Real world turbo towing limits - chime in!

Clb

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I get it!
But you're in Mt.
Try prk traffic...
My quads will haul down the pick-up purty well solo...
 

ComatoseLlama

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The hoe by itself is right at 12K. Hauled that 2 hours on backroads but got on the interstate to climb monteagle mountain. Didn't win the race to the top of the mtn, but it didn't run hot.
Factory turbo zf5, 3.55 gears.
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This is pretty much exactly what I was hoping to see, I pull nearly the same trailer. I guess I'll go with 3.55 gears then
 

Shadetreemechanic

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This is pretty much exactly what I was hoping to see, I pull nearly the same trailer. I guess I'll go with 3.55 gears then
When I haul heavy like that, I ignore 5th gear. 4th gear with 3.55 gears is very similar to 5th with 4.10s. Its just about perfect for running 55-65 which is generally as fast as I want to go with that much weight behind me.
 

Jason1377

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Just over 34k gross. 7.3 with sidewinder, zf5, 4.10 gears. Mostly flat land

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Can only assume mud trucks and very cool paint on on the non mud truck, I know a couple who drive a pair of 7.3 idis turbo'd mud trucks as daily drivers
 

Dirtleg

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It was back in 08' before the turbo and mooosepump, but I pulled 14.5k from Houston Texas to Lynchburg VA. 93' F350 SRW 4wd with 3.55 gears. At the time I was running a 315/75-16 tire or roughly 34". E4OD with a very large cooler, EGT gauge and tranny temp guage. No issues but steeper hills were often 2nd gear at 2900 rpm and 50 mph.

Truck handled fine.
 

Cubey

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I can't find it now, but I once say a video explaining why European Tow ratings were much higher than US Tow ratings for the same vehicle.


I saw a minivan towing about a 32-35 ft travel trailer once. Sadly, I didn't have my phone on me when I saw it passing by, but looked pretty close to this:

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ocnorb

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I weighed ours on a trip up through Idaho and Montana last year.




We haul my wife's Willys in the back. It weighs around 3200 lbs.

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If you are up on your brake maintenance and your trailer brakes work well I feel like these trucks are ok up to about 21k in the mountains. I have 3.55s and a Zf-5 behind the 7.3L turbo with an intercooler. I don't think it would have been a very pleasant trip without the intercooler.

This trip also convinced me that a hydroboost conversion was needed.

Flat landers could probably tow this much with an N/A truck. Lol.
 
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Chief

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The hoe by itself is right at 12K. Hauled that 2 hours on backroads but got on the interstate to climb monteagle mountain. Didn't win the race to the top of the mtn, but it didn't run hot.
Factory turbo zf5, 3.55 gears.
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I haven’t hauled anything up that hill but constantly see slow trucks creeping along. Glad you didn’t have any issues. These trucks are beasts!
 

IDIBRONCO

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Flat landers could probably tow this much with an N/A truck. Lol.
I have a friend who used to have a 1989 F250, 7,3, ZF5, 4.10 gears, with headers. He used it to haul a large payloader for another guy with a bumper pull trailer. I don't rememeber how much he said it weighed (or if he said). He did say that it weighed enough that he was surprised he didn't pull the bumper bolts out of the frame.
 

jhenegh

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https://www.oilburners.net/threads/im-moving.78939/

There are quite a few pictures of stuff that has been successfully hauled with an intercooled bull moose 093 turbo truck. Trailer is roughly 5500lbs and I've had as much as 11K on it plus a ~7k truck. Gross 20K is fine. Grossing 25K is a lot of work for going and stopping at interstate speeds. Pulling 10-12K on the interstate for 300+ miles when air temp is below 60 is no problem. Headwind? Hot temps? Big hills? Not fun. Otherwise just an old, slow, and dependable truck!
 

ComatoseLlama

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I saw a minivan towing about a 32-35 ft travel trailer once. Sadly, I didn't have my phone on me when I saw it passing by, but looked pretty close to this:

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This is how nearly every truck looks on memorial day weekend in michigan!
 

lsaami

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I pull a 16+2 car trailer with 6 wheelers on it with the motorhome. Can barely even feel it back there. truck weight has gotta be pretty darn close to GVWR, plus 4500lbs in trailer and wheelers.
 

Frstdiesel

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Last October on our way back from vacation we went past this guy pulling a full grown trailer house down our road. Not sure how much they weigh.
I think he only towed it about half a mile but most of it was up hill.
He started to back it in to the spot but supposedly blew a fuel line and this was as far as he got.
He had to call the neighbor to bring his backhoe.
Needless to say I was very impressed with that F350.

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