New to v-10's and have a question about towing. Bought a 99 250 v-10 with 3.7 gears and need to use it to all horses. What I am wondering about is the tow weight capabilities of this truck. If I got a 4 horse trailer fully loaded, and figure each horse between 1200-1500 lbs, plus trailer weight, should I have any concerns? I know it depends on weight of trailer also, but am willing to consider buying a lighter, aluminum trailer if I need to. Any suggestions will be greatly obliged. Thank you--and by the way, this is a tremendously useful site.

 

good luck man. wait for fredvon 4 to chime in he's untop of the v10 issues and knows better.

 

Ford10

Tell us more about where you are, what truck, hitch type, all the info you can send.

4 X 1400 = 5200lbs, trailer is about 2800lbs so on the high end we are talking 8000lb load. Many versions of 99 F250s will handle this but obviously not win any race to the top of a 11,000 foot mountain.

If you trailer form Abilene to Midland it don't matter. All flat land and no need to beat feet to the next rodeo.

But if you need to cross all of Colorado in route to Wyoming you may have a tough time and very stressed out horses!

 

Aloha and welcome, Ford10!!


Towing capacities are different based on the cab configuration, drivetrain (2x4 or 4x4) tranny type and if you want a tow behind or 5th wheel trailer.

I'm figuring it's gonna be a goose-neck (5th) wheel since I don't think I've ever seen tow behind 4 horse trailer.

You're gonna want to stay around or below the 10K range. And quite frankly, if it's gonna be that much weight, I think you'll be dissapointed with the power of that '99 w/3.73s.

Check out the FTE's Super Duty FAQ for more info. Keep in mind that the quoted weight capacities are for 00 and up. Things shouldn't be too much different for your 99.

 

Sounds like Fred's got a groupie!

hehehehe....just playin' guys.
_____________________

Moderator note.
"This thread was merged with a duplicate post."
Thanks for catching it Capt.

 

My truck is a 3/4 ton, that is pretty much stock as far as I know; my trailer is a gooseneck so the weight will be on the axle and my horses are used only in the montains of western Montana, where I live, so my travel time is not that far, taking them in and out of hunting camps, etc. What you guys think?

 

Forgot to say that the truck is an extra cab 4x4 and Im kind of a slow poke on the highway, so I dont drive too fast anyway. Got the 10 for the power to handle the horses.

 

OK Ford10 under those conditions you are probably going to do all right. But I bet with all the gear, tack, equipment, horses, hitch and trailer you will be pushing the max weight a bit. I would do the first trip with only two horses to see how she deals with the weight.

Here are some suggestions assuming your truck is an auto tranny.

Get a good trans oil temperature gauge. Consider adding a inexpensive auxilery trany oil cooler. Keeep the fluid tems below 200F and if you spike over 208F briefly don't get freked out but watch it carefully and slow down and lock out OD for sure. Any time over 220F will require the fluid to be changed out and if you go more than a few minuets at that temp your trans will puke the front seal and start peeing fluid every where.

Set up a good brand trailer brake controller and get your horse trailer brakes checked out and refurbished as needed. Make sure the wiring is perfect and all grounds are to bare metal, no rust or corrosion.

Set out on your trips in Over Drive (OD). When you get into the hills the trans will start to do a lock unlock of the troque converter when it becomes unhappy with the load and gear. This locking and unlocking is usually not felt but can be seen on the tach as a slight increas in rpm about 50 to 175rpm raise. When this happens the trans temp will rise due to the torque converter now slipping. On steeper hills the trany will do a dramatic down shift. My passengers don't like it so I am sure your horses won't appreciate it either. When this happend just push the OD button on the shift lever and that will LOCK OUT the top gear OD and let the trany automatically only shift up to HIGH gear and any lower gear. When necessary deliberatly down shift one gear to climba steep section.

This will cause you motor to spin up climbing the mountains and this is OK! The V10 will run all day long at 3800-4800rpm and not hurt any thing but MPG. The motor has plenty of power up there and should pull that load up most any steep mountain pass.

If you find that the truck really struggles you have a couple of options to get more power to the ground.

Montana is not too dusty and sandy so I can recommend a K&N air filter. I don't think the FIPK is worth the money. Just do the ZooDad mod... search this forum for ZooDad.

There are some exhaust mods you can do to compliment the extra intake air at higher rpms. You can get a chip, but you will be forced to premium fuel and the cost of it.

Re gearing the two differentials is a LOT of $$$$. You can effectivly reduce your final gear ratio by putting on a smaller set of tires... 235R7016 E rated will fit and give you more towing torque. These trucks are popular and a lot of guys get new rims so finding a second set of factory rims is easy and cheap... think about getting a second set and small tires then you can have tow hunting rims and tall every day empty highway rims.

Well that is a start and I am sure you will have more questions. This is not a complete list of things to be done.

 

I sure do appreciate all the detailed info Fredvon4. Thats exactly the info I was looking to get! Thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail-you and your buds sure are making this site extremely useful-much obliged.

 

I don't think he will ever be able to use od, might be better off just locking out od and letting it go, I pulled 6 horses in a 28 ft alunimum goose-neck trailer the other day, all were big horses and were all loaded to the gills, and I do mean heavy! It was in hilly Tenn. and as you can ponder I pulled some good hills, I have the little 5.4 with 3.73's and didn't have any problems but when I say the hill coming the pedal was on the floor, but it was really steep hills, I keept the converter locked all time I was moving, never unlocked it, I would say his truck will do fine as long as he's not in a hurry and isn't afraid to pay the money in gas, like Fred said don't be afraid to let that motor rev, pretend it's one of those jap motors, the V-10 loves 4,000rpm and when you hit a hill you can expect it to be there, it's not a old big block...

 

On the subject of Ford V10 and hauling horses... I owned a old Morgan years ago and one wild Mustang from the BLM on adoption to me from Portland Oregon.

Over the years we got out of the horse ownership as being a soldier causes too many mooves and temp paddoc and vets bills were eating our lunch!

Back to the truck thing. I try to convince every body that will listen that trailering horses is very stressful on them. Being a smooth driver is part of keeping them happy but I learned another truth:

Get a good quiet muffler. THey calm down much faster after a trip if they did not have to listen to a constant loud bunch of noise for hours on the road!

 

Fred - I can't comment on horses, but I know from personal experience from racing and having loud vehicles on the road. The longer you are in them and have that constant drone of the exhaust the more it wears on you. I would imagine it would be the same for a horse or any other animal.

 

Not to too greatly side track this but Ronin007 makes a good point...

To amplify it I spent way too many years (and still do) riding motorcycles and had the erronious belief that "loud pipes save lives". I no longer subscribe to this idea. Keen awarness and excellent knowledge of your equipment, skill, and no alcohol are much better alternatives. Additionally many annoyed other drivers cause more and more noise abatement laws and they have the potential to cause us to someday NOT be allowed to tinker and modify.

And Ronin007s observation is also true, 4 to 8 hours on the road in a loud vehicle is infinatly more stressful than the same trip in a comfortable, quiet vehicle where you can here normal conversation or enjoy ZZ Top at a comfortable sound level.

OK off soap box...... I am NOT the noise police... just an opinion and some food for thought

 

Yep that was my point. I use to subscribe to the more noise the better and more performance. Well Flowmaster put that to rest when the NHRA started to require mufflers in certain classes. Now not only in drag racing but in serveral forms of racing, mufflers not only quiet things down they also increase performance.

Back then most of my race vehicles were also my DD. After a couple of hours on the road with straight pipes or small glass pack mufflers you would get out of the vehicle with your ears ringing and everyone telling you that you are yelling. About the only good thing about it was it saved me money on sound systems as you couldn't hear them over the din of engine!! Now like Fred, I keep the exhaust noise down and can enjoy conversations with my passengers along with whatever tunes we choose to listen too.

 

You could look into a set of solenoid activated mufflers.
I had them custom made by a friend who owns an exhaust shop on my car.
When you are on a long trip (or want to be quieter), just push the button on the dash to activate the solenoid, it now directs all exhaust gas through a muffler, push the button again to rip the eardrums into 2.