Hi all, newbie here!

I have a '04 F350 4X4 PSD with 3.73 gears (all I could get) with at 6" Skyjacker suspension lift and 35" tires. My question is this: has anyone towed a 5th wheel toy hauler, say 30' or better with a similar set up? If so, can you please tell me what your experience was with it? I know the obvious checklist items like, "I should re-gear, shouldn't have a lift kit and tow, and so on... but the reality is that I do go off road quite a bit, either snow for snowboard season or sand for my dirt bike addiction. Anyway, I am considering buying a trailer and want to get a 5th wheel because of the floor plan options available with them compared to hitch trailer. While I'm on the subject, any suggestions on a good toy hauler?

Thanks so much!

 

Can't say that I've ever seen a truck that tall pulling a 5er... having a stock 4x4 is bad enough!

Seems that some major suspension mods (to a normal trailer) would be required in order for it to be level when hitched. You could tow "nose-high", but that's not fun for the driver nor is it good for the trailer. A few trailers have an adjustable height suspension, but they don't go high enough for a truck like yours. Also doubt that "flipping the axle" (move axle from top of springs to bottom) would be sufficient.

Can't remember the brand, but I've seen some RVs built for "off-roading". You might try trailerlife.com & irv2.com to see if anyone has one. Or maybe someone is towing with a setup like you want.

 

Thanks for the post. In reading other threads, I think I will take some measurements of my truck and then go to some dealers and take measurements of trailers. I am really interested in a toy hauler with a separate garage and these are usually in the 34-38' range. My truck weighs in at around 7900 and according to Ford I should be able to have a GCVW of 20000 lbs. Anyway, I am going to wait to see if anyone has done this type of towing with this setup. I am going to buy something this spring, either a tow trailer or 5ver.

 

The lift will cause problems with tow angles with the 5th wheel. I went from a 150 to a
250 4X4 had to raise the 5th wheel and drop the hitch on the trailer to clear the bed of
the truck. On a bumper pull the draw bar would have to have a 6" drop. Do not know of
a heavy draw bar with that amount of drop. I have a 26' Jayco 5th wheel,not a toy hauler. FYI my dealer said he could move the springs and gain 4" of lift on the trailer.
Good luck hope this helps. Rick

 

You can lift the trailer pretty easy, but it will affect how it pulls dramatically especially in the wind. You will probably have a hard time towing anything over 35' with those gears and that big of tire. You have enough motor, but the tranny is going to have hell. You also lose load capacity with the big tires up to a point. I doubt if you really want to push that 20K lb capacity with 6" lift. I would definitely stick with 5th wheel, pulling a tongue dragger with that much lift will suck.

 

Thanks guys for the input. I may have to bite the bullet and re-gear. I really wanted to try to get away from having to spend the extra $1500-1800 to do this and screw my warrenty (which may be alredy a mute point considering the lift). Needless to say, I may just give it a try with the 35's and the 3.73's and see how it pulls and how much clearance I end up with on the bed. Again, thanks for the feedback.

 

You might try a tranny temp guage to see what the tranny thinks of the load. As long as you have acceptable power and you don't have to keep your foot buried in it, I don't see a problem unless the tranny overheats, or the torque converter lockup starts to hunt. Keep an eye on the rpms and how it feels. If it feels like the converter is constantly locking and unlocking, you will kill it in short order. The only fix is to re-gear, which may or may not fix the hunting thing, or something like Banks transcommand which will tell it when to lock up and override the factory's lame settings.