Tow rig upgrade- SuperDuty level unlocked

For the last few years I've been towing my 8x20 enclosed with a F-150 3.5 Ecoboost. It has performed admirably, but it wasn't ideal.  Needed a weight distributing hitch that I would sometimes have to connect/disconnect 6-8 times in a race weekend. Small gas tank, lots of fuel stops. Payload was just about maxed with me traveling by myself. I took it to the dealer for an oil change yesterday, and they had a 2020 F-250 XLT SuperCrew 4x4 on the lot. Was used in a fleet, 63k miles but clean overall and priced fairly because of the miles (and the end of the factory warranty).  Has the 6.2L gas motor and the 6 speed. Long story short, I got over $20k in trade on my 10 year old truck and she is mine. 

I'm pretty psyched. Going to CMP next weekend, should be able to make it easily on one tank of gas. What does the hive have to say about these?  Any reliability issues I should be aware of?  It has a 4k mile dealer warranty, if there's any common failure mode I want to get it dealt with soon. It has off brand tires on it (Fortune Tormenta?) but they're brand new, E rated 10 ply and ride OK so I'll see if I can live with them. 

Can't help the truck much, but that has something on it that I developed prior to the pandemic. 

The 6.2 is the engine I would choose for a truck I wanted to keep a while. They sure tow nice. Didn't even notice when our trailer tire blew.

This hive rep says sweet. Always nice to upgrade towing capacity for a towing machine. I bet it will tow like a dream. Your mind may be blown by the difference. 

You'll enjoy having the right tool for the job. A loaded 20ft trailer is a big job. This is a big tool. 

Apparently these have a really significant death wobble problem.  A friend had a very similar truck for about a year, the dealer never could get rid of the death wobble and he hated the short range while towing as while the 6.2 has lots of power and a big enough tank the fuel economy was so bad that it didn't matter much when towing an enclosed 20'.   He got a 2020 Chevy 2500hd 6.6 gasser and is much happier at how it drives.

I've been thinking about eventually replacing my 3.5 Expedition with a 6.2 or 7.3 gasser F250.

I have  a 2017 F350, 6.2 w/ the 6 Speed.  I love it.  Tows a car hauler like it's not there.

I researched these quite a bit before I bought it and they seem to be very reliable. Lots of 7.3 Powerstroke guys selling to purchase one of these.

Mine is also an ex-fleet rig.  Haven't had any issues. 

Sonic said:

Apparently these have a really significant death wobble problem.  A friend had a very similar truck for about a year, the dealer never could get rid of the death wobble and he hated the short range while towing as while the 6.2 has lots of power and a big enough tank the fuel economy was so bad that it didn't matter much when towing an enclosed 20'.   He got a 2020 Chevy 2500hd 6.6 gasser and is much happier at how it drives.

Interesting... I didn't know that this was a problem with the Fords. I have a friend with a Ram dually, she uses it to tow horse trailers and has had a bunch of issues with the death wobble. Guess I'll see if I have any issues with it next week on the tow to SC. 

alfadriver said:

Can't help the truck much, but that has something on it that I developed prior to the pandemic. 

Tell me more...

That is a great truck.  We have a 32' travel trailer that weighs around 8000 lbs loaded and when we upgraded from a RAM 1500 to a 2500 it was night and day.  Making a tool work for a job and having the right tool to do the job right are different things.  My bet is your trips will be much less stressful now.  That 6.2 is a great engine and how I would equip one if I were buying one.

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Just a trick catalyst.  Something a friend of mine and I have been working on since 2015- just found the right application. 

yupididit said:

I've been thinking about eventually replacing my 3.5 Expedition with a 6.2 or 7.3 gasser F250.

Fwiw, the 6.2 is going away for the 7.3 and a 6.8 version of the same engine. Assuming it makes it through.  Good engines. 

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

I took it to the dealer for an oil change yesterday......

Congratulations - nice truck!  It was a good decision.

One day I was passing a Chevrolet dealer and I went into parts to buy a lug nut ($9) and I joked that it would be funny if I ended up buying a new truck instead.  

You will really enjoy the upgrade. I switched from a '14 Suburban with a 5.3 to an '22 F350 with the 7.3 gas and 10 speed and towing is soooo less stressful now. The longer wheelbase is wonderful, though I am still getting used to the turning radius. Having a bit of extra power is a huge help when passing or going up a hill. The other big improvement was the mirrors, it is great having BIG mirrors so you can see whats coming up behind you. The only down side I have found is unless I keep a decent load in the back it rides like a truck, big surprise. 

It's good to use the right tool, however much one wants to fight the whole logical decision-making thing . . .

On the death wobble thing, pretty much anything with a steering box is susceptible to it.  Even more so with a solid front axle.  Keep the front tires balanced, don't ignore any worn steering or front suspension parts and don't let the alignment get too far out of whack.  And if it's got a steering stabilizer, make sure it's in good shape.  Unless there's a serious flaw in the design, it basically comes down to "if it wobbles, something is wrong in the front end".  And if it does happen, firm braking to throw some weight onto the front tires will typically settle it. 

rustomatic said:

It's good to use the right tool, however much one wants to fight the whole logical decision-making thing . . .

You are right about that.  I had a 199 F250 diesel with which I towed a couple different 24' enclosed trailers.  That was no drama.  When we added a couple kids, I swapped to a 2005 Expedition and then later a 2014 Expedition.  I flipped one trailer due to instability, and had to work hard at managing tongue weight.  It seemed to tow ok in general, though.  I just swapped to a slightly larger and heavier trailer, and the Expedition couldn't handle the tongue weight.  I got a 2015 F350, and after one 3 hour tow, I now realize how much of a compromise the Expeditions were.  Now it's completely drama-free.  Right tool for the job.

In reply to rslifkin :

Is this true for brand new trucks as well?

Even with a 3/4 ton keeping the WD hitch will make it much more stable. I don't use mine for going to our local track 20min and <50mph away but religiously put it on for the highway jaunts.

I needed a new hitch since my F-150 had a 2" reciever and the F-250 has a 2.5".  I got this B&W Tow and Stow adjustable with up to 7" of drop, and added an AMP Research bed step and a Truxedo tonneau. Had both of them on my F-150, feel like I can't live without them. 

Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:

Even with a 3/4 ton keeping the WD hitch will make it much more stable. I don't use mine for going to our local track 20min and <50mph away but religiously put it on for the highway jaunts.

I'm going to try this trip without it and hope that the longer wheelbase, heavier tow vehicle and stronger rear suspension make it unnecessary.  If I need to use a WDH I'll have to replace my current one because of the difference in receiver size on the truck.  The trailer isn't small at 8x20', but it also isn't that heavy.  The trailer itself weighs around 3200lb, the race car weighs 1350lb, and I've probably g0t less than 1500lb of other stuff in there.  So we're talking about maybe 6k pounds total towing weight, with less than 800lb on the tongue.  The F-150 had a max tongue weight of 500lb making the WDH a requirement, this truck can handle 1350lb on the tongue.

It's definitely a hassle to deal with a WDH for a race weekend because I store my trailer an hour from my house.  So typical weekend:

-pick up trailer weekend before race (connect WDH)

- drop trailer in front of my house (disconnect WDH)

- hook up trailer to take to track (connect WDH)

- leave trailer in paddock (disconnect WDH)

- hook up trailer to go home (connect WDH)

- leave trailer in front of house (disconnect WDH)

- hook up trailer to take to storage following weekend (connect WDH)

- leave trailer at storage (disconnect WDH)

It only takes 15 minutes each time, but it adds up when you're doing it eight times per event.  Plus I'm my own crew at the track, it's one more thing to worry about and stress over.  If it turns out I need it I'll be getting one, but I hope I don't have to.

yupididit said:

In reply to rslifkin :

Is this true for brand new trucks as well?

Yup.  The nature of the steering system with a box rather than a rack means it's always possible to develop an oscillation.  It won't just happen out of the blue, however, it'll either be caused by a poor design (bad geometry, components too flexible, etc.) or worn parts allowing movement that can't be damped out.  

With the trailer loaded right and good tongue weight that'll be plenty fine without a wdh. Worst case it needs some airbags but that's waaaay less annoying than dealing with the wdh.

dps214 said:

With the trailer loaded right and good tongue weight that'll be plenty fine without a wdh. Worst case it needs some airbags but that's waaaay less annoying than dealing with the wdh.

Yeah, expect it to need airbags if you've got a decent-sized trailer.  I have a 2021 (diesel), and my ~ 8000 pound 24-foot trailer was making the truck squat by a lot.  I suspect this because there are lots of people using 3/4 ton diesels as commute vehicles (I have no idea why, but they do), so the manufacturers are softening up the suspension to make it ride better.  30 psi in the airbags fixed everything, and if you go for the on-board compressor you can get that soft ride back in 15 seconds for the trip to the hotel.

Congrats on the new truck!  They tow very nicely indeed, no WDH needed.  I've got about 11K miles on mine now, of which about 8 or 9 were towing.  Was up at Sears Point this weekend -- this is the only photo that shows the truck, albeit squashed into the corner of the frame. :)