F-350 SRW CC SB 6.7L Power Stroke V8 Turbo Diesel .... enough truck .....for 310GK

[Rob+Kath]

I am new to this forum and have read as many posts as I can find regarding the above. I know there are many variances. In my research, I believe that we should come in under max capacities. We are in the process of purchasing both a new fifth wheel and truck. We will have the trailer parked during the summer months but hope to do some traveling around the country for a few weeks in the Winter as we live in Minnesota. We will not have a generator or washer and dryer. Do not plan on having full tanks. Maybe a little water. Also, I tend to pack more on the lighter than heavier side and just my husband and I. We may have a moped and a couple of bikes on the back. My questions is to THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE THIS SAME SET UP: Are you comfortable with this combo? I thank you very much in advance. Dealerships of both do not seem to be much help.

As you can see in my signature below, we are operating that configuration. So far there are no issues and we are within limits all the way around. It pulls and rides nice, so I have no complaints so far.
We do watch our weight on the trailer and the truck. I am not at home, but memory says the cargo is 3426# on a lariat, loaded with options. I calculate we are about 300# under.
I will be doing something similar to your plan/schedule and heading south for a couple of weeks very soon. My experience so far has only been in Wisconsin. If it changes elevation more than 20 ft, we call it a mountain.
I do find the engine brake option helpful and I expect it will extend the life of my brake pads.
Travel safe.

[boyscout]

Maybe a stupid question but does a long bed truck have a shorter turning radius? I will be selling my Tundra this Fall and considering the F350 DRW or the 450 version. Oldcow

The opposite is generally true. From @CoChris post:

F-350 4X4 long bed: 59.6' turning radius (huge!)

F-350 4X4 short bed: 54.7' turning radius (better, but still very wide)

F-450 4X4 long bed: 50.4' turning radius (better still, pretty good for what we do, but not industry-leading)

The F-450 has a different front end which gives it the shortest turning radius of the three. Apples-to-apples comparison of the two F-350s shows the effect of the long bed increasing the turning radius.)

[Oldcow]

Of course that makes total sense.

Oldcow

[BubbaChris]

I am new to this forum and have read as many posts as I can find regarding the above. I know there are many variances. In my research, I believe that we should come in under max capacities. We are in the process of purchasing both a new fifth wheel and truck. We will have the trailer parked during the summer months but hope to do some traveling around the country for a few weeks in the Winter as we live in Minnesota. We will not have a generator or washer and dryer. Do not plan on having full tanks. Maybe a little water. Also, I tend to pack more on the lighter than heavier side and just my husband and I. We may have a moped and a couple of bikes on the back. My questions is to THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE THIS SAME SET UP: Are you comfortable with this combo? I thank you very much in advance. Dealerships of both do not seem to be much help.

I’m running the configuration you’re asking about. 2020 310GK and a 2019 Platinum F350 crew cab with short bed. If you become a site sponsor, you can search on my other posts and see the weight results from my initial trip to the scales.

We have about 1,300 miles on the combo so far and it is head and shoulders more comfortable than the travel trailer + full sized SUV we came from. My wife now has close to 500 miles of towing experience with it, and she only took turns with the TT to know how in case of an emergency. She’s asking for time behind the wheel with the fiver.

I’m close on numbers, and need to go to the scale again when truly loaded for camping. I know things could be better, but I wouldn’t hesitate to say this works for what you’re looking for (several weeks a year). We go out about twice a month from March through November, and we’re on our big 2-week trip right now. Having the short bed and SRW makes it a decent daily driver.

I did go with a B&W turnover ball hitch system and I’m using their 4” offset ball with an Andersen Ultimate Hitch to manage the cab clearance.

Best regards,
Chris

PS - We added airbags to keep the truck off the helper springs. I was all set to buy a dually and had several people with way more towing experience than me tell me to go with this option.

[CoChris]

@CoChris do you know how much sharper the turning radius is on a 450 than the 350?

Oldcow

@boyscout above beat me to the answer. The only thing I would note is Ford lists two turning radii for the trucks, curb-to-curb (which I guess assumes the truck body goes over the curb) and wall-to-wall. For the F450 (which has the "wide track" front suspension and better (tighter) turning radius), Ford lists the curb-to-curb as 50'4' as boyScount said. I was quoting the larger wall-to-wall turning radius for the F350's about. For the F450 Ford lists this as 52.5. My original numbers were a little off. Here is the whole chart from Ford for the 2018 models. These numbers should apply to 2017 through current Ford Super Duty trucks.



Chris

[CoChris]

Good synopsis!

Ford doesn't publish fuel economy ratings for these trucks, making it more difficult to answer questions about axle ratio and fuel consumption. I've wondered if the F-450, with the larger tank but with the slightly-heavier long box and a lower (4.33) axle ratio, would see much range improvement from the larger tank. The same question might be applicable to the F-350 if its axle ratio changes from the 3.55 typical on short box versions to something lower on long box versions.

Anybody know?

I do not know about other configurations, but one data point is for our truck (3.55 rear end, 18" wheels) and 310GK trailer (see sig), for PLANNING I use 9.5 MPG towing and 15 MPG not towing (sightseeing). I typically get 9.75~10.25 MPG towing (mountains, flats and everything in between) and 15~20 MPG sightseeing (depends on the number and length of the Buffalo jams we run into .) I tow at a max of 65 MPH on the freeway. Big difference in MPG (probably 5% or more) between 65 and 70 MPH and another between 70 and 75 MPH. My 48 gallon fuel tank has about 3 gallon reserve (i.e. 3 gallons left when it reads empty). I do not know how much of the 3 gallons is usable. With this info, I use 45 gallons as usable capacity or 425 miles towing. I like to plan fuel stops at a max 350~375 miles towing. This gives me plenty of safety margin. I have pushed to over 400 miles towing, but am not comfortable with this. Head winds cut into the fuel mileage, but side winds lower the mileage even worse.

These are MY numbers. As they say, your mileage may vary.
I hope this helps others

Chris

[HaroldTerry]

More than enough. I have a F350 (Turbo 6.7L) long bed which I use to tow my 360rl. It's more than enough Truck with lots of power and Towing capacity left over.

[ExtremeDuty]

Just my initial chime in on the topic. My '18 F350 with camper package and plow package and the heaviest springs offered (my tag is on here somewhere) bottoms out on the overloads pulling a Reflection 303RLS, not a heavy trailer. My Ford mechanic, the Ford parts guy, and my trailer dealer are all scratching their heads. When I get the trailer back from the dealer after they fix a broken spring mount (no idea how, and no notice of it on the 500 mile trip home last week), upgrade to Moryde on the trailer, etc. I'll load truck and trailer as normal and hit the CAT scale to see where I'm at. If I've been overloading, my bad; if not then it's to my Ford dealer for answers. I've put Fox shocks and air bags on since I noticed the bottoming issue so we'll see where this takes me. If I have to pull the bags to get Ford to see the issue then so be it. Could it be just junk FX4 shocks?.. maybe.

[mdtomerlin]

I am new to this forum and have read as many posts as I can find regarding the above. I know there are many variances. In my research, I believe that we should come in under max capacities. We are in the process of purchasing both a new fifth wheel and truck. We will have the trailer parked during the summer months but hope to do some traveling around the country for a few weeks in the Winter as we live in Minnesota. We will not have a generator or washer and dryer. Do not plan on having full tanks. Maybe a little water. Also, I tend to pack more on the lighter than heavier side and just my husband and I. We may have a moped and a couple of bikes on the back. My questions is to THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE THIS SAME SET UP: Are you comfortable with this combo? I thank you very much in advance. Dealerships of both do not seem to be much help.

We too have a 2019 F-350 SRW SB 6.7L Power Stroke V8 Turbo Diesel for our 310GK. It is more than enough truck. However, you need to be aware of MN regulations. We are in CA and we are just barely legal. There is a no cost check box when purchasing a F-350 SRW SB and that is to determine if you want a GVWR of 11,400 lbs or 11,500 lbs. In CA the lighter GVWR is not a commercial pickup while the 11,500 lbs is commercial. If you are commercial, legally you must stop at every weigh station and you must get a CDL as opposed to a 5th wheel endorsement. Also, we have found we have to place heavier items in the RV behind the axles when traveling. This reduces the tongue weight which is where we are so close to the limit. If you don't want to be worried with tongue weight, you can get a DRW but again I think that will make you commercial at least in CA. Hope this helps. Otherwise you are fine. I love my F-350. It can pull our 310-GK straight up a wall.

[Tbbaily]

That was my exact setup. F350 sb crew cab with a 310 gek. I love the trailer but hated the short bed. I had a blue ox slider hitch
The problem was I continually found myself in to tight a turn. I would have to get out of the truck and change the hitch then after the turn get out and switch it back. The problem is you can’t see when the trailer is about to hit your truck. If you do hit it the cab it’s about $3000.00 to fix it. I ended up buying a long bed and it’s so much better
An automatic slider might work ok but if you have a tool box I think it is still tight
I’m new pulling a fifth wheel so my inexperience may be my problem I’m sure there are plenty short beds pulling fifth wheels with no problem, however I’ve been watching and I bet better than 90% have long beds