New to owning a truck and RVing

rightyouareken wrote:
A lot of people posting here have probably never driven a truck with the 5.0 engine and are being overly pessimistic in my opinion. This engine is rated at 360 hp and 380 ft lbs. My 5.0 tows my 7500 gvwr trailer very well. Power is not a concern. I've towed my trailer about 3,000 miles this year all around Oregon and Washington including over Snoqualmie Pass, up with 10 mile grade from the Columbia river westbound near George, Washington, over the passes on I5 in southern Oregon, and up the 10% mile long hill near my house. On all hills the truck has shown power to accelerate at will and maintain the speed limit without flogging it, with the exception of one grade on I5 in southern Oregon where I was foot to the floor in 3rd gear at 3500 rpm holding 55 mph. Held the speed but couldn't gain more on that one...was fairly steep. Otherwise I've never had the truck over 4,000 rpm over any of the hills and the truck NEVER feels sluggish or like its struggling. These trips were also pretty heavily loaded with at least 50 gallons of fresh water on board, so I'm sure I was near 7,000 lbs trailer weight.

The difference between our trucks is that mine is a 4x4 so a little heavier (7350 gvwr) so I have slightly less payload (1420 lbs). I also have 3.73 gears as opposed to your 3.55. Not sure how much that changes things.

But I'm confident some of these apocalyptic visions some are trying to give are nonsense. This engine has more power than nearly all half tons (and even some 3/4 tons) from just a few years ago, and the 6 speed transmission also helps tremendously.

Oh, and I've also averaged 10mpg towing those 3,000 miles. 17mpg mixed city driving unloaded. 20mpg highway unloaded.