F-450 towing - RV-Dreams Community Forum

sower volunteers · RV-Dreams Community Member

F-450 towing

lariat450 · RV-Dreams Community Member

I am pretty set on buy the new Jayco Seismic 3914 which has a gvwr of 19,000 lbs. should the 450 be able to tow this or should I look at a MDT or HDT? I will be purchasing the truck after I get the 5er so I just want to get peoples opion and if there is another brand that would be good at pulling this please let me so I can do some research. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Joe,

Welcome to the RV Dreams forums. It is a great place to find a bunch of knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful folks. We are looking forward to learning more about you and your dreams as well as trying to answer your questions and consider your comments.

As for the F450, the towing guide shows a "towing capacity" of over 24,000 lbs. However, as Richard (sower volunteers) noted, pay more attention to the GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicular Weight) than you do to towing weight. Towing weight is OK as far as a "big" ballpark number, but in certain cases, one can be under on towing weight, but over on GCVW.

GCVW is the total "loaded out" weight for both the truck and the trailer. That is to include passengers, pets, cargo, fuel, and all other fluids such as LPG, water in holding tanks, personal belonging, etc.

The F450 should be able to handle the Jayco pretty easily. Our Mobile Suites has a GVWR rating of 18,500 lbs and our F450 hardly knows it is pulling that much weight. Now, having said that, it is not considering going over mountain passes. So far, we haven't done that yet, so I can't really give a very quality answer. Our F450 is a 2008, so we were able to get it with the 4:88 rear differential ratio, so it will pull better than a "faster" rear end.

Good luck with all your planning and research.

Terry

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

I recently pulled a 20K+ trailer with an F450 for 500 miles. Granted, it was in TX, OK and KS.....so no MAJOR hills. It pulled the load fine, and stopped fine as well. And my normal ride is a Volvo semi-truck.

There is more to the decision though. For example, we have a smart car that will side load on a semi-truck....can't do that with an f450. We can also take our truck and live in it like a motorhome for a week or so.....I've lived in it alone for half a month or more. No real issue with that - but you can't do that with an F450. Also, nothing cruises the mountains and eats up highway in comfort like a semi truck. So there is more to consider than just "will it do the job". But the answer to that is "it will".

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Jack,

You have amazing information on your website!!!

A few questions about driving a semi (or other HDT): is it automatic transmission? Are special truck driving courses required? Is a truck driver's license required? How does insurance compare to a MDT?

Thanks,

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Assuming you're talking about a 2012 F450…yes, max tow rating on them is 24,500. I have one and am pulling our New Horizons which weighs about 21,000 loaded. We've had no troubles towing through PA/NY/New England the past 4 months. We slow down a bit on the uphills and speed up a bit on the downhills but haven't yet dropped below about 57 on any of the uphills. Granted; they aren't the Rockies but we've been through a fair number of decent hills here in the upper Applachian Mountains, Katskills, White Mountains, etc.

You do need to worry about GCVW and all those other numbers but we're well within all the limits with our New Horizons so your lighter rig should present no problem. You'll find a lot of pros and cons about HDTs if you look in the various RV related forums; before deciding to go with an bigger truck make sure you know both the pros and cons of each alternative. There's a lot to be said for an HDT like Jack has but there are some drawbacks to it as well. Same with the F450; it's got pros and cons and you need to evaluate them and make the best decision for you.

Mountain passes do present a potential issue and while it's true that an HDT might slow down a bit less on the ups and speed up a bit less on the downs it's all relative. We got the hydraulic disc brakes with ABS and a separate brake controller in our rig beyond the F450 tow/brake controller and have really had no issues with it so far.

We considered the HDT and for a variety of reasons went with the F450. I won't rehash all of the discussions here but if you want to drop me your email in a PM I would be happy to email you some of them.