2004 F-250 5.4L towing 2010 Cougar 276RLS

[harrydunn]

Greetings--

First post...

Question is for my parents actually. They are looking at a 2010 Cougar 276RLS this Saturday and are curious as to whether their '04 F-250 with gas 5.4L and 3.73 rear-end will struggle pulling this fifth-wheel. I'm showing a dry-weight of 7,220 lbs. It is not a powerful truck by V-10 and diesel standards and does not enjoy pulling their 24' pontoon up some of the nasty southern Missouri hills around Branson. It does it, just rather slowly with high revs. They are not interested in having to upgrade their tow vehicle.

Thanks.

Mark

[Festus2]

We have a 2008 5th wheel very similar to the one you have described although its dry weight is a tad less. Personally, I would not want to pull it with your parent's truck. It might be adequate for flat areas but I wouldn't want to be pulling it up any long and/or steep hills or mountains - especially in the heat of the summer. We live in a mountainous area so my requirements are more demanding in terms of pulling power. I think it would be too hard on the truck. A "light-weight" trailer might be better suited to your parent's truck - especially since they are not interested in upgrading.
A word of caution ---- beware of the salesman who will insist that this RV is "half-ton towable" and that your parent's truck will be more than adequate ....."no problem at all".

[hankpage]

Welcome to the forum ......... The F250 is more than enough truck for that trailer BUT the 5.4 with 3.73 will work like "The Little Engine That Could" on the first hill you come to. ..... Enough truck but not enough low end power..... That's a hard decision with a nice trailer like that and I'm not sure what I would do. JM$.02 , Hank

[BigD]

We have a 2008 5th wheel very similar to the one you have described although its dry weight is a tad less. Personally, I would not want to pull it with your parent's truck. It might be adequate for flat areas but I wouldn't want to be pulling it up any long and/or steep hills or mountains - especially in the heat of the summer. We live in a mountainous area so my requirements are more demanding in terms of pulling power. I think it would be too hard on the truck. A "light-weight" trailer might be better suited to your parent's truck - especially since they are not interested in upgrading.
A word of caution ---- beware of the salesman who will insist that this RV is "half-ton towable" and that your parent's truck will be more than adequate ....."no problem at all".


Ditto!!!! No Way

Dick

[deadeye]

I pull a 24 ft. Sprinkdale 5th with a 2002 F150 7700 series. The Couger is heavier then mine. The only time we notice power lacking is on large hills. We can usually run the legal speed +5 mph with no problems. The question your parents should ask themselves is how many miles they will do in a year. If they are full time then the truck is lacking in power. If its for short haul weekends and summer vacation and the trailer is a good deal. Take it. Most likely they will trade trucks in a few years and then can go to a bigger motor.

[harrydunn]

They ended up buying a 30' Keystone Montana fifth-wheel. Their truck did "okay" but yes, they now want a diesel. Looks like they're picking up a well-maintained F-250 Lariat powerstroke today. Just thought I'd follow up.

Thanks.

[hankpage]

They ended up buying a 30' Keystone Montana fifth-wheel. Their truck did "okay" but yes, they now want a diesel. Looks like they're picking up a well-maintained F-250 Lariat powerstroke today. Just thought I'd follow up.

Thanks.

Now it's a different ball-game. I'm pretty sure all Montanas are over 30' and very close to, if not over 2000 lb. pin empty. If they didn't sign for the F250 yet, I would look for a 1 ton truck for a 14000 lb. + GVW trailer. JM$.02 Hank .... It will do it but why start with the bare minimum.

[harrydunn]

Really? I've seen F-250's pulling much heavier trailers than a Keystone Montana 2880RL, even triple axle. Surely, these fifth-wheels have a much higher pin weight than the 2880RL, yes/no? Looks like pin weight is 1,940. With regards to GVWR, it looks like they are several hundred pounds within Ford's recommendations, according to my quick calculations. I would hope they'd be fine. Please correct me if I'm wrong and thanks for your input.

Curb Weight: 6,538
GVWR: 10,000

Let's say the truck weighs 7,300 after they've loaded up. That leaves 2,700 lbs. for pin weight. Yes?

Thanks.

[Festus2]

I agree with Hank. The truck that you speak of will probably be "adequate" - but no more. We have all seen triple axle RV's being pulled by 3/4 ton TV but that doesn't make it safe or sensible.

[Thomas/NH]

I have an F150, extra heavy duty, 5.4, 410 gears with Snow plow and towing packages. The truck has a fiberglass work cap and fitting bins that weigh in at about 1K. I tow a 5 ton dump trailer almost every week, a 32' pontoon boat and a Keystone Sprinter 297RET on the weekends. Sometimes on a long trip I unload the bins and tools, but short trips or if I'll will be needing the tools for a job they stay in. Even though I live NH down on the coast I run to the mountains and lake almost every week.

Last month we drove down to Fl for a couple of weeks towing the Sprinter. I had no problems on the hills of I81 or 77 in fact; I had to pass most of the big trucks as they were in my way. There is a real long grade going up Rt. 16 to the Mts. of NH, I can start a 50 MPH on the bottom and top the hill at 60 pulling Sprinter.

If you change the gears to 410s you'll have no problems keeping up with the big boys.

[Jim W]

On the driver side door there should be a weight sticker. This will provide front axle gross weight, rear axle gross weigth, thruck gross weight and combind gross weigth of trailer and truck.
Such as for my 2008 Dodge, the front axle is 5200, the rear axle is 6010, the truck is 9000, and gross combind weight of 20,000 LBS.
I was going camping the weekend I weight the truck and camper. This include two people, a full load of fuel, all food with a full camper of stuff with out fresh water and empty black and gray water tanks.
I am pulling a 2010 318SAB, Cougar (35 ft long) and I ran this across a certified scale. The weight on this was front axle 4940, rear axle 5160, trailer axle 8140 and gross combind weight of 18,240 LBS.
This is about all I would want to pull with a 3/4 ton truck. I would recheck the F250 to verify the weight on the door post, if this was my camper and truck.
Just my $0.02
Jim

[MightyMike]

There's really not enough info in your post for anyone to give you accurate advice. There are way to many variables in an F250, and I didn't see where you listed any of them. Lariat has nothing to do with towing, other than comfort. Need to know year, engine, transmission, axle ratio. Until you post that info, no one can give you a legitimate answer- so it's as bad as the salesman telling you you'd be O.K with a half ton!