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Old 06-05-2019, 02:42 PM   #1
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Colorado ready?

Thank you for any opinions you may offer on this.

I am pulling a 6300lb Jayco Jayflight 287BHSW. I always pull empty except about 500lbs of gear.

Summer trip is from Texas to Colorado and back. I have about 1500 miles of towing to my name, so I'm still a newbie.

Tow vehicle is an F-150 V8 5L w/ tow package. Max on it is supposedly 9300 lbs. I have a weight distribution hitch w/ sway bars. Still, even a weak side wind will get me white-knuckling.

I put new tires on the Jayco but man, going uphill hurts (45-50mph best case), and that's in flat gentle Texas. Otherwise, towing is okay and I keep it around 55mph.

Is my tow vehicle too weak?
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Old 06-05-2019, 02:56 PM   #2
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Approximately a 3% power loss for every 1,000 feet so at 7,000 feet (Denver) you're looking at a 21% power loss before getting into the Rockies. That 45-50mph in the hills in the relatively flat east probably means slow going in the higher elevations in the west.
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Old 06-05-2019, 03:08 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by jdksla View Post
Thank you for any opinions you may offer on this.

I am pulling a 6300lb Jayco Jayflight 287BHSW. I always pull empty except about 500lbs of gear.

Summer trip is from Texas to Colorado and back. I have about 1500 miles of towing to my name, so I'm still a newbie.

Tow vehicle is an F-150 V8 5L w/ tow package. Max on it is supposedly 9300 lbs. I have a weight distribution hitch w/ sway bars. Still, even a weak side wind will get me white-knuckling.

I put new tires on the Jayco but man, going uphill hurts (45-50mph best case), and that's in flat gentle Texas. Otherwise, towing is okay and I keep it around 55mph.

Is my tow vehicle too weak?

Inflating your tow vehilce and trailer tires to the maximum shown on the tire sidewall helps some folks with sway. It's easy and cheap so it's worth a try.

What hitch do you have? Does it have adjustable sway bars? Not all 'load bars' on weight distribution hitches help with sway.

Do you have factory tires on your F-150? Larger tires have the effect of reducing your rear axle ratio and hurting uphill towing.
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Old 06-05-2019, 03:18 PM   #4
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You are calculating the weight based on the list "dry weight". That's a fictional number. It does not take into account options, like awning, spare tire, AC, etc. The mandatory "Customer Convenience Package" even though mandatory, is not included in the dry weight. There is a yellow sticker on the side of your trailer with an "As Shipped" weight listed. That's generally pretty accurate. Add your 500# of gear and you are probably over 7000#.

While your truck has a listed 9300# towing capacity, realistically that's for trailers with far less wind drag, like a boat. So you are probably pushing it.

That said, don't worry about going up those hills at full speed. Put your flashers on and stay in the right lane.
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Old 06-05-2019, 07:43 PM   #5
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Doc Brown is right. I have a diesel and seldom run even 50 when climbing. Until a couple years ago we lived at 9000'. So I have a little experience in mountain towing.

Assuming you stick with the 150, my best advice is to tell you that your transmission is one weak link you have some control over. Don't lug your engine. Down shift and keep your RPMs up to reduce the risk of overheating. Tow truck drivers love breakdowns at Eisenhower Tunnel.

You will notice that the 18 wheelers have their flashers on and are climbing at 5 or 10 miles an hour with vehicles designed to pull heavy loads uphill.

Your brakes are another matter, use them as little as possible on the downgrades. Again, downshift. Go slow. I think slow is your best friend if you are working at the margins. Good luck.
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Old 06-05-2019, 08:13 PM   #6
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I towed our former 24RKS through Durango Col, with our former 5.7 Tundra CrewMax. The comment about power loss is really a good one. A normally aspirated engine as you climb keeps loosing power as you go higher. It’s a rather eye opening experience to feel your truck slowly fall flat on its face. Increasing the RPM at high elevations doesn’t really help either.

With our bigger trailer it became clear, Durango actually was a no-go with our Tundra. Sadly we had to part ways and move to a turbo diesel.
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Old 06-05-2019, 08:57 PM   #7
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Correct. RPMs don't help with the loss of horsepower. But it helps transmissions and engined that quickly overheat if asked to work like they do in normal conditions.
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Old 06-05-2019, 09:36 PM   #8
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I was in this situation with a ram 1500 eco diesel and 28bhbe. I went to Colorado from Texas but uograded to a 2500 ram diesel before I went. I was so glad I did. Having the power, stability, and exhaust brake were great. I had some crosswind outside Amarillo that also made me feel I made the right choice.
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Old 06-05-2019, 10:05 PM   #9
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I see a lot of the 1/2 ton eco diesels up for sale. I think the manufacturers had a good idea, but they seemed to focus on the theme “diesel” and not the performance. None of the 1/2 ton diesels today really deliver for the TT tower considering what you are paying.

A few weekends ago we had to leave our camp site with red flag warnings. Drove home with 40-45 MPH side winds. We drove 50-60 MPH and that big RAM handled it fine with just a few white knuckle moments.
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Old 06-05-2019, 10:35 PM   #10
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Approximately a 3% power loss for every 1,000 feet so at 7,000 feet (Denver) you're looking at a 21% power loss before getting into the Rockies. That 45-50mph in the hills in the relatively flat east probably means slow going in the higher elevations in the west.
For the record, Denver is the Mile High City, elevation 5,280 feet.
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Old 06-06-2019, 07:27 AM   #11
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I have a 2017 284bhsw SLX I have towed to Gettysburg with an adjustable sway bar, everything worked good no white knuckle moments. We went to Glacier last summer and I upgraded to a equalizer wd/sway it was worth every dollar!!!! The combo pulled great! It made for a relaxing drive even thru some nasty storms! While I have the eco boast f150 it never worked hard I am VERY happy with the truck trailer combo.
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Old 06-06-2019, 07:50 AM   #12
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You Might want to check out TLF Truck on YouTube they have a good videos about this very topic. The turbo 2.7 L was better in Colorado vs. the 5.0 there are a couple of ways to help your truck out 1. You can get a Digital Tune that will help boost your 5.0's performance. 2. Change your axel ratio's. The Eco diesels are made for the EPA rating not towing IMHO.
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Old 06-08-2019, 05:51 PM   #13
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What rear gear ratio do you have. I have the 5.0 F 150 with tow & a 3:31 rear gear, I have been toying with putting a 3:73 gear set in. I have the Jayfeather 25BH, 30 feet long & 6,000 loaded for bear. Reese WD hitch & I have towed coast to coast twice. I can feel the wind pushing when being passed by an 18 wheeler but find if I pull over to the right as much as I can it is very minimal. Slow tow going up hill without a doubt. 60-62 mph avg tow speed but overall MPG was 11.4 on my last 10,000 mile trip east coast to west coast & back, highest & toughest pull was wolf creek pass in Colorado. I had to pull over twice to cool down the tranny as soon as it started to climb up past normal temp I stopped & cooled it off. No problems & I just changed the tranny fluid last week. Your weight is more than I would want to pull.
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Old 06-08-2019, 06:39 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by jdksla View Post
Thank you for any opinions you may offer on this.

I am pulling a 6300lb Jayco Jayflight 287BHSW. I always pull empty except about 500lbs of gear.

Summer trip is from Texas to Colorado and back. I have about 1500 miles of towing to my name, so I'm still a newbie.

Tow vehicle is an F-150 V8 5L w/ tow package. Max on it is supposedly 9300 lbs. I have a weight distribution hitch w/ sway bars. Still, even a weak side wind will get me white-knuckling.

I put new tires on the Jayco but man, going uphill hurts (45-50mph best case), and that's in flat gentle Texas. Otherwise, towing is okay and I keep it around 55mph.

Is my tow vehicle too weak?
You didn't say which year or trans, you have?

You didn't say where in CO you are going?

Fort what it's worth, there are people here at all elevations pulling 8K trailers with F150's. If you take your time and drive with care, you will be fine. But, get a better W/D system with sway control before you come. West Texas, NM and CO will put you through a bit of a wind tunnel on the way.
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Old 06-08-2019, 06:54 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by jdksla View Post
Thank you for any opinions you may offer on this.

I am pulling a 6300lb Jayco Jayflight 287BHSW. I always pull empty except about 500lbs of gear.
...
Tow vehicle is an F-150 V8 5L w/ tow package. Max on it is supposedly 9300 lbs. I have a weight distribution hitch w/ sway bars. Still, even a weak side wind will get me white-knuckling.
...
Is my tow vehicle too weak?
It's not too weak, its too light. A light truck with a long trailer is easily pushed around. Wind, passing vehicles, lane changes etc will all exacerbate that feeling.

You "struggle" to get to 50 in Texas hills? Either something is seriously wrong with your truck, or you aren't driving it correctly. Towing a trailer you need to let a naturally aspirated truck get up in the RPM range. You don't hit max HP of about 390 until almost 6000 RPMs. If you are trying to baby the truck or are afraid to hit the gas pedal and are only giving it 2500 RPMs, you're only producing maybe 150 HP. Drive the truck the way it was designed to be driven and report back if you are struggling for power.

Your tires are likely P (car) rated, or else very very light duty "truck" tires. They likely have a lot of flex and side to side movement. They are designed to give a soft and comfortable ride, not necessarily a firm stable ride. I'd suggest changing your tires to D or E rated LT tires. You'll lose fuel economy and softness in the ride, but gain stability.

Your suspension is meant to carry light loads while remaining pliable. A 29 foot long, 11' tall sail behind your truck will easily overwhelm that soft suspension when winds get whipping. Increasing your tongue weight will help with sway.
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Old 06-09-2019, 11:24 PM   #16
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Be aware that some in some states you cannot use flashers while driving to indicate a slow speed. https://www.google.com/search?q=what...hrome&ie=UTF-8
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Old 06-10-2019, 11:15 PM   #17
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Be aware that some in some states you cannot use flashers while driving to indicate a slow speed. https://www.google.com/search?q=what...hrome&ie=UTF-8
I would not worry about doing that at all. One, there are lots of folks going up the big slopes slowly. Two, no one is going to pull you over for an obscure law while towing with your flashers up a big slope in CO; unless you are weaving and they think you are partaking in herbs. . .
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Old 06-11-2019, 05:36 AM   #18
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I think there is a pass from the west to the Denver area that is about 7000 ft. I pulled our 2016 24RKS with our 2014 Ram with the outdoorsman package. It has all the trailer pulling stuff and 3:92 gears and a 5.7 Hemi. No trouble for us.

With our 1990 GMC Suburban I would have been proud at 40 or 45 miles an hour. That rig was equipped with a Whipple Supercharger. It penciled out to be about 375 horsepower instead of the factory 210. It had 3:73 gears.
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Old 06-11-2019, 07:26 AM   #19
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Thank you for any opinions you may offer on this.

I am pulling a 6300lb Jayco Jayflight 287BHSW. I always pull empty except about 500lbs of gear.

Summer trip is from Texas to Colorado and back. I have about 1500 miles of towing to my name, so I'm still a newbie.

Tow vehicle is an F-150 V8 5L w/ tow package. Max on it is supposedly 9300 lbs. I have a weight distribution hitch w/ sway bars. Still, even a weak side wind will get me white-knuckling.

I put new tires on the Jayco but man, going uphill hurts (45-50mph best case), and that's in flat gentle Texas. Otherwise, towing is okay and I keep it around 55mph.

Is my tow vehicle too weak?
Are you really looking for a reason to buy a new vehicle? I ask because it sounds like you are looking at a one off trip into the mountains and then back home again. Do you really want to spend 30k to 50k for a stronger TV?

Back to the original ??. You'll be fine if you follow several of the suggestions on these posts. Air up and don't fret about maintaining a certain speed while climbing. Take your time and stop frequently or whenever engine/trans temps get above the safe range.

You'll be fine and won't have big monthly payments when you get home.
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Old 06-11-2019, 08:07 AM   #20
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FWIW, When people speak of a pass West of Denver they are usually referring to Vail pass, the summit of which is 10662 feet. close-by they go through the Eisenhower tunnel at a little over 11,000 feet. Gasoline engines lose about a third of their rated horsepower at that altitude.
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