I have a 1982 F-250 with a 351w in it I rebuilt the motor in 2002 put some goodies in the motor (ie:cam,aluminum intake,edlebrock 4 barrel,headers,ignition) you basic bolton stuff. Does any one know what the towing and hauling capability of this year is. I am considering buying a 29' 5th wheel travel trailer that weighs 7100 empty and want to know if my truck can handle it. Also why I'm asking how do I find out what rearend is. When I'm out on the hwy running about 70 mph the motor is running about 3100 rpm so it is low geared but not sure what it is.
Thanks
Paul

 

Hi, paul! I have an 84 Ford F250 and I have the same mods done as you except the rebuilt part. I have had a little problem with towing that much, but it does EAT gas fast. I believe you have 4:10 or 4:11 gears I dont remember. You might have problems with that big of a trailer. If you look on the rear end housing there should be a stamp with a number on it like 60 (Dana 60). I run 3000rpm at 70 also so I think there pretty similiar.

 

So you feel It will have problems pulling that much? Yes it will eat the gas when I'm pulling my boat 20' sea ray I get about 6-7 mpg. I usually get about 12 or 13. Is that normal? I bought the truck and It had 159,000 miles and the motor was wore out so after I rebuilt it I did not know what to expect with the gas mileage. All I can say now is it likes the gas, thank goodness it's not my everyday driver. I built the motor in 02 and I just rolled 10,000. Maybe I should hook up the 5th wheel gear and check out the truck pulling it before I buy it.

 

Yea you might, I dont know Ive never towed that big of a trailer so its hard to say. 12 or 13!? thats GREAT! I get 10 to 11 at best! I would test it out first if I was you, before you spend that much. Especially becuase 7100 pounds emtpy is pretty heavy.

 

Thanks I think I will take your advice and see how it does
Thanks
again

 

A couple more things we should know to get a better picture of what you have:

On the rear driver door opening there should be a data label that shows the GVWR of the truck as built. My truck is an 8600 GVW heavy three-quarter ton with a trailer towing package on it, as I'm told it's the next best thing to having a one-ton. You should look for that number.

Transmission? An automatic, especially the C6, will give you a higher tow rating than a manual because when starting out the torque convertor acts as a torque multiplier to get things rolling.

Regarding the rear end, is it a full floating axle ... does it have large hubs that stick out past the wheels or is the axle end flat with the wheel? Do you have overload springs for the extra weight of a fiver? Crawl under the truck with a flashlight, a small wirebrush and maybe a cloth with an oily corner on it. There should be a tag on one of the bolt heads that hold the rear cover on. The ratio is coded on this tag and with a little cleaning should be readable. You will likely find something like 3.08, 3.54, 3.55, 3.73, 4.10 or the like. If you can't figure it out write it down on paper as it appears and someone here will help you decode it. It does sound like 4.10 but it will be beneficial to know for sure.

Before changing the rearend ratio from 3.55 to 4.10 I pulled a 24' that weighed in ... loaded (this is ~1,000 to 1500# heavier than manufacturer stated empty weights) ... at ~7,700 without a lot of problems. My new trailer is ~10,000 loaded and I felt I needed the ratio change to make it work, especially when we do our Colorado trips.

If everything else is up to snuff, I'm afraid the 351 might be a little shy on the torque to handle a trailer of that size ... at best it will be marginal. Clyde gets a pretty good workout pulling some of those long grades in NW Kansas especially when playing with the cross and headwinds so prevalent in that area.

 

Hey Clyde thanks for the info here is what I found out the GVW is 8600 and the rearend is 4.10

 

You might consider a 460 upgrade with a C6 trans it will help tow the weight of your boat.I just sold my F250 HD Camper Special that has the 460 C6.

 

Paul,
It sounds like you have done to your 351 is what I would like to do to my 460 but then $$$$ get in the way, and aside from some suspected carb issues there's nothing demanding attention.

You no doubt have the hp and load capacity (if you have or add the overloads) to handle that fifth wheel but what turns the wheels is torque and displacement wise there's quite a difference between 5.8L and 7.5L. I know of people towing with 5.7's and even 4.6's using stouter axle ratios, a lot of the time it comes down to degrees of perfection.

I sold Ford trucks for a little over ten years and would tell people that often the difference in tow vehicle requirements comes down to how much, how far, how often and how fast do you want to do it?

We had one young guy who started a lawn service pulling a well loaded tandem axle trailer with a Ranger 2.3L four cylinder with a 5 speed ... a terrible combination. It was what he had and what he could afford at the time. He did it for 2 years! He just said that he was aware of his limitations, he took it easy and he took his time. It worked. He now has a small fleet that consist of V-10's, Large displacement V-8's and a couple diesels. Aside from the winter snow plowing that he added to his services these trucks do the same basic job the Ranger did ... just more, farther, and faster.

As I said in my earlier post, what you have may be marginal. Sometimes marginal may be good enough. Take a good long look at your expectations; how much, how far, how often and how fast do you want to do it? If it's going to be a few flatland trips not too far away and you're willing to kick back, relax and take the state highways instead of the interstates you might do just fine. Worst case scenario is it won't work you could bail out of the fiver and go to a nice used slide-in, which I know you could handle.

Good luck with it,