in a '94-'97 F350 brings the GCWR up to 18,000 or 18,500 lbs, (I forget which). That combination would be within the rating with a 12,000 lb trailer. It would also pull hills ALOT better....

 

My GCWR on my 1997 F250 PSD 4.10 is 20K#. I would assume that it's the same for the F350. I don't know what it was before 1997 though, and with the 3.55 ratio it's much lower. The 460 didn't have a GCWR of 20K# even with the 4.10.

 

John, I may be confused on the year that the 18K GCWR applies to. Maybe it was the pre-powerstroke diesels that had that rating. At any rate, I posted that more to illustrate the effects of engine power and gear ratio on GCWR and absolutely the diesel with 4.10 ratio is King, in the F350 and lower trucks. The '99-up diesels are definitely 20K GCWR.

 

No problem. I just didn't want to lose 2K off my capacity.

 

LOL, I don't blame ya!

 

Gents,

Thanks for all of the feed back. It sounds like diesel is the way to go.

Looking at a Runabout truck for a fifth whell tow vehicle. This truck is like a small semi and is a specialty truck. Ford and GM are the biggest manufactures. Frieghtliner and International also make a few of them.The F250 will be a good work truck for us.

http://www.rvnetlinx.com/dba/dba.php3?id=1532

Best Regards,

Marky

 

Sounds like a good plan . I hear the Freightliner FL60 and Volvo 660 are good choices for MDT (medium duty commercial truck) 5th wheel pullers. Check out www.rv.net or www.escapees.com for comments by owners of those trucks and other discussion related to medium duty pullers.