Kwik as you have always been a great help to me maybe you could put my mind to ease. I am wanting to purchase a new 5th wheel trailer. gvwr 12360, gross dry wt=9520m hitch wt=2200 exterior length =32' dry axle wt=7620. presently I am towing a travel trailer that gvwr=7000# with a bumper hitch of 1100# which handle great. I have a 2001 7.3 supercab with 3.73 short box and aot tranny 4" exhaust. I really want to be comfortable pulling this 5th wheel and need some good advice. Years ago I had a real bad experience and had a sale guy sold me a 29ft 5th wheel on a 5.0 gasser. I had to sell the 5th and was real unhappy. I know there is a big difference between a trailer and a 5th I just dont want to make any mistakes and work the truck to hard and be happy with this if I get it. Thanks man!

 

I pull a fifth-wheel which is larger and heavier than yours (15k lbs, 35ft) and I would not pull it without a few things added to the truck. I added gauges (pyrometer, trans. temp., and boost), added a Tru-Cool 40K transmission cooler, and Jody Tipton's 40hp pcm flash. I've done some other mods (AIS filtration, mag-tech pans, external trans. filter), but those that I mentioned (gauges, cooler, PCM-flash) really made the largest difference in towing and, imo, give the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to towing. I believe that those mods cost me approximately $500.

I just got back from a 2500 mile Nevada-New Mexico (to the Mexican border) loop and it pulled like a mule! I had air temperatures above 105 degrees with air conditioning on and the tranny never ran hotter than 160 degrees...and that includes pulling the grade south out of Hoover Dam gorge in slow moving traffic. I had to back out of it one time due to exhaust gas temp getting a bit high (1000 degrees) and I wouldn't have known if I didn't have the pyrometer installed.

Your truck will pull this trailer with no problem...the only problem is that without gauges you really won't know what is going on and you would be flying-blind.

 

Nlemerise.. did you notice that Laudy's SD is F250?..

 

Ive pulled with that same setup. I would suggest one thing is to make sure that walmart or anyone else deflates your tires to under 80lb on an e rating. This makes the truck squishy feeling.

 

Nope...didn't notice that...my apologies to LAUDY...one additional thing I would add based on this new (to me) info. Trade the truck in for a one-ton dually. I pulled my fifth-wheel years ago with a 3/4-ton srw and it was the pits. Once I started pulling with a dually one-ton I never looked back! FWIW, my experience is that you will never regret having more truck than you need, but you will always regret not having enough truck.

 

You can actually run up to 1200 safely for as long as you want. 1250 is the redline.

edit - this is assuming the pyro is pre-turbo.

 

Agreed...After 10 years over-the-road and 2,000,000 miles on my class 8 truck turbo, I'll use 1000 degrees at the point where I begin backing out or dropping a gear.

 

Nlemerise and others have pretty much said it all. You don't have enough truck to pull that big of a trailer. The engine will move mountains, but the rear axle is geared too high and you will have WAY to much weight to pull that trailer without a dually. Your biggest concern will be the weight on the rear wheels, bearings, and the brakes having to stop all that weight.
Also the short bed creates clearance concerns with the cab of the truck. You won't be able to make a sharp turn without hitting. There are sliding hitches available to deal with that if you want to proceed.
However given the fact that you really need a different truck altogether for a trailer that size, I recommend that you trade that truck for a long bed dually. Yes it's huge in a parking lot, but I just go to the end of the lot and take up four spaces and enjoy the stroll to the door. I need the exersize anyway.

 

Im going to have to disagree with all of you. My first truck in the transporting biz was a 01 supercab single axle. If you dont get into too much of a culdisac or tight bind you wont have to worry about the cab hitting the nose. As for the rear axle, my current truck is a ccsingle axle. Ive pulled everything from 16ft to 43ft. The e tire rating puts the tires at 3k apiece and the only diff between that and the dually is the adapter to put 4 tires on. You may want to upgrade the springs or airbags but I didnt in my first truck. You need to know the weight as it sits on your truck but I doubt anything but a alpha trailer or a newmar will overload the rear end. Like I said I move em for a living and Ive had all three trucks. Currently 420,000 miles

 

I have the dually..really tough truck in the rears, feels like it can move a mountain

 

i thought all the new trucks wether 250/350 came with a dana 60 upfront. so other than block height whats the difference.

unless the newer trucks have different springs from 3/4 to 1 ton.

if so buy some 1 ton code springs and put em on.
i would think your 3.73 would not be too bad but you could swith em out for 4.10's. doing that would be easier than buying a new truck imho.

i see plenty of srw trucks pulling gn trailers and 5 ers. yes a dually is ideal but plenty do it without.

my .02

 

The factory tow rating on an 01 with a srw for a fifth wheel/gooseneck is 12k bumper pull is 10k. I think a 5er with gvwr of 12360 is pushing your suspension. I have a 34 ft 5er with a hitch wt of 1650 and gvwr of 10k and feel comfortable but when I shopped for trailers I really watched the gvwr because I didn't want to max out the truck. Also added air bags to keep everything nice and level and so far-so good.

 

I'm no expert so All i can share is my experience.. I have an 02 F350 LB CC SRW and a 39ft King of The Road 5er and I have tipped the scales at 22,000lbs before and have yet to have a problem. My truck pulls way to good, so good it could get you in serious trouble quickly.70mph is hard to maintain without the cruise,,everytime i'm not paying attention without the cruise on i look down and i'm doing 75, it just wants to go. It feels almost like there is nothing back there, Literally. And it does not get squirelly. I had a Bumper pull 35 ft and it would get a little wild if you went to fast but not the 5er.The heavier the load the more amazing the powerstroke is. With stock tuning I have hit 1100 egt on some hard pulls in Colorado.With the tow tune on my Diablo I have to really watch it,,EGT Climbs Fast,but power is never an issue. Sometimes i think i could pull 2 5ers it's so strong. Even with the 5" Straight pipe egt climbs fast on a serious pull.I wouldnt even think of towing 20,000+lbs without gauges. I think I have the same springs,rear end and all as the F250,Only difference is the rating.I bet that F250 would handle it no problem but would probably be more than the truck was actually rated for.

 

YES!!! I have never been more impressed than when I am pulling the trailer up a mountain pass. It just cranks up and pulls.

 

I agree with Kennedyford on this one. I have the exact same set up as laudy. I pull a 34' 5er that weighs in at 12,570 empty and around 15,000 lbs loaded. I pulled it last year from Maryland to Branson (2600 miles) with no issues. The only time I had a problem was going across the passes at Cumberland MD and then just had to back out a little due to EGT's. I do run a slider hitch because of the short bed, but it pulls great.