If you could get an appropriate weight rating, it would have a ton of power and top out really quick. For example if you had a 32 inch tire originally and went to an 18 inch tire if that's possible, you'd be going 39 when the speedo indicated 70.

Tire size, gearing, power, etc is like salt. Too much and you get high BP and heart failure, not enough and you get low sodium. Just enough and your body works just fine. It's all a trade off.

Mike

 

Live in CO, Denver Metro area, and make roughly 3-5 trips per year up the hill. We're talking starting at 5280ft and maxing out at over 12K feet at times, depending on where we're going. My '06 F150 towing a 6K lb (give/take a few 100 lbs) trailer, with stock 18" rims/tires, 3.73 gears with the old 4spd tranny (O/D locked out), rarely gets close to the 5K rpm mark and can hold the 55-65mph speed limits the majority of the time.

Personally, I think, like most here have stated, the added weight of your truck and larger tires resulting in a decreased ratio is your biggest issue. The 6spd tranny is nice, but it and the motor are trying to compensate for the gearing loss.

From my experience, 7500ft isn't much. Travel to and thru Leadville (11K ft elevation) regularly with trailer in tow with minimal issues in my '06 F150. Know all about the altitude issues and decrease in performance. That's why many people around here anymore purchase the Turbo Diesels, which help compensate for the elevation. Too many though don't need it with the weight they have in tow, they simply want to fly up the hill as fast as possible, only to slow people down coming down the other side trying to keep the trailer from passing them.

MustangMatt96GT
Glad to see a fellow Coloradoian around here. School of Mines is a great school and you'll get a great education.

 

ive got one friend like that. he has an f350 crew cab dually and he doesnt even have a trailer hitch on it. he told the dealer to take it off when he ordered it because he was never going to tow anything with it. he just likes the look and the sound of it. but i agree, a lot of people that buy diesels dont NEED them, they just WANT them.

for me personally, its not about flying past people going up hills. its about being able to accelerate when i want to. take one of my drives for example. 10% grade, 65 mph speed limit, and a 10 mile climb. people run 70-75 in the left lane and the right lane is usually full of people doing 35-40. with my lighest trailer (~3k lbs) my 5.4 wont accelerate quickly enough for me. my only two options are to slow down, stay behind the cars/tractor trailers doing 30, lose my momentum and struggle up the hill. that or drop it down to 3rd, hold it to the floor, turn 5k rpm, almost get ran over by the cars doing 75, and cause a line of cars to get pissed at me. then when i move over about 10 cars drive by and flip me off because i could only manage to do 55 and took forever to pass. with my 7.3 i can run 65, pass the slow moving car quickly, move back over in the right lane until i get to the next slow car, and then do the same thing again. when i press the gas i like to accelerate, not just maintain speed.

speaking of denver.....i did some jobs just south of there in highlands ranch last year. you all have some messed up weather there lol. i would leave in the morning and there would be a foot of snow on the ground and i would be in a sweatshirt and jacket, then by lunch time it would be 65-70 and i would be in a t shirt.

 

Messed up weather? That's why I love it here! It may snow 1 day, next day it'll be 60-70 out, then the next day you wouldn't even have known it snowed. It's all in the altitude, amount of sunlight and intensity of the sun at this altitude. Always have to keep a spare change of clothes in the truck. or prepare for cold/hot weather. If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it'll change.

Sorry guys, back on topic now.

 

i heard that quite a bit from the locals about the wait 5 minutes and it'll change. we were working long shifts out there, so i didn't get a chance to explore too much, but there was one restaurant we really liked. i havent seen one anywhere else besides there. i think it was called red robin.....they had about every kind of chicken sandwich you could imagine. but yeah, kind of off topic, i just wanted to let you know i didnt like your alls weather lol.

 

This all goes back to the early days of trucks, where the big heavy hauler fords had v8 engines and all they would produce is around 200+ hp. Its all in the gears. Now they were not fast trucks but they could pull and haul a large amount of weight for the day. You put lower gears in the rear and have a nice transmission set up and you have all the power you need. Then the enviro nut jobs come out of the wood work and cause everything to be as fuel efficent as possible so there goes the gears......I think 300hp is plenty of power for any engine in a truck as long as the mfg companies manage this power right. I think Ford could have done a better job on this with transmissions and gearing but then again they need the fuel mile numbers to help them out as best as possible. I have to say I like the way my 05 150 handles a trailer but there are many out there that will say different.

 

Figured a photo is worth 1000 words. I guess that's 10K behind my truck.

 

I am amazed at how little sagging there appears to be. At the U-haul I work at have seen the new Dodge Ram 1500's sag a little more than that with only half the weight. A nice little reminder about the real haulers are usually Fords. (At least in Kansas.)

 

Two reasons for the lack of sag #1 factory installed heavy payload package #2 installed Timbren suspension kit. But I have to raise my hitch with that trailer (needs to be 4" higher). Chris

 

Hows it tow that weight Chris?

 

The added rubber stoppers help when you hit bumps in the road. Keeps the truck from bottoming out with heavier tongue weights. The trailer in the photo is 14K GVW, coming in at just about 3500 lbs, it trailers nice no side swaying. I could run even higher weights but the tires I put on the truck are "C" not "E". Truck all in all pulls as good if not better then my former Dodge 3/4 ton with a Cummins in it. Since I don't haul these larger loads every week I don't need the frame of F250. Chris

 

Well thats good to hear there. Thats prob one of the largest loads i seen towed with a f150 and if it does it the same or better than a 3/4ton then it cant have done half bad. I always here of people saying that they love using deisles because they never need to change down gears to tow but i have found other wise. I live on a hill and the main road runs right outside our house and even unloaded 3/4 tons with TD engines have to change down even without a load in tow. My F150 also changes down on the hill but it does it with half the noise. Thats why i love towing with the f150. Just a nice truck to tow with.

 

Nice truck Chris. Looks good with that load behind it!

 

Thank you. Ford did say "It's built Ford Tough". Chris

 

Crazy weather back again. 85 degrees on Sunday, 54 yesterday, with snow (flurries) in certain parts of the metro area. 10" of snow in the foothills (Conifer) just outside of Denver. Today is to be low 50s, tomorrow 49, then by Friday back to 79 degrees.