Chevy guy shopping for a Ford F450, help please

[FordmanNJ]

I saw the pictures of the truck in the previous post but I still don't see the signature change. In other words, welcome to the Ford family of trucks. Your 450 is a nice looking ride. Good luck with her.

[D2Reid]

New Signature....

[D2Reid]

Got my first tow with the new truck, some 6/7% grade up and down. First impressions; about the same as my old Chevy. Couple of differences; RPM's were different for pull/descend, not bad, just different. Shifting is a lot harsher, up and down, again, not bad. I have to look up the sway control thing, I have no idea what that does, but the Ford is more sensitive steering than the Chevy was.

I managed to tax it enough to get the big fan to kick on. Nowhere close to overheating, but good and warm. Transmission and Oil temp's remained nominal. Turbo booster PSI hit 30 at one point, but was about 75% max.

Getting the brakes set to an optimal intensity was a project. On the trailer set up for the truck it has Electric/Hydaraulic (which I have) and then asks to set intensity Low/Medium/High. I tried Medium first, weak, then reset it to high, better, then cranked the gain to 10, locked the trailer brakes. This is during an idle test, idle about 5 mph, use the manual controller to set the brakes. 5 was too weak, settled on 7. Does a good job of stopping without locking things up.

Squat, seems to be about 1.5 inches too low. I will have to look at the hitch to see exactly where it is set but suspect at it's highest. I am researching suspension enhancements, was leaning toward Airlift, but today's travels have convinced me I don't need that much, now leaning toward Timbren FRSDE.

Cursing fighting struggling with my new Reese Ford OEM hitch. It has the autolatch feature where you back into it and the latch automatically slides closed via spring action. I couldn't get the darned thing to stay open enough to pull free to save my soul. Finally got DW in the truck while I set in the bed hold that latch open to pull free. I know I am doing something wrong, just haven't figured it out yet. I am going to have to go back to the hitch manual and see if there is some way to hold the latch open. I got it open a couple of times, but as soon as I put the truck in gear to pull away the autolatch would close and lock it up again. Scary, at one point I had it wrapped around the bottom fatter portion of the pin, I can see how/why folks have had this type of hitch pull free and whack their truck bed. About 50 more hook ups/drops I should have it down pat.

Over all it was a good experience. A few minor glitches and misunderstandings. At this point I know I didn't totally waste my 65k.

[TheLexx]

I have the Ford/Reese hitch. Once you pull it open, it should stay open until you back all the way up and the jaws close around the kingpin - at least mine does. I would get it checked out if yours does not stay open.

[D2Reid]

it should stay open until you back all the way up

My problem was unhooking, when I would start to pull forward the pin would bump the jaws and it would slam closed relatching it. It was very sensitive to correct angle and height. I eventually got in the bed of the truck and held it open while DW pulled forward. I will pull the owners manual out this evening and research, need to look up the "flag" thing again.

[TheLexx]

That also sounds weird. When you pull forward you’re going straight. No reason to hit the pin. Make sure you see a bit of light between the hitch plate and the receiver. Then pull the hitch handle. Pull forward and the jaws should stay open until you’re clear. The little flag is to tell you if the jaws are closed all the way around the kingpin when you hitch up. I use that as an indicator and I also look at the jaws from directly behind to make sure it’s all the way around the pin. Then I insert the locking pin, raise the front landing gear a bit more (rear gear is already up) and perform a pull test.

My problem was unhooking, when I would start to pull forward the pin would bump the jaws and it would slam closed relatching it. It was very sensitive to correct angle and height. I eventually got in the bed of the truck and held it open while DW pulled forward. I will pull the owners manual out this evening and research, need to look up the "flag" thing again.

[D2Reid]

That also sounds weird.

New hitch blues. My old hitch was kind of sloppy and had no springs to auto lock the jaws, you manually set them or they weren't set. I reread the manual tonight and it states that the jaws will close when you pull away. Maybe I was loose but thought I wasn't. I know that truck will bend the front landing gear if I horse it too much. Tires are chocked, always. My old hitch I could raise the trailer and get it just so there was no pressure on the hitch at all, it would pull free easily. I attempted that with the new hitch, but the sprung jaws slammed closed. It will be a month before I hitch up again, I am sure that over the next year I will get it figured out, there is no way for me to understand it this next couple of weeks. I predict by November it will be a smooth operation like it was before the change. Growing pains....