Looking for truck to pull 35 Lightning
 

I'm looking at a 2011 Ford F250 to tow a 35 Lightning. It's a crew cab, 6.2 gas with 8ft bed. I'm towing less than 10 miles on a 35mph road to and from the ramp every weekend so I'm not looking for some mega monster tow rig. I also will be towing from Cumberland to Norris every other year or so and MAYBE in a few years a trip to LOTO. I really don't think the diesel premium would be worth the money in my case, what do you guys think? How do you think this setup would fair on those "once a few years" trips? I'm fine with it taking it easy on those longer trips. Just looking for anyone that has a similar setup and general feedback.

A lot can go wrong in just 10 miles, so make sure your tow vehicle is capable of pulling the weight and even more important can stop it. A properly equipped 3/4 ton should handle a 35 on a aluminum trailer. My 2500 Avalanche has a class V upgraded receiver, solid ball mount, 12K rated ball, and 4.10 rear end and my 35 sits on a aluminum Myco with EOH disks. Does just fine.

If you aren't going to be hauling your boat enough to invest in a decent tow rig, just rent something when you need it.

Truck is rated to tow 12,500 lbs. It has an upgraded 13k lbs hitch with a 14k lbs ball. Trailer is aluminum with disk brakes on all three axels. It has all the right ratings it just isn't diesel or a dually. Everyone that I've ever seen pull a boat this size has a dually diesel. I just thought maybe I'm missing something.

Thanks for the reply.

Is this going to be a DD as well?
Have you actually towed with a modern turbo diesel pickup?

Once you do, you will wonder why it took you so long to get away from gas motors.

That truck should handle it just fine. I see no reason to tie up the $$$ in a big diesel dually for one road trip a year.

I see you are in Indian Lake? We are out in Newark. Where will you be using the boat?

It will be a DD for a few months but then it will be strictly a tow vehicle. I've towed with a friends diesel before and don't get me wrong it was nice, but I'm just having a hard time justifying the cost when all I'm doing is towing less than 10 miles 99% of the time. The other thing is I'm having a hard time with the Ford diesel reliability. Everything I've read says the Ford 6.0L is junk and the 6.4 is worse and the 6.7 is back to being similar to the 6.0. Since the truck will sit for a week at a time in summer and then all winter long, I was just a little nervous about going diesel.

We're keeping it at Lake Cumberland.

6.7 SRW Crew Long bed F350 and use it as a daily. Only issue truck has had in 95,000 miles is leaking turbo coolant lines, covered under warranty. Gas mileage towing 12,000 lbs is 12-13 and best part is at the ramp. 400 Hp and 800 ft lbs torque stock, the truck walks right up the ramp in drive, my 8.1 gas and 7.3 diesel could not do it as well or tow as safely. The Duramax Chevy/GMC is just as good, the new diesels are amazing. 7.3 and 6.7 are very good, 2 different animals More expensive purchase price but also have great resale value. My 7.3 was never in the snow/salt so it sat sometimes for 3 months without being run, kept a battery tender on it and never an issue. Im sold on diesel for towing, if I just ran around town without towing I would consider gas.

You're not missing anything!! ....crew cab dually diesels are WAY cool! Ha!!
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psdbhhccgo.jpg

I tow my 8500 boat with a crew cab diesel. Will never go back to gas. The torque of the diesel is awesome.