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TFL Towing: F150 vs F250


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2 hours ago, SoonerLS said:

The reason for the bigger truck was right there on the sticker. With those payload ratings, with that trailer and those two guys in the cab, they were sitting right at that F150's payload rating. Any luggage or kids, and they would've been over.

Do you think everyone puts there truck/ trailer on a scale? They throw stuff in it and go.

So you'd spent 10k plus more for a 3/4 if you pull 9k lbs 3-4 times a year? And get a whopping 0.5 mpg better.

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18 minutes ago, MY93SHO said:

Do you think everyone puts there truck/ trailer on a scale? They throw stuff in it and go.

So you'd spent 10k plus more for a 3/4 if you pull 9k lbs 3-4 times a year? And get a whopping 0.5 mpg better.

If you don't know your truck's payload rating and how much you're asking it to carry, you have no business towing with it. That's a special kind of stupid that will get someone killed.

If I were towing heavy regularly, I would spend the money; that's why those Super Duties exist. If I were towing that much even a few times per year, I wouldn't be using that F150 to do it--that's way too close to its limits. As the TFL Trucks guys themselves said, you want a bigger truck than you need to do the job.

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Buyers could also get an F150 that’s rated a 12,000 or 13,000 lb tow rating to ensure that keeps people legal when towing the odd heavy load. 

The other option would be the  F150 with 3.0 power stroke for less performance but better towing efficiency so there are some choices depending upon which mix of power, efficiency and tow rating suits the buyers 

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1 hour ago, jpd80 said:

Buyers could also get an F150 that’s rated a 12,000 or 13,000 lb tow rating to ensure that keeps people legal when towing the odd heavy load. 

The other option would be the  F150 with 3.0 power stroke for less performance but better towing efficiency so there are some choices depending upon which mix of power, efficiency and tow rating suits the buyers 

It's not the tow rating that is the downfall, it is payload.

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20 minutes ago, blwnsmoke said:

It's not the tow rating that is the downfall, it is payload.

That's true, and with half-tons you usually run out of payload before you run out of trailer capacity, but the F150s with the higher tow ratings usually have a higher payload rating to go with it. You can get a Coyote-powered SuperCrew (with the 6.5' bed) with another 1,200lbs of payload, so you really could just load up the trailer, throw the stuff in the truck, and go without worrying about being overloaded.

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The trick is to use your trailer capacity, you put as much as possible in the trailer instead of trying to use much payload, put it in the trailer and the down force is about 10% of what the payload amount would be ... passengers and pets excluded of course.

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53 minutes ago, jpd80 said:

The trick is to use your trailer capacity, you put as much as possible in the trailer instead of trying to use much payload, put it in the trailer and the down force is about 10% of what the payload amount would be ... passengers and pets excluded of course.

Yes, but every 10lbs you put in that trailer is using 1lb of the truck's payload, assuming you load it perfectly to get that 10% tongue weight. For travel trailers, most of the recommendations are to have the tongue weight closer to 15%; the F150 in the video would've been at or over max payload with a 15% tongue weight and just the driver. Actually, it would've been close to its rated payload with just the trailer and the weight-distributing hitch (which is required if your trailer exceeds 5,000lbs); the driver probably would've put it over.

Their test was a pretty good worst-case scenario for what they were testing, but there's more to towing than fuel economy, and that particular F150 wasn't really enough truck for that task. Ford makes F150s where towing that load is well within the truck's performance envelope, but that one wasn't it, tow package or not.

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250The HD tow package in crew cab 3.5 EB, increases payload to 2660 lbs and GCWR by 600 lbs to 7600 lbs

What I find bemusing is that there is an F150 combo you can buy that is better for towing but they kinda conjured a win here or accentuated a problem that Ford already has an answer to.....

Towing 12,000 lb with all the payload used up makes for a scary ride if something goes wrong and I’d definitely pick  an F250 but I’d love to see something like the Land Rover’s 4.4 V8 TD as n option 

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Back in 2017, TFL tested an F250 with the 6.2 V8 gas engine against a Ram 2500 with 6.4 V8 Hemi. Both trucks were tested over the 98 mile loop at 70 mph with and without towing a 12,000 lb trailer, both trucks got 16.5 mpg and 8.5 mpg.

Then there was the 1500 Truck challenge where the V8 powered F150, Silverado 1500 and Ram 1500 all scored 20 mpg without trailer and 14 mpg towing 5,000 lbs. Then with, 7,000 lbs the V8 trucks scored 9.5 to 10 mpg - the two Ecoboost engines were 8.5 mpg.

So from the above, it's easy to see that if you do a lot of towing at 9,000 to 12,000 lbs you're probably better off with a gas F250 than a Powerstroke which would be even more expensive. Even towing 7,000 lbs, I'd be willing to bet that the F250 6.2's fuel economy would be around 10 to 11 mpg and way more fuel efficient than the F150.

Edited by jpd80
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