Newbie question

The EcoBoost has plenty of towing capacity. But what we ran into with pulling an 8000ish loaded bumper pull toyhauler was a lot of sway issues. The F150 was just too light to stay grounded, no matter what we did for the set up in terms of adding airbags, WD hitch, Equalizer, driving slow, etc. Had a few scary incidents that made it enough for us to upgrade to an F250, which worked great, and now we have an F350 dually (which was purchased more for a future trailer vs the one we have now).

And, for the record, when we did tow with it, we got 9mpg. We get 12-13 with the 350, plus it has a much larger gas tank so we don't have to fill up every 2 hours.

cycler wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Point of fact, we would not be on the road full time, but, plan to take 1-2 week vacations, maybe 8-10 times a year.

That's actually a lot of time on the road. Get the diesel. I don't know anybody who has ever been sorry for getting a diesel. Diesels last an eternity. The truck will fall apart around the engine. I sold my first one after 12 years to upgrade to a bigger one. My old diesel was having problems with things like power door locks. The engine was will running great though after 200k miles.

Either way, have fun. :)

The 6.2 gas V8 with 4.30 gears in the newer F250/350 should be a good puller.

Good choice. A bit more oomph but still a reasonable day to day vehicle.

Just a quick check in here, once again appreciate all who shared their personal experiences/knowledge with me. For me, personally, it comes down to will the new gas engine F250s, do what I want it to do. It appears from the responses I gathered here and over at ford-trucks.com, it will. Like I mentioned other factors, mostly, the truck will also double as a daily driver, although I will be retired, so who knows how much I will really use it on a day to day basis. Plus the cost of a diesel, anyway, thanks, Cycler

cycler wrote:
Boogie 4Wheel and bvereshagen, thank you both for you replies. Boogie 4whl, I see you have an older Dodge w/Cummins, do you think your mileage would be better with the newer models?

I think newer diesel mileage would be similar. When the DPF's first came in to play ('07.5 6.7L Dodge, 6.4L Ford, '07 new body style GM), the fuel economy really took at hit because of the added fueling required to burn the particulate filters clean. With the addition of DEF, economy numbers have come back up a lot, and the taller overdrives have made them just as, if not more efficient than the older diesels, and they have more gears and more power.

My parents have a '14 Cummins (4wd, dually, 68RFE, 3.73) pulling a horse trailer, and GCW of around 25k. 65-70mph their economy is sub-11, but I do not know the exact numbers. I've used that truck to pull a 24' goose flat bed (once loaded with 45hp tractor, once empty) across country, running 75+, and while it drank DEF, it was in the low teens. I would expect that truck to get comparable economy numbers as my pre-emissions truck with my trailer, and it has more power, more gears, and more comfort. There is also more to fail.

I know what the expense would be for certain parts on my truck if they fail (no major issues so far), and a newer one would only be more expensive; I would love to own a new(er) truck until something went wrong. The same applies in the other direction, a 2nd Gen Cummins is even more simple than my 3rd Gen, and the 2nd Gen is cheaper on parts (just compare the cost of an injector for example). This is why I fall back on saying if I were to go get a new truck, I'd most likely go with a big block gas. I would have to shift a little more, and burn a little more fuel, but it would get the job done just fine. I have no intentions of getting a larger trailer at this point in my life.

I know two people W/TH using 1/2 tons. They both wish they had at least a 3/4 diesel.
Doesn't matter if you buy a camper or a trailer, more truck is needed for what you want to do.
None of them get good mileage towing, but diesel will do better than gas.

When you drive in the mountains, there is no comparison between gas and diesel. Especially on steep downhills, the diesel shines with an exhaust brake.

Take your time and enjoy putting the pieces together.

Appreciate all who replied. I am wanting to go F250 w/gas motor, as the truck will be my daily driver. Do have concerns about travelling western states. Also a concern is my daily drive is hardly more than 6-10 miles one way. Keep those comments/suggestions coming, real world experiences/info is appreciated.

op wrote:
Bvereshagen, I obviously misread the towing capacities, I will double check, thanks for pointing that out. However, I am still uncomfortable putting that kind of strain on a 1/2 ton truck.

Looks like the newer F150 with a reg cab 141" wb 3.55 gears 3.5 EB engine can tow up to 12100 lbs per Fords towing guide. The 17000 lb figure is a gcw number (truck/trailer) from the same spec pages.

No more trailer than your pulling a 1/2 ton gas truck such as a
Dodge/Ram with the 5.7 hemi 3.92 gears or..
The F150 with a max tow or HD package 3.5 EB or 5.0 engines 3.55 gears..
Newer model GM 1500 with the 7600 max tow package and higher rated RAWR and 3.73 gears.....

Or older gen diesel 2500 truck as others have indicated.

If you're looking at older trucks, get one with the diesel. The older diesels are simple, rugged, get great mileage and have plenty of power. Especially look for the Ford 7.3 Powerstroke, Dodge/Cummins 5.9 and GM Duramax 6.6 diesels.

If buying new or near new, the newer gas engines make plenty of power, are wayyyy less expensive to buy than the diesels, get descent mileage and are much less expensive to have repaired than the new diesels.

If you want an F150, get one with the HD Payload package, Max Tow package and Ecoboost engine. F150's without the HD Payload package run out of payload capacity quickly, especially if the truck is crew cab and 4wd.