Forum Discussion

Kampfirekid's avatar
Kampfirekid
Explorer
Jul 10, 2020

Anyone Towing With a 3.0L Powerstroke?

Maybe I can’t get the search function to work properly, but I see no one posting experiences towing with an F-150 with the baby diesel. Curious what the experiences are. If you Have one and tow a travel trailer, please respond with your trailer weight, tongue weight, and your impressions.
Thank you.
  • blt2ski wrote:
    Calicajun wrote:
    I used to tow a 31' TT (7,200 loaded)with a 3.0 Diesel in a 2014 Ram Eco Diesel. It did a good job though going up 7% the sweet spot was 50mph.


    Not sure of HP of said motor. Assuming 200-225 as many are rated at. You need 135 HP to motor at 60mph on a level, then an additional 40hp per 1%increase in road grade. So frankly, depending upon hearing 50mph on a 7%grade is about as fast as one should expect to be at with said motor.

    Marty


    When I said sweet spot, 45-50 mph going through the Shasta mountains. The truck would do 65 up grades but that required pushing the tachometer up and on my truck it reported that back to Ram. Current truck never slows down. :)
  • bikendan wrote:

    I'll keep my F150 3.5 Ecoboost with 1828lbs of payload capacity, over his diesel F150.


    Over a fictitious payload number? Lol
  • Stephen W wrote:
    I have a close relative that tows a late model 26' Salem TT with an F150 4x4 Lariat crew cab 3.0 diesel. He's towed it all over the South and out thru Utah and Colorado with no issues. He really likes the truck and says it gets around 25 mpg solo and 14 mpg towing. His previous tow vehicle was same model truck with a 3.5 Eco-Boost, and he said both trucks tow his TT about the same.I did notice the diesel payload sticker was pretty low, around 1100 pounds, I think. Must be a result of all the options, including a huge sunroof and power running boards. Hope this helps.


    My payload exceeds your relatives by 300#, but I’ll be close to max payload anyway. Once before, I was in the same situation, but resolved it with careful loading of the trailer, and used a Sherline scale to confirm weights. I had nowhere near the pull power that my 3.0L has today, so I think I’ll be... okay. We don’t do long trips, but I can’t see getting a new Superduty for towing this trailer 10x a year. If I need to, I won’t go diesel again. My problem is I still drive 40k+ a year and 14mpg with a gas Superduty would kill me. I’m used to 25-27mpg with my 3.0L.
  • Stephen W wrote:
    I did notice the diesel payload sticker was pretty low, around 1100 pounds, I think. Must be a result of all the options, including a huge sunroof and power running boards. Hope this helps.


    I also tow 26' TT. It's loaded tongue weight is 800lbs. So with the 100lbs WDH, his truck would only have 200lbs left over. He's probably over payload.
    I'll keep my F150 3.5 Ecoboost with 1828lbs of payload capacity, over his diesel F150.
  • I have a close relative that tows a late model 26' Salem TT with an F150 4x4 Lariat crew cab 3.0 diesel. He's towed it all over the South and out thru Utah and Colorado with no issues. He really likes the truck and says it gets around 25 mpg solo and 14 mpg towing. His previous tow vehicle was same model truck with a 3.5 Eco-Boost, and he said both trucks tow his TT about the same.I did notice the diesel payload sticker was pretty low, around 1100 pounds, I think. Must be a result of all the options, including a huge sunroof and power running boards. Hope this helps.
  • Calicajun wrote:
    I used to tow a 31' TT (7,200 loaded)with a 3.0 Diesel in a 2014 Ram Eco Diesel. It did a good job though going up 7% the sweet spot was 50mph.


    Not sure of HP of said motor. Assuming 200-225 as many are rated at. You need 135 HP to motor at 60mph on a level, then an additional 40hp per 1%increase in road grade. So frankly, depending upon hearing 50mph on a 7%grade is about as fast as one should expect to be at with said motor.

    Marty
  • I used to tow a 31' TT (7,200 loaded)with a 3.0 Diesel in a 2014 Ram Eco Diesel. It did a good job though going up 7% the sweet spot was 50mph.