Tow vehicle question

[jason1973]

I was reading a while back that the 3.5 ecoboost engine was having timing chain and intercooler issues when constantly towing heavy. Is this still a thing? My shop says they do a few trucks a month with these issues from towing. But not sure if they are early versions or the more current iteration. Don't plan on getting rid of my 7.3 anytime soon, just curious.

This is the same thing i have heard. Not sure if its fixed in 2019/2020. But on other forums this seems to be the concern. Also heard of turbo issues after 80k miles. Not sure if this is just internet chatter but its one of the reasons i am not yet decided myself on my next tow vehicle.

[Mwcraz]

I think a couple things need cleared up. First the suburban with the heavy duty tow package comes with a hitch rated for 10,000lbs and 1000 tongue weight. It says right on the hitch. The truck is not rated that high but the hitch is. Second the F150 is more confusing. Without the weight distribution insert and bars it is 500/5000. With weight distribution it is over 1000/10000. Anyone towing a large camper would definitely want to use this setup. It does not reduce the overall pull on the hitch just places more of the trailers weight on the trailer axles. It also helps with stability. The bigger issue people miss is payload. My Tundra had just over 1200lbs. When you add 600lbs of tongue weight you only have 600 left for people and gear. This is a much larger concern as many of the trucks exceed their payload. My F150 is 1600lbs. Also a class 3 hitch is up to 8000 and a class 4 is up to 10,000. You are fine towing our boats with a class 4 just don’t overload the truck’s capacity.



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[rdlangston13]

I was reading a while back that the 3.5 ecoboost engine was having timing chain and intercooler issues when constantly towing heavy. Is this still a thing? My shop says they do a few trucks a month with these issues from towing. But not sure if they are early versions or the more current iteration. Don't plan on getting rid of my 7.3 anytime soon, just curious.

So we own 2 3.5 Ecoboost (one 1st gen in a 2015 expedition and one 2nd gen in a 2018 F150). The expedition was bought new and has a hair over 90,000 miles and probably 10,000 of those are pulling the boat. It had a water pump leak at like 50,000 miles or so but other than that it has been rock solid. No timing chain issues or inner cooler issues and engine has only has full synthetic oil used in it since new. Changed every 5,000 miles, primarily mobil 1 but I’m swapping to penzoil ultra platinum.

The 2nd gen we have only had about a month and a half and has 28,000 miles. All the prior services seem like they were done at the local ford dealer so I assume they used the motor craft synth blend. I’ll be swapping to penzoil ultra platinum at 30,000 miles and will doing 5,000 mile intervals going forward. I’ve heard of timing chain issues on the 1st and 2nd gen so if I experience anything I’ll update but so far I love both of them. The 2nd gen with the 10 speed is awesome so far.



And in previous posts, my tongue weight was so high because apparently my center ballast failed to drain last time I was out. I imagine that running 500-600 lbs lighter in the middle/front of the boat may have brought my tongue weight down to 500 or less.


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[Mdavfx4]

I think a couple things need cleared up. First the suburban with the heavy duty tow package comes with a hitch rated for 10,000lbs and 1000 tongue weight. It says right on the hitch. The truck is not rated that high but the hitch is. Second the F150 is more confusing. Without the weight distribution insert and bars it is 500/5000. With weight distribution it is over 1000/10000. Anyone towing a large camper would definitely want to use this setup. It does not reduce the overall pull on the hitch just places more of the trailers weight on the trailer axles. It also helps with stability. The bigger issue people miss is payload. My Tundra had just over 1200lbs. When you add 600lbs of tongue weight you only have 600 left for people and gear. This is a much larger concern as many of the trucks exceed their payload. My F150 is 1600lbs. Also a class 3 hitch is up to 8000 and a class 4 is up to 10,000. You are fine towing our boats with a class 4 just don’t overload the truck’s capacity.



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From what I have gathered the experts recommend 5%-7% of the boat and trailers weight for the tongue weight on a dual axle trailer. Travel trailers require a higher % in the 10%-12% range. So with a 7500lb boat that would be anywhere from 375-525lbs. Seems like it wouldn't be much of an issue if you keep it closer to the 5% to 6% range. Especially on lighter boats.

[haknslash]

From what I have gathered the experts recommend 5%-7% of the boat and trailers weight for the tongue weight on a dual axle trailer. Travel trailers require a higher % in the 10%-12% range. So with a 7500lb boat that would be anywhere from 375-525lbs. Seems like it wouldn't be much of an issue if you keep it closer to the 5% to 6% range. Especially on lighter boats.

IIRC all Boatmate trailers are designed to have a 10% tongue weight. My truck pulls my Max on a tandem axle Boatmate trailer better than it did with the Yamaha AR92 on a single axle Shorelandr trailer. Sure the weight is more but it pulls night and day better. You'll have better piece of mind doing the mod I did to install a Class IV Curt in your F150.

https://imgur.com/a/i9baupm

[Mdavfx4]

IIRC all Boatmate trailers are designed to have a 10% tongue weight. My truck pulls my Max on a tandem axle Boatmate trailer better than it did with the Yamaha AR92 on a single axle Shorelandr trailer. Sure the weight is more but it pulls night and day better. You'll have better piece of mind doing the mod I did to install a Class IV Curt in your F150.

https://imgur.com/a/i9baupm

Are the trailers adjustable? 10% could lead up to a pretty heavy tongue weight even with the class IV hitch. That's a lot of weight on the rear of the truck cutting in to payload. I know the Yamaha trailers were.

[larry_arizona]

Are the trailers adjustable? 10% could lead up to a pretty heavy tongue weight even with the class IV hitch. That's a lot of weight on the rear of the truck cutting in to payload. I know the Yamaha trailers were.

I believe the torsion axles can be lowered but not sure on that.


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[haknslash]

Are the trailers adjustable? 10% could lead up to a pretty heavy tongue weight even with the class IV hitch. That's a lot of weight on the rear of the truck cutting in to payload. I know the Yamaha trailers were.

Your truck will be fine although the SL is much heavier than my Max. My sag isn’t any greater than it was with my 192. Goes to show how far out the crappy Shorelandr trailers come. My truck only drops maybe 2-3” when I hook up the boat and that’s with original shocks at 213k miles lol.

Two different days and angles but you get the idea...

[Mwcraz]

10% is recommended. Less can cause the trailer to sway. It does reduce how much you can load in the truck.


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[FamilyMan]

Crawled under my 2019 Ram 1500 with the tow package and could not find a sticker anywhere. Says class iv on the sticker sooooo will be glass half full and consider it 10k/1k.

Shoutout that the 4 corner air suspension is quite nice for towing and by far the best riding of the big three I test drove (all but tundra because been in many over it’s 13 year lifespan). Plus the Ram is the only truck with a decent interior ..... but have a feeling the newly revealed nice looking suburban interior will find its way into GM trucks in 1-2 years and give the Ram some competition in that category.


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