What truck to tow with?

[wcampbell47]

I have a 2007 F150 2WD V6 that I am towing my B3200 with on an 18 foot tandem axle trailer. I have acquired a 6x10 dump trailer. I want to upgrade my towing vehicle. At present I am not looking to buy new. I drove a Ford V10 back in 2000 and was impressed with the power. There is a 2001 F350 4WD V10 for sale locally. It would be great to have a truck that gets good mileage on the highway and tows my dump trailer with 5 to 7 K of dirt. Is there such a beast out there? Let's don't start a truck bashing thread. Just looking for recommendations and/or experiences from owners. I owned an Isuzu 4WD diesel in the 80's. I had no complaints on the engine. Drove a VW Jetta TDI for 4 years and loved it. I sort of like the Duramax/Allison combination as I drove a 51 passenger bus many years ago with an Allison. Both my son's have Dodge diesels. One had to rebuild the transmission for a cool $3500. Your thoughts and recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have a 2007 F150 2WD V6 that I am towing my B3200 with on an 18 foot tandem axle trailer. I have acquired a 6x10 dump trailer. I want to upgrade my towing vehicle. At present I am not looking to buy new. I drove a Ford V10 back in 2000 and was impressed with the power. There is a 2001 F350 4WD V10 for sale locally. It would be great to have a truck that gets good mileage on the highway and tows my dump trailer with 5 to 7 K of dirt. Is there such a beast out there? Let's don't start a truck bashing thread. Just looking for recommendations and/or experiences from owners. I owned an Isuzu 4WD diesel in the 80's. I had no complaints on the engine. Drove a VW Jetta TDI for 4 years and loved it. I sort of like the Duramax/Allison combination as I drove a 51 passenger bus many years ago with an Allison. Both my son's have Dodge diesels. One had to rebuild the transmission for a cool $3500. Your thoughts and recommendations would be appreciated.

F150 Eco Boost. 17 in town and 23 highway while being able to pull 11,300# when properly equipped.

My father has a Super Crew 4x4 3.73 gears and since new its averaged over 18.5 mpg.

Chris

 

[Code54]

Great gas mileage and lots of towing power is a tough mix. The Eco-boost is a fairly new truck/motor combo so the price will be a bit higher but most people seem to like them. The V10 should have plenty of power but is not know for sipping fuel. The good thing is gas is cheaper than diesel.....
An older diesel will have the power to pull that load easily and sometimes can be found at a decent price. The fuel and upkeep is a bit more but you wont have any worries towing that is for sure!
I personally like the new Dodges but they don't get great mileage, and the prices are a bit higher. The 4th Gen tranny's seems to hold up a lot better than the older ones as long as you stay around stock power levels. They Chevy is also a nice truck and a lot of people really like the engine/tranny combo. There are a LOT of diesel trucks in my area that not abused and mainly used as daily drivers so finding a nice one is certainly possible. Heck you cant throw a stick around here and not hit a diesel 4x4.
Good luck on your search!

 

[Soundguy]

WC, I used to haul my tractors on a 16' car hauler type trailer.. I was always at or pushing or a lil over the 7k area... my tow vehicle was a dodge 1500 4wd w/ 5.9lmag v8 gasser.

I worked the snot out of that truck. it was a good truck.. I just constantly asked more of it than i should. I used e brakes...changed the oil every 3k..e tc. truck started getting a hair tired at about 200K. i finally sold it to work for some spare change ( good deal for both of us .. and i still get to see it every day.. ) i no more have to white knuckle it on odd loads or panic stops. If I load an odd shaped laod that is hard to ballance tounge.. i can also pull larger trailers.. much larger. I went for a ford 7.3l diesel, drw.. 99. I'll nver go back to a half ton if I can help it.

brand? I like dodge and ford. I'm sure if the ford had not come along.. in time I might have picked up a dodge 5.9 cummins s drw/3500.. so it's not specifically a brand issue. though i do like ford and the 7.3 has a good rep ( same with dodge / cummins ).

towing is an afterthought now.. not a constant nagging issue.

plenty of rubber on the road. plenty of weight.. that helps with stopping.. stability.. control.. etc. and the extra power is nice. as for fuel? the 7.3d gets no worse fuel economy than the 5.9 gasser.. so i'm no worse off.. just have 2 more l of engine power to help out on the loads.

oil change costs a lil more though.. that dodge for oil and air filter and 6qts oil at walmart was only 27$

the 7.3 likes about 15 qts oil.. and the filters cost more... but it's worth 2.5x the expendable quantity.. to me anyway.

as for drw and parking. I bet on average, per week.. it costs me no mor e than a minute or 2 picking out a parking spot...

 

[wcampbell47]

Thanks guys. Keep'em coming.

 

[Dmace]

My 10k GVWR 6x10 dump trailer weighs 1870 lbs empty. With the 6-7k loads your looking for, you'd be around 7800-9000. A decent 1/2 ton truck will pull that safely even if most think you need a 1-ton dually for 10k...
I know as I've done that load a handful of times plus 3/4 of that load many times with my "old" 03 RAM 1500 4x4 HEMI quad cab with 3.73's.
I've put my 4k lb tractor in that trailer as well and a 7400lb mini ex on a 16ft utility trailer. All in all, the "heaviest" load I've pulled with this truck by feel is the 5k 27ft travel trailer. Feels much heavier than it is at highway speeds.

With the dump trailer, there's much less tongue weight but a good WD hitch is nice.

Find a good 1/2 ton with the most powerful engine available and lowest gearing (highest numerically) and you'll be fine.

 

[94BULLITT]

I think you are probably on the edge of needing a 3/4 ton with a dump trailer. For ocasionl use you may get by with a 1/2 ton.

 

[wmonroe]

What is the gvw of the dump trailer? Any of the big three with an adequate tow rating will do fine for you, but a 3/4 ton will be a little more relaxing for you since it will be all around more suited to heavy work. They all make a few bad ones so just look at service records, how the truck was taken care of and buy what you are most comfortable in. Life is too short to buy a truck or tractor because it is popular but not what you really want.
My advice is worth about what you paid for it.

 

[wcampbell47]

What is the gvw of the dump trailer? Any of the big three with an adequate tow rating will do fine for you, but a 3/4 ton will be a little more relaxing for you since it will be all around more suited to heavy work. They all make a few bad ones so just look at service records, how the truck was taken care of and buy what you are most comfortable in. Life is too short to buy a truck or tractor because it is popular but not what you really want.
My advice is worth about what you paid for it.

The dump trailer gvw is 7k. I have had close to that with heavy gumbo and wet sand. My 1/2 ton V6 just seemed a little light. I have located a '95 Ram 2500 with V10 only 47k miles for under $4K. That price might let me keep my V6 for a run about and just leave the Ram hooked to a trailer.

 

[Case485Guy]

I have had both Ford and Dodge 1 ton diesels for hotshotting pulling 40' trailers, did that gig for about 15 yrs and had alot of trucks during that time. The dodges got the best MPG and repairs were cheaper on the Dodges in my experience. The last Dodge I bought was an 04', my father has it now with a little over 350k on it. Has had the tranny rebuilt 1 time. I have no real experience with 6.0/6.4 Ford or the 6.7 Dodges or Duramax. I do like the new Ford 6.2 gas v-8 we have in company trucks, those pull good and mpg is not bad. That said my next truck will be a Chevy or Ford 3/4 or 1 ton gas motor truck. Currently I have a 05 Chevy v-6 and it gets good mileage and tows good upto about 5k, but when stuff gets heavy I grab my fathers 1 ton.