Well I bought the truck with the max tow/extra payload 'cause I was coming out of a 2007 Dodge 3/4 ton Cummins. So today we loaded just about 3 1/2 tons of railway ties on my 22' flatbed trailer (comes in at 3400 lbs) so I guess I had about 10K total give or take a couple of pounds. Now if you know Maryland I was going up Route 1 to Rising Sun area. The road has lots of hills, flats and whole bunch of bumps. I put the transmission into Tow/Haul and down the road I went. Other than a bit of bucking from the load being to much forward then I like, it was pretty smooth ride. The truck ran at 1500 to 2000 rpms for the most part except a couple of hills then it tacked at 3500 rpms. The transmission temp gauge stayed in the middle. All in all, this truck ran as good as the Dodge on the flats and almost as much power on the hills. I would say again, I like this truck. It's got *****. Chris

 

It's amazing your truck even moves with those extremely high gears you're running. Glad to hear it pulled well.

 

huh?

his sig says 3.73 gears

 

No, his sig says .373 gears. I think BroncoBran was attempting to make a funny.

 

The new 6 speed is even more amazing than We thought?

And by the way, what are they calling this tranny? I'm getting sick of calling it the new 6 speed.

 

So I got the decimal point in the wrong spot, you should see my spelling. As far as towing I could see if you were towing that kind of load for long trips or everyday, you would want to get the larger framed F-250. Even though this truck handled the weight and the hills at med speeds (40 to 55 MPH) I could see that if I were in the mountains I would be a snail on some grades. Which brings up the question, there is no red area on the speedometer to tell you are about to or have maxxxed out unless the electronics are going to warn you?

 

It's the 6R80.

I assume you are asking about the tachometer (not the speedometer)? The fuel cutoff/redline on the new 5.4 is at 5500rpm, but the tranny seems to shift at 5200-5300 rpm under full throttle. It won't let you over-rev the engine, especially if you leave it in drive. Sounds like your truck handled that load really well, especially for a half ton.

Something to think about is that a F-250 with the 5.4 wouldn't do any better on the hills with that kind of load (as far as keeping speed). It probably would do a little worse due to the extra weight and having one less cog in the tranny (5 vs. 6 speed). Now a diesel or a V10 would be another matter.

 

I've had the chance to tow my travel trailer a few times now with my 09 XLT (3.73). The trailer isnt overwhelmingly heavy at around 5,000 pounds but its very high profile with a lot of aerodynamic drag at high way speeds. Its also subject to crosswinds and turbulence by passing big-rigs and class A motor homes. My XLT tows like a dream. Very stable in crosswinds and the factory brake controller is the smoothest I've ever used.

It tows so well its almost dangerous. What I mean by that is, its easy to get careless and I unexpectedly find my speed at 10-15 mph faster than I should be while towing such a load. Its just so smooth.

 

Could you feel the truck compensate like they show on the web site? Everything I have towed so far has been flat so wind has not been a factor. Chris

 

Well did a second load today. I guess we were just thrilled with the way it pulled the other day, we figured we could put a few more ties on. Well I hit a bump in the road and the trailer sank about 4", chains dragging and the truck lowered quite a bit. Needless to say I was overloaded for this truck (I guess somewhere in the 11K's) As I unloaded the truck rose up and the springs didn't look like any damage. I have purchased a set of Timbren helpers just in case the next time. Chris