So, for as long as I've owned pickup trucks I've always heard people talk about how they love their diesels for towing. They always seemed impressive when looked at on paper, but it never really hit me until Sunday.

As posted on another thread here, I pulled the first reasonably heavy trailer with my truck on Sunday afternoon, and I was truly impressed. Total weight of the trailer was around 9K lbs, and I towed this on the highway for over 70 miles.

When I loaded my dad's Durango for this test, I originally had it centered on the axles, as I figured the heavier front end would give me the tongue weight I needed. My truck hardly moved with the weight, so I drove it about 2 feet farther forward, putting lots more weight on the tongue, and the truck STILL didn't squat down much at all. I threw on my WD kit out of habit, as I don't like towing this much weight without it, and headed out.



This truck is AMAZING! Pulling a moderate grade at 65 MPH with my last truck at this weight would have had the truck down to 2nd gear, screaming at nearly 5,000 RPMs. My trusty 6.4 never even had to downshift. In O/D, at 1, 800 RPMs this thing belted out enough power to actually gain speed up this hill. Never expected it to handle this kind of weight this comfortably!

So now, after owning this truck for 4 months, I really understand the PSD thing now. Undoubtedly the best towing vehicle I've ever owned!

 

That's great to hear. I had a similar experience in early August and finally towed a holiday trailer weighing roughly the same weight. I had to look twice to make sure the trailer was on because the suspension barely squatted at all. Then on the highway I had to keep making sure the trailer was still there because I could barely feel it. These trucks are true towing machines.

 

Glad to hear your impressions. I was curious after reading your other thread.

I say this a lot but I have to say it again.

I put just under 4000 miles on my truck in August, 2800 of those miles in the last 10 days. All with a minimum of 9K worth of trailer. My eyes are red, dark circles, and I can't wait to do it again next week. Everything about these trucks just works. The 6.4 is one thing, and I love it, but the rest of the truck is no B.S. With those side mirrors I could back a trailer 20 miles while eating that new "angus burger"!

I used to be a gasser and I understand the gasser economics but once this diesel gets under your skin it's over.

 

I have to agree about the mirrors. One of the biggest problems I ever had with my last truck was the stock mirrors. Oh, I think they're bigger than the ones anyone else puts on a half ton, but they didn't extend out and was impossible to see around the trailer without the cheap clip-ons. What sort of mirrors did your previous chevies have?

I had a good amount of tongue weight on this one, and trailer sway was nearly nonexistant. My F150 had a 150" wheelbase, so trailer sway never was an issue for me, but this one is better yet. I suspect this had to do with the 6" longer wheelbase and the extra 2,000 lbs.

Brandon D, I was truly amazed how little this thing squatted with the tongue weight. I must have had over 1,000 lbs on it, and it didn't squat more than about 2" which really surprised me. Even so, I am aware of why WD hitches are recommended, so I threw it on there anyway.

The other part that I thought worked especially well was the transmission. In tow/haul mode, it always seemed to find the right gear. Seems like it locked in the torque converter in most of the higher gears and held them even through 3/4 throttle, preventing unnecessary downshifts. Really did an amazing job. Maybe i just think this because I'm so used to towing with a 4R75E...

Part of me is frustrated, though. I was trying to do this as a stress test to get my cooling system to start leaking again. I feel that I never even stressed it. Coolant temps never got above 203, and the tranny never got above 173 the entire time. Now I need a bigger trailer!

 

thanks for your posts, they are very helpful. I am considering jumping into the SD/PSD pool. I do hotrods for a hobby, and we just dragged a 7000lb trailer for 3300 miles behind our smallblock suburban. it went well, 7mpg, but we were at the limit, and it felt like it.. I remember well the 5000rpm hill climbs..

we know that next year we will have 2 cars to haul to the shows, and will need a gooseneck trailer, load around 12-14000.. so thinking about a 4x2 F350 dually.
(dually is the only question mark).

you kept the WD in use, how tight did you set the bars? I would do that with my bumper haul 20ft at least for the anti-sway bar. but hitch weight is around 800lbs, noise to the F350.

I will be hauling something somewhere at least once a month. 400-2000 miles depending. rest of the time its 30 miles to town one way, so mostly highway type driving.

for 08, the DRW bumper pull is 2500lbs more than then SRW(15k, vs 12.5), 5th wheel/GN is the same. (15k)

so do I just go for the DRW.. course I haven't see a 4x2 SRW around here at all (Austin, tx). have a good looking DRW, 45k miles, available just down the street.

Sam

 

I didn't have my spring bars cranked that tight, but I did put a good bit of tension on them. Not sure how to measure objectively, but I hung the chains on the 5th link from the bars. To do this I had to use a floor jack under the ends of the bars to crank them up that high to hang the chains.

Remember the purpose of a WD hitch isn't to negate heavy tongue weight, but rather to offset the effects heavy tung weight has on the vehicle's balance. Heavy tongue weight levers weight off the front axle and puts it on the rear axle, making your front end lighter than it should be. Even if the rear springs are stiff enough to handle the weight easily, as our SDs are, you still have the effect of a lightened front end, regardless of how easy the rear end handles it. This is why Ford recommends using a WD hitch for all trailers over 6,000 lbs.

Your comments about your Suburban remind me of my days towing with my F150. It did a great job for what it is, but these truck are SO much better!

To be honest, for your use I don't think you need DRW. SRW trucks get better MPGs, are easier to maneuver, and are cheaper to purchase. I've been very pleased with mine so far...

 

thanks, been towing for a long time, using WD hitch, but this is the first time with a gooseneck requirement.

>This is why Ford recommends using a WD hitch for all trailers over 6,000 lbs.

never seen that published anywhere, got a link?

MPG appears to be the same SRW/DRW from all the reports here on FTE.

If not for the 12-14000 gooseneck, I could even step down to an F250.

prices for SRW don't look any better than DRW here (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana)
so I can trade off DRW 4x2 with SRW 4x4

and I know I don't need 4x4.

My 06 F150 XLT 4.6 gasser with Edge tuner (being replaced by this F350) only gets 14mpg. (at 82 it seems the best at 18.1)..
The Suburban also only gets 14. (over 25k miles since Oct 08)

Sam

 

Go to www.motorcraftservice.com and look up the owner's guide for the '08 Super Duty trucks.

Go to page 245 and it states that for all SRW trucks, like mine, anything over 6,000 lbs requires a WD hitch. I wasn't completely correct above, though, as the DRW trucks require one for over 8,000 lbs.

Of course this is only for conventional trailers and can't apply to gooseneck or 5th wheels.

 

Glad you like the truck!

Most of the time while traveling down the road you will notice most people never pay attention on how to use a weight distributing hitch or don't use one at all. I always have used a weight distributing hitch on any vehicle. To much weight on the front axle will increase tire wear.

Once installed correctly you actually bridge the trailer and tow vehicle as if it seems to be one unit. Control and over all handling is great. Here is a video of how to install or set up a vehicle with a weight distributing hitch that answers most questions.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTQ5ML-O4B0
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great!.. thanks.. (how would you know to look there? as a normal customer!?)

I will try to get a test drive with my loaded trailer... I'm at just under 7k.. should be interesting!..

yeh, GN/5th wheel is a completely different animal.

I should add that I had a really scarry ride hauling a 29ft travel trailer behind a Safari Van without a WD hitch.. talk about white knuckle front wheels in the air ride!
I don't know how the dealer let me off the lot.. or how I was stupid enough to put my family in that van for the 100 miles each way..
and ps, this last weekend, hauling my 7k trailer with WD hitch connected, for the very first time, I lost a hitch pin, and thanks to the safety chains, the hitch was held into the receiver (by a mere inch tho)..

sam

 

Maximum4x4, great find with the video. I've been using this WD kit for awhile and I was always told that the goal was to try to, at bare minimum, get the front of the tow vehicle to NOT rise any.

That video did give me some good ideas and was definitely worth watching. Like you, I won't tow a heavy trailer without one. There's a reason vehicle manufacturers insist you use them, and I'm not about to find out the hard way...

 

I've never seen the kind of anti sway shown in the video.. I use the friction type.

on that 29ft travel trailer behind the 06 suburban, I used TWO anti-sway friction
(same as the video setup on both sides). what a joy not to worry about that.

Sam

 

Glad it went well for you. First time I did a tow with this thing was 10K worth of Marble on a trailer. It was a total distance of 1,000 miles and I was really impressed myself.

I even had a 1,000 pounds worth of loose blocks of marble in the bed and no squat.

Best yet was the 11.2 mpg I got doing it with only around 600 miles on the clock.

 

Sam, one thing to remember about trailer sway is wheelbase is king. Your suburban I believe has a 130" wheelbase. This is going to make sway a real problem. The 156" wheelbase on our crew cab shortbed trucks will be immensely better at controlling sway.

Second to wheelbase, vehicle weight is also important. I believe our SD diesels have a nearly 2,000 lb advantage there. You shouldn't need sway control on a SD if your trailer is setup correctly. Remember though that if the trailer is setup incorrectly no amount of sway control or wheelbase will make it a safe tow.

Proper tongue weight is IMPORTANT!

And senix, at 11.2 MPG you must have been using an open trailer, right? They do an amazing job. Of course, that 1,000 lbs of weight in your bed would really help the truck control the trailer.

 

amhen to that.. I have had the joy of a breakaway sway where the trailer jacknifed and pushed the truck across 4 lanes of concrete sideways.. slammed the trailer into the curb so hard it sheared the wheel hub right off the axle (snapped the axle).

not fun..

the F350 LB wheelbase is 172.. so even better!

sam