Ford F 250 towing

G-day mate yeah i tow with a F-250 iam up around the 4 ton mark fully loaded i have a 450 kg tow set fitted with a 70 mm ball i average around the 20 t0 21 litres to the 100 with everything you see in the picture on her they are a good pulling bus but they do have there moments with all the sensors on the motors its the luck of the draw some people have a lot of problems and some have none good luck and safe travels.

Hi Baker

We tow a similar weight of caravan if not higher with a 7.3 litre Brazilian built F250. The tray was loaded up to the max with tools and spare on our last big trip. We averaged overall around 4.5 kilometres per litre, compared to 5 when towing with a Patrol when the load would have been a lighter. We went through rough tracks and sandy tracks which we would never have tackled with a lighter tow vehicle. Although the finish and dust proofing is not there compared to the Cruiser, it is a very comfortable vehicle. My husband had severe back pain and seating and ride is paramount.

The only drawback are the size. You cannot park it in the average sized shopping centre car park and i often have to park on someone's verge if i cannot find a 'block of four' bays (not towing). Turning circle is abysmal with the long wheel base, so very winding 4wd tracks can be tight (not towing on these of course), and we need to have enough room if going in to a caravan park. This is complicated by our AT35 hitch, as unless we back straight in, the pin cannot be pulled to unhitch with too much sideway tension. Hitching up again at any angle is OK as we can line it up. I look at the sites on offer first, and if we can't fit easily, we move on out of town.

I find it easy to drive (trying hard to remember to turn on the indicators not the windscreen wipers), and sitting on a pillow i can see easily and reach the pedals - more than i can say for a Hilux!

For no caravan places (eg Purnululu) or short camping trips we slept on the tray under the fibreglass canopy, and have loads of room as ours is a extra cab not full dual cab.

Motherhen

G'day Baker. We tow with an F250 & F350 7.2 litre at work and find they get better consumption than both the Cruisers & Patrols when pulling heavy loads. They are not particually fast but barely slow down on the hills. As a touring vehicle I could only imagine they would be a pain in the arce. Being the widest vehicle on the road means you'll do alot of track clearing in the High Country, pick up more puctures in the desert, find it very awkward to park or turn around in town & difficult to recover when bogged. At 4.5 tonne they do bog down easily. Ours are pushing the 350,000km mark being driven by multiple drivers so I suppose we have seen all the issues earlier than most & to say they are a high maintenance vehicles is an understatement. The lease company shake their head every time we ring up to authorise repairs rangeing from serious oil leaks, handbrake failures, electrical gremlins, sagging suspension, transmission issues etc & now we seem to have to wait a week or more each time for spares. While they are the best heavy tow vehicle around, I doubt we would get another one if they still built them. (There's been a fair bit of downtime)
If looking for a replacement 3 tonne tow vehicle for touring I think it hard to go past a 200 series.
Cheers Craig...............

we had a F250 at work. Man you need DEEP DEEP pockets to own one. Sure was a great tow vehicle, but man needed high maintenance and repairs. No parts off the shelf everything you have to be ordered. Times the parts would have to come ex US 14 day wait.

Horses for courses I guess.
I run a 2006 F250 twin turbo 6.5 V8 built in USA
As a towing vehicle top rate, I enjoy the tow button.We are GVM off 9 tonne, and have travelled over every Mountain pass in N.Z. apart from the Nevis, (left the 5er behind for that).
Expensive to maintain and service I agree, I go to a truck service company instead of a Ford dealer, cheaper and they do lubricate and change oils as the service book suggests .
Off road tracks a problem. the F250 tracks wider than than the average 4WD, at times you get the front wheels suddenly swap places with where the rear wheels were tracking, I replaced the shiny front thingy with ARB bars so it can now bounce of the odd tree or mountain track water table.
I would appreciate info where to get maintenance / parts items from the USA, we get ripped off here in N.Z.
Parts for my old F100 were 60% cheaper from Sydney than from a Ford dealer in N.Z.
I am a bit biased I guess, got my drivers license in a 46 jail bar ute and have been a BLUE OVAL person most of the time since then, even though I use Toyota's for convenience at times.
FORD BUILT TOUGH.

I use rockauto for my filters.genuine Motorcraft stuff and very cheap.
The motors in the 2010 F series are actually 6.4 twin turbo Navistar.
Power is 350 hp standard. You can bump them up with a Spartan reprogram. I had mine put up another 210 hp.A lot more power and better economy