I've been a lurker here for a long time till I bought my trailer last year and had questions regarding the procedures from the dealer, far as ethics go. I gave up on my dealer truthfully. But I did want to share my experiences with the trailer itself and why I went to an F250 from an F150. But a little about me, I am truck driver. I am what's called an Owner op. I understand the weight game pretty well and towing but let me tell you its not a direct cross over, but does help knowing it.
My trailer besides the bad propane line routing and a few issues (mostly dealer related) with some gaps that just required some caulking. It has been pretty decent trailer. I am going to be getting the A/C vents and system a bit better sealed up but truthfully, I have not had any major issues with it.
What I have done is gone to a dual 6 volt battery system for those long cold nights where the heater runs more often. I ran into a weird situation where the batteries that came with it new had the power to start the heater when the batteries were almost considered dead, but not keep it running. So it would start, then go into shut down almost right away. It would have done this till the batteries were gone. Also it made the trailer colder than it would have been if the heater just stayed off. This only happened right where the batteries were almost fully depleted. I could only get maybe a solid 18 hours out of them before it was time for the generator.
Another thing I ended up doing to the trailer is give it a solid greasing. Shackles and bearings. The bearings were fine truthfully but spring pivots were horrible, and I do have a wet bolt kit ordered for it. Just waiting for it to show.
Things I need to change is one, the tires. These are a Bias ply tire. I don't like them, they require higher air pressure and truthfully I just prefer radials. I do however believe the bias ply tires do offer a smoother ride in the bumps. Two I am adding insulation to the floor underside the trailer from the tandems back. Its a cold spot in the trailer and not that its not expected but If your sleeping up front and good with the temps you will be cold at night in the back of the trailer. I'm just trying to make it hold heat a bit better. Last thing I need to do is change the locks out. Its not keyed alike and I find it annoying.
Something to consider with a toy hauler is if you don't intend to use it like a toy hauler but enjoy the open floor plan, you are going to end up with a heavier tongue weight than if you actually load down the garage, accordingly of course. Toy haulers in general are easy to load and pack some pounds with so if you can I say load it. When I first got the trailer, I remember the tongue weight seemed much heavier than advertised. And my hunch was right. Its almost 1,000 lbs. With nothing in the garage other than a cooler, a bicycle and full propane, water and dual 12volt batteries. So when I loaded it with my F150 I would load some of the heavier gear on the tandems or back a bit to help ease the tongue weight. But you can do too much and create a sway problem with these lighter trucks. Do so with caution. Your only wanting to balance the setup.
Oddly enough I ran the exact same setup as another user on this forum. He has the platinum version of my trailer. Sorry forgot what the username was. 2019 STX F150 2.7 Eco boost with the same trailer. I run the blue ox sway pro with 1k bars. He is spot on with mpg, handling and weights (maxed). Only issue was my transmission temps were always warmer than I wanted, but I live in the northwest. The Motor never even thought twice. If anyone says the 2.7 cant tow, they just read magazines. But I do like my off-road toys, bikes, razors, jet skis and boats. I couldn't add to my setup I was out of room weight wise. Loaded up with gear to go boondock I was 13k. Maxed.
But, I did however switch to an 2021 F250 with a camper / snowplow prep with the 7.3 v8 Godzilla gasser. My GCWR is 23k with the way the truck is setup. I can run up to 15k trailer. I am using a blue ox sway pro with 1k bars on the 7th-8th link. My towing fuel mpg is 9. and not hooked up in the city no freeway is 11 and freeway driving is 14. I have not weighed the setup and truthfully probably wont. It just works well. My number 1 reason for the upgrade is simply weight capacity. When I'm not home my wife can load the trailer and truck, kiddo has all his toys and I know I'm good when we leave. That's it. I don't have to adjust for weight. The capacity of more toys and even being able to pull doubles ( I can talk about this later if there is interest) is nice but I do think not playing the weight game is just comfort. Not to mention it tows better too.
Anyways I enjoy a lot of the content on this forum and just felt it was appropriate to share my experiences for once.
2021 Cruise Lite 260RT and F150 to F250
Linear Mode
