Cheryl:

Good for you.  You looked at the placards on both the truck and trailer and didn’t look at the marketing material.  You have learned more than you think.

Assuming just a few things the combination looks fine weight wise, IMO. I doubt you will be adding much additional weight to the truck in upfits.  Good choice on the dual rear wheels.

If I were purchasing this truck and trailer I would want to know for sure I could get an extended warranty for both; but most especially the truck engine.  The truck is actually now just short of 6 years old from date of manufacture. (It was built in May, 2006.)  A warranty would be well advised, IMO.

Bill

Cheryl, I test drove 6 or 7 2008 Ford trucks and almost bought a 08 Ford diesel truck when I was looking at diesel trucks, 3 things I did not like, the truck was very loud, you almost had to turn the truck off when you go to a fast food drive through to put your order in, (2) it does not turn as sharp as the newer trucks, and (3) it road a little rough because it had leaf springs on the front, the newer ones have coil springs that let you turn sharper but other than that the truck drove nice, I ended up buying 2010 Chevy diesel very very quiet.
Hope this helps.

P.S. I still like the Fords, just the newer ones.

Lonney 

cherylbrv wrote:

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Thanks, Bill - yes, an extended warranty is definitely in the plans. In fact, I checked with Howard this morning to make sure that it's available. He said there were extended warranties available for up to 12 years. For the truck, since it's a diesel, isn't 73K miles relatively low?

I can't say I personally chose this combination -- it's the way it's being sold so someone else put it together. I guess that's why I want to verify that they did a good job. I do feel a certain amount of trust and that if they say it's great, then it is. But the skeptic part of me says there are lot of crooks out there, so verify and confirm!

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Cheryl:

Yes, 73K is reasonably modest for a diesel.  But there are some issues with diesels, such as this one is, and a warranty is a very good idea.  Beyond that, mileage is not the only determining factor.  Unless garaged and driven reasonably often, age is also a deterrent to any vehicle’s health.  So there are many factors including brand, model year, age, mileage, and overall condition which determine a trucks “quality” so to speak.

As Howard will tell you I believe, you will need to have a pre-inspection done on any vehicle / trailer, before the warranty will go into effect.  If they won’t allow this to be done before you purchase – IMO - run away.

As to your other posted question about towing in the mountains:  This truck will pull the trailer up the mountains just fine, IMO.  I, personally if affordable, would prefer a truck with an exhaust brake for going down the mountains. Others may have different viewpoints. While exhaust brakes can be installed after market, I would prefer one factory installed.  However, this limits brand and year selection and so after market installation is probably the way to go in your case as this will be more difficult to find in trucks prior to 2011.

This is not a huge trailer, but it is a rather large one at 17,500lbs.  Pulling is usually not the problem, it is slowing down and controlling the trailer going down the mountain. You asked about mountain trailering and are my opinions.

Just don’t be forced into buying something if you have any question.   If you don't personally like this combination, IMO, move on. There are a LOT of used trailers and trucks out there.