Safe Towing Distance?

[kbieber8]

Hey there! Looking for some experience. I just bought my first Diesel. 1999 Ford F350 CCLB DRW. It has 107K. All stoke except an exhaust. I drove it back from Utah where I bought it to Washington state where I live with no problems.

I am trying to figure out if it would be safe to drive my truck on a road trip coming up in September. It will be from Washington state to NY. The trip there will be 500 miles per day, nothing too big, but I would be pulling an unloaded closed trailer, appx 3200 pounds. On the way home though it would be loaded with 4 harleys. And the trip home would be straight through, not many stops. Has anyone done anything like this before? Will the truck handle this? Are there any negatives from driving and towing for that long?

Thanks,

Kyle

[Jarrod B]

it was built to haul everyday nonstop.

[JEL]

That will be a walk in the park for that truck, it won't even know 3200lbs is back there. It was built to haul a lot more than that for a lot longer, in all honesty you'll probably get tired well before the truck does making that trip. You'll be good to go.

[Dietoremain]

lol thats a feather.. pull it all day every day.

[Strokenoff]

Even with 4 harleys weighing in at max 800lbs each thats still only 6400lbs and thats on the heavy side. Truck was made to haul double that easily.

But before you go make sure you do a good inspection of the truck because you never know how the previous owner maintained stuff....

My trucks first trip with a light trailer a rear axle seal started going out and dripping gearlube on the brakes and smoking a little going through the mountains when the brakes were hot. All ended well tho....

[dereku]

Make sure your truck and trailer have a good spare and you have all the tools to change that stuff.

I just paid $250 for a trailer tire on the side of the road.

[Drew60diesel]

Wait a minute.... is this truck a FORD?? then you are good to go!! that amount of weight is nothing but a drop in the bucket for that truck! good luck man!!

[Zaairman]

This load will be a walk in the park for your truck. It could easily pull 10,000 more pounds. Well, maybe not easily, but it'd do it.

[DieselFord]

At one time I would have everything pre trip checked and prepped, tanks filled. Hop in and drive till fuel was gone, 100 gallons goes a long way.

On one trip out of Phoenix got to spend about 12 hours in Gallop NM with a burned out wheel bearing on the trailer, not a fun time.

So after that started to do a tire and hub walk around about every 2 hours and just putting into the right emergency parking and doing it only takes 5 to 6 and back on the way.

Has save me some time in spotting a tire going bad before having failure at not so good place.

When the speed was 55 would lock the cruse at 58 – 59 better MPG and a easier drive not worrying about Smokes.

For trip planning I used 50MPH to cover fuel and food stops with a little sleep never got there late except for the one vacation in Gallop.

One word, to not over extend yourself, the SD PSD will more than likely be just fine.

[kbieber8]

Awesome guys! Like I said I am new to the diesel world and for that matter towing. It is my new baby now and just want to make sure it will be ok. Thanks for the tips. I actually have been taking care of all the maintenance as we speak. The rear brakes are getting rebuild as well as the leaking power booster. Take care.