Quote:
Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog
I had a F150 CC SB 4x4 with the 3.5L EcoBoost engine (not the PowerBoost feature). My camper is a 240BH which is 5,000 lbs unloaded and rated to a tad over 7,000 lbs. loaded. I had a Max Tow package and a cargo capacity of about 2,200 lbs. The truck pulled the camper with power to spare. However, the squishy soft ride of the F150 did not play well with the camper. Adding Timbrens to the rear axle, LT load range E tires, and Bilstein shocks helped a little, but the trailer really moved the truck all over the road in even a slight breeze (not sway, but literally the trailer moving the truck as a single unit). My tongue weight was 980 lbs with the hitch. Adding supplies, dogs, child and wife didn’t get me close to capacity but the handling was terrible. Unfortunately, it is something the 2015 and newer F150’s are known for.
This spring we moved to a 3/4 ton truck for a variety of reasons and it was a night and day towing experience. So yes, my strong recommendation for you is a 3/4 ton. I get that the PowerBoost is nice, and I wish they offered in the HD trucks, but at some point it stops making sense to idle a big block V8 to power the onboard generator instead of using a quiet portable generator. I installed a SoftStart to my AC and my Generac GP3000i running at 58 db can power my camper AC at night and I can’t hear the generator over the AC noise anyway.
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These experiences mirror mine. I pessimistically think the only reason for 3/4 ton trucks is to sell two trucks (the 3.4 ton, and a 1 ton when the 3/4 ton isn't adequate.)
Our 3/4 ton was within +-200 pounds of payload depending on if the kids came along or not...and while the engine and brakes and cooling was fine, the CONSTANT squirm if there was ANY kind of wind blowing made for really tiring driving days. I suspect a SRW 1-ton would have some squirm as well.
Throw the same 12000 lb trailer with 1750 hitch on the new dually, and things got a Whole Lot less dramatic.
Then traded that trailer on a 5th wheel and it got even better. Current truck has a 5200 lb payload and has about 3000 lbs when fully loaded.