<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-size: 16px;color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I realize everyone has their own preferred answer. That said:<div>I've had our 2000 Ford F350 diesel since it was new. Heck, we've killed two trailers in that time. It'll hit 400K miles before the end of 2020 as long as we dont have any more races cancelled. It has a swaybar hitch that helps but an 18 wheeler passing can still cause it to get a upset and require a bit of opposite lock to keep it between the whites.</div><div><br></div><div>It's been quite reliable with the exception of AC systems and alternators. I now travel with a spare alt behind the rear seat of our crew cab model.</div><div><br></div><div>Previous tow vehicle was a Suburban. An uphill departure from a fuel or lunch stop made a lot of noise but very little movement for a few seconds. The F350 diesel is like a mule, say "go" and it does.</div><div><br></div><div>And yes, it's my around town daily driver.</div><div><br></div><div>I recall asking my sales guy when we ordered it from the factory if I should consider a dually. His reply was that I should only buy such a thing if I liked buying rear fenders or was going to tow a 5th wheel trailer. Shortly after that I started noticing lots of duallies with broken glass rear fenders from trying to turn in places just not quite wide enough.</div><div><br></div><div>Just my experience.</div><div>Mike <br><br><blockquote style="padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 0px; border-left: #0000ff 2px solid; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: black;">-----Original Message-----
<br>From: "Barr, Scott via Fot" <fot@autox.team.net>
<br>Sent: Sep 23, 2020 1:31 PM
<br>To: Amici Triumphi <fot@autox.team.net>
<br>Subject: [Fot] Tow Vehicle Musings
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Hi all,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">I’ve been towing a 24-foot toy-hauler style trailer for a few years now. It’s 14 feet of “garage” space in the back and 10 feet of RV in the front (toilet,
shower, fridge, kitchen area). All in, full of water, car loaded, it weighs about 9,500 lbs. I load the trailer so I have about 1,750 pounds of tongue weight, which is technically a little over the payload limit of the truck, but not too bad.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">I’ve been towing with a 2017 F-150, with a max tow package putting towing capacity at about 12,000 lbs. V6 twin turbo EcoBoost with 375hp and 470 ft lb torque.
I use a good weight-distributing hitch and a sway control strut. And I added Air Lift air suspension to help with the extra load. Generally speaking, the F-150 has been doing just fine. But when it’s windy the trailer gets a little tail-happy, wagging
enough sometimes to set off the truck’s automatic trailer sway alarm (it’s a big baby…).
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">So I’ve been trying to determine whether moving up to an F-250 super duty would make an appreciable difference in the towing performance. An F-250 is 1000-1500
pounds heavier than my F-150, depending on specs of both trucks. Is that enough to make a noticeable difference? Are there other factors that would make it that much better than an F-150?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">The F-150 with the twin turbo V6 and 10-speed trans makes for a nice street car, with reasonable mileage (about 19 average) – and it’s what I drive all winter.
The F-250 Super Duty will get considerably crappier mileage and will be a less friendly daily driver (I assume). Not to mention that my F-150 is pretty close to paid off and I’d be taking on another boatload of debt to move up to the F-250. Which is all
to say that the towing performance improvement would need to be considerable before I would make the move.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">What say you, towing brain trust? Is it worth the move?
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Scott (B.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</fot@autox.team.net></fot@autox.team.net></blockquote></div></div></body></html>