F250 - Hauling a Camper and Towing a Boat?

[Happy Gilmore]

You know you're not supposed to ride your foot through the first and second gear shifts? Lol.... Still on my original tranny. 260k. Worked hard regularly. I always let off the gas and let the truck shift when under a load and ease back into the throttle. Lots of guys just put their foot on the floor. Equivalent of dropping the clutch every shift in a manual.

[demontang]

My truck doesn't like the 3-4shift  if I'm rolling into the power. Shifts much better at wot. 

[gasman]

Don't have much experience with Ford's considering I'm a Dodge guy, but here's my two cents. I bought my first camper back in 03 and hauled it on a half ton Dodge for two years. It 05 I bought a 03 2500 with a Hemi, used it to haul my camper, and haul my boat. Or the Jeep or my Ranger. I have numerous trips up and over Chinook Pass Snoqualmie Pass White Pass Hall in the camper and towing without any issues whatsoever. The only modification I made to my truck was I added airbags to stiffen up the suspension. No I was not going up the pass at 80 miles an hour, but I drove the truck cautiously and respectfully and it lasted me for a hundred 83,000 miles. Just sold the truck last week and it was still running good. Only sold it because I upgraded to a diesel 3500. Would I haul a camper with my boat, absolutely.

One thing to keep in mind, Lance campers are about the heaviest campers on the market. There are many more campers out there that are lighter weight than the Lance. Had a conversation just the other day with Mike Lentz and he would not own a camper built by Lance unless it was a complete rebuild by him. His opinion is that the craftsmanship on the Lance campers are crap, he sees it every time he gets into one to do any type of repair.

[Happy Gilmore]

I had an Elkhorn, same as lance. Built with 1"x1" fir sticks. Bought mine from Selah, kept under cover since new. Second trip a jack fell off. Had to rebuild the whole thing. Sun exposure dryrotted it.

[Happy Gilmore]

Air bags... Keep saying it. Level ride or not they are nice. I put them on the 2500 before adding the dog box. (full chassis mount 6 hole w 50gallon water on board). Took out that annoying Chevy spring slap. Chevys ride nice cause their springs are so damn wimpy. Bags fixed it and helps with sway and shock absorbing.

I can believe anyone who has a heavy truck says no to bags. That is mind blowing to me after putting them on the 03 2500. Hell, empty it rides far better and loaded it feels safe when you hit the whoops and bumps on the highway. Before the thing would bottom out.

[Mudman]

You know you're not supposed to ride your foot through the first and second gear shifts? Lol.... Still on my original tranny. 260k. Worked hard regularly. I always let off the gas and let the truck shift when under a load and ease back into the throttle. Lots of guys just put their foot on the floor. Equivalent of dropping the clutch every shift in a manual.

My ford trans went on Tiger pulling a 30' TT loaded with living in it crap.  Pretty heavy, maybe 9500lb??  I was locked in drive and decided to roll into the throttle to see what she had left.  She had plenty and slipped bad around 2600rpm spooled up.  Still worked fine but under load would slip so its days were #.  90k on it with upgraded clutches and billet single torque conv. and all the ford crap valves upgraded.  Steel slides in aluminum valve body oblongs and sticks.  Crap designs.  Plastic OD-crap. 4r100 is garbage.

[Miles]

Air bags... Keep saying it. Level ride or not they are nice. I put them on the 2500 before adding the dog box. (full chassis mount 6 hole w 50gallon water on board). Took out that annoying Chevy spring slap. Chevys ride nice cause their springs are so damn wimpy. Bags fixed it and helps with sway and shock absorbing.

I can believe anyone who has a heavy truck says no to bags. That is mind blowing to me after putting them on the 03 2500. Hell, empty it rides far better and loaded it feels safe when you hit the whoops and bumps on the highway. Before the thing would bottom out.

I have a good friend who had a chevy 2500 hd gasser.  He put air bags on and even with 5 psi in each bag my vertebrae would compress after hitting a crack in the road.  We crossed hwy 2 on hayford by the casino in airway heights and almost all hit the roof at 45mph because of the dip.  Ever since then I haven't been too impressed by air bags.

[HntnFsh]

Air bags... Keep saying it. Level ride or not they are nice. I put them on the 2500 before adding the dog box. (full chassis mount 6 hole w 50gallon water on board). Took out that annoying Chevy spring slap. Chevys ride nice cause their springs are so damn wimpy. Bags fixed it and helps with sway and shock absorbing.

I can believe anyone who has a heavy truck says no to bags. That is mind blowing to me after putting them on the 03 2500. Hell, empty it rides far better and loaded it feels safe when you hit the whoops and bumps on the highway. Before the thing would bottom out.

I have a good friend who had a chevy 2500 hd gasser.  He put air bags on and even with 5 psi in each bag my vertebrae would compress after hitting a crack in the road.  We crossed hwy 2 on hayford by the casino in airway heights and almost all hit the roof at 45mph because of the dip.  Ever since then I haven't been too impressed by air bags.

Its something other than the air bags then. You shouldn't even notice they are there with only 5 PSI. Did he have a lift or something?

[aaronoto]

Dirty little secret of trucks now days is that you run out of payload before you hit max tow capacity, and sometimes well before max tow, especially if you're hauling a family of 4 along with gear.  Disappointing really, but the trade off of a truck that still rides somewhat comfortably when unloaded I guess. 

[Happy Gilmore]

Air bags... Keep saying it. Level ride or not they are nice. I put them on the 2500 before adding the dog box. (full chassis mount 6 hole w 50gallon water on board). Took out that annoying Chevy spring slap. Chevys ride nice cause their springs are so damn wimpy. Bags fixed it and helps with sway and shock absorbing.

I can believe anyone who has a heavy truck says no to bags. That is mind blowing to me after putting them on the 03 2500. Hell, empty it rides far better and loaded it feels safe when you hit the whoops and bumps on the highway. Before the thing would bottom out.

I have a good friend who had a chevy 2500 hd gasser.  He put air bags on and even with 5 psi in each bag my vertebrae would compress after hitting a crack in the road.  We crossed hwy 2 on hayford by the casino in airway heights and almost all hit the roof at 45mph because of the dip.  Ever since then I haven't been too impressed by air bags.

Wow...im running 70lbs w dog box and it still bounces like a carnival ride. Never heard of a Chevy with a stiff suspension. 5lbs? That's like, less than a huffy bike pressure.

[Miles]

Here it is loaded down for hunting camp with 5 psi in each bag.. still stiff as could be.  Maybe the type of air bag can make a difference?

[Happy Gilmore]

Probably the 6" lift. I'd say with 5lbs the bags are doing nothing but being there. You can't even ride a bicycle with 5psi.

[MADMAX]

 
I used to run 40 in my ford when hauling
27ft TT, smooth and level

[Miles]

Probably the 6" lift. I'd say with 5lbs the bags are doing nothing but being there. You can't even ride a bicycle with 5psi.

Could be?  It sure seemed to be worse after the addition of the bags though.

[Happy Gilmore]

Probably the 6" lift. I'd say with 5lbs the bags are doing nothing but being there. You can't even ride a bicycle with 5psi.

Could be?  It sure seemed to be worse after the addition of the bags though.

I'm certain 5psi is not affecting it at all. Maybe 25-30 might start a little pressure on the spring pack but 5 barely keeps the bags located.