Comments post towing trip

[Lugusthedog]

A short 1400 miles thru AZ and NM. I love my new truck and overall great to drive. However I do have some suggestion for Ford ( or maybe read the manual again)

1) MYVIEW issue again. I think I saw someone mention using profiles. I have not done this yet. I would have thought that IF the truck was connected to a trailer it would or should return to TOW/Haul.
2)When restarting the vehicle beside selecting TOW/HAUL I also had to return to settings and reselect the NAMED trailer otherwise it went to default.
3) Intelligent Cruise control. Typically I would set the cruise control to somewhere between 60-65, it would adjust to a lower speed if it saw one which was usually OK, but it also sees frontage road speed sign and will slow on those, not really an issue,
4) if I was cruising at say 65 in a 75 zone and the 75 zone dropped to 65, no change, if it then went back to 75 the F150 would override the 65 I set and fly to 75. I did no care for this.

Otherwise towed a 7000# 30ft Imagine nicely. Used a propride hitch and the sensor set was easy. Was also surprised that it WOULD allow lane centering (hands somewhat free driving)while towing

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[NumbersGuy]

A short 1400 miles thru AZ and NM. I love my new truck and overall great to drive. However I do have some suggestion for Ford ( or maybe read the manual again)

1) MYVIEW issue again. I think I saw someone mention using profiles. I have not done this yet. I would have thought that IF the truck was connected to a trailer it would or should return to TOW/Haul.
2)When restarting the vehicle beside selecting TOW/HAUL I also had to return to settings and reselect the NAMED trailer otherwise it went to default.
3) Intelligent Cruise control. Typically I would set the cruise control to somewhere between 60-65, it would adjust to a lower speed if it saw one which was usually OK, but it also sees frontage road speed sign and will slow on those, not really an issue,
4) if I was cruising at say 65 in a 75 zone and the 75 zone dropped to 65, no change, if it then went back to 75 the F150 would override the 65 I set and fly to 75. I did no care for this.

Otherwise towed a 7000# 30ft Imagine nicely. Used a propride hitch and the sensor set was easy. Was also surprised that it WOULD allow lane centering (hands somewhat free driving)while towing

There's a stretch of highway I was on where the limit for cars is 65-75, but the limit for trucks is 35 mph. The intelligent cruise saw that 35 sign for trucks and adjusted the cruise control down. That was a surprise! Ford definitely has some kinks to work out...I changed it from Intelligent to Adaptive CC after that.

 

[Jack in Prescott]

Lugus, your towing trip report is much appreciated! And that's great news that lane centering works in Tow Haul; I'm surprised and very pleased to hear that.

Can you give us some details on your gas mileage? You must have some useful and data-supported info in the course of 1400 miles. Thanks again.

Jack

 

[Merccat]

I think both the speed up as well as the speed down adjust (due to frontage road sign) could be solved by giving the driver a few seconds notice and opportunity to cancel the speed change.... at least until they perfect the sign reading.

 

[Sbdavis1]

I think both the speed up as well as the speed down adjust (due to frontage road sign) could be solved by giving the driver a few seconds notice and opportunity to cancel the speed change.... at least until they perfect the sign reading.

Agreed. Nothing like hitting a school zone when it’s not applicable or a curve warning limit only to be almost rear ended as your truck decides to smash the brakes. They need a simple cancel speed limit change with a few second buffer.

 

[Lugusthedog]

Lugus, your towing trip report is much appreciated! And that's great news that lane centering works in Tow Haul; I'm surprised and very pleased to hear that.

Can you give us some details on your gas mileage? You must have some useful and data-supported info in the course of 1400 miles. Thanks again.

Jack

Hi Jack, I did not keep accurate figures, but basically I would peg Towing mileage at 8.8/MPG. Phoenix up I-17 to flagstaff was probably 7.5 or under, but it is a long uphill. Long relatively flat streches close to 9/MPG. I was pulling a 30", 7000# imagine, speed usually 60-65. I did have strong headwinds on way back from Las cruces.

Lane centering did work, and I did use it, but I do not trust it with a lot of traffic, going south on I25 in NM with little traffic it was Ok to use.

 

[GolfR]

I'm curious which Imagine trailer you are towing? I've been eyeing the 2800BH but have been a little worried that it might be too much to comfortably tow long distances. There seems to be a lot of mixed opinions out there about how much a trailer that large is affected by wind/trucks etc and how nerve racking it is to tow behind an F150. Any thoughts on your experience?

Thanks!

 

[daemonic3]

Couple things:

The tow/haul not being default when connected is annoying! They really should let us stay in whatever mode the truck was shut down in, and optionally (via some check box) prompt us to "return to normal".

On mine, whenever you plug in the 7-pin, the first time you come to the dash it will prompt you what trailer you have connected. If you miss that prompt (like accidentally clearing it!) then you have to go into features->towing and select your trailer. Mine will continue with that trailer selected as long as I have not removed and re-inserted the 7-pin.

I have an Imagine 2800BH, which is obviously 28ft class and 32' total hitch to spare. For the size/quality I could not find a better tradeoff of GVWR (7995#) and dry hitch weight of 604#. I want to "upgrade" when we ditch the kids to a rear living or rear kitchen with dual slides and an island but the weight really jumps up. So we may just convert the bunks to storage and/or an office.

Personally I would not do over 8k# with my F150, I am comfortable limiting myself to 60mph with this setup. I have not had dangerous sway though the highest wind I have been in was 28mph. The curb weight of my new powerboost is 1000# more than my XLT so that should help stay more planted. Payload is low but I did some re-arranging and am careful about my truck cargo to where I am comfortable.

I just went from sea level to Reno (4500') last weekend, which takes you over donner pass (>7k' summit). I averaged 7.5mpg (yuck!!). On the return trip, I only averaged 10.1mpg which is disappointing but I was in a lot of traffic and stuck behind slow semis on the ascent stretch which skewed my average. I am looking forward to my next trip with flat travel where I will lock out 8th gear and see if I can get that 12mpg number I was seeing in a few experiments.

This is my setup if anyone hasn't seen it yet:

 

[Lugusthedog]

I'm curious which Imagine trailer you are towing? I've been eyeing the 2800BH but have been a little worried that it might be too much to comfortably tow long distances. There seems to be a lot of mixed opinions out there about how much a trailer that large is affected by wind/trucks etc and how nerve racking it is to tow behind an F150. Any thoughts on your experience?

Thanks!

I am towing an Imagine 2600RB. I had some wind issues last year with my 2020 F150 and equalizer so with the new truck I also went with a propride hitch and feel that it has made a world of difference with winds and semis, I can drive with one hand. On crazy windy days I still just find a place to park and spend the night, a luxury retirement offers.

 

[Jack in Prescott]

Lugus and Terry both: I am assuming your hitch weights were somewhere in the 900-1,000# range when you made those trips. Did you happen to measure your F150’s squat when hooking up...or have some impressions you can offer on that?

These towing reports are some of the best info I see on the forums, thanks for posting them.

Jack

 

[Lugusthedog]

Lugus and Terry both: I am assuming your hitch weights were somewhere in the 900-1,000# range when you made those trips. Did you happen to measure your F150’s squat when hooking up...or have some impressions you can offer on that?

These towing reports are some of the best info I see on the forums, thanks for posting them.

Jack

Jack, it was maiden trip with new propride hitch so we were experimenting a bit on each leg. Rear went from 41" to 381/2, front we were able to get back to 38" which was within 1/4 of unloaded. I think the Imagine was slightly nose down so we plan to adjust the hitch a bit which should take some tongue weight off. Posted payload is 1599, I do have a topper, but after that its just me and my wife plus screaming cat and some odds and ends.

First leg of trip we had some porpoising and once adjusted it was minimal.. Right now I do not plan on doing anything (bilsteins/air bags/RAS) that a lot of folks suggest. If I do anything it would be on the tires, the name Hankook does not inspire confidence but they were fine. I did air them up to 44lbs. So for now they are staying. Hope that helps.

 

[Norris McCarty]

I’ve one comment:
Its really good to see guys on this forum that know the limits of there tow vehicles. So many do not.
As an RV dealer, it’s been my responsibility over the last 40 years to inform my customers what they can and cannot tow safely with their vehicles. Some listen, some do not. Those that do are happy campers......those that don’t are not.
Kudos to you guys.
Have fun!

 

[UGADawg96]

Great notes in this thread. We're eyeing the 2250rk.

 

[Jack in Prescott]

Luges, I heard an interesting comment from an auto field engineer about your Hankooks. He said a large part of the claims about ‘China Bombs’ was the confusion between correlation and causation. Most RV tire failures are with China manufactured tires, yes. But thats because most RVs are sold with China tires, IOW correlation. But as Norris (see above) points out, many RV owners are unaware of weight management. And due to that, most Owners don’t install RV TPMS systems nor do they pay much attention to tire care, which is causation. The engineer’s view was that, if you looked at RVs operated with TPMS across all tire brands, you would see low and comparable failure rates. Which is what you see today with passenger cars, he stated, as TPMS systems are now widely installed. So if you aren’t running with a RV TPMS system, it might be worth doing, no matter which tires you end up with.

Jack

 

[flatag]

Hankooks, at least on my truck, are not made in China. They are Korean made.

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