First tow with the F250 6.2
 

Well, after crossing over the burning oasis threshold of the 1000 mile order (so says the manual) before towing, I hooked up to my 8.5 x 20 foot enclosed trailer. My truck had 1003 miles on it when I hooked her up. Now comes the moment of truth.

I assume that current or former diesel owners that are considering switching over to a gas engine would like to read this, because I was a former diesel owner and I welcomed real world comparisions by regular people (not magazines).

My trailer weights about 3200 pounds empty.

I drove it home and loaded up my wifes Camry on it. Total weight of the trailer with the car is approximately 7000 pounds.

This was a towing test only. I wanted to get a feel for the truck with my 7000 pound trailer hitched to the rear. Hauling a car is normally the heaviest load I will tow so I wanted to see how the truck would respond.

I towed it a total of about 70 miles 20-25 of it was city and the other 45-50 was on the highway. I chose a section of highway that has plenty of good hills to pull at Interstate speeds.

I've owned a 7.3 CC dually, and Excursion w/V10, and a 6.4 CC dually and pulled this same set up with them, so I will compare the 6.2 to them.

The 6.2 had more than enough power when pulling this load. I was able to keep up with very easy while pulling away from a stop, and in normal city traffic. When looking at the RPM's I saw most shifts were in the 3000 to 3500 range. Tow/haul activated. The exhaust note on the 6.2 sounds amazing but it's not loud. Actually it's pretty quiet IMO. So, for those looking for more hot rod sound you'll have to probably go with an aftermarket exhaust to increase the sound. A couple of times I gave it aleast 3/4 throttle and the RPM's went up to 4500-5000. The truck took off like the loaded trailer wasnt even back there. That was very impressive.

I was really impressed with the tranny and how it shifted. I did not lock out any gears during this test. I wanted to see how the computer would make the tranny shift gears. Upshifts and downshifts were extremely smooth. If I wasnt watching the tachometer so much I would have missed many of the shifts. I have 3.73 gears so when I was on the Interstate it shifted from 5th to 6th often when on hills. Normally I would just lock out 6th on the hills but I wanted to see what it would do. I watched my tranny temp the entire time and the highest it got up to was 196. It would then go back down to 190 which is where it is normally. I was able to pass cars going uphill with little effort. Now, I was not babying the truck one bit. I didnt abuse it either, but I was a little harder on it then normal. I had complete confidence in it's abilities so I pushed it a little. I average 70-75 mph the entire time with ease.

Steering was smooth and effortless. The brakes was very good also.

I thought all of the trailer info. on the productivity screen was cool also.

I dont know what my actual (hand calculated) mpg's are because I'm not completely finished yet. When I drop my trailer tomorrow I will post mileage numbers. The dash readout gave me an average of 9mpg's. With the same setup my 6.4 & the V10 gave me 7-8mpg's and the 7.3 gave me 10 mpgs driving at the speeds I was driving today.

To compare the 6.2 to the 6.4 or the 7.3 would not be a fair comparision because of the lack of a turbo. The 6.2 does not have the low end pulling power of the diesels and requires higher revs to move it along. It does this very well, but to the diesel guys it would seem that it doesnt have as much low end guts. The pulling power of the diesels are seen at 1600-2000 rpms where the higher end pulling power of this motor will be seen at 3500-4500 rpms. Because of this downshifts will occur more frequently on the 6.2. I topped one hill in 3rd gear running 65 mph cranking 4000 rpms. It was still very smooth, but that would take some getting used to for a diesel guy. One would think the motor would be screaming at 4000 rpm but it was still smooth and seemed to be in it's element. It wasnt loud at all.

Overall, I am very impressed with the towing capabilities of my truck and I'm looking forward to many good towing miles with it in the future. Towing with the 6.2 was even more carefree as it was with the V10, 7.3, & 6.4.

For those considering the 6.2 because the complexity of the new diesels, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Hand calculated mileage was 9.9 mpg average. (I think my mileage will increase as the truck continues to break in.) Which is much better than my stock 6.4 towing the same trailer, and weighing less. The best I ever had with the 6.4 was 9.0 going 60-65 mph. When I averaged 70-75 my mileage was in the 7 mpg range.

Attached are pics of my truck as tested.

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/DSC00383.jpg

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/DSC00389.jpg


http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/DSC00384.jpg

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/DSC00397.jpg

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/DSC00399.jpg

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/DSC00388.jpg

:-bigparty

Great review Front Runner:-drink
A big THANKS for posting up the real world info. By the way i like your trailer

dam that trailer is one big brick moving throu the air..

sounds like your truck is doing a fantastic job...

Thanks Fordmdb.

Fordfanatic4life, you are so right. I like the trailer, but it's not very aerodynamic at all.

Rep Points Given!
 

GREAT write up! Thanks for taking the time to post these REAL world stats!

Shows just how good the 6.2L and 6spd tranny work together. Very impressive.


biz

I am thinking of replacing my 99' V10 SD with a new 6.2.
I tow around 10K and I got no complaints with my present truck and 4.30's. Gets about 12-14 empty and 9-11 towing.
Soooo, would I be better off with the 4.30's again? I am a former diesel owner but the 6.0 forced me into a gas truck. And over the last 5 years its been a solid, reliable truck that costs nothing for maintenance.
And I want to repeat that!

4:30s for sure...

yep 4.30 is the standard. And it takes more seat time to get a good feel for the 6.2L
My first 3 mile impressions were the same :-X15 but after having some seat time , break in time and the tune ... now its :-D. My opinion of course...

Since you're used to having 4.30's for the V10, you'll want to stay with them for the 6.2. Any less wouldnt feel right in your case.

The 3.73 gears work really well for me because of my usage. I dont go very heavy except every once in a blue moon.

So it really depends on your usage.

Thats the thing. I only tow around 5000kms a year. But I only drive the truck 8 or 9000 km's a year as I have other vehicles to drive. Doesn't make sense to drive the truck to work or the grocery store.
I think any extra mpg would be nice but that hill into Deadwood is steep when your pulling a car hauler and truck.

Thanks for the write up. I am looking at buying a truck next summer. I was looking at getting a used 6.4 diesel. But for the same money I could get a new 6.2 gas. I currently drive a durrango and only get 6-8 mpg towing my 7k tt so I was leaning diesel along with more torque. It sounds like the 6.2 is getting just about the same mileage as the 6.4. With less maintence costs. I think I may have to look hard at the 6.2 and 4.30 gears. It was nice to hear what a 6.4 owner had to say about the 6.2! Thanks

I recently switched from a 6.0 to a 6.2....I echo the Front Runner's evaluation. I purchased a dually, Like mine so far.

Im also trading in an 08 6.4 diesel for the 6.2. I use the truck to carry a slide in truck camper which weighs 4000#s plus. The 6.4 has more than enough power to do the job but the milage isnt what I hoped for. I get about 12.5 to 13 with the camper on. The 6.2 is coming late Nov /early Dec. Im not expecting the same MPG as the diesel. Reading posts in other forums from guys with the 6.2 and campers Im thinking I'll get about 10mpg. If I get that I'll be happy, if I get a litle more I'll be VERY happy. As far as power off the line, maybe a little less with the gasser but the new truck will have a 4.3 rear, the old has 3.73 which might even things up a bit.
The diesel has treated me well, no problems at all. But I wont be sorry to loose the 3 minute wait before shutting down to cool the turbos, the 80 in parts for oil changes, 200 fuel filter changes(Ford), and 8 bucks per 125 gals of fuel in additive. I am looking forward to the turn key of the gasser, easier time finding fuel when traveling, plus moving from the supercab to a crew cab. And the new cabin interior setups are really nice. It would be great if I get to post in late December that Im also getting the same MPG as the 6.4 Im replacing. You never know.........

Anytime.

I would not buy a used 6.4 unless it was an extremely good deal and/or I knew the previous owner. There is just too much that can go wrong with that motor and its very expensive to repair. Be careful because you dont wanna buy someone else's headache IMO.

When I went from the 6.0 to the gasser I thought that the maintenance wasn't that big of a deal. But it is a huge deal and even more so with the 6.4. Although I bought a new 6.8 F350 last week the 6.2 will be the same for you. $20 oil changes and an air filter now and then.
Plus you will have a truck that you won't be scared to own out of warranty.