I have a 2003 F250 with a V10 and Banks Power Pack. Last week I needed to tow an enclosed 28' trailer with a truck in it up to BC Canada and back. I live in Southern California so my round trip was about 3,000 miles. The combo wt. was about 18,000 lbs.

The truck pulled most of the way in OD and never dropped below 55 - 60 on any mountain grade. Also I drove mostly about 75mph and sometimes up to 80mph because I needed to get there and back fast. The mileage was about 7.5 the whole trip and the V10 is a monster pulling long grades. Just let it drop into 2nd and rev up to 4 - 4500 rpm. I love the sound when it is pulling hard like that. The 4R100 trans always shifted well also.

I love the V10. I would never go back to a diesel. When this truck wears out it will be another V10 for me.

 

FastDew, Good post and what ratio is your differential? Did you come up I 5 ?
Sounds like you have a good strong V10. I agree with you, a V10 at 4000 RPM sounds like it means business and I love the sound too. Take care, Wrench

 

best of luck man, yes this motor is a strong little known about monster. and loves to work hard and play hard.

 

Hi Wrench,

Yea, I took the I5 all the way. The rear is a 4.30 gear. Also, I figured out my mileage and it was actually 8.3 which is better than the 7.5 I thought it was. That is not too bad considering I was running really hard all the way.

I like not having to look for a diesel pump, I can just stop and pump with good ol' 87 octane and jam. I am really impressed with the V10.

 

Gald to hear from another satisfied V10 trailer puller. An 18000lb combined load is a test for any truck and it sounds like yours pulled it easily.

I've never pulled anything that heavy, but I frequently use my '03 F250 to pull a few trailers that puts me in the 14000lb combined weight range. Even with the 3.73s my truck has it holds 60-70mph easily on level road at. It will drop to 3rd on many grades but still has no problem holding it's speed.

 

wow, 18k lbs. is impressive. FastDEW, I bet your 36ft. 5th wheel weighs alot also huh?

 

Yea, it is pretty heavy. I usually pull it at a more relaxed pace though and so I never really had to run the V10 hard for a long period as I did this trip. Also, I tend to stay more local with the 5er, this was the longest single trip I have pulled. I was very pleased with the truck. The V10 is very smooth when pulling. It is impressive for a 6.8L engine to have this much go.

I had a 99 Powerstroke before, and I think the V10 pulls better or at least as good. The V10 is for sure quieter and smoother. Interesting that the V10 is so flexiable in it's pulling. It will pull hard from 2,000 RPM on up to 5,000 RPM. I got caught behind a semi on the grapevine and had to hit the brakes down to 30 mph. After the semi moved over I punched the throttle and it roared and recovered all the way to 60 mph, man it sounded good working like that too.

I only wish that I had the 3 valve and the new trans, I bet it is a true monster. Well, when this truck wears out or I get tired of looking at the dash, I will go for the 3 valver.

 

I have gone up and down I 5 from the Canadian border to the Mexican border 9 times over the years pulling 5th wheels and campers .I am looking forward to doing it with my V10.
My 88 F250 460 pulling a little 8000 pound fifth wheel was no real ball of fire going up the Grapevine. When I did the same trip with my 95 PSD, it pulled the Grapevine much better than the 460 and now my 05 V10 will out pull a stock 7.3 no problem and I don't think a stock 6.0 in a matched rig is going to blow by me at lower elevations.

I still can not believe the people out there that think the old 460 could out pull a V10.

Of course some of these keyboard mechanics have never owned either one of them.

 

yep, these motors are nice for sure. I just wish I could figure out my detonation sound I am getting when it drops down into 2nd. and hits 3500-4500 rpms. Process of elimination I guess. New fuel filter, then check the fuel pressure. If that is ok, I will disconnect the battery again and let it set overnite to see if it resets the computer somehow. Only other thing I am guessing it would be is the anti-knock sensor. My PCM has no error codes, so this is really puzzling. Everyone is telling me that this engine should never ping like this.

 

After several trips up and down CA in both my RV and my old 99' F350 DRW V10, I will never tow up I5 north of the Grapevine again. Hwy 99 is a MUCH BETTER route. I routinely tow up to the Rubicon trail or other trails in NorCal from SoCal. And I get around 4mpg better on Hwy 99 than on I5 and I don't have to deal with the typical wind that the I5 has. Hwy99 is flat all the way up and meets up with I5 again in Sacramento. Just my $.02 though.

I towed around 8000lbs several times that far north, and averaged 11.5mpg on each trip. On one trip down I5 from Sac, I got around 8mpg and I swore I wouldn't do it again. So, it was either the 101, or 99 from there on out.

 

Scotty, so how does your Excusion do with 37"s and your stock 4.30s? My truck was a dog with those stock gears. You basically have the same combo as me, and calculation for corrected gearing suggests 5.13s

 

Haven't towed with it yet(I've owned the rig less than 30 days), but its been okay with the 4.30s. Definitely downshifts more on inclines, but even in 3rd it has plenty of power. I also have a 90' V2500 Suburban that I can tow with, but the Excursion will likely be the dedicated tow rig from now on. The wife will be driving the X as the soccer mom car around town, so I leave it in the stock tuning mode for every day stuff. But, I have the Superchips 1715, and plan to reprogram the computer for every towing trip. That really firms up the shifts and I can program the shift points too. If I ever pick up anything real big(heavy), I will likely regear it to 5.13s or 5.29s. But, if I go that far, I'll ditch the POS D50 front end for a real D60 front axle at the same time.

With the 37s, I average 9.9mpg on the computer, which is roughly 17% off due to the increased tire size. So, I figure I'm getting around 11.6mpg. That is livable IMO. What kind of mileage do you get with yours? Any vibes with the rear driveshaft at all? Since I installed the lift a couple weeks ago, I've noticed a good vibe at 70mph on the speedo. No doubt because of the rear shaft. I think I need to take it in and get it rebalanced. During the lift install it pulled out of the slip yoke, and I don't think I lined it back up correctly.

 

BTW, I would almost guarantee that the pinging/detonation you are experiencing under heavy load in 2nd is the lack of a true 91 octane with the Superchips programmer. Take it back to stock for one trip, and see if you get the same detonation. I bet you don't.