A few years ago we got a 2012 F250 XL crew cab, short bed FX4 with the 6.2L gas engine and 4.30 gears to pull a 30 ft TT. Truck had 102k on it when we got it, and ran like a champ - on flat land you almost had to check the mirrors to make sure the trailer was still back there
Pulled that trailer from central WA to Bismarck ND, down to western NE, back up thru Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Other trips included going from WA down to Raton NM and another from WA to Phoenix AZ. Lots of western mountains. Generally we set the cruise at whatever the semi truck speed limit is, and maybe pass them on the big hills where they slowed down more than we do. We didn't go for 75-80 mph, as we weren't in that big of a hurry.
This spring we decided to change out the TT for a TC, so we sold the F250 with 121k on it and found a 2018 F350 XL extended cab long bed, again with the 6.2L gasser, 4.30 gears and about 30k mi. It also has the factory 5th wheel prep, as well as the plow/camper packages which gives it an GVWR of 11,500 lbs. After that we found a 2017 Adventurer 910 DB... 'advertised' weight of 3317 lbs, actual scale weight closer to 3960 lbs
which puts us just under the GVWR - minus the wife, the dog and any water. Haven't weighed it since
We did add air bags to help level the ride.
We've done a few trips thru WA and into ID, and one long trip to Bismarck ND again (gotta visit those grand kids!). Definitely a little different hauling 4000+ lbs on the back of the truck, as opposed to pulling 8000 lbs behind it. Honestly, the only time we had any concerns was an area of particularly long/steep grade outside Butte MT - I think it was a matter of the automatic transmission didn't like the speed we were at for the gear we were in, but the RPMs were too high for it to shift. Toggling the transmission to 'M'anual and changing gears seemed to take care of things. Other than that... the rolling hills in western ND were surprisingly bad for MPG, as the transmission kept having to shift up and down. Not really something we noticed with the trailer, but the truck itself didn't seem to have any issues with it.
So far we're happy with the combination. We got this truck for about $35k for a 2018 one-ton with 30k miles on it. Moving to a diesel DRW of equivalent age and mileage would basically double that price, which just isn't in the cards for us at this point for a 'part time' truck, that does the occasional box store run in between a half dozen or so (hopefully more) camping trips a year.
YMMV,
Monte
Linear Mode
