368RL towing Question

[gdomeier]

Been s long time RV owner, through life's turns i find myself with a 2016 369RL Solitude and a 1997 F350 Turbo diesel. Needless to say i need to upgrade the TV, but to what? Need previously owned due to cost, but want stability and safety. Dual rears a must, diesel, but really i need help! Wifey wants to go, but I'm hesitant with the current truck. It's a beauty, 1997 with 70,000 original miles... A40OD trans...
Any help is appreciated!
Greg

[Rancher350]

You are certainly at capacity of the truck according to papers I can find. 13k max 5th wheel. Although I have seen much more than that being moved with older F250/350. Have you considered looking into modifications to the 7.3 and transmission. The 7.3 is easily modified to get more power same with the exhaust system. I would find a hardcore diesel shop and see what they think about upgrades. Newer used diesels are crazy prices.

[Rancher350]

Been s long time RV owner, through life's turns i find myself with a 2016 369RL Solitude and a 1997 F350 Turbo diesel. Needless to say i need to upgrade the TV, but to what? Need previously owned due to cost, but want stability and safety. Dual rears a must, diesel, but really i need help! Wifey wants to go, but I'm hesitant with the current truck. It's a beauty, 1997 with 70,000 original miles... A40OD trans...
Any help is appreciated!
Greg

Check out post #9 that site is all about diesels i bet you can find some stuff their regarding hauling and towing upgrades etc. I think back then they were very conservative on the numbers. otherwise the ranchers and farmers would have lost tons of cattle and corn in 5th wheel wrecks. Figure a 10 horse goose neck with horses and hay was better than 15k lbs. Those trailers haven't gotten any bigger and the work still gets done only the trucks have changed.
https://www.thedieselstop.com/thread...pacity.211223/

[gdomeier]

Thank you! My truck had already the E4OD towing valve body, work shift kit, coolant, trans and bypass engine oil filters, Banks huge exhaust without cat, airbags and towing chip. I'm worried about any structural damage and also braking. All you help is appreciated greatly!

[Rancher350]

Thank you! My truck had already the E4OD towing valve body, work shift kit, coolant, trans and bypass engine oil filters, Banks huge exhaust without cat, airbags and towing chip. I'm worried about any structural damage and also braking. All you help is appreciated greatly!

i am sure structural is ok. can you upgrade the brakes on the trailer? are you using the best brake materials on the truck? I am not one to go past the numbers but i do think those older trucks were very conservative. We worked all of ours really hard back in the day. sad thing is if your truck is super clean you still wont get more than $10k and a replacement will cost you 4x that for 5 years old and 100k miles.

[gdomeier]

Thank you, good question about the truck brakes. I did put drilled rotors and the best pads i could funday the time but i don't recall which they were. I'm betting semi metallic. Your right about the estimated selling price of my current. It would be sad.

[gdomeier]

Thank you, good question about the truck brakes. I did put drilled rotors and the best pads i could funday the time but i don't recall which they were. I'm betting semi metallic. Your right about the estimated selling price of my current. It would be sad.

We'll, i added a intercooler, upgraded to 8K axles and the appropriate disc brakes from Bill at "stop my trailer" unbelievable improvement in stopping.

Going to use this setup and see how it goes. Gotta get to a CAT scale to see weights.

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[Captcolour]

What about payload of the truck versus actual pin weight + everything else in the truck including passengers? You are likely over payload capacity of the truck.