Your towing rigs and trailers

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

What would you all recommend to tow 14k lbs? I need something reliable, cheap to own and won’t break the bank buying the truck.

Current truck is a 2wd 1995 F350 dually flatbed with 460 v8. Gets 7.3-8.4mpg lol.

I’m thinking about either building this truck up to pull or buying diesel.

I haven’t tried to pull more than 8000lbs with my truck, it should max out around 12,000lbs legally. I would need to liven the engine up to pull 14k.

I don’t have a gooseneck, would prob add one or buy a truck with one already installed.

So far I’m thinking about the 7.3 IDIT (cheap to fix). 6.2 Chevy diesel (cheap and can bolt on 6.5 turbo), Something with a 12v Cummings (good puller, easy to liven up), 8.1 vortec with Allison trans or if I can find one cheap enough, 6.6 LBZ with Allison (reliable but expensive to fix).

That’s what I’m thinking so far. Haven’t made up my mind. Would like to be around 5k, Max 10k. Paid $1800 for my current truck, it’s done well so far.

I would need to add to my truck: brake controller, much bigger trans cooler (E4OD), liven engine, possibly add goose neck hitch. Or buy another truck.

 

[Tomtint]

What would you all recommend to tow 14k lbs? I need something reliable, cheap to own and won’t break the bank buying the truck.

Current truck is a 2wd 1995 F350 dually flatbed with 460 v8. Gets 7.3-8.4mpg lol.

I’m thinking about either building this truck up to pull or buying diesel.

I haven’t tried to pull more than 8000lbs with my truck, it should max out around 12,000lbs legally. I would need to liven the engine up to pull 14k.

I don’t have a gooseneck, would prob add one or buy a truck with one already installed.

So far I’m thinking about the 7.3 IDIT (cheap to fix). 6.2 Chevy diesel (cheap and can bolt on 6.5 turbo), Something with a 12v Cummings (good puller, easy to liven up), 8.1 vortec with Allison trans or if I can find one cheap enough, 6.6 LBZ with Allison (reliable but expensive to fix).

That’s what I’m thinking so far. Haven’t made up my mind. Would like to be around 5k, Max 10k. Paid $1800 for my current truck, it’s done well so far.

I would need to add to my truck: brake controller, much bigger trans cooler (E4OD), liven engine, possibly add goose neck hitch. Or buy another truck.

I have a 2017 F450 4x4 V10 dump truck. It does the majority of the heavy pulling for me. I have had my 18k GVW trailer and the KX121 behind it, and it handles the weight very well. ..a diesel would be better but the little I pull that much around..I didn't see the need for the diesel. It's atrocious on fuel..6-6.5 mpg on average. ...worse when plowing snow.

 

[farm boy00]

.

What would you all recommend to tow 14k lbs? I need something reliable, cheap to own and won’t break the bank buying the truck.

Current truck is a 2wd 1995 F350 dually flatbed with 460 v8. Gets 7.3-8.4mpg lol.

I’m thinking about either building this truck up to pull or buying diesel.

I haven’t tried to pull more than 8000lbs with my truck, it should max out around 12,000lbs legally. I would need to liven the engine up to pull 14k.

I don’t have a gooseneck, would prob add one or buy a truck with one already installed.

So far I’m thinking about the 7.3 IDIT (cheap to fix). 6.2 Chevy diesel (cheap and can bolt on 6.5 turbo), Something with a 12v Cummings (good puller, easy to liven up), 8.1 vortec with Allison trans or if I can find one cheap enough, 6.6 LBZ with Allison (reliable but expensive to fix).

That’s what I’m thinking so far. Haven’t made up my mind. Would like to be around 5k, Max 10k. Paid $1800 for my current truck, it’s done well so far.

I would need to add to my truck: brake controller, much bigger trans cooler (E4OD), liven engine, possibly add goose neck hitch. Or buy another truck.

I would simply build your 460 up. I bet it would even tow that weight stock.

There is a few cheap ways to liven up a 460. Aftermarket headers along with straight pipe, and mod the intake pipe so it breathes better. Google it though because I dont remember what all it was.

My father's 94 f250 460 5sp towed my allis chalmers forklift and trailer without even noticing it was there. Could start in 2nd gear most of the time without a problem.
If you go with a 7.3l, go 1994 or newer with the DI powerstroke. They are a lot more powerful then the IDI. Speaking from owning a 92, 96, and a e99

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

.I would simply build your 460 up. I bet it would even tow that weight stock.

There is a few cheap ways to liven up a 460. Aftermarket headers along with straight pipe, and mod the intake pipe so it breathes better. Google it though because I dont remember what all it was.

My father's 94 f250 460 5sp towed my allis chalmers forklift and trailer without even noticing it was there. Could start in 2nd gear most of the time without a problem.
If you go with a 7.3l, go 1994 or newer with the DI powerstroke. They are a lot more powerful then the IDI. Speaking from owning a 92, 96, and a e99


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I don’t want a PSD, too expensive to fix up compared to the IDI. A turboed 7.3 IDI puts out same stats as the earlier PSDs, I can build up an IDI much cheaper than a PSD and have a cheaper engine to repair down the road. From what I read.

My F350 with stock suspension would handle the load, would just have to make sure the trans stays cool, it’s already over heated on me once and blew out trans fluid all over the place (scared me, thought the truck was on fire). After cooling off, it sealed back up.

My truck has the 4:11 or 4:10 rear gears, so it has a harder time at highway speeds pulling a load, really heats the trans up. Plus my button to lock it out of overdrive doesn’t work at the moment.

The 14k load would just be to tractor shows, less than 10x per year.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I have a 2017 F450 4x4 V10 dump truck. It does the majority of the heavy pulling for me. I have had my 18k GVW trailer and the KX121 behind it, and it handles the weight very well. ..a diesel would be better but the little I pull that much around..I didn't see the need for the diesel. It's atrocious on fuel..6-6.5 mpg on average. ...worse when plowing snow.

I just sold a 05 F350 with a v10, it had a long bed and just wasn’t good for what I needed. I would consider another v10 truck in a useful configuration.

The 05 had front coils rode MUCH better than my 95.

 

[4570Man]

I’d rather have a gas burner over a 7.3 no turbo or a 6.2. My 6.5 turbo pulls pretty respectable. My Topkick is gas but it’s got pull the earth gears and that makes a big difference. I’m also not a fan of working the old automatic transmission. Every truck I work has a 5 speed.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I’d rather have a gas burner over a 7.3 no turbo or a 6.2. My 6.5 turbo pulls pretty respectable. My Topkick is gas but it’s got pull the earth gears and that makes a big difference. I’m also not a fan of working the old automatic transmission. Every truck I work has a 5 speed.

I would add turbo to a 7.3idi or 6.2 if they didn’t have them already.

I have been considering something bigger like a topkick or international truck also. They are cheaper than 1 ton trucks to buy.

 

[DMax82]

I just saw a F450 with a super single conversion. The look is so much better than a dulley and I read it actually has 10% more capacity than a regular dually truck.

I didn't get a photo of the conversion, but after searching the web, found lots of stuff on it. This is my favorite...

Beautiful! Ready to work in the woods.

 

[Mikejeakins]

I just saw a F450 with a super single conversion. The look is so much better than a dulley and I read it actually has 10% more capacity than a regular dually truck.

I didn't get a photo of the conversion, but after searching the web, found lots of stuff on it. This is my favorite...

That does look really cool.

 

[DMax82]

I have a 2017 F450 4x4 V10 dump truck. It does the majority of the heavy pulling for me. I have had my 18k GVW trailer and the KX121 behind it, and it handles the weight very well. ..a diesel would be better but the little I pull that much around..I didn't see the need for the diesel. It's atrocious on fuel..6-6.5 mpg on average. ...worse when plowing snow.

Wow, that mileage is rough. I have been looking for a somewhat older F450 dump with the same 6.8. Usage would be pulling a maybe 8k pound trailer and/or hauling basically the legal limit in the bed. Do you think my mileage would be similar? It seems like a beast of a truck and about as big as I would want. Won't be putting a ton of miles on it, so horrible MPG isn't the end of the world, and I do realize that performance comes at a cost. Would prefer gas of diesel for a lot of reasons.