Found a TT, what tow vehicle do I need?

[Ncm86]

I found a TT 26ft, 7600gvw and dry hitch 450lbs.not sure how big of a truck I need. i did find a 2011 f150 5.0 fx4 gcvw of 15,100lbs. GVW 7350 and payload 1560. With tow package. It is too small?

[PAThwacker]

My wife tootses around with our dedicated tow vehicle 6.0 k2500 sub once and around. It gets anywhere between 10 and 16. Daily driving it would be a 1,000 per month fuel budget easy.

[PAThwacker]

Diesel was cheap up to 2005 and half.

[pappcam]

Ncm86 wrote:
I found a TT 26ft, 7600gvw and dry hitch 450lbs.not sure how big of a truck I need. i did find a 2011 f150 5.0 fx4 gcvw of 15,100lbs. GVW 7350 and payload 1560. With tow package. It is too small?

That's near the limits of that TV but with the right hitch setup and an eye on payload, you should be fine.

[PAThwacker]

fuel economy, 3/4 ton, towing, and daily driving in the same sentence ended circa 2006.
When dirty diesels ruled the roost!

[Ncm86]

So pretty much the f150 would do ok, the f250 would have more growth room? Even if both engines are the same? I was leaning towards the f150 due to only towing 2-3 times a year. How's the Mpg's on the f250 empty (around town)?

[alexleblanc]

PAThwacker wrote:
At campgrounds: 8 lugs rule all. I only see 1/2 ton crowd on this forum.

come to Canada, 1/2 ton's rule the campgrounds. Mostly because the cost of trucks is much higher here and people seem to tough it out with the 1/2 tons. I love my F250, but the F150 was a great matched tow vehicle with my previous TT.

[alexleblanc]

Ncm86 wrote:
So a f250 would be better, would the engine size matter? 5.4 or bigger?

in my opinion you're buying the F250/350 for the chassis much more than the engine. In your case i'd look for the lowest mileage nicest Gasser you can find, 5.4, 6.8(V10) or 6.2. With decent gears (3.73 or higher) they will all get the job done nicely. Honestly, I was looking for an F250 with the 6.2 when this 6.7 Diesel fell into my lap for less money than a gasser. I love it, but i'm sure I still would have been satisfied with the 6.2 gasser.

[jmcgsd]

PAThwacker wrote:
At campgrounds: 8 lugs rule all. I only see 1/2 ton crowd on this forum.

That's 'cause the 1/2T's are stuck somewhere on the side of the road!

[Ncm86]

So a f250 would be better, would the engine size matter? 5.4 or bigger?
The reason I was leaning towards an f150 is that I was looking at only towing 3-4 times a yr. Have a wife and 3 small kids but want to have some room for when they get older

[alexleblanc]

Ncm86 wrote:
I see you have a f250, did you upgrade to tow the trailer?

alexleblanc wrote:
I towed a similar TT with my previous 2011 F150 FX4 Ecoboost / 7700GVWR, the truck itself was quite well matched with that TT, however with a standard F150 you'll run out of payload pretty quick if you pack heavy or have much for passengers with a TT that size. I towed my setup around 20k km's without any issue and very happily too.

I upgraded to tow my new much heavier Wildwood 31BKIS (nearly 10k lbs loaded).

[PAThwacker]

At campgrounds: 8 lugs rule all. I only see 1/2 ton crowd on this forum.

[jmcgsd]

It also depends on where you will be towing. If most of the time you will be a "flat lander" then probably no worries. Get in the mountains and especially on a windy day and it will be another story.

I live in the West and the rule of thumb that I learned was there should be a 20% margin between your gvw and the max. I tow a similar size rig with an F350 Dually which is definitely overkill, but I'm darned glad of it on a high mountain road with an 8-10% grade. I would hate to tow this with less than an F250.

[Speedogomer]

This forum will be quick to suggest a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, however that F-150 will be within it's towing limits, and should tow it well. A larger truck will tow it better, but you should not have any issues.

[Ncm86]

I see you have a f250, did you upgrade to tow the trailer?

alexleblanc wrote:
I towed a similar TT with my previous 2011 F150 FX4 Ecoboost / 7700GVWR, the truck itself was quite well matched with that TT, however with a standard F150 you'll run out of payload pretty quick if you pack heavy or have much for passengers with a TT that size. I towed my setup around 20k km's without any issue and very happily too.

[downtheroad]

The dry hitch weight is meaningless.
Let's pretend that you fully load the trailer to it's 7600 lbs. Your hitch weight will be around 1000 lbs. That only leaves about 600 lbs of payload for everything except you in the truck...

Probably..hopefully you won't load your trailer to the max, but it does happen. I think you are probably ok with the towing end of it, but are going to be close, with very little margin on the PAYLOAD side of it all.

Good luck with it.