Hello all,

I currently own a 2015 Silverado 2500 crew cab, long bed gasser. I pull a fifth wheel camping trailer that's between 11k and 12k pounds loaded. I tow perhaps 1k-2k miles per year between April and Nov. So yeah, not a whole lot of towing.

Most challenging tow I have with this setup is pulling through the hills up in the Adirondacks which I find is not too bad at all. I don't have any issues with pulling. Of course I've never towed with a diesel so I'm sure this is a case of "ignorance is bliss".

My issue is with payload right now. My truck has a max payload of 3,070. I'm probably real close or just over that with my family of 5 and a dog in the truck. I need more payload for my own piece of mind as it pertains to safety.

The F-350 6.2 I spec'ed out and handed to the dealer gives me 4,480 lbs. of payload. Awesome! The max tow is 15,900. That's 2,900 lbs.more than my truck so again, great! So if my Chevy handles pulling this fine I don't see why the F-350 wouldn't. Why am I going Ford you might ask? Because they are really sharp looking trucks and I'm in need of a change of scenery. And the best in class capabilities doesn't hurt either.

Here's the possible issue. My wife has her eye on a fifth wheel that's about 1k heavier fully loaded than the one I'm currently pulling. So 13k pounds.

I think I'm still looking good for the 6.2. What do you guys think?

Please keep in mind before recommending a diesel for my situation that this truck is also my daily driver and I work only 8 miles from home. And again, I'm only towing at most 2k miles a year.

Thanks all!
Chris

 

Make sure to get the F350 6.2 with 4.30 gears.

 

Howdy and welcome to the best Ford forums on the 'net! Yes, I think you'll be more than fine. Since you are currently towing with a gasser, you are likely familiar with needing to let the engine rev to get in it's prime power band whilst going up steep grades. It's the same with these 6.2L engines. And for the record, these 6.2L Bosses are amazing. It looks to me liked you spec'd out your F350 with 4.30 gearing, SRW, and 6.75' bed? We got our truck off the lot and it came with 3.73's. If I could change one thing, it'd be to get the 4.30's, even so this truck is absolutely amazing and for us, the 8' bed is a must.

Our truck details are in my signature - it's rated to tow up to 12,100 pounds and has a payload of 6,112 pounds (dually gassers are rare these days but their payloads are amazing!). During the summer months up here we camp a lot, hauling very heavy and also towing our UTV. Our situation is a bit different than yours but I think it similar enough that our experiences may help you. Our TC (truck camper) weighs in at ~5,600 pounds fully loaded. The UTV + trailer weight is an additional ~2,000 pounds. Adding the wife, son, and dogs in, and we're sitting very close to our GVWR of 14,000 pounds, and also close to the GCWR. The truck has handled it beautifully, even going over Thompson Pass, near Valdez. Here's the one caveat and this is no BS - fuel mileage while towing/hauling is going to suck. Our truck, fully loaded as described above, averaged 8.4 mpg to/from Valdez (~730 miles total). A similarly optioned and loaded (hauling exact same camper but w/o UTV being towed) 6.7L diesel F350 averaged 11.3 mpg coming up the Alcan last summer.

Your driving style, headwinds, etc, will factor in heavily but just don't go into it thinking you're going to get double digit mpg's while towing heavy. Although if you're getting a SRW, you should get 1-2 mpg's better than I do. Hope this helps. Post pictures when you get your new truck and feel free to stay around!

 

The F250 transmission has lower gears as well. Camper package puts F350 springs in the back and one up in the front, but doesn't increase the registered payload.


Worth considering the F250 with 4.30.

 

If you can tolerate a crew cab long bed go for it. You get a 48 gallon fuel tank with it. Like said previously get the 4.30 gears and one ton. You lose a little payload with the long bed but maybe a couple hundred pounds. You will love the Ford transmission that is for sure.

 

Thanks guys. I did indeed spec this out just as you said there Alaskan. I currently have an 8 foot bed on the Chevy but it's just such a PITA to park that I'm really considering the 6.75. We'll see. I would probably end up kicking myself for not getting the 8 ft when we go camping. There are many times I use every square inch of those 8 feet. Still up in the air on that one. Also, yes I will be doing the 4.30 rear absolutely.

The towing example you gave really isn't all that bad compared with the diesel. About 3 mpg worse with the 6.2. I'm no mathematician but that may just about even out considering the higher cost of diesel fuel.

 

And the fact the 6.7L diesel is a $9,000 up front option. For us, I also didn't want the PITA of a diesel in the frigid cold up here. We'll sometimes do winter camping and I need my rig to reliably start at -20 and colder even if not plugged in. Everyone's situation is different but I do believe you'd find the 6.2L to be just fine in the scenarios you gave. In the end, you won't truly know until you do it.

 

Here gas is $1.96 and diesel is $2.94. If the diesel gets 12 mpg any gas gets 8 both would yield
$0.245 per mile fuel cost. Absolutely no cost savings for the diesel at these prices.

 

 

But the diesel makes so much more power at a much lower rpm

 

 

I just towed our 5ver that weighs about 12.5 K lbs with all the Xmas presents we were hauling threw the Smokey & Blue Ridge Mountains over Xmas with my F250 with 6.2 & 4.30 gears just fine,, Double pulling with ATV/Trailer also great.. Averaged 7.5 mpg..

 

Get the 6.2L with 4.30 gears and you'll be very impressed. Do not lug the engine; let it run up into the rev band. These 6.2L engines are "over-square" with a bore much larger than the stroke; they rev willingly and they rev well.
Even if you get the larger 5vr for your wife, you'll still be fine and have plenty of pulling power.

You will never need the diesel option; your indicated loads, the fairly low amount of towing annually, and the MUCH cheaper cost of the gas engine and fuel will make the 6.2L engine the right choice many times over. I came out of a 2006 Duramax into the 2018 6.2L gasser and I LOVE it. There's no way I could justify a new diesel today; the extra initial cost (about $9500) and the added maintenance costs, not to mention long-term reliability issues, make the gasser the right choice for most people.

 

What I haven't seen mentioned is the 5th wheel hitch prep package. If you're pretty sure there will be a 5th wheel in your future, get it. I'm sure the price has increased, but the sticker on my 2017 shows it as a $370 option. Then you can get a hitch that just drops into the factory pucks in the bed. No drilling, no rails. You also get a 7 pin connector inside of the bed as well as the one on the rear bumper.
As mentioned, fuel mileage when towing with these gassers is not fantastic. Towing a 7x18 enclosed with 4 Harleys, tools, spare tires, luggage for 4, etc. I was in the 8-9 MPG range from the NY/Canada border to Daytona. Local driving is generally 12-14. It sounds like the diesel may be a bit of overkill and not worth the $9k in your situation.
But as someone who owned 2 of the previous edition F250, the ride and cab quietness of this truck is miles ahead of them.