V10 love?

I regularly tow 8-10kin the pa mountains with an 06 F250 V10/torqushift. A 5 star tune really woke it up. I get 9 mpg loaded and 12-13 empty.

We have a 99 f350 v10 at work with a small dump body. I have pulled our 6 ton mini excavator on a heavy tandem dual trailer with it. Seems to have enough power but in our use gets maybe 8 mpg. Biggest issue we have had has been leaky exhaust manifolds.

I've got an '06 F350 and use it similar to your plans. I'm not head over heels in love with it but its a good road trip vehicle, rides nice for a 1T truck. Expect horrible mileage (10-12) and reasonable power. It doesn't feel like 350 HP at all because the '05+ trucks are stupid heavy. 05+ V10s are somewhat rare but have a lot upgrades over the first gen ones. Pain in the ass to work on compared to a similar GM gas truck.

When I bought mine i was looking for a 6.0 Chevy but stumbled across it for a reasonable price and had the cab/bed config I was after.

My old v10 got cycled into the fleet long ago. Still kickin. Coming up on 400k

Yeah, I’ve been reading up on 2v, vs 3v. You can get the 2v for really cheap. I’ve also been looking for an 8.1. But they are rare. And most the time, very pricey compared to the v10s.

Content with my '00 CCSB 4x4 especially with 5Star tune and 4.56's. I wanted a 7.3 but they were far more expensive and twice the miles most of them. Paid 4K for mine w/150k on it 6 years ago. New diesels prices are beyond insane, forever out of my reach.

I've always thought that if my old 7.3 gets smashed by a tree or whatever, I'd always go look for as new of a V10 Ford or maybe even a 6.2 though.

I've only towed with a 6.0 gm and 6.2 Ford as far as naturally aspirated gas engines go.

The one thing that an NA gas rig falls short imo is at high altitude. No way I'd opt out of a diesel for that, especially when you already own one.

I think you will miss your current truck. Why not convert it to 4wd? 05+ SD 60 and front suspension would be sweet. Not sure what the easiest route for a tcase would be, but I'm sure you could finger it out. I've seen the shit you've built for your buggy

I have a 2008 F350 Lariat. Use it mostly for hauling either my Alaskan camper, 4runner, or both. Normally see about 10-12 mpg. It isn't the fastest thing hauling up the Colorado passes but it's been good to me. I bought it with about 160k and I'm up to 180k miles. New motor about 45k before I bought it. I didn't know it when I bought but the computer engine hours reads something north of 9500. So ex-oilfield truck most likely

Just to be clear, I’m not getting rid of my Cummins. I have thought about doing a 4x4 conversion, but I think it’ll hurt the value of the truck. It’s pretty damn clean, and has 115k on the clock.

My only gas towing experience is with my previous 04 5.3 Silverado. I’m hoping my next experience will be...... better. 😂😂

Towing your experience will definitely be better if you don't mind 3000+ rpm. The V10 and the 5.3 have very similar powerbands, the V10 just has more of it.

Empty it will be the same with worse mileage. In a drag race i bet my old '99 5.3 silverado would have beat my '06 F350 V10.

Are you just planning on towing your little buggy on a car hauler? Or are you thinking about a cab over also or something?

If it's just the buggy on a light trailer, I'm sure it will be great. I'd almost look for a cheap 1/2 ton for that.

I just saw a 97 1500 gm ex cab with a 5 spd. For $5k at one of those dealers. I'm not a fan of those trucks really, but a 350/5 spd would be cheap to run, and probably do half ass OK on fuel.

I used to not like them either but my gf has a '96 2wd half ton and i've really come to like it. Has 250k mi on the original vortec 350 and will knock down 17 city and almost 20mpg highway if you're nice to it. Feels quicker than my V10 empty and super comfortable to drive. Hell i'd probably give up my F350 for a clean 4x4 version of one of those with a manual trans.

I definitely don’t want another manual truck. If I was towing the buggy, it would be on a small flat bed. I’ll leave towing to enclosed trailer to the dodge. I’d consider a 6.0 Chevy too, if the deal was right. But there’s no replacement, for displacement. Unless there’s a turbo involved!

02, V10 F350 driven by employees and worse myself... Not a ball of fire but gets the job done, regular maintenance, gas and tires is all I've put into this thing.