Towing with Ford V-10

[Scagsdale]

I've got a V-10 in my Georgetown 328 TS, and I tow a Jeep Wrangler. I've never had a problem, and I've passed diesels on grades. You'll be pulling high RPM doing it, but the V-10 is built to handle that. It'll pull 5000 rpm all day long. I don't even feel the Jeep back there. Been doing this since 2014.

[kenandterry]

I tell everyone the same stories I see here.....

I’m not the fastest guy going up the hills.....but I’m not the slowest. And that’s even when we’re loaded and we have the toad.

I’m retired. I’m on vacation and not in a race. No one in any RV should expect the best performance or mileage.

I see the Corvettes passing me. But when we catch up at the traffic light.....and we eventually do....I always ask how many does their vehicle sleep?

He does 0-60 in 3 seconds. I do 0-60 in 3 days.

[wahoonc]

Everybody needs to be aware that there are two versions of the V-10 out there. The one used in the F53 chassis is a 3 valve with 320hp/460ft-lb torque. The smaller motorhomes on the E chassis use a 2 valve 305hp/420ft-lb torque.

Not a huge difference by numbers, but I am sure it is enough to be noticed, not sure about the rear axle ratios. I know my E-450 uses the 4.56

Aaron

[rskeans]

All of the comments above are valid. I also loved my V-10 until towing in very steep mountains where you lose you RPM's. This only happened twice to me, the hwy 299 which is the subject of this thread, http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post2041043 , and the I-17 going south from Flagstaff. I also had no problem going up the Cajon Pass (I-15) north from San Bernardino, CA. Put it in 2nd and let it rev up to 5000 rpm's. The problem was only the steep mountain roads after you slow down on a curve. It's impossible to get the rpm's up on the torque curve. My load was 14,000 lbs with a 4.33 rear end.

You are not likely to have a problem on the Interstate. I don't remember why I had the problem on the I-17. Did I say the V-10 in an excellent engine?

[kenandterry]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Everybody needs to be aware that there are two versions of the V-10 out there. The one used in the F53 chassis is a 3 valve with 320hp/460ft-lb torque. The smaller motorhomes on the E chassis use a 2 valve 305hp/420ft-lb torque.

Not a huge difference by numbers, but I am sure it is enough to be noticed, not sure about the rear axle ratios. I know my E-450 uses the 4.56

Aaron

Just an FYI....
On my 2008 F53 with 5 speed tranny, my specs are 362hp and 457 ft-lb

Things got detuned with the 6 speed tranny lately.

[PondSkum]

Originally Posted by PondSkum

We recently got our 2018 Sunseeker 3050SF, which is 32 ft roughly. It has the E350 V10 chassis. Although I cannot answer your question about high altitude and steep grades, I can tell you that it does surprisingly well pulling my 2019 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited flat towing. And it also does very well pulling my 2001 Jeep lifted on 37's set up for rock crawling, on a 16' utility trailer with tools, spare fuel, spare tire, firewood, and loaded down cooler, (roughly 6500 lbs). This is in the hills of East TX and TX Hill Country, so the hills aren't really comparable to Colorado. But I was definitely surprised at how well it did.

For comparison, I went from a 2018 Ram 3500 Dually pulling a 38 ft, 15,000 lb fifth wheel toy hauler. So I was definitely worried about switching from the diesel to the gasser..

Edit: it's E450 chassis, not 350..

[MikeRP]

I had a 2012 Sunseeker 3010dsf. We flat towed a Jeep GC 2014 model at about 5000 lbs. Total Weight was 18500 lbs. 1) on a new engine after 10000 miles the motor runs much easier. I was coming back from a hard run to Colorado and back to Ohio when I call it the breakin happened. 2). I got 6.7 to 7.2 mpg towing and 8.5 mpg not towing at 65 mph. 3) I could accelerate up Jelico mountain in Tennessee towing the Jeep. But that most definitely wouldn’t happen up to the Eisenhower Tunnel. 3). You have to stop every 250 miles to fuel up. So fuel stops are a requirement to be planned. It can be loud at 3500 -4000 rpm. All those chassis ride hard. The V10 is one of the best most reliable motors Ford ever built with folks driving 500000 miles with little issues.

So if you can put up with the downsides they will last and from a mechanical view be cheap to run.

[Philkaty]

[QUOTE=rskeans;2041293]All of the comments above are valid. I also loved my V-10 until towing in very steep mountains where you lose you RPM's. This only happened twice to me, the hwy 299 which is the subject of this thread, http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post2041043 , and the I-17 going south from Flagstaff. I also had no problem going up the Cajon Pass (I-15) north from San Bernardino, CA. Put it in 2nd and let it rev up to 5000 rpm's. The problem was only the steep mountain roads after you slow down on a curve. It's impossible to get the rpm's up on the torque curve. My load was 14,000 lbs with a 4.33 rear end.

Unless some idiot in a car cuts you off!!!

[AlamoBob]

We went from a Dodge 3500 Cummins towing a 36.5' 5th wheel to a 35' class A towing a Jeep Wrangler. Our regular run is the California Grapevine and I-15 from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. We love everything about the V10 Ford drive train. We drive the hills conservatively based on the grade. We have a 5 Star tuner using a premium grade gas tune. That tune dramatically improved the driveability of the motor home.

[gdcoyle]

Hello.


I have a 2017 Thor Challenger 37YT. 38' Last fall I bought the equipment to tow my 2014 Wrangler Rubicon X Unlimited behind the RV. We went from Denver to Santa Fe, Grand Canyon, Back to Albuquerque and to Denver. did 2600 miles. This was our first time towing a car behind RV. We have towed a dual axel ATV trailer with 3 ATV's and Motorcycle with weight about the same as Jeep.



The RV did great pulling the jeep over Raton Pass and others near Flaffstaff.


We have not towed up Interstate 70 with the Jeep but we have many many times pulled the ATV trailer.


Prior to the new RV we had a 2003 Damon Intruder and pulled the same trailer all over the colorado.



Both RV's pulled well and never had issues or breakdown. Going up 70 from Denver yep your going slow. Same coming back from Dillon up that grade but the older one always made it.


The newer transmission 6 speed is much better as the old 4 speed would lose momentum from 1st to 2nd. the new 6 speed also has a breaking system for going down hill that is tricky to use but works well once you figure it out.



I would look at 2016 or newer to get the better transmission. That used to bug me alot.


I have never drove a Diesel RV but had a Ford Excursion new in 2002 towing a 30' trailer and that blew trans at 20,000 miles.


Save the money from buying a diesel and use if for gas money....you'll need it!


Gary

[Major Oz]

Originally Posted by frozen

This will probably generate conflicting responses, but here goes. Having towed various trailers with diesel trucks for many years, I'm considering a switch to a smaller (less than 40') gas motorhome. I'd be towing a 4500 pound Jeep. What I'd like FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE EXPERIENCE is, how well does the Triton engine perform when towing a car on hilly terrain, and more importantly, at high elevation like the more than 10,000' passes west of Denver?

I've been told that modern gas engines perform nearly as well as diesels. With the huge difference in torque, I'd assume that to be nonsense, and is probably coming from people who have no diesel experience, but I'm open to opinions.
Thanks.

We have run all over the CO Rockies with a V-10 MH. No problems. Just learn how to engine brake and watch the heat gauge.

[nc91]

The answer all depends on what you're trying/wanting to do. I've pulled for years now initially with a gas Suburban, then on to two different Ford Diesels and now we have a new 3171DS 32' motorhome. I can tell you from experience the diesels are wonderful to have but as you know, they're not cheap to maintain and fuel is expensive/hard to find at times depending on where you travel to. From a raw power standpoint the diesel is always going to do better going up the mountains but I have been extremely pleased with our v10. I have a friend that owns a towing company and swears by his v10's so I was willing to give it a shot. The newer (ours is a 2018) v10's with the 6 speed transmission perform every bit as good as our diesels. The transmission operates exactly like the F series diesels we had, and I rarely even tapped the brakes coming out of the mountains of NC on several trips. Yes, the v10 is loud at times because it has to turn such high rpm's but that's normal. We've also traveled over the NC mountains in the hot summer and I was initially scared so I turned off the chassis a/c and ran the gen and house a/c. No need for that, v10 kept cool as a cucumber up and down. Bottom line at least for our family of 5 and a dog, I can (and have) spent 15 hours per day on several occasions behind the wheel of our 3171DS and I could NEVER do that with a truck and trailer. Plus on top of all of this, it's a simple gas engine that I can work on, heaven forbid, if we have an issue. And, it takes gas that I can get anywhere in the US. Additionally, I get 8-9mpg towing either our Ford Fusion on a dolly or our Jeep Wrangler flat. You just have to keep it at 55mph and you'll be good to go. We've put over 7000 miles in 10 months on our 2018 and I love it more and more every time I use it. All depends on what you're trying to do.

[Wannabe123]

Perfect timing for this thread. Today my wife and I Looked at a 35’ class A with V-10 and was weighing the gas vs diesel. After owning 2 V-10 Ford F-250 trucks pulling trailers and 5-er to 15,000lb without any problems, even over the Rocky’s, I was worried of lugging the class A with a toad. I feel better after reading the previous posts.

[sherman12]

Thanks to WAHOONE for pointing out that not all V10 applications are the same. Class C rigs use a different V10 as does Ford pickups and cargo vans vs. a class A motor home. Also from an earlier post, the spark plug issue was wayyyy back in the early days of the V10 as it morphed from the problem child Ford 460 which was notorious for "welded in plugs".

Last summer I made a trip from WNY State to Mount Rushmore, SD, Deadwood, SD and Devils Tower in Wyoming. All three areas are over 6000 feet with Devils Tower being about 6800 +. Heading to our campground in Custer, SD there are several inclines of 8% and starting from a standing stop. Our rig in our signature pulling my wife's Kia at just under 4000 lbs. on a 500 lb. dolly had no trouble pulling the incline at 35-40 mph with the engine tacking right around 5000 rpm. No, my DW and I did not lose our hearing and yes we talked and sorta laughed our way up the hill. Downhill, Towhaul Mode and the tranny does a nice job keeping your brakes cool.

Between Deadwood SD and Spearfish SD, where our next campground, resort, was, there is a 9% grade that you get some run up to. I am really really amazed at the power of the V10 on grades this severe! Again, coming down the hill Towhaul Mode, or manually downshifting the trans. I am a believer of using the gear you up the hill is the gear you use coming down.

To the OP, yes you will probably have some initial disappointment is the towing performance of a gas V10 from your diesel rigs. However, as time goes on and you get used to the characteristics of your particular rig you will soon appreciate the Ford engine. Throw in the low low maintenance and cheaper fuel prices and I'm confident you too love your gas class A.

[rkracing]

I tow a 26' 13,000+ lb enclosed racecar trailer behind my 2018 Forester 2291S E450 V10. On flat ground I can run with the cruise on 73 mph all day long, AC on & get 7mpg. On hilly terrian I turn the cruise off to get a run at bigger hills to help keep the trans from down shifting. The V10 has great power & the new 6 speed automatic trans is wonderful! The 2 over drives allow for a real puller 4.56 rear gear. I did go to a trailer toad to keep the tongue weight & tire ratings under control. I give it a "A" for towing. Havent done any high altitude.

[goduc]

Fords stuffing the new 7.3 gas in the F53 chassis latter this year. That should be a nice improvement.

[Major Oz]

Originally Posted by goduc

Fords stuffing the new 7.3 gas in the F53 chassis latter this year. That should be a nice improvement.

And I am impatiently awaiting a REAL evaluation of that new engine in an RV.

[jas451]

We bought a 2009 F-250 v10 new (could claim sales tax $ that year).
Did alot of research at the time diesel vs gas....all the makes Ford, Chevy, Ram
were having alot of issues with diesels then (new fed rules I guess)....
We had 2005 F-150 5.4 pulling a 25' 4,500# trailer and were traveling up from N.M. into Colorado and the F-150 was doing it but it was really working...
my wife and I looked at each other and said "we need a bigger truck!"
Thus the v10.....I made note of during our route and travel to see if we
had to fuel up with diesel and if it was available...sometimes not so much.
So that coupled with some of the issues w/diesels at the time (and talking with some people who had diesels) went with gas. We now have a 26' 5,700 #trailer and no problems whatsoever. It is a 3v and mpg sucks, 8-9-10 mpg....doesn't seem to get as good mpg as when it was new, but I read on a forum once I believe that the 3v can foul the plugs, so I might change them even though I'm not even close to 100k. I put an aftermarket flowmaster exhaust on hoping that would help some, but very slight. Put a CAI on as well, hardly any difference plus it was way too noisy, so I put the stock back on. The flowmaster makes a little more noise under load but it's tolerable. With the stock exhaust you couldn't even hear the engine running. You had to look at the tach so see if it was running or not! I'm sure today the diesel issues have been addressed and I could go a different direction. I should point out that our 25' was a Hi-Lo and when we went to the 26' Salem Hemisphere that contributed to our poorer mpg.....(if I eased up on my heavy foot and kept it under the 70-75 mph would probably help!) but if I figure if I'm that concerned about the mileage I should be driving my wife's Prius.