Anyone towing with an 2011+ ecoboost?

Fordlover wrote:

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Seems like the truck is rated appropropriately then. You are at or slightly over some of the trucks weight limits/ratings and the truck is performing like it. Impressive. I'm surprised you didn't have any noticable brake fade in extreme circumstances like that.

Well, I started using the trailer's brakes manually to give the truck brakes a rest, so maybe that helped. That was the idea at least.

The truck with EcoBoost is rated to pull a much heavier trailer (11300# and GCWR of 16900#). But that assumes the trailer stops itself. Trouble is, the trailer brakes heat up too and throw off the brake controller.

I had just re-adjusted my trailer brakes before this trip and could lock them up when warm at the 8/10 brake controller setting. So 7.5/10 seemed about right for normal driving and emergency stopping.

But about half way down that hill, I found that with gradual application, the trailer brakes would never lock up, even when set up to 9.5/10 and probably 10/10, as they were hot by then and the drums had expanded. So the truck brakes probably had been doing more than their share up to then, and that's when we started to smell them.

The trailer axles are dual 5200# with 12" drum brakes. And they were only carrying about 6400# total. So I don't think they were overloaded. But I do think I should have started using them manually earlier on the hill, and should have reset the brake controller to 10/10 right at the top.

Another mistake I made was initially thinking that Tow/Haul mode would control the truck's speed. I quickly found out that putting it in Manual 2nd was the only way we would make it down the hill. Even then, the brakes were necessary because of the weak engine braking.

Anyway, don't think I would try that hill with an 11,300# trailer, despite the rating.