Little help with a purchase... thanks

[J4TY]

Right off the bat, apologies if this gets posted in the wrong section... New here to this site. Im looking at possibly buying an IDI and just would like people's feedback and as much info as I can get on towing, and your experiences towing flat and hills. I live in CA, and towing here can be a pain in the &;$, mostly due to people's inability to be curtious to people towing. I have a 32 ft 5er toyhauler, loaded weighs 12-13k, my family and I do a lot of pismo, OR dune, and misc camping trips. I've had 3 PSD's, and loved them all, I currently drive a 06 ram 3500 and really love that truck (auto tranny sucks on it though), I know I'm spoiled with all the power and have read lots on comparing... blah blah blah, what I'm looking for I guess is more of examples and opinions of your towing similar and heavier weights in flats and 7% grades, what's speeds can you maintain. I understand these aren't race trucks, I just want to know can I maintain 60-65 towing most of the time and 70 not towing. I greatly appreciate your time and thank you. Ps if anyone has a 4x4 crew cab long bed manual for sale, go ahead and message me. Big cuts at work are forcing me to sell my dodge and I still need a good rig.


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[Ruger_556]

My stock 7.3 N/A would pull hills on the freeway at 60 with a 10,000 lb trailer. 85 mph easily unloaded. I'd say shouldn't be a problem for you if you do a little tuning and gear correctly.

 

[J4TY]

What kind of tuning are you thinks?


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[J4TY]

GD autocorrect.... I meant what kind of tuning are you thinking, not thinks


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[burt]

You will be towing 12-13k very slowly uphill. I tow heavy a lot and hills in my area are stressful but it does it year in year out. I can pull hills at 60 with that kind of weight but only going down them. Mine is turbo (wastegated banks) has a moose pump, fresh bb injectors and timed properly. Assuming you are coming from a cr cummins you will be very disappointed towing that kind of weight I think. If you get the right one, the idi will reliably do it forever but slowly with lots of gauge watching in the hills. Oh, and the brakes aren't that great really either. They are fine once you are accustomed to them but much more of a challenge to use than the more modern braking systems I've used. I have access to an 05 cummins that I use for towing sometimes when I need to do steep grades with heavy trailers and it make my two idi trucks just seem unsafe. Despite the discouraging words I think the 7.3 era f350 manual 4x4 is about as good as it gets for durability and simplicity.

 

[Ruger_556]

I will admit there is no comparison to how a newer truck will pull a trailer but IDI's do just fine. Buddies dad put 400k miles on a 1990 F-Superduty pulling a gooseneck equipment trailer around (in the neighborhood of 15,000 lbs) Yes it's not very fast and yes it'll work hard to do it but everyone survived without 300+ hp diesel pickups for many many years...

 

[Can30Diesel]

You know those semi trucks everyone passes on the hills that are just crawling along? If you are towing that kinda weight with an IDI, thats gonna be you. But that IDI will do that work all day long and always get you where you are going. Folks usually buy these IDI's because they are inexpensive to maintain, easy to work on and they are a reliable grunt work truck. What they are not is a direct comparison to any Cummins, Powerstroke or Duramax. If you are used to that kind of power, you are going to be sadly disappointed with the IDI. But having said that, if you just want a cheap truck to get the job done, the ford IDI is pretty much the way to go.

My truck pulls about 6500-7000 pounds up most hills maintaining about 50mph up most hills if I time the shifting properly and make sure I keep tabs on my momentum.

 

[chris142]

I came home from stateline on 15 yesterday.that long pull up mtn pass had me down to 45 empty and no trailer. Same with the next one at basin rd. I'm confident that with the weight your talking about I would have been down into 2nd gear. A n/a idi is going to be a gutless **** compared to your cummins.but you will get there...eventually

 

[chris142]

Oh btw. You do know that the speed limit in ca pulling a trailer is 55 right? Running 65 with one is kinda looking for a ticket. I saw 2 toyhaulers get pulled over by the chp yesterday. One fool blew past me and I was going 70! They Had him pulled over at Dunn 10 min later.

 

[Moretorque]

Curious about the IDI turbo version with T turned up, how much better are they the NA?

 

[J4TY]

Yea, I know the limits 55... Generally if you keep it just under 65 chippies leave you be.


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[J4TY]

Anybody have any personal experience with the Cuesta grade hwy 101 near San Luis obispo in an idi?


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[burt]

Turbo on an idi makes a huge difference. The power is much better but the part that is under rated is the improved engine braking. It is much easier to keep the rpm down while towing downhill.