Guys, we get this question at least twice a week. I have a trailer between 7 and 9,000 pounds. Is my half ton truck good enough to tow it or do I need a heavy duty truck? And we're going to answer this question today. Because we had the big daddy F250 and his little brother the 150. Both are V8s.
Yes, and we're taking them on our MPG towing loop with 9,000 pounds. So we're loading them a little bit heavier and you'll find out exactly how they perform on a highway today.
In general terms, you always want to buy a truck that's more than what you need. And indeed it's the case here with the F250. It's a big heavy truck. It's got a pretty long wheelbase. So let's measure squat on the suspension before we hook it up. So right here it sits at about 44 inches and I measured it on both sides. It's 44 on both sides. Let's see once we put that 900 pound tongue weight on what's going to happen.
There it is an adapter. Okay, so we have an adapter for a 2 inch receiver and our shank. Do you have the shank? I have the shank. And as always we're using our heavy duty Gen Y inches. That's the shank. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, are you okay? Yeah. I thought you loved those fins. I do right. It has always thrift. Yeah. Okay, I thought you loved the quick connect. I do. I do. Oh, you want to put it on? Okay.
Well, you can't hold something? You kind of need three hands. Let's see if we can put the pin through both and then pull it out. So tell me when it can't pull out just a little more. Okay. A little more. A little more. A little more. Okay. Oh, did I get too far? No, you're fine. I'm going a little further. Let me see. We just didn't get that far. There we go. We're good.
Today for this special comparison we're using a 9,000 pound trailer because it's kind of a crossover weight. When you get that heavy of a trailer you start wondering, can my half tongue do it or do I need a heavy duty truck? Also, 9,000 pounds is the maximum towing rating on this 5 liter F-150. So we'll see how these two trucks perform. Let's go look at the trailer.
This is a North Star Simron from Trans West. It's a three horse aluminum slant load horse trailer. And it's aluminum skin and it's got some steel underneath. It's really similar to the trucks we're using today. Two water totes full of water and that's how we get to the 9,000 pounds. It's nice to using water totes. We don't do that floor mat thing. You know, we throw the mats in there.
Anyway, this is a great test trailer. This is the front dressing room. Tacking me. Put your saddle rack back here, get dressed. Out of the rain. The horse manure can't come through the wall. It goes all the way through. And you can get this trailer at Trans West Truck Trailer RV. Use the link below to click there.
Now this truck we've got it loaded properly so it's 900 pound tongue weight. We've got to wait and distribute any hitch on it. So we are balanced. We are loaded properly. We are ready to roll. Okay, so I dropped the truck back and forth to settle the suspension a little bit. Over here it's 42 and a half. So that means an inch and a half of squat from this heavy duty truck. Barely noticeable though. It still feels like a really tall truck.
I like gloves because diesel gets out of your hands. You'll smell them three days from now. It's not like gas for a bad break that's gone. Diesel stays with you. Okay, 30 seconds. We have a measured depth. Diesel exhaust fluid usage before. Basically it has to do with emissions, right? That's true. That's what it's all about. You'll see that particular filter. And I'm not sure if we are going to have a measurable amount. We are on the load. This is to hold the handle. We're going to top off the death fluid. We already got the diesel in there. Let's go. We're ready for action.
There we go. That was a little squeeze. All right, that's it. Top off. Okay. Okay, we're going to reset the trip meter back to zero. Times zero. Under the hood of this big mean F250 is an engine that's very popular in the heavy duty truck. It's the diesel, the turbo diesel, the 6.7 liter power stroke in this case.
Well, that turbo. Yes, people do love diesels for towing. And you know, we talk about that in our book and other things. But if you tow a lot, you know, if you do a lot, a lot of miles, the diesel makes a lot of sense. And that's a power of all. I mean, it flies up and down the hills. And the rating on this diesel is 450 horsepower and 935 pound feet of torque. Yes, made it to a six-speed. A gigantic heavy duty six-speed. This year. Yes, this year for 2019.
All right, we just hit the highway in the F250. Yes, and I have a cruise control at 70 miles an hour. So today we're running our abbreviated loop, shorter loop, 66 miles, still 70 miles an hour, still the same truck stop. And we'll find out how these two trucks compare. These are the two points or three points I want to get across.
First of all, how's the visibility from this truck overall? Right quality and kind of how does it handle the trailer? Okay, I thought this was about fuel mileage. Well, a few miles just at the end. Oh, okay.
These trucks, other than size, they have a lot of similarities. I mean, they both have the FX4 package. They both have the sport appearance package, which is all the monochromantic coloring on the bumpers and the grills. And they've got towing mirrors and they have crew caps. But, you know, these are both Lariat packages. This one here is all about $75,000. The Lariat in the 150 is about $65,000.
The way these trucks sit, this F250 is rated at 2,052 pounds of payload with a diesel engine in every other option it has and 15,000 pounds of maximum towing capability. The payload rating on the F150 is actually really good for a half time. And the total rating of course on this truck with a 331 rear end is 9,000 pounds.
And the visibility is very good. That's the cool thing about Ford's. They made this little cut out of the window like the big civilized app. They don't have that for mirrors. And they did that back in 1999, which was cool. Yeah, I mean, I think visibility is fantastic, Adam.
So how's the ride quality? I mean, this is a heavy duty truck. It's meant for a little bit higher payload, right? Right. Ford's improved the ride. And this is not air rides. It's not the fancy stuff. It's just typical leaf springs. And, you know, I think it's doing well. I mean, this is a short bit for the size of truck at 6.5 feet long. So you don't have, you know, the long bit helping you with the ride. So a couple of things I'm noticing here. First of all, I feel like I'm sitting way taller, you know, than a half-done truck, which is good. The truck ride is solid. You know, do you feel any sway or anything? No, I know. I'm glad we did a little gesture on the way. I just want to get into that. I think it's fine.
Finally, let's do the sound check. Let's see at 70 miles an hour with a trailer, with the mirrors extended, everything. Right. Let's see what the sound level in the cab is. 63.8. Wow, that's good. Which is quiet. Anything below 70 decibels is really quiet. I mean, we're talking about the 84 decibels. 85 decibels right now. So that's remarkable in the heavy duty truck.
You might be thinking that the heavy duty truck like this F-250 has a cab that's drastically different from a light duty half-done truck, like the F-150. But it's not the case. In fact, the F-150 and the super duty F-250 trucks share the same aluminum cab. That means the same space, same interior volume as far as legroom and hip room and everything else is concerned. Yes, some of the electronics are a little bit different, but you still get the same technology, almost the same technology.
Check it out. First of all, you have all of the camera views. You could zoom in on your trailer hitch here. Towing is very important for a heavy duty truck. So there's several different views you could choose from. If there's even a camera in the bed to see the cargo or your gooseneck trailer. I'm here in the F-150 now. The F-150 is able to have this. The trailer Pro backup assist, which is currently only available on the half-ton for 2019, but for 2020, the super duty is actually getting this, but we'll talk about that later. Also the way you change the camera modes is a little bit different in the F-150. We put it in reverse. It just interfaces a little bit different when you compare it to the super duty truck. There's also no camera to see the cargo in the bed.
看一下。首先,你拥有所有的摄像头视角。你可以在这里放大查看拖车挂钩。对于一辆重型货车来说,拖车非常重要。所以你可以选择几种不同的视角。如果有一个摄像头位于车厢内,可以看到货物或拖车头。我现在在F-150车上。F-150拥有这个功能。拖车专业倒车辅助(Trailer Pro backup assist)目前只在2019年的半吨级车型上可用,但在2020年,超重型货车也将具备这个功能,但我们稍后再谈。另外,在F-150车型中,改变摄像头模式的方式略有不同。当我们倒车时,它的界面略有不同,与超重型货车相比。车厢内没有用于查看货物的摄像头。
So we're claiming a little hill, but it's still in six? Yes, Ford loves overdrive. Her truck is staying overdrive majority of the time. This diesel doesn't really feel this trailer. No, it doesn't. We're on a rough part of the road too. And it's, you know, it's, we feel the bounce, but it's not, you know, doing any side to side motion at all. No Elvis pelvis? No Elvis pelvis? It feels good.
According to the truck's computer, we got 9.3 average miles per gallon. We need to find out exactly how much fuel you used and also depth. Look how big my nozzle is. That's the high pressure pump. That big nozzle. All right, let's do it. Okay. I wonder if we're going to use any depth or is it going to be measurable? I will. I doubt if we use a pint, I don't think we can do it. Probably a cup, teaspoon. We'll have to do this again with big dualies, right? And see how they work. Oh, correct.
All right, 30 seconds. Yo, ho ho. And here we go. Click. 7.35 free. 8.9. Basically 9 miles per gallon. Well, in the computer, it's at 9.3. So that's close. Okay. That's close, but it's less than what I expected, but it is a different day. Yeah, it is. It is. It is a nicer day. Yeah. So let's try the depth now.
Okay. Did you click off? Yes. Okay. All right. So let's calculate the DEF diesel glass fluid usage. So we went 66 miles with a trailer and we used 0.162 of a gallon. A little bit of depth. So in theory on a gallon of DEF fluid towing a trailer like this, we could go about 407 miles. Yeah, but that's towing, right? Yeah. When you're empty, you're using a lot less of it. You don't take a big truck like this and not tow with it. It's all about trailers, dude. Okay. Let's go.
But we can go a few thousand miles on a tank of depth. Check this out. There the F250 hitch was positioned, but now on this F150, it's too low. So we got to move it up. And if my experience tells me we actually have to go all the way up because I've told with this truck before with this trailer and I know with how much it squats, I probably have to be in the top position. So let's see how this works and how much it squats.
Okay, before we hook up the F150, let's move the height here to the fender as well. 40 inches unloaded. All right. So I drove back and forward just a little bit to settle the suspension without the weight distribution right now. Let's measure. We were at 40 inches without the trailer. Now we're at 37 and a half. So that's two and a half inches. So that's about an inch more squat than in a super duty. And you can kind of tell that this truck is now squatting where a super duty kind of didn't look like it cared.
Both these trucks have towing packages with towing mirrors, which is excellent. But the way you operate the mirror is actually different. Here in the F150, there is one button and then you have to push the arrows to move the mirror in and out, extend it, bring it back in and also fold it back and forth. But in the F-150, there are two different buttons to control the mirror. One to fold it and a separate switch to extend it and bring it in. Yep.
So we're going to be using 87 octane, manufacturer recommended. And before we leave, same fill up procedure. Yeah, show that in there. Fill it up. Wait 30 seconds. Stop off. That's a beautiful watch. That's a beautiful watch. Thank you. Ow. Oh wow. That was a quick one. All right, let's get on the road. Reset. Oh yes. Oh, yes. Bro. Hi. Bro. Hey, we forgot Death Floyd. Oh, shoot. No, this is the wrong island to get Death Floyd. This is a gas truck. Come on, let's go get it.
This F-150 has a V8 on it with the 5 liter. And I think it represents kind of a more basic common truck. I know the EcoBoost are very popular, but this is the good old V8. Oh, it's that wonderful sound. Oh, yeah, we got a V8 diesel. We got a V8 gas. This is so awesome. But yeah, this is a very popular engine. I'm so glad that they keep it. Even though they love the V6s at Ford and those twin turbos, people love the Coyote engine. Absolutely. It's a good towing truck. Also, 395 horsepower, 400 pounds feet of torque in this puppy. Yeah. So it's still a very powerful engine and 10 speed automatic.
We're on the highway in the hefta. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We're in fifth. We're climbing up that ladder. See if he can use all 10 gears. Wait, fifth gear? Yes, it's capable. 10 gears, total. I know, we do. And I love it. We'll see if that closest to those gears, the lower RPM of those gears will help our fuel mileage. I think it will, but I don't know if you've done a fuel mileage loop in this yet. Yes, I have, but I'm not going to tell you. Okay. Because we actually, I haven't actually done this heavy over trailer on an MPG loop before. Oh, there you go.
So a couple of things. The ride I feel is more comfortable than the F-250. Even though F-250 is good, I think this is a little bit softer and better. I would say slightly because you know, this has got probably one less leaf. It's a little better leaf for a ride. Yeah. This is the same section where we measured our sound level. Okay. So let's just try that now. 65. So I have the most important question. Okay. Is there? I'm not married. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead. Does the trailer swing? I don't feel it. The ride looks controlled. I feel a little more. I know we adjusted it with the bars on the way to the shooting hits for this trailer for this hike. And it's not bad. I can feel it, but it's in the stream. Well, it's not where the trailer is moving enough for me to feel more there, but I do feel a little bit in the stream. And in this truck, I'm feeling more like an SUV. You know, I feel like I'm not that high off the ground. And then after 50, you get that feeling that you're actually in the trucky truck. You're actually an up there. Exactly. Yeah. And that's, I think it's the safety thing. You get those taller trucks. I mean, I don't want them so tall or painted, but hook up to the trailer. Or getting an out of. Yeah, I think that taller truck could be safer because people can see you.
To the seat height, let's measure that. See how it compares. In the super duty after 50, the seat bottom, the bottom cushion is about 41 inches. If you look at here, let's measure the seat height on the F-150 now. It's about 35 inches versus 41 on the F-250. That's huge. That's about six inches difference as we're kind of your sitting and your perspective on the road. Of course, the F-250 is a much heavier and bigger vehicle. Curb weight on this truck is about 8,000 pounds. The Curb weight on that V8 F-150 is around 5,300 pounds. That's a huge difference. Of course, here, the F-250 has a heavier frame. It's got solid axles front and rear, bigger brakes, bigger calipers, and of course, an option to manually engage your front hubs for four-wheel drive. Of course, you can leave them alone for an automatic mode as well.
Alright, well, let's get to the midpoint and to the back. Back to the fuel pump, same loop, same day, and get the result. Right. It means beautiful day. It's not really windy or any. No. No excuses today. I'm really surprised 8.8. That's very close to what that super duty was, but we'll see how the electronics are, how close the real numbers are compared to the computer on the truck. Same fuel, 87. Let's get this. Okay, we need 30 seconds to top off. 30 seconds. 7.8 gallons. That sounds like a familiar number. 7.829. 8.4. I'm a little bit surprised because I expected the half-down truck with a gas engine V8 to be a lot less efficient towing a load than it was. Yeah, that's kind of where it is. A 9,000 pound trailer makes the half-pound look pretty good. I mean, you can't spend an extra 10 grand on a diesel truck for what, a half-mile of the gallon or less than a mile of the gallon. It doesn't pay off. So no, daily driver towing these kind of trailers, 10,000 pounds. Occasionally, you don't need a diesel. Yes, but if you're carrying a giant fifth-wheel trailer, a gooseneck trailer, you've got to step up to a super-duty, heavy-duty truck and a diesel, that makes more sense. Yes, and if you put a lot of miles on a truck, all that's part of the equation to make that decision. Well, I think it's a pretty clear-cut answer. Yes. And go back to TFLTruck.com for when you're using real-world reviews and where else? mrtruck.com. Oh, thanks.