Too much truck, too little trailer?

[nicky8668]

Hi All

I recently bought a 2016 Coachmen Clipper 17BH, Dry 2800ish lbs, 406 lbs tongue weight. My tow vehicle was a 2010 Toyota FJ Cruiser with 1200ish lbs payload, 5000/500 lbs tow rating. I hooked up the trailer using the Husky centerline 6000/600 WDH and did some test run on the highway and back road. No sway problem, but I can definitely feel the trailer pushes me around during the curve. I put it through the CAT and the GCWR is pushing to 90% of the FJ rating. I didn't feel confident enough to put my wife and child into the TV, and I don't want to risk other people's life. So, I traded the FJ in for a 2020 Ford F250 7.3 gasser. I feels awesome driving it unloaded. I have some questions about towing with this truck:

1. The salesperson told me I don't need to brake in for towing less than 3000 lbs. But my common sense told me I'd better run the first 700-1000 miles unloaded easy. Am I being too careful?

2. The truck came with a 2.5 inch receiver, my WDH shank is 2 inch. Would it be OK to put a reducer in there? Is WDH and hithch reducer competible with each other?

3. The salesperson told me 400-500 tongue weight is like nothing for F250 and told me the WDH is pointless. He said if I want extra safety, just add a fraction bar for sway control, and he doesn't think a 17ft 3000 lbs trailer would shake the truck. He basically told me I have way much more truck for the trailer I tow. Is this good advice?

Thanks in advance

[CecilD]

I know some of the new diesels can tow right away. Some have a mileage break in for the rear differential. Can't say regarding the new gas engines. In the olden days we would have given it a break-in period.

Your salesman may be right regarding negligible towing effects with your trailer. I figure you have the WDH, why not use it? Receiver adapter is OK.

Enjoy that new truck. Lots of excitement regarding that new motor. Come back and tell us how it did.

[swavescatter]

1 - follow manufacturer guidance if you can. Most importantly try to warm the engine up completely each trip and vary speed/load. You'll be fine towing your trailer before full break in I'm sure, but that's taking a small risk warranty wise if something did happen...

2 - your truck should have come with a 2" sleeve adapter. Yes that's fine to use with your trailer setup. If you go above 1000lb tongue weight you'll want a full 2.5" hitch. Everything should be compatible but you will need to set your hitch up to your new truck geometry.

3 - you can probably run without weight distribution or sway control as long as you're properly loaded (~12% of your trailer weight on the hitch). I would go ahead and use the WDH anyway but you won't need to crank it down much.

You can never have too much truck. Congrats on the upgrade!

[tuffr2]

Yes, the 2.5" to 2" reducer is ok to use. It is what it is designed for.

If you look under the back of your truck you will see the hitch is mounted further up onto the frame. It is impressive the way the hitches are mounted now on most trucks.

Ford says you do not need a WD hitch. But if you already have it and if you can put up with the minor hassle of using it I say use it.

If it is too much trouble then don't use it.

[kdauto]

Good choice in trading the FJ. My BIL has the exact same truck and tows a small Kodiak Cub, around 3800-4000lb and it taxes the truck a lot. I told him he's already pushing it with a tiny 1150 lbs payload. It gets squirelly fast too.

Pretty sure your F250 can handle that weight without WDH but I'd try it at slower speeds and not 65-70 MPH out of the box.

I also would break in the truck unloaded some 1500-2000km. It'll allow diff gears to mate well. Mind you, 4000 lbs is not really a big deal for your new truck. Enjoy.

[HDGoose]

Good choice. The truck will also allow you to pull a larger trailer should you desire to do so.

We will be buying a new(er ??) 5ver and everything we find is 2000-3000 heavier than what we have. What we have was using 85% of my 2500. So I bought a 3500 drw and now we can pull anything we would consider.

[swavescatter]

Originally Posted by kdauto

...and not 65-70 MPH out of the box...

Given that you have more than enough truck to drive 80mph on the highway, take a look at the tires for your trailer. Chances are they are cheaper and not speed rated for much over 70mph. Consider upgrading tires if you want to drive the speed limit safely.

[Soppy]

You can never have too much truck. The 250 will easily pull your trailer. I woudn't bother with the WDH , but make sure you have trailer brakes.

[whoa137]

I have a 2017 F250 (6.2L, 3:73s) with the snow plow/camper suspension option. Our Jayco 236TH tongue weight is supposed to be app. 850 lbs. before the 30 lb propane tank upgrade. I haven't been using my WDH because it doesn't squat the truck enough to even put it onto the helper springs. And there is no sway going down the road at 65.

[swavescatter]

Originally Posted by whoa137

I have a 2017 F250 (6.2L, 3:73s) with the snow plow/camper suspension option. Our Jayco 236TH tongue weight is supposed to be app. 850 lbs. before the 30 lb propane tank upgrade. I haven't been using my WDH because it doesn't squat the truck enough to even put it onto the helper springs. And there is no sway going down the road at 65.

I have a 2017 F250 with camper package and the diesel. Also a massive toyhauler.

Even with the toyhauler unloaded but with full propane and 100 gallons of water it doesn't put it on the helper springs while parked. I'm near 1500lbs of tongue weight (max for the class V hitch.)

What I'm saying here is that rear squat is irrelevant. It's how much lighter your front end gets (where like 70% of your braking and steering come from.) WDH will transfer load to your front axle from your rear. That's for stopping and turning and braking safety.

Sway is controlled by proper loading of your trailer and/or sway controlling features of your hitch. If you don't need sway control, great. But it's almost always a good idea to make sure your front axle stays properly weighted for everything BUT sway.

[BPTS]

I picked up a 2020 F250 SCREW 4x4 7.3 last month.
Your manual explicitly states not to tow until you have 1000 miles minimum. There is a reason for this- it allows the rings to seat without an exorbitant load on them (critical on the 7.3 as is is a high compression 10:25 to 1 engine.)
You want to allow the ring and pinion to wear in with minimal loading as well.
You want your brakes to seat in well.
Brand new components such as engines, transmissions, differentials and the like have a high friction loading which equates to heat. You don’t want new components running at elevated temperatures, let them wear in together before loading them.
Drive your truck at varying speeds, avoiding steady rpms for extended periods.
Work through the gears of the transmission to cruise at varying rpms. The 10 speed tends to hold the rpm at about 1500 rpm at cruise. IMO that is not ideal for seating rings. Work it up and down.
If a 4x4 spend a bit of time in 4wd as well.
Drive under various loads but no hard acceleration or extended highway runs just yet.
The engine/transmission also have a “learning” period as far as the ECM goes, l think it is 100 key cycles it is learning your driving habits and system feedbacks.
Take it easy for a while.
Do not wait until the factory recommended service interval of 10,000 miles for your first oil change! (No way I would go 10k under any circumstances anyway).
Mine had its first oil change at 250 miles, I wanted that early oil out, no matter how clean a new engine always has trash in it.
It’s second oil change occurred at 1000 miles, that’s still “break in” time to me and fresh oil is cheap insurance.
I will stretch it out to my normal 5k miles for a LOF but I will change the differential fluids and put a magnet in the rear diff at that time as well.

Mine has 1600 miles and it feels stronger everyday, you can tell it wants to pull.