Need help /input. We have a F150 5.4 and just bought a 23FB micro lite. Took our firs

[Cajun Po-Boy]

Originally Posted by steepgrade

Jammer3025, Yes, it's a 2014 2500 4x4 6.7L cummins diesel.
It's an awesome truck! Congrats to you too

Great purchase...Once you go diesel, you'll never want to tow any other way! ENJOY!

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by Cajun Po-Boy

Great purchase...Once you go diesel, you'll never want to tow any other way! ENJOY!

I tow with an Ecoboost now after having a 7.3 and a 6.7 PSD. I love the EB. No way I'd try pulling what I do with a NA V8, though. The 6.7 clearly pulled better, but was NOT happy putting around town and doing the short 3-5 mile drives that I do for the majority of my driving.

[CLT]

The new 2015 Expedition is going to be Ecoboost. Can't wait!

[BuckeyeChuck]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

our F250 SuperDuty only has the 5.0 L -- what a DOG! Can't pull up hill unless the engine is reving at 4K + and the semi's are passing me. 9 mpg and I still have to open the driver's door and push with my foot!

First and last Ford truck I'll ever own.

Any brand of truck with that small of an engine will suck at towing not just Ford. Dont blame Ford for a poor choice of engine.

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[Steelframer]

It's not the truck that's the dog, it's the engine size. Not beating you up at all, I pull our 274 dbh with a jeep commander 5.7 that revs up to 4g also on steep hills and gets 9miles per G pulling through the bluffs of WI/Minn. That's what I have, That's what I can afford. No worries to the weight police, I'm under weight, and I've been a professional driver for eons.

[BuckeyeChuck]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

You're doing about average. My uncle in the UK towed a 5400-pound travel-trailer behind a 1.5 liter, 55 horse-power Austin sedan all over Europe for over 25 years. He got about 14 miles per Imperial gallon, which was about 1/3rd of what it got without the TT on the hitch.

Can you imagine what the weight police on the various forums would make of his exploits? The only time I saw anything even more improbable was when I was still in my teens. The family (Mom, Dad and three kids, including me) went "caravanning", towing a 23' Eccles TT behind our 1938 Austin 12 (1.6L L-head 4-banger, 40 horse-power on a good day). We were at a campground near Southampton (South coast of England, about in the middle) when a young couple pulled in. They were towing a 36' house trailer behind a 1949 L-head Morris Minor, which might have had 25 HP on its best day.

Turned out, he'd been laid off from a job on the north coast of Scotland and had landed a job in Southampton. The house trailer was their home and the Morris was their only vehicle, so they'd just hitched it up and hit the road.

He said they'd had to turn back a half-dozen times and find a route with easier grades, but they had made it all the way (over 400 miles) with no mishaps. When I hear folks ranting on about idiots in the US towing these "monster" 30' TTs behind puny little 6.8-liter V-10 pickups, I have to smile a bit.

FYI, my '03 Kia Sedona minivan is rated in the US for a 3500 pound max tow weight. The identical vehicle in the UK, with the same 4-speed automatic transmission and the same 3.5-L gasoline V-6 is rated to tow 3000 Kg (6600 pounds!) Can anyone explain the difference?

LOVE IT!!! Some people need a F350 Powerstroke Diesel to pull a 10 ft. Pop up.

[zackbo]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

You're doing about average. My uncle in the UK towed a 5400-pound travel-trailer behind a 1.5 liter, 55 horse-power Austin sedan all over Europe for over 25 years. He got about 14 miles per Imperial gallon, which was about 1/3rd of what it got without the TT on the hitch.

Can you imagine what the weight police on the various forums would make of his exploits? The only time I saw anything even more improbable was when I was still in my teens. The family (Mom, Dad and three kids, including me) went "caravanning", towing a 23' Eccles TT behind our 1938 Austin 12 (1.6L L-head 4-banger, 40 horse-power on a good day). We were at a campground near Southampton (South coast of England, about in the middle) when a young couple pulled in. They were towing a 36' house trailer behind a 1949 L-head Morris Minor, which might have had 25 HP on its best day.

Turned out, he'd been laid off from a job on the north coast of Scotland and had landed a job in Southampton. The house trailer was their home and the Morris was their only vehicle, so they'd just hitched it up and hit the road.
,
He said they'd had to turn back a half-dozen times and find a route with easier grades, but they had made it all the way (over 400 miles) with no mishaps. When I hear folks ranting on about idiots in the US towing these "monster" 30' TTs behind puny little 6.8-liter V-10 pickups, I have to smile a bit.

FYI, my '03 Kia Sedona minivan is rated in the US for a 3500 pound max tow weight. The identical vehicle in the UK, with the same 4-speed automatic transmission and the same 3.5-L gasoline V-6 is rated to tow 3000 Kg (6600 pounds!) Can anyone explain the difference?

This post was so refreshing for me. Im towing a 26' with a Tacoma. Im within all the weight limits, but I get treated like a mass murderer who is going to kill his family along with everyone else on the road around me, on all the forums. It made me so paranoid I was afraid to hitch up the first few weeks after purchasing my TT.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by zackbo

This post was so refreshing for me. Im towing a 26' with a Tacoma. Im within all the weight limits, but I get treated like a mass murderer who is going to kill his family along with everyone else on the road around me, on all the forums. It made me so paranoid I was afraid to hitch up the first few weeks after purchasing my TT.

No surprise, the wt police believe if you tow anything over 20' you need at least a 1T or 1.5T and anything over 28' you need a Peterbilt, Mack or Kenworth otherwise you will injure everyone, be a hazard on the highways and be liable for lawsuits out the yingyang.

[BuckeyeChuck]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

No surprise, the wt police believe if you tow anything over 20' you need at least a 1T or 1.5T and anything over 28' you need a Peterbilt, Mack or Kenworth otherwise you will injure everyone, be a hazard on the highways and be liable for lawsuits out the yingyang.

Amen, brother!!

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[F and E Damp]

Zackbo:

Glad you liked my story. My Aunt and Uncle were avid TT users. They belonged to the "Caravan Club" in the UK (caravan being the term for travel trailers over there) and were out almost every weekend to a rally somewhere in the UK. Uncle finlly got fed up of the performance on the 55HP Austin and went really wild and got a 2-liter, 90 HP TV! They went all over Europe with both TVs, towing a fairly heavy 18' TT and they loved it. Sure, it was a bit slow in the Alps, but they got there!

My current family car is a Kia Sedona, 3.5L V-6. It's limited in the US to a max tow weight of 3500 pounds. In the UK (and I think in Europe), it's rated to tow 3000 Kg (6600 pounds).

Most serious TT folks in the UK tow with Land Rovers and Range Rovers. I remember going to rallies with my Uncle's family and seeing the old 2-liter short-wheelbase Land Rovers towing 28-foot TTs (not very quickly, I must admit).

On one occasion, we were on vacation near Southampton when a family pulled in, towing a 32' park-model trailer behind a 1950 Morris Minor. The trailer was their family home and the Dad has been laid off from a job on the north coast of Scotland and had landed a job near Southampton.

The Morris was their only car, so they'd rigged a towing bracket and moved the mobile home close to 600 miles. That old car had an L-head 950cc engine which probably put out 30 horsepower on a good day. It's hard to imagine the trials they suffered.

I think there's some sort of conspiracy in the US to con TT owners into running much too thirsty vehicles to tow their trailers.

[SKnight]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

I think there's some sort of conspiracy in the US to con TT owners into running much too thirsty vehicles to tow their trailers.

Yes, there is. It's called litigation and is organized by lawyers.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by SKnight

Yes, there is. It's called litigation and is organized by lawyers.

You forgot the FRF Weight Police.

[SKnight]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

You forgot the FRF Weight Police.

That's an independently franchised subsidiary!

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

Zackbo:

I think there's some sort of conspiracy in the US to con TT owners into running much too thirsty vehicles to tow their trailers.

It's not a conspiracy. There is a huge difference between towing on the back roads of eastern North Carolina or South Carolina and going from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe in the traffic on I-80, or even worse, going across the Rockies in Colorado on I-70.

I've been there with under-powered and under-cooled and under-equipped tow vehicles. I've also had my transimission seize up from over-heating while on the upgrade to the Eisenhower tunnel (elevation 11K) on I-70 in Colorado. I've nearly had a 5000lb sailboat roll sideways off the trailer when the sway got too violent coming down an overpass in Florida - bent the trailer cradles pretty good.

Having learned the hard way (why I can't learn from other people's mistakes is something I have to change), I've found towing within recommended limits avoids those white-knuckle moments, having to change my underwear so frequently, and is a lot easier on the wallet long term (no unexpected breakdowns).

I have a 2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan (rebadged Kia Sedona) with the US 3500lb tow rating. I tow a FR A122 (base model, no front storage or toy area) in Colorado - about 2500 lbs actual. I had to install a WDH to make the ride comfortable and safe for the family, and ensure I didn't have sway when I had to maintain highway speeds in traffic. I wouldn't want to go anything heavier with that particular tow vehicle - but then I want to be able to maintain 50+ MPH going up the grades (on the straights) at 9000ft so that I'm not blocking traffic excessively.

As an engineer, I think the real reason for the reduced US ratings is the speeds (and associated stresses and strains on TV frame, suspension, brakes, engine) expected by US drivers in hilly and mountain areas. For living in the Rockies, I find the US tow ratings to be entirely reasonable - and NOT to be exceeded.

A question for the experts. I was in a Ford dealership a few months ago, eyeing the new Explorer. I noticed the footnote that said the Eco-boost engines were rated based on premium (92 octane) gas. Do they run well on regular? Or is premium needed to run decently because of the turbos?

Fred W

[B and B]

I am too use regular in Canada on my Ecoboost. I do put premium in when my favourite filling station is selling it for regular price when they run out of regular.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

our F250 SuperDuty only has the 5.0 L -- what a DOG! Can't pull up hill unless the engine is reving at 4K + and the semi's are passing me. 9 mpg and I still have to open the driver's door and push with my foot!

First and last Ford truck I'll ever own.

Originally Posted by BuckeyeChuck

Any brand of truck with that small of an engine will suck at towing not just Ford. Dont blame Ford for a poor choice of engine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Forest River Forums mobile app

The 2010 F250 never had a 5.0L engine. It had the 5.4L and 6.8L gassers and the 6.4L diesel.

To the original question, I've averaged about 9.5 mpg in the 3 years with my setup below.

[another_newfie]

I run regular towing or not. I've tried premium and while it does make a difference not enough to justify the cost differential for me.

FWIW I've pulled my 5'r up and down the mountains of V and VW without once feeling like I was underpowered or undertrucked. To each their own though.

[036.6turbo]

My truck is an 03 Duramax. Pulling this enclosed snowmobile trailer 6,500# fully loaded, I would get 14mpg HWY. Cruise set to maintain 1850 rpm (66MPH). Notice how narrow it is, with an extreme "V" nose. This trailer never broke any air for itself. It rode in the slipstream of the truck.



Fast forwaed to the Work and Play I'm pulling now, same RPM (speed), 10 mpg. It wieghts 11,000#, and does push a lot of air. I washed dead bugs off of the front panel, after the last trip. I never had any dead bugs on the red trailer.

[steepgrade]

Some of y'all are getting great mpg for the load you're hauling.
I will have to see if I can tweak my driving habits to get better mpg.