Towing/hauling with an E350?

[Biggfoot44]

Just to put those 460 mpg numbers into perspective . Once upon a time, a long story happened , but ended up with ex SIL towing a horse for us with borrowed full size Bronco w/ 302, " I pay the gas " . It got 3.7mpg . ( With me filling the tank to start, along the way, and at the end, while tracking distance , so I really mean 3.7 mpg .)

Makes 10mpg look good by comparison .

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Just to put those 460 mpg numbers into perspective . Once upon a time, a long story happened , but ended up with ex SIL towing a horse for us with borrowed full size Bronco w/ 302, " I pay the gas " . It got 3.7mpg . ( With me filling the tank to start, along the way, and at the end, while tracking distance , so I really mean 3.7 mpg .)

Makes 10mpg look good by comparison .

Either your sis in law was danica patrick or that bronc had issues.

 

[bobbywalter]

i wouldnt tow with any of those slugs.


get a older first gen psd e350. they are ridiculous. best vehicle i have ever owned.

i owned all of the 250-350 van powertrains pre triton.

nothing even close to the 1st gen psd 7.3.

19-23 mpg lightly laden...10-16 mpg towing 10k.

of course details matter....that is a work van with 3.55 gears and 235-85-16 tires.

loved that thing. cummins still better though

 

[rusty ol ranger]

i wouldnt tow with any of those slugs.


get a older first gen psd e350. they are ridiculous. best vehicle i have ever owned.

i owned all of the 250-350 van powertrains pre triton.

nothing even close to the 1st gen psd 7.3.

19-23 mpg lightly laden...10-16 mpg towing 10k.

of course details matter....that is a work van with 3.55 gears and 235-85-16 tires.

loved that thing. cummins still better though

Not to dispute ya but, ive driven alot of the 1st gen psd's, and honestly, imo, besides mileage the 460 will smoke one empty and tow right with it.

 

[Ranger850]

They say the SportsMobile Company makes some BadA$$ E350 Conversions

 

[rusty ol ranger]

They say the SportsMobile Company makes some BadA$$ E350 Conversions

Id kill for a quigley, but they are waaay to pricey, even used....

But a solid front axled E250 4x4.....somethin makes them sexy to me...

 

[Biggfoot44]

Well her foot was on the floor most of the time , but that didn't translate to moving quickly . 31in tires, unknown gear ratios .

I wasn't expecting milage that low , but I was pumping, and had to believe my own eyes . Also figured out I spent enough on gas , I could have paid a professional hauler .

 

[bobbywalter]

Not to dispute ya but, ive driven alot of the 1st gen psd's, and honestly, imo, besides mileage the 460 will smoke one empty and tow right with it.

yes you are disputing if its factory delivered trucks....maybe you are thinking 7.3 idi?

...if that is not the case.. i would counter that you were driving a broken psd truck....because a stock 460 out towing or out any-thing-ing a psd ..... that dont happen. only thing it can do is get worse fuel economy.

1st one ton to crack 0-60 under 10 was a psd. of course from there the tritons did do better then the windsors and the v10 bested the 460 as well. just the way it is. psd will SMOKE a 460 by 1 to 2 seconds in 1/4 mile, so i dont know wtf your talking about. thats empty. everyone was used to idi's and spanking the stupid out of them never got old.

i have towed the same load with various vehicles and have a real sense of it... my e350 460 with less then 60k on it vs a 560 k psd e350.....running burt t combs up through slade ky and the green monster doing tellico back in the day....the 460 dropped to 2nd gear screaming 55 mph(or less)..which is actually pretty good compared to the 6.5 td dually we used a few times and about par with a 2004 5.4 2wd reg cab f250.......


my psd merely unlocked converter...still stayed in od....and did not dip below 65 mph. not even sort of kind of close. i wouldnt even tow that load with the 300 or 351 vans that far...but those vans were pretty rusty. same gears and tires with same load... maybe a 4.10 geared gas truck could do better some how.


for your goals....1 ton brings capacity.

looking in texas for a psd is good money. psd issues from rare use are a good reason to not get one...but worth the effort to mothball it for what you get....


otherwise a later v10 is cheeeeeep. and easy. 2k can buy them. psd is big money for a gen 1.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Dude....

A 95-97 460 makes 245hp/410ftlbs.

A 94.5-97 PSD makes 215hp/415ftlbs.

The 460 peaks torque at 2200rpm, the psd at 2000.

Ive towed with both of them. Granted it wasnt anything super hilly, but still, the 460 felt just as stout. In elevation it maybe a different story with the powerchoke havin a turbo.

As far as the V10s go, havent ran enough of them to form a super solid opinion, but, atleast in the early V10 years, its basically the same old same old, the 460 comes on harder from a dead stop, the V10 grabs it above 60.

Which, everyones entitled to their opinion, and im not taking away from either the 10 or the PSD. But i wouldnt trade my 460 for early versions of either.

Then IDI stuff was more compareable to a 351 then a 460.

 

[G8orFord]

It's not all about max torque, it's also about the curves. The 7.3 maxed both HP and torque at pretty close to the same RPM (somewhere around 2500). The 460 doesn't get close to max HP until about 4000 RPM. I like 460's too, but IMO, once they put the turbos on the diesels, gassers became irrelevant for big towing. Especially when a few tuning tweaks will make even a '97 7.3 quite a bit stronger.

As far as newer diesels go, my brother's '06 single cab 6.0 Chevy gasser with 4.11 gears was a joke compared to my '04 crew cab 6.0 diesel with 3.73 gears. Even stock the diesel would pull a load far better, faster and cheaper than the Chevy. Once it was tuned, well, let's just say the Chevy doesn't get a lot of miles put on it. Just my two cents worth.

Getting back closer to the topic, the 6.0 was available in the E350 through 2010, so there's probably a few of them out there to be had fairly cheap. Before everyone starts on the 6.blow comments, yes, they had some design flaws, but they are all addressable and once they are, they are quite good and reliable engines (or is it motors).

 

[91stranger]

This topic is still goin on? They are all gas hogs and do the same damn thing. It's hard to compare two different trucks when you don't know the history, maintenance records, or condition of either vehicle since those will change the performance drastically.

 

[Grumpaw]

We have a 30 foot class c motor home built on the E-450 cut a way chassis, with the V-10. 2012 Forrest River, weighs in at around 12,500 lbls with our stuff loaded, and towing a Subaru Crosstrek 4 down., weight around 3200 lbs.
Have run it across and back thru USA, Alaska, Canada, flats and mountains. Has always had plenty of power with the V-10, and will easily cruise at 65-70 with cruise control. Mountains, will slow us down just like any big rig..
50,000 miles with not one down day. Will always run a gas as there cheap to maintain and repair compared to a diesel.
We don't concern ourselves with mileage as it is a big box pushing air out of it's way. Gets 5-6 in mountains and 10-11 on the flats.
V-10 is considered a "small block" and will easily rev to 5000 rpm. At 65 mph on flats with tow/haul mode on, rpm is about 2500. Very easy on the engine.
Grumpaw

 

[G8orFord]

@Grumpaw I get what you're saying. A gasser is definitely cheaper to maintain and for the occasional recreational user, probably as good or better an option as a diesel. Those that tow often or for profit, tend to worry about fuel mileage a bit more. A friend of mine has an '06 Superduty with the V-10 and it feels pretty strong. Very capable of towing his 30' TT. (ask me sometime about changing the plugs in that engine though)

When I tow our race truck, I'm probably about the same total weight as you mention above, but with about 8k of tow truck that's towing 8k of race truck and trailer. I got about 14 mpg on mostly flat roads with the 6.0 and am now getting about the same on my 6.7. Difference is, I'm spinning 1800 RPM at 75 mph and have no problem maintaining speeds on hills. Very easy on the engine too. LOL

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Im anxious to see what this new 7.3L gasser is gonna do.

Pry not my next truck, but my next next truck, will be powered by one. Its a pushrod big cube iron blocked V8...how can you argue?

 

[G8orFord]

I'm looking forward to seeing what they get out of it too. They've been pretty hush hush about the output or at least the last I checked.