1/2 ton pickup + 6000 lb TT on 5000 mi western trip

[texasAUtiger]

I'm looking for those who have experience and insight with a setup similar to mine on a trip similar to mine.

As shown in my sig, I have a 2011 F-150 SuperCrew, 5.0L V8 and tow a 6000-6200 lb travel trailer (it's 5000 lb dry). I have taken it on trips under 100 mi one way, but next summer am contemplating an epic, 5000+ mi round trip from TX-NM-CO-WY-MT-Canada-ND-SD-NE-KS-OK-TX spanning about 6 weeks. (Here is an extremely preliminary itinerary.)

The question is: can my truck do it? Meaning, at those elevations both safely (and preferably, in a reasonably stress free way) and for those number of miles without harming the truck? Of course, I'm thinking as much (or more!) about coming DOWN those mountains as I am going up them.

I realize all this may sound like a silly question, but I don't have any experience TOWING in the mountains and I suspect many of you have done trips with trucks and weights like what I've outlined here. I'm happy to draw on your wisdom and experience. Thanks!

[rightyouareken]

bbaker2001 wrote:
rightyouareken
thanks, your rig is very much like mine. My Gmc dealer said to change it at 50,000.
can you tell me your total weight you have. I find it so hard to load up for camping and stay under cargo capacity.
we are now on Oregon coast, love it

Hi there,

Here's a thread from a few years ago with our weights. The setup and loading has been pretty consistent since. We're able to stay just a hundred or two lbs under our gvwr with my wife and dog in the truck with me. We load the truck pretty light, putting most stuff in the trailer.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26733014/

[bbaker2001]

rightyouareken
thanks, your rig is very much like mine. My Gmc dealer said to change it at 50,000.
can you tell me your total weight you have. I find it so hard to load up for camping and stay under cargo capacity.
we are now on Oregon coast, love it

[rightyouareken]

Ford recommends a trany flush every 30,000 miles. With all the fittings. It is done in 20 minutes. Last place I took mine. Didn't have the correct fittings. SO, They dropped the pan, and changed all the filters for the same price as a flush. So I got NEW every thing at 60,000 miles

My F150's owners manual recommends transmission fluid and filter change at 150k miles, not 30k miles. Curious where you found that 30k recommendation. But 150k miles is hilarious. 30k miles seems extremely short though.

To the OP, I think with either 3.55 or 3.73 gears you'll be peachy. I've got 3.73 gears but my trailer is taller and heavier. I live in the hilly west and the truck does great. Did a two week trip through the Canadian Rockies last summer and it barely broke a sweat. We're heading out to Yellowstone for a week and a half tomorrow.

I am not sure if your transmission has the "auto downshift" when you brake in tow/haul mode, but I find that works great for getting down hills without using much brake. I generally put it in tow/haul, lock out 6th gear (again, not sure if your trans has that feature or not) and just let it ride. Enjoy the trip!

[hawkeye-08]

smkettner wrote:
It is a 2011 F150 not 1972.

X2

[Tystevens]

texasAUtiger wrote:

Tystevens wrote:

allen8106 wrote:
Your truck can do it but it won't be any fun towing. It's going to struggle mightily but it will do the job. I had a 2000 1500 Ram with the gas engine and towed a 32 foot TT from Walcott, IA to Wichita, KS and it was not a fun tow. Your only hope is that the fun stuff between the tows out weighs the not so fun tow.

No offense, but there is quite a difference between a 2000 Dodge w/ probably a 200 hp 4.7 (or maybe a 235 hp 5.9?) and a 4 spd transmission developed in the '80s, and a 380 hp 6 spd 2011 truck.

OP, you'll be just fine. Living in Utah, we tow similar grades/conditions all the time w/ our F150 and around 6500 lbs behind it, and it does the job quite well.

But you should have bought the Ecoboost! (just kidding ...)

Good luck!

Actually, I wish I had. If I recall correctly, this was the year the ecoboost came out and when I was shopping I didn't even know about them nor did the salesman pitch them. (Even if they had, I likely would not have wanted to be a first adopter.)

The next year my father-in-law who works for Caterpillar and their franchise owns and runs a lot of Ford trucks, their office all went with the ecoboost and raved about them.

What kind of speeds to you expect me to get on the bogger grades? (I'm not interested in racing up, just want to know to set a baseline for my expectations.)

Oh well. Maybe next time. Unless I go F250 SuperDuty diesel, that is. But that is an expensive jump up.

Thanks for the info everyone. It is just the type of input I'm looking for.

You will likely be able to go up any grades pretty much as fast as you want or need to. Towing with our '10 Suburban 5.3, I can keep it above 60 mph on virtually every interstate grade I have encountered. There are only a couple that I can't -- for example, the top of Parley's Summit just outside of SLC on I80 kicks up above 7% near the top, and we drop down to about 50 mph for a minute or 2. And the 5.0 in the F150 has 50 more hp along with a good torque advantage over my '10 5.3. So, on paper (I haven't towed w/ a 5.0, obviously), you should be just fine.

On the steeper and twistier back roads, it is the same story -- I can go as fast as I want to or need to. Usually, it is easier to maintain speed on the back roads, because you aren't pushing as much air at higher speeds, and you get the torque multiplication from lower gears. We have towed up to Mirror Lake (10,600 elevation, plenty of 8%+ grades on twisty roads with 20-35 mph rated corners), and the Suburban does just fine.

You just have to let the engine rev. Keep in mind that it makes its power well above 4k rpm. Honestly, that is the only thing that I don't like about towing with the Suburban (as compared to the Ecoboost) -- I'm around 3k rpm most of the time, and in the mountains it is more like 4-5000 rpm. Which tends to grate on me a little bit after a while.

I do love my Ecoboost, since you brought it up. The low rpm power delivery is just awesome for towing, particularly since I became accustomed to towing with a diesel. But the 5.0 should get the job done just fine.

[Tystevens]

bbaker2001 wrote:
question on upgrading trans cooler.
my 2009 gmc 1/2 has tow package and have made a few 2500 mile trips. tranny temp does go up. if i want to change or add another, who can tell me the best or biggest i can put on

i do hope net year to take a similar trip. hope you keep us informed

What kind of temps are you seeing? Likely, there isn't any issue. 220* really is not a problem with these trucks. Our '10 gets up to 220*+ on occasion when towing, a few times has gone higher than that, and it isn't a problem.

If your truck already has the K5L cooling package, I wouldn't swap anything out.

[bbaker2001]

question on upgrading trans cooler.
my 2009 gmc 1/2 has tow package and have made a few 2500 mile trips. tranny temp does go up. if i want to change or add another, who can tell me the best or biggest i can put on

i do hope net year to take a similar trip. hope you keep us informed

[texasAUtiger]

Tystevens wrote:

allen8106 wrote:
Your truck can do it but it won't be any fun towing. It's going to struggle mightily but it will do the job. I had a 2000 1500 Ram with the gas engine and towed a 32 foot TT from Walcott, IA to Wichita, KS and it was not a fun tow. Your only hope is that the fun stuff between the tows out weighs the not so fun tow.

No offense, but there is quite a difference between a 2000 Dodge w/ probably a 200 hp 4.7 (or maybe a 235 hp 5.9?) and a 4 spd transmission developed in the '80s, and a 380 hp 6 spd 2011 truck.

OP, you'll be just fine. Living in Utah, we tow similar grades/conditions all the time w/ our F150 and around 6500 lbs behind it, and it does the job quite well.

But you should have bought the Ecoboost! (just kidding ...)

Good luck!

Actually, I wish I had. If I recall correctly, this was the year the ecoboost came out and when I was shopping I didn't even know about them nor did the salesman pitch them. (Even if they had, I likely would not have wanted to be a first adopter.)

The next year my father-in-law who works for Caterpillar and their franchise owns and runs a lot of Ford trucks, their office all went with the ecoboost and raved about them.

What kind of speeds to you expect me to get on the bogger grades? (I'm not interested in racing up, just want to know to set a baseline for my expectations.)

Oh well. Maybe next time. Unless I go F250 SuperDuty diesel, that is. But that is an expensive jump up.

Thanks for the info everyone. It is just the type of input I'm looking for.

[Tystevens]

allen8106 wrote:
Your truck can do it but it won't be any fun towing. It's going to struggle mightily but it will do the job. I had a 2000 1500 Ram with the gas engine and towed a 32 foot TT from Walcott, IA to Wichita, KS and it was not a fun tow. Your only hope is that the fun stuff between the tows out weighs the not so fun tow.

No offense, but there is quite a difference between a 2000 Dodge w/ probably a 200 hp 4.7 (or maybe a 235 hp 5.9?) and a 4 spd transmission developed in the '80s, and a 380 hp 6 spd 2011 truck.

OP, you'll be just fine. Living in Utah, we tow similar grades/conditions all the time w/ our F150 and around 6500 lbs behind it, and it does the job quite well.

But you should have bought the Ecoboost! (just kidding ...)

Good luck!

[Grit_dog]

What old biscuit said!!
Remember wasn't too many years ago, no one had 6-900 ft lb turbo diesels with built in exhaust brakes to tow with.
I've put a lot of towing miles on in the mtns with Ford gassers and the 5.0 with the 6 speed is about top of the heap for gasser trucks IMO.
Preference = big diesel
Necessity= good half ton will do it.

[allen8106]

Your truck can do it but it won't be any fun towing. It's going to struggle mightily but it will do the job. I had a 2000 1500 Ram with the gas engine and towed a 32 foot TT from Walcott, IA to Wichita, KS and it was not a fun tow. Your only hope is that the fun stuff between the tows out weighs the not so fun tow.

[jerem0621]

IdaD wrote:

BroncosFan wrote:
Tundra and 17,500 lbs!:h
http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/tundra/349442-towing-heavy-17-500-lbs-s/?utm_medium=email&utm_...

At least he was keeping it down at 70-75 as he passed people on the highway.

Good God.

That was a terrible accident waiting to happen. I mean, if you are going to overload your truck please don't unload the front axle by MORE THAN 800 lbs on a Half Ton.

75 MPH!!!! 75??????

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[stevec22]

I am currently at Glacier Park in Montana. 2.5 months into a 6 month trip. From NW Arkansas to Carlsbad to Santa Fe to Las Vegas to Yosemite, then north through Idaho and then east to Glacier.

My TV is a 2005 Yukon (5.3L, 3.42 rear end) and a 5500 pound TT.

I have not had any real problems going up or down any any of the passes. Yes I did slow down to 30 in first gear on a couple of 5 or 6 mile 8% grades, but mostly maintained hwy speed on all of them.

You should have no problem with your rig.

[phillyg]

An F150 with a 5.0 probably has less than a 3.73 axle so you may be at the top end of the truck's ability to pull in the mountains. I'm not the weight police having towed an 8,400lb FW for a few years with an '04 F150, 5.4, 3.73 axle, but I never tried the mountains. Just be very careful and use your gears accordingly.