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Old 09-24-2018, 12:26 PM   #41
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Name: Hans
Trailer: Bigfoot 25FB
Texas
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Just read a bit about FULL FLOATING versus SEMI-FLOATING axles and watched some YouTube videos. Can’t thank John In Santa Cruz enough for the heads-up. I knew nothing about axle types an hour ago; now I know enough to be dangerous. I begin to understand one BIG element of a truck that goes into establishing weight ratings. And I’m probably a lot closer to moving into a 3/4 or 1-ton truck.
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Old 09-24-2018, 02:51 PM   #42
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frankly a '1/2 ton' (f150, or chevy/ram 1500) or their equivalent SUV (expedition, tahoe, etc) is /plenty/ to tow most any fiberglass trailer. 3/4 and 1 ton class trucks are designed for serious tow capacity, like my '02 F250 is rated for 12500 lbs at the hitch.
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Old 09-24-2018, 03:20 PM   #43
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Thanks John for the thought. As it is, we need the pulling power of at least a 3/4-ton truck. And if we go that route, we’re going diesel even though we have never owned or driven one. We ain’t putting in writing what our fiberglass 25’ trailer weighs, or the combination weight of the trailer and “stuff” in and on the truck. Well, I suppose that I alluded to that figure in a previous post; my bad. Suffice it to say that we are in the realm of the GCWRs of a 3/4-ton Ford truck and over those of a Tundra. True, a 1-ton would be more truck than we need. However, it is of interest to note that the Maximum Trailer Weight rating and the GCWR of the Ford 3/4-ton and 1-ton trucks, be they gas or diesel, are EXACTLY the same, 14,000lbs and 23,500lbs with a 3.55 ratio axle for a 6.7l diesel. Go figure. I know that the F-350 has an extra leaf spring in the rear, and that one can “make” a F-250 essentially into a F-350 with certain options. However, some guy on the Ford.Truck.com forum said that he’d owned several Super Duty Fords, and an upgraded 250 simply didn’t drive as well as a 350. He had no explanation as to why. He was speaking from personal experience.

We are seriously considering a 2019 F-250 Lariat Crew Cab Short Bed with a 6.7l diesel. We want leather seats which requires the Lariat model. We do not want a lot of BLING, so we are thinking the Value Package is sufficient in lieu of the Ultimate Package. We have not decided between 20” or 18” wheels. I hate it that Ford, and all other truck manufacturers as far as I know, puts 18” spare tires and wheels on their trucks no matter the wheel size of the other four wheels on the truck. It is the only reason we’re drifting towards 18”, well that and saving about $1,100-$1,400.

Since you appear to know much more than me about 3/4 and 1-ton trucks, got any opinions?
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Old 09-24-2018, 05:03 PM   #44
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if you're buying new, and the truck you otherwise like has 20's or whatever, many dealers would be happy to swap them down to the 18's off a lesser truck, and give you a break, then they can stick the 20's on the lesser truck and charge the next sucker a premium.

me, I think big trucks should have 16's unless they have really huge tires like 35's, then 18s, or for 40+ inch tires, 20's. tall sidewalls are where its at for load bearing trucks, low profile tires belong on porsches.
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Old 09-24-2018, 05:35 PM   #45
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I find it interesting that I’ve never considered the “height” of a tire. I have always gone by the diameter of the wheel - 16”, 18”, 20” etc. I measured my 18” tires on the Tundra, and they’re 31.5” tall. I assume that this means 20” wheels would have about 34” tires (I’m adding 1/2” for no good reason). Our Tundra came with 20” wheels and tires. When I went to put on 10-ply/E-load tires, they told me that they wouldn’t fit in the wheel wells. I was ignorant, so I traded the 20” wheels to a shop in Phoenix that installed my new 18” E-load Michelins on new 18” OEM Toyota wheels that they had and balanced them for no charge. I still consider it a fair trade.

I considered 20” wheels on our conceptual new Ford truck primarily for the 2 inches of lift it would provide. We are going to order the truck, so we can choose the wheel and tire size. The 20” wheels come with 10-ply Michelins which I like.
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Old 09-24-2018, 10:37 PM   #46
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I have a Bigfoot 25RQ. I have pulled it with half tons, 3/4 tons and one tons. The advantage of the F-350 is the extra stability and "road command" you have because of the sturdier suspension. It has a more secure, safer feel. The fuel economy between the F-250 and the F-350 is the same. As far as price goes there is very little difference, maybe $200. The F-350 I have now is an "XLT" trim with four doors, single rear wheels, gasoline engine and lots of options. It had a sticker price of $54,850. I wound up getting it bought for $44,000.
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Old 09-25-2018, 12:36 AM   #47
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When I'm not towing, I need to drive my truck a fair bit locally with a relatively light load, roomy but light, maybe 500 lbs including me. my impression from test drives of 1 ton trucks is their ride light is even worse than the 3/4 tons like my F250...

now, sure, my Tacoma was a better size/fit to this load (its my astronomy gear, going to local star parties)... but the 7.3L diesel Ford gets about the same mileage as the 4L V6 Toyota, go figger.. the tacoma bed was a tight load, while the F250 longbed has ridiculous room to spare.
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Old 09-25-2018, 12:43 AM   #48
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oh yeah...

I have to admit, I'm kinda a fan of older stuff. new vehicles have too much computer crap on them for me. I don't trust driver assist stuff, and I think its making people worse drivers. my daily driver is a 1993 Mercedes 300CE Cabriolet (convertible).

I like stuff that lasts. this song says it for me...

do note, I'm a retired computer engineer. i worked on a fair number of embedded systems in my career so I probably know a little too much about how all this stuff works internally, and I've had more than my share of experiences debugging 20+ year old auto electronics.
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Old 09-25-2018, 02:51 AM   #49
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Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz View Post
oh yeah...I have to admit, I'm kinda a fan of older stuff. new vehicles have too much computer crap on them for me. I don't trust driver assist stuff, and I think its making people worse drivers.
Have to agree with you 100% John. Lane, braking, parallel parking or auto backing for examples are dumbing down young drivers of the driving basics. Heaven forbid if one little electron should decide to go sideways and short out a system......
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Old 09-25-2018, 06:55 AM   #50
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The forums on the internet have been a fountain of great information, primarily from what I would call “real” people, average with no affiliation or axe to grind. The frankness, honesty, civility and real life-based opinions from experience has been satisfying and invaluable.

I agree that too much of the modern electronics on vehicles is too much to go wrong. That is why we have decided on a new truck with minimal BLING. The lane keeping alert on Ford trucks is not something I care for; it jerks the wheel back and forth if you cross the line. Say What! Some of the nightmare stories I’ve read about Ford’s Adaptive Steering indicates that the engineers haven’t successfully engineered the electronic part of the device yet. As for automatic dimming headlights and rain sensitive wipers, I prefer to operate my own devices because it keeps me focused on driving. The remote release tail gate seems to have a mind of its own according to too many drivers who have experienced it dropping at 75mph and/or into their Fifth Wheel.

As for the ‘old’ 7.3l Ford diesel, it continues to be a workhorse from everyone I’ve spoken to that owns one. It is pre-emissions without the ‘benefit’ of EGR, DPF and SGC/DEF, not as clean-burning but better on MPG and longevity. However, it’s hard to find one with less than 200,000 miles on it. And I don’t think I want to buy a 20 year old truck at this point in my life.

That was an AMAZING price you paid for that Ford F-250 XLT Bruce. I have been researching and sending out requests to seven dealerships for a 2019 F-350. The best deal I have been offered is a few dollars over invoice. I have discovered that INVOICE is very close to 94% of MSRP. The best discount I have ever seen or heard of was about 14% off MSRP. Your 20% is the new LOW, by a large margin. I’d love to find something like that, but I suspect that it is very rare. We’d go XLT, but we want leather seats, and the Lariat is the lowest model in which you get these.

We do most of our traveling towing the trailer. On our 14,000 mile journey to Alaska three years ago, we pulled the trailer 10,000 miles. The breakdown was similar on our Newfoundland journey last year. And our truck is always loaded with ourselves, out 60lb dog, and our ‘stuff’ which includes two sea kayaks; the total cargo weight is over a half-ton always, actually closer to a ton. So we aren’t too concerned about driving a 1-ton F-350 without the trailer hooked up. We have been debating a short bed versus a long. The only reason to go long is to delete the large cargo box on the roof of the camper shell; all that ‘stuff’ will fit into the bed then.

I suppose I should terminate this diatribe. It is verging on TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Kind of like the modern truck - too much BLING. Thanks again for all the thoughts and information everyone. MAKE IT A GREAT DAY.
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Old 09-25-2018, 07:14 AM   #51
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Have to agree with you 100% John. Lane, braking, parallel parking or auto backing for examples are dumbing down young drivers of the driving basics. Heaven forbid if one little electron should decide to go sideways and short out a system......
As much as I have complained about many of these improvements, I have ended up adopting many and would miss them if I never had them. Young drivers these days are doing just fine as far as I can see. At 18 my son could reverse a trailer better than the vast majority of older folks towing one these days. My daughter too took to it once she got a Trillium quite well. I bothered to take time to teach these skills which is surprisingly easy with young folk, as opposed to older ones who want to rely on what I persevere a s silly tricks to aide in reversing. I think part of the issue is that parents don't bother to educate them in driving skills much these days. While I am fully in favour of the primary driving educator being someone who is not a parent, it is also a good idea for parents to take them out and make them practice, and practice some more.

I sure do love my backup camera, my heated seats, my folding mirrors, my tire monitoring, my....................
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Old 09-25-2018, 07:16 AM   #52
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Name: Hans
Trailer: Bigfoot 25FB
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Originally Posted by Bruce H View Post
I have a Bigfoot 25RQ. I have pulled it with half tons, 3/4 tons and one tons. The advantage of the F-350 is the extra stability and "road command" you have because of the sturdier suspension. It has a more secure, safer feel. The fuel economy between the F-250 and the F-350 is the same. As far as price goes there is very little difference, maybe $200. The F-350 I have now is an "XLT" trim with four doors, single rear wheels, gasoline engine and lots of options. It had a sticker price of $54,850. I wound up getting it bought for $44,000.
How is the gas engine pulling the Bigfoot Bruce. We currently pull our 25’ Bigfoot with a 5.7l Tundra. While it does very well most of the time, there have been instances where it was working hard in 4x4 LOW to pull a steep dirt road in Colorado this summer. And getting over some tall mountain passes is a work order. We were going diesel for the torque primarily, and a little for the improved MPG. We regularly get 9.2mpg out of our Tundra. I’ve heard the diesel gets 11-12 pulling, 18-20 unhooked. That’s close to 25%-30% better which offsets the 10% or less cost difference of diesel over regular gas.

I have a hard time believing that one-half liter more engine (5.7l Tundra versus 6.2l in the F-250/350) yields substantially better pulling power. What do you think since you’ve pulled your Bigfoot 25’ with 1/2, 3/4 and 1-ton truck’s? I do know that both the Tundra and Ford have the same rear axle ratio with gas motors - 4.30’s. The gas engines seem to be cheaper on maintenance and repair. In particular, a DPF costs $8000 and needs to be replaced at 200,000 miles if you keep it clean and it lasts as long as possible, from what I’ve read. There’s nothing like that on gas engines; a catalytic converter isn’t very expensive from my experience.

Very much looking forward to your reply. How long have you had the F-350 XLT? How many miles?
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Old 09-25-2018, 08:06 AM   #53
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Bigfoot, I would like to weigh (no pun intended) on your super duty issue, but I have posted my thoughts on the subject in previous posts.


If your itching for a super duty diesel, get one, they are great rigs and will be plenty of comfort, capacity, handling stability and power. They are the ultimate.
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Old 12-16-2021, 12:21 PM   #54
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We tow our Bigfoot 25RQ with a 2018 Tundra with tow package 5.7l engine. We live in the West and just returned from a long trip to Idaho and Montana. Averaged 11-12 mpg. I have an Anderson WDH/anti sway. I pulled the trailer quite a lot before we got the WDH, and never once experienced sway, even in brutal sidewinds.
As far as power goes, the Tundra has plenty to get you up and over the mountains.
I also installed airbags on the truck to level everything out when loaded. We are pleased with our setup 👍
I have a couple of questions:

If you had towed the bigfoot camper a lot without a weight distribution hitch and never once experienced any sway, why did you then decide to add the Andersen WDH?

Also, I've read that the Andersen WDH can damage the tongue of the trailer where it connects to the frame of the trailer. Have you experienced any damage to the trailer frame from the Andersen WDH? Have you looked where the brackets are installed to inspect for any damage?

I just ordered a Ram 2500 and I'm trying to decide if I even need a WDH with that tow vehicle and the 25' Bigfoot (with Twin beds) and, if I do, I'd like to get the easiest and lightest WDH to work with which, from my research, would be the Andersen WDH. Thus my questions.

Thanks much for any input you're willing to provide.
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Old 12-16-2021, 01:35 PM   #55
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I have a couple of questions:

If you had towed the bigfoot camper a lot without a weight distribution hitch and never once experienced any sway, why did you then decide to add the Andersen WDH?
Just a general remark. Sway is a secondary reason to install a WDH, and not all WDH systems incorporate sway control (Anderson does; some others require a separate friction sway bar).

The primary function of WDH is to even out the tongue load between front and rear axles for better ride, handling, and braking.

My experience with pickup trucks is the owner's manual will often tell you at what point they recommend WDH. For light duty trucks it's often around 500# of tongue weight. The threshold may be higher for your HD truck. Does the owner's manual have anything to say? (You should be able to look it up online, since you don't have the truck yet.)
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Old 12-16-2021, 03:04 PM   #56
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650 lbs is often the threshold on a F250/2500HD kinda truck

I've gotta say, just about *everyone* I've seen towing a 25 foot Bigfoot has been using a F250 or 2500HD or bigger truck.
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Old 12-16-2021, 03:23 PM   #57
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Towing a Bigfoot 25

The manual for the Ram 2500 says a WDH should be used for trailers over 5,000 pounds. But ... I'm guessing that's a conservative figure driven by Ram's lawyers more than anything, so looking for real world experience from others that have towed the Bigfoot 25 with a Ram 2500 and no WDH.
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Old 12-16-2021, 03:44 PM   #58
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The manual for the Ram 2500 says a WDH should be used for trailers over 5,000 pounds. But ... I'm guessing that's a conservative figure driven by Ram's lawyers more than anything, so looking for real world experience from others that have towed the Bigfoot 25 with a Ram 2500 and no WDH.
Interesting how we choose what to believe, choosing to believe what some anonymous person on the internet says is their experience, with no testing.
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Old 12-16-2021, 04:41 PM   #59
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Trailer: Bigfoot 25 RT
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We tow our BF25RT with a 2020 Ford Expedition with the heavy duty trailer package and an Equalizer brand WDH.

Very stable in cross winds, trucks blowing by, etc.

Overall MPG just over 10.


A combination that is working very well for us.
Our Expedition is rated to tow 9,200#

For what it’s worth, the tow/haul feature is great on this Ford when descending a mountain. Just tap the brake pedal as needed and it downshifts to maintain the speed you want. Never really need to apply the brakes.
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Old 12-16-2021, 05:09 PM   #60
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The manual for the Ram 2500 says a WDH should be used for trailers over 5,000 pounds. But ... I'm guessing that's a conservative figure driven by Ram's lawyers more than anything, so looking for real world experience from others that have towed the Bigfoot 25 with a Ram 2500 and no WDH.
Why guess? Why take a chance on buggering your truck? Why not follow the manual?
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