We decided to go to a car show yesterday 125 miles away, taking a new road, with lots of hills (truck passing lane on most).. man, what a dream!!..

tow haul on, and in cruise at 70, and pulling almost 7000lbs, it was amazing!..
held speed up hill (did downshift once uphill, held speed), downshifted on the descents, and never once swayed (no friction anti-sway bar installed this time for test). I cleared the MPG lom as we left and with the hills is read 8.8mpg.. some stop & go, one accident traffic jam... some idling to get the A/C going (it was 96 here yesterday) and on the way back it had climbed to 9.4 (again cruise at 70mph, about 2400rpm).

this coming weekend I have the 210mile one way haul up to the GoodGuys show at TMS (Texas Motor Speedway, Ft Worth), and there is a bit of flat land pull there too..

very happy.. driving while towing is SO much more relaxed now.. can't wait to try a GN...

did have one spot cresting a hill where I think I heard the turbo spinning down, this was the downshift hill.. turbo was at 35psi (not quite to 4 on the gauge) for about 3 minutes... then sharp crest and started down.. turbo dropped to 0..had this whine/hum/spinning sound (no radio on, windows closed, A/C on auto). Only time I heard it in the 250 miles. is that normal, or a sign of a bearing issue potentially?

sam

 

That's great Sam, always a pleasure when a rig tows like a dream on the first outing!

I am amazed by two things right off, 1st we had 29 degrees yesterday morning so the 96F blew me away, and 2nd, I am amazed that I understood about 1/3 of what you said.

i don't have a turbo so can't comment and the whine noise but am glad you had a good tow!

 

thats GoodGuys (sheesh can't type lately)

sam

 

Sounds good. That's the way I feel when I tow with mine. One thing seems strange though. I always get 12+mpg when towing my 5th wheel, and its 13ft tall and weighs around 12k depending on load. You might want to recheck that mileage. That rig should get better mpg even in the hills running 65mph. Good Luck.

 

yes, I will reset the MPG again as I leave for TMS on Thursday, trailer in tow, and not touch it again til I get back on Sunday. and will record actual usage. as well.

sam

 

I've had a superduty for over 9 years. A lot of the guys don't trust the computer when it comes to mileage. I've done it on the calculator several times and find the computers in both my trucks are very accurate. My V10 will get around 8mpg with the same trailer. I believe you'll also see a big increase in mileage if you try to run at 65mph(I know that's hard to do). Mine will get about 2 mpg better running at 65 vs. 70 when its empty and not towing. I keep the PSD stored most of the time. I'm driving it right now and reset it when I picked it up. I've been driving in the city for the last week, no highway, and its averaging over 14mpg. Once you get it figured out you've got a great towing platform. Good Luck.

 

sounds great. When you crest the top of the hill, the turbo is going to back off as there is no load.

 

right.. the question was, should I as operator HEAR that wind down whine/howl/sound.. enough to say, whats that?

 

I know I hear mine spin down, especially at low speeds. Have not noticed it while towing, though. I wouldn't worry about it.

You can probably sell those friction sway control bars to the next poor SOB trying to pull a large trailer with a short wheelbase truck!

I was really impressed when I first tried towing with my new '08. Coming from a 5.4L F150 I was really blown away.

 

I have heard that on mine, nothing to worry about though. Just remember don't shut it off for a couple of minutes if you pull into a rest stop/fuel stop. Give those turbo's a chance so cool off.

Couple of minutes is fine.

 

yeh, my wife laughed when we stopped for food on the way home after running for 2 hours non stop. I said I'd be in, in a minute after I waited for the turbo to cool down..

she said, what, that mean thing, you have to baby like that? Sheesh!..

Sam

 

So those twin turbo's on the 08'-10' PSD's put out like 35psi Boost ?,,Thats some pretty good Boost #'s,,,But I am use to my 06' 6.0 maxing at about 29psi of boost.

 

I read somewhere that the system is capable of 42 PSI, but I've never seen over 35 on mine.

 

Mine was between 3 & 4 on the scale, but don't know what that actually measures to.
so 35ish..

sam

 

Got to chime in here, gets my motor running when we talk towing.

1. I have tried, with all the weight I can throw at it (14-16K) and can't get more than 36 psi on the boost. According to my gauges I can get 36psi and just touch 1305 on the EGT. Stock numbers.

2. Turbo spool down and up is pretty loud and totally different sound than with a Duramax or a CAT. Might catch you off guard but I agree that it's likely nothing to worry about. Keep driving it and get used to it's behavior under load.

3. The MPG on a 6.4 vs. a 6.0 is like night and day. Don't compare them, us 6.4 operators really take it in the uknowwhat.

4. I just can not get used to how well these trucks handle trailers. The whole thing (suspension/chassis/cockpit/mirrors/transmission/powerplant) is just a dream. I have a little over 6K on my truck this September, all towing, 0% solo running. I am ready for more, no stress, no fatigue, just run it hard and don't look back. FYI, I have a 16ft, 20ft tag along usually in and under the 10K range and a 36ft fifth wheel enclosed cargo trailer that loaded puts me 14-16K. Done it all this month and lovin life.