gladehound
Veteran Member
I'm looking for a new truck and am looking for input to help me decide (I know you guys are good at that!) :thumbsup:
Background on my situation:
I had a 1999.5 F-250 Crew Cab 7.3 PSD for 14 years and eventually got rid of it due to rust. In retrospect, I probably should have paid someone to fix the rust problems and kept it. It was a great truck.
I've been without a truck for 3 years. My heaviest vehicle is a Jeep Grand Cherokee with 5.7L & factory tow package. This was OK initially as I had no real towing needs except for towing my tractor to a hay ride about twice a year, less than 20 mi round trip and relatively flat roads. Tractor on equipment trailer is about 9,000 pounds. But due to the low speeds, mild hills and short distance, the Jeep does this fine.
Since then I acquired a ski boat (~4,000 pounds on the trailer) and travel trailer (6,600 Gross, but only 4,000 curb and 5,000 packed for a trip) Jeep pulls the weight fine up or down hills. The trailer actually holds the Jeep back at anything above 50 mph. It's like having a parachute when going down the hills.
Here are the issues I'm trying to improve upon....
1. Visibility - The boat and the travel trailer are both nearly 8ft wide and even with clip on tow mirrors, I can't see well behind me with the Jeep. I miss the extendable tow mirrors on the F-250.
2. Control / comfort in wind - More importantly, the travel trailer has a 23ft box. 27ft total ball to bumper. 7'11" wide. That's lots of surface area to catch wind. When bucking a head wind the constant revving of the 5.7 hemi is annoying (I'm to used to towing with diesels I guess). And with a cross wind (and believe me, we saw some winds! even saw a tornado touch down in Wyoming), it can be hard to control the jeep even using 14% tongue weight. Longer weight base, more weight and heavier running gear would all help in this department. - before people jump all over me, I would never have started out if I knew the winds would be what they were. But sometimes the unexpected happens.
3. Payload - Need more weight capacity. To help with control on our recent trip with the jeep, I increased tongue weight to 18% (900 pounds) and cranked the weight distribution bars tighter so that I got a little squat front and rear on the Jeep. This helped stability a lot. However, this puts me over the max tongue weight of the Jeep and might probably put me over the GVWR. There are other things I want to take on our next trip like bikes and kayaks but I don't have the payload to do it with the Jeep.
Going forward, I'm estimating that I will do ~20,000 miles annually. ~5,000 of these will be towing (mostly the travel trailer). The remaining ~15,000 are commuting to work (15 miles one way) and weekend soccer games (10 to 300 miles one way depending on where the games are) and ski trips in the winter.
I'm looking for a crew cab 4x4 pick-up truck with at least 2,000 pounds capacity (GVWR - curb weight). Any 3/4 ton seems to be suitable (diesel or gas although some diesel cut it close on payload). And the 2015 or newer F-150 with 17" or 18" rims all seem to have at least 2,000 pound payload with the Ecoboost engine. The max payload package that is available on the F-150 gives it more payload than most diesel 3/4 ton trucks.
I'm torn between buying a used 2015+ F-150 with Ecoboost. Ordering a new 2018 F-150 with max payload package. Or buying a used 3/4 ton (gas or diesel).
Questions:
1. Would the late model diesels with expensive emissions systems keep their DPF clean with my driving cycle.
2. Would a 3/4 ton gas hold the RPMs lower than my 5.7 hemi jeep when towing? Or would the weight of the truck counteract any increase in engine displacement?
3. Will an F-150, which weighs about the same as my Jeep, really give me more stability due to longer WB and more weigh on front end, and would the heavier running gear with the HD payload package noticeably help with stability?
I've driven a sampling of the trucks I'm interested in and prefer the forced induction engines. Both the Ecoboost (2014 & 2017) and the 6.7 powerstroke (2012) run like a scalded dog! The 2017 cummins somewhat addictive as well. I'm sure any of these would be a joy to tow with!
So what should I do? F-150, F-150 with HD payload, 3/4 ton? :confused3: Give me your thoughts...
Background on my situation:
I had a 1999.5 F-250 Crew Cab 7.3 PSD for 14 years and eventually got rid of it due to rust. In retrospect, I probably should have paid someone to fix the rust problems and kept it. It was a great truck.
I've been without a truck for 3 years. My heaviest vehicle is a Jeep Grand Cherokee with 5.7L & factory tow package. This was OK initially as I had no real towing needs except for towing my tractor to a hay ride about twice a year, less than 20 mi round trip and relatively flat roads. Tractor on equipment trailer is about 9,000 pounds. But due to the low speeds, mild hills and short distance, the Jeep does this fine.
Since then I acquired a ski boat (~4,000 pounds on the trailer) and travel trailer (6,600 Gross, but only 4,000 curb and 5,000 packed for a trip) Jeep pulls the weight fine up or down hills. The trailer actually holds the Jeep back at anything above 50 mph. It's like having a parachute when going down the hills.
Here are the issues I'm trying to improve upon....
1. Visibility - The boat and the travel trailer are both nearly 8ft wide and even with clip on tow mirrors, I can't see well behind me with the Jeep. I miss the extendable tow mirrors on the F-250.
2. Control / comfort in wind - More importantly, the travel trailer has a 23ft box. 27ft total ball to bumper. 7'11" wide. That's lots of surface area to catch wind. When bucking a head wind the constant revving of the 5.7 hemi is annoying (I'm to used to towing with diesels I guess). And with a cross wind (and believe me, we saw some winds! even saw a tornado touch down in Wyoming), it can be hard to control the jeep even using 14% tongue weight. Longer weight base, more weight and heavier running gear would all help in this department. - before people jump all over me, I would never have started out if I knew the winds would be what they were. But sometimes the unexpected happens.
3. Payload - Need more weight capacity. To help with control on our recent trip with the jeep, I increased tongue weight to 18% (900 pounds) and cranked the weight distribution bars tighter so that I got a little squat front and rear on the Jeep. This helped stability a lot. However, this puts me over the max tongue weight of the Jeep and might probably put me over the GVWR. There are other things I want to take on our next trip like bikes and kayaks but I don't have the payload to do it with the Jeep.
Going forward, I'm estimating that I will do ~20,000 miles annually. ~5,000 of these will be towing (mostly the travel trailer). The remaining ~15,000 are commuting to work (15 miles one way) and weekend soccer games (10 to 300 miles one way depending on where the games are) and ski trips in the winter.
I'm looking for a crew cab 4x4 pick-up truck with at least 2,000 pounds capacity (GVWR - curb weight). Any 3/4 ton seems to be suitable (diesel or gas although some diesel cut it close on payload). And the 2015 or newer F-150 with 17" or 18" rims all seem to have at least 2,000 pound payload with the Ecoboost engine. The max payload package that is available on the F-150 gives it more payload than most diesel 3/4 ton trucks.
I'm torn between buying a used 2015+ F-150 with Ecoboost. Ordering a new 2018 F-150 with max payload package. Or buying a used 3/4 ton (gas or diesel).
Questions:
1. Would the late model diesels with expensive emissions systems keep their DPF clean with my driving cycle.
2. Would a 3/4 ton gas hold the RPMs lower than my 5.7 hemi jeep when towing? Or would the weight of the truck counteract any increase in engine displacement?
3. Will an F-150, which weighs about the same as my Jeep, really give me more stability due to longer WB and more weigh on front end, and would the heavier running gear with the HD payload package noticeably help with stability?
I've driven a sampling of the trucks I'm interested in and prefer the forced induction engines. Both the Ecoboost (2014 & 2017) and the 6.7 powerstroke (2012) run like a scalded dog! The 2017 cummins somewhat addictive as well. I'm sure any of these would be a joy to tow with!
So what should I do? F-150, F-150 with HD payload, 3/4 ton? :confused3: Give me your thoughts...
