Yeah, I'm a bit jealous! We were limited by the trailer type, GVWR, size, and stuff we could put in it! With two 5,200 lb axles and 24 feet of trailer to load stuff we had it about as heavy as we possibly could. I didn't go near a truck stop with a scale, but my best guess for weight with Matt's mower in the trailer was around 10,800 or so.

It still amazes me how well these trucks handle that amount of weight! I'd LOVE to try pulling 16K lbs!!!

 

How much can our trucks handle with a 5th wheel?

 

I know that my F250, Crew Cab is rated for 15,200.

 

Matt, your '06 as well as the '08+ trucks in our configuration are rated for 23,000 lbs GCWR.

Subtract our ~8,000 lb trucks would leave around 15,000 lbs 5th wheel capacity. Only 12,500 for conventional trailers with a WD kit, like we had on Sunday. We were safely within our limits.

Mike's and Andrew's trucks, however, are rated for 10,000 lbs trailer weight and 20,000 lb GCWR.

 

I have two. One is a 97 f250, reg cab, manual, 4.10 gear, 7.3. The other is a 2000 f250, reg cab, manual, 4.10 gear and 5.4. Neither of them has problems like the 7.3 in that video had. If I had that much trouble pulling out from a stop with a load like that then I would be hurting, because there are plenty of red lights around here mid-hill on at least an 8-10% slope.

Here is a picture of my truck in my parents driveway. Halfway up the hill going to their house. Me stopped on the hill. People routinely back out of their driveway and stop you on that hill(bunch of 80 year olds that take 10 minutes to pull out lol).

 

Wow, looks like quite a hill!

How much weight do you normally pull? I know that the 7.3L engine we pulled with had 250 HP stock. I also know that for the majority of the pull we were very close to the peak HP RPM. And it did 25 MPH at that RPM.

My truck had 100 more horsepower, and like the 7.3 completed the majority of the hill at peak HP. And it did it 10 MPH faster than the 7.3L truck. This sounds right to me.

Sounds to me like either we had a few more pounds behind us than you normally do, or that your truck is NOT stock. Or my '08, Matt's '06, and Andrew's '01 weren't running right.

But seriously, if we can get together and do this again you're more than welcome to come and play! We'd love to throw an OBS truck in the mix!

 

"How much can our trucks handle with a 5th wheel?"-We pull 20,000 pounds (hay bales and gooseneck) pretty frequently with mine and my dad's 7.3L's.

 

That is about the average hill around here. I get stopped on side roads or red lights like that all the time. Not once have I struggled to get up to 25 mph.


You see the camper in the first picture? That is the smallest trailer I pull and it is a 26' that weighs ~6k lbs. I used to pull trailers upwards of 15k lbs, but now the heaviest I pull is about 10k. Parking that camper is fun too. I can't pull it in forwards because the back bumper drags going from the road to the driveway too bad, so I have to back it up the driveway. Notice it is touching a tree on the side you can see. It's touching another tree on the other side too. Makes for a tight squeeze lol.

I'll pop the hood or let anyone check my truck any way they want to to verify that it is stock. The only mod that it has is a k & n air filter. Still has the cat, stock downpipe and exhaust too.

Next time I am up near Cincy I will definitely let you know.

 

Cool thread.. Thanks to all the guys that brought out their trucks to play and show us a real world comparison.

 

I thought that it was 235 for that year, up to 250 for 02?

 

Not completely sure but I think this is correct. I thought there were at least a few model years where it got 250 HP before it was discontinued.

It could have used a few more! Would have been very curious to try that hill chipped!

 

If you do,watch the EGT's-you'll cringe.
JL

 

I want to play. Lets do one with the theme of, run what you brong. All mods welcome and any engine is welcome, as long as it is the original engine in a SD. lol. That way you don't have to worry about a 7.3 with 235 hp against a 6.7 with 400 hp. May the truck that pulls the best win.

 

We actually planned a run with the 7.3 with the tuner turned up but it was starting to smoke so we only made one run with it.

 

What do you mean, starting to smoke? Are you talking black smoke out of the tailpipe?