More F250 thoughts

In my previous thread and by doing some more searching, a F250 with the 5.4 will be a tad too smal for my TT. Now I'm looking at the2000  F250. 3/4 ton with the 6.8L V10. tow info indicates that it should tow my TT easily but thought I would see if anyone might have some additional thoughts.

thanks!

Hi :
That is certainly what I would go for if I had the opportunity to get one.  I currently have the  1999 F250 with 5.4 and  it is just a little on the weak side for my current 5th wheel, on the long uphills.  I dont' want to go diesel only because I don't use it enough. However, if buying used and diesel, I would certainly be looking for the late '99 to 2000 club cab model.  My preference would also be the V10 with a higher gear ratio than the 3.7 in mine.

Now we are looking at a 2002 F250 Super Duty Crew Cab. this one also has the 5.4 V10. Only 95K miles and in very good shape. I talked with the Ford dealer and they determined via the VIN number the the gears were 3.73. they also assured me that the truck would be just fine to pull the TT. BTW...it's not the dealer selling the truck. I'm concerned the 6.8 will use way more gas than I am comfortable with. Perhaps not.

We're doomed to 8MPG range with a tow no matter how you look at it.  The truck won't be a daily driver, so why worry about it? 

Unfortunately, it will be my daily driver although I'm only 1.4 miles from work. I might consider the 7.3 if I could find one in my area with less than 250K miles on it. I guess 8 mpg or so is the price we pay for rv fun.

SubVet said:

We're doomed to 8MPG range with a tow no matter how you look at it.  The truck won't be a daily driver, so why worry about it?

Click to expand...

Now we are looking at a 2002 F250 Super Duty Crew Cab. this one also has the 5.4 V10.

Confusion: the 5.4L engine is a V8; the V10 is a 6.8L

I would guess that an empty F250 with the V10 would get 8-12 mpg in typical city driving and 12-16 on the highway. The range is broad because the weight of your right foot has a lot to do with it and city driving can vary a great deal. Towing, you would probably be looking at 8-10 mpg.

The diesel would probably do better on the highway and certainly while towing. Not sure about the city driving. The 7.3L PSD was actually quite economical, but the later 6.0 and 6.4L diesels with the new emissions spec were not so great.

Gary, you are correct. My mistake! This is what I'm looking at but I have plenty of time to buy something:
http://www.northgateauto.com/view_vehicle.html?vehicle_id=NDc3

Gary RV Roamer said:

Now we are looking at a 2002 F250 Super Duty Crew Cab. this one also has the 5.4 V10.

Confusion: the 5.4L engine is a V8; the V10 is a 6.8L

I would guess that an empty F250 with the V10 would get 8-12 mpg in typical city driving and 12-16 on the highway. The range is broad because the weight of your right foot has a lot to do with it and city driving can vary a great deal. Towing, you would probably be looking at 8-10 mpg.

The diesel would probably do better on the highway and certainly while towing. Not sure about the city driving. The 7.3L PSD was actually quite economical, but the later 6.0 and 6.4L diesels with the new emissions spec were not so great.

Click to expand...

No heavy vehicle like that is going to get good mileage and often the larger engine actually gets better mileage than a small one. That's because the big engine is loafing much of the time and you aren't continually pushing the accelerator down hard to get it moving. You spend more time in higher gears and net better mpg overall. It takes a lot of finesse to get good mpg with a small engine in a large. heavy vehicle, but it can be done.

I don't know what you are towing but if it is a fifth wheel which is taller and has more wind resistance it seems the V-10 would be a much better choice aside from diesel. As for the daily driving the trip is so short the difference in mpg won't amount to hardly anything. If you are buying a tow vehicle get the best one suited for the job.

We will be towing a Springdale 266RLSS. About 6200 dry and max at about 7500. There's a couple of F250's with the 6.8 V10 close by for sale...might have to consider them. thanks!

dave61 said:

I don't know what you are towing but if it is a fifth wheel which is taller and has more wind resistance it seems the V-10 would be a much better choice aside from diesel. As for the daily driving the trip is so short the difference in mpg won't amount to hardly anything. If you are buying a tow vehicle get the best one suited for the job.

Click to expand...

Towing that trailer with a 5.4 would probably be ok but the V-10 would be ideal. If you do go for the 5.4 you might be happiest with the highest number rear they offer in the year you are considering. The wind resistance for a 5er would be higher, 5.4 would be really working to pull it.

My RV has the V-10 and I think the rear axle ratio is 4.56 (something like that) with our trailer and junk, we are probably around 14,000lbs. I think it drives really well for what it is, good power and reasonable gas mileage. Mine was built in 2003 so it is not the most powerful version, which came later on. You will be somewhere around that weight or a little less when loaded for travel, more power is better.

Tomorrow I'm going to test drive these two and just get a feel about them.
http://www.qualitycarsgp.com/2004_Ford_F250_GRANTS%20PASS_OR_169001421.veh
http://www.qualitycarsgp.com/2000_Ford_F250_GRANTS%20PASS_OR_180715441.veh

Thanks for the reply!

dave61 said:

Towing that trailer with a 5.4 would probably be ok but the V-10 would be ideal. If you do go for the 5.4 you might be happiest with the highest number rear they offer in the year you are considering. The wind resistance for a 5er would be higher, 5.4 would be really working to pull it.

My RV has the V-10 and I think the rear axle ratio is 4.56 (something like that) with our trailer and junk, we are probably around 14,000lbs. I think it drives really well for what it is, good power and reasonable gas mileage. Mine was built in 2003 so it is not the most powerful version, which came later on. You will be somewhere around that weight or a little less when loaded for travel, more power is better.

Click to expand...

Mine is a 2009 F250 extended cab 4x4 Lariat with the V10.  I tow a 32 ft Keystone Laredo.  Loaded I'm towing around 8500 lbs and the truck tows it like a dream.  We've been up around the Nashville, TN. area with it before and even in the mountainous areas on I-40 it would downshift to third and take care of business.  No laboring or screaming high rpms.  In Tow/Haul mode when it shifts down to third it's not working very hard at all.  I really like the way this thing tows our 5th wheel.  On the gas mileage, when I got the truck it was getting 10.8 mpg by itself and 8-9 mpg towing.  I put a Flowmaster Cat-back dual exhaust and a ram-air, not cold air intake set up on it.  The ram-air set up uses a conical filter inside a round, fully enclosed, filter canister, 4" inlet/outlet and it has a 4" snout sitting behind the grill between the left headlight and the radiator.  Going down the road it gets cool/cold air from outside the engine compartment forced into it, through the filter, and into the engine.  I think this was the big plus for this engine.  Lumbering along on a 2 lane at around 57-58 mph it's actually seen 17.1 by itself.  Generally it's usually around 15.5 mpg.  In Tow/Haul mode with the 5th wheel it's about 10 mpg.  Like my Dad always said, you pay to play...                   

Funny you should be considering what I just purchased....for the past 4 years I have been towing my very small 5th wheel with an F-150 with the small 4.6 V-8 - It towed it fine, my trailer is under 4K loaded....but I am considering a larger trailer in the near future and so a truck was the first thing - horse before the cart....

I found a very clean 1999 Extended Cab long bed V-10 with a manual transmission - it is a Super Duty with helper springs and by the Vin number rated to tow up to 12,000 pounds or so, you can say I now have overkill.

So far my around town mileage has been about 13.2 or so according to the scan gauge, have not checked it with the GPS yet - first full fillup was yesterday and the tank is large - 38 gallon and I put in 30 and it cost me $113.00. So now the truth begins as I am heading out this coming Monday with the 5er following me...

Had serious issues to resolve to get it hitched up - truck had been lifted by the previous owner 4 inches, and the trailer would not hitch properly and clear the bedrails, so had to order new U-Bolts and today I removed the 4 inch lift in the back, could not find shackles for the front lift, so that will have to wait...little front high, but she hitched fine with good clearance over the bed....only one minor issue, my small 5th wheel has such a short nose that the tailgate hits the landing gear when trying to hitch....have to back and clear the tailgate, get out, raise the tailgate and then run it in the hitch....not a huge deal, but she sits pretty good, trailer is a touch high but not detrimental.

The V-10 is a long running very powerful motor and I have been told the mileage hardly changes when under a load, so I expect to get about 10-12 with my small trailer which is 4 mpg better than my old small V-8 truck, so I should see a net gain...I would be happy to average 8-9 - that is just being in an RV!!!

I am very happy with the truck so far...more after traveling the next few weeks....but so far so good.

Jim

I purchased my 2003 F250 Lariat crew cab 2wd truck new, and it's hard to believe it's almost 12 years old and 116K miles.  I knew that I was buying a truck for the long run, so I bought the last of the 7.3 diesel engines.  And it's been great.  I think the truck weights about 6600 lbs., which is 450 lbs. more than the gas version, so these things are very heavy excluding a trailer behind them.

If you're looking to buy an older 3/4 ton truck to pull something over 10K lbs., don't consider one without the diesel--preferably the 7.3.  There are still many in the hands of older RV owners that have not been jacked up, run extra hard and put up wet. 

From what I can tell, the V-10's normally get about 14 mpg in on the road driving.  Heaven knows what the mpg is towing a maximum load with a gas version.  The 7.3's get about 18-19 mpg unless you install a power programmer with econo mode and then you'll get about 20 mpg.  In normal towing, mpg drops about 5 mpg.

I consider some diesels great values in used trucks.  You've just got to take your time looking for them.  I'm not thrilled with anything gas unless tow loads are under 10K lbs.  Ford's new 6.2 engine gets about 3 mpg better than the V-10, and it's doing pretty well.

Andyt50 said:

Unfortunately, it will be my daily driver although I'm only 1.4 miles from work. I might consider the 7.3 if I could find one in my area with less than 250K miles on it. I guess 8 mpg or so is the price we pay for rv fun.

Click to expand...

What area might that be?  I have a 7.3 with less than 100K on it that needs a home where it will be driven more often.

On the other hand 1.4 miles would not warm it up and that's about the worst thing you can to to a diesel.