Trailering Multiple Broncos..question

[okie4570]

How does one determine whether a 3500 has an Aisin or not when shopping around?

 

[Yeller]

it is listed in the options on the sheet, its an added cost so it should be there. Or poke your head under a 4500 or 5500 and see what the pan looks like, its different than a 68RE but the 4500/5500 has a spin on filter that the standard 3500 does not. back in 2007 when they started using the Aisin the cab and chassis trucks it came with a 200,000 mile warranty.

 

[Broncitis]

What's the avg fuel mileage, about 4-6? We had a business class FL70 that got at best 10mpg. The MDT don't have the horsepower of the HDT which I would like. Finding a single axle HDT is a little tougher though.

I get 7-7.5 when hauling 4 on the open wedge trailer, and 7.5-8 when hauling 2 in the enclosed. Not bad, especially when you compare to the cost per Bronco hauled when looking at pickups hauling 1 or 2.

We singled out ours mainly since we did not need the added capacity, but preferred to have less potential things to fail and less tires to replace when we put new ones on.

It was pretty easy and the only costly item was the custom drive shaft and a new yoke which was around $1200 or so. We still have the other axle which I would like to try to sell or trade for a locker for the rear tandem we kept.

Ours has a Detroit 60 Series rated at 500HP and around 1500 Lb/Ft torque, so it has plenty of power.

 

[Bart]

For those of you trailering two or more, what's you're towing truck...........I'll be in the market soon. My 13' F250 6.2l gas/CNG is awesome, but not when hauling two broncos on a 36' lowboy. Planning on sticking with Ford, but figured I'd test the waters here first.

The Ford 7.3 liter Power stroke diesel is the bench mark by which all other trucks are measured. Their last years was 2002 with 6 months into 03. I have an 02 F350 crew cab long bed dually 4x4 with an auto trans and 4.10 gears I pull a 39' toy hauler 5th wheel with a '66 Bronco inside. Wanna guess how much this setup weighs? The rig gets 10 mpg while loaded to the gills. Up around 25 mpg unloaded. This is around 60-62 mph. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else. I've heard good things about the new 6.7. A friend has one and it pulls like a mule except it gets 6-7 mpg.

 

[kb6677]

The Ford 7.3 liter Power stroke diesel is the bench mark by which all other trucks are measured. Their last years was 2002 with 6 months into 03. I have an 02 F350 crew cab long bed dually 4x4 with an auto trans and 4.10 gears I pull a 39' toy hauler 5th wheel with a '66 Bronco inside. Wanna guess how much this setup weighs? The rig gets 10 mpg while loaded to the gills. Up around 25 mpg unloaded. This is around 60-62 mph. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else. I've heard good things about the new 6.7. A friend has one and it pulls like a mule except it gets 6-7 mpg.

Really, and this thread was actually going well- 25mpg in a 4.10 gear, 7.3 DUALLY- Having owned some 7.3 duallys all with 4.10's and 6speeds- best mpg was 16 unloaded. You did hit the nail on the head about keeping it under 70mph for best mileage......

You also missed the boat and the dock on the mpg for the 6.7. 16-17 in my dually unloaded. 10-13 pulling the 32' with two rigs, 13-14 pulling the single open trailer with one rig. The srw 6.7 F350 I replaced it with gets 19.2 unloaded stock no tune.

 

[Bart]

Really, and this thread was actually going well- 25mpg in a 4.10 gear, 7.3 DUALLY- Having owned some 7.3 duallys all with 4.10's and 6speeds- best mpg was 17 unloaded. You did hit the nail on the head about keeping it under 70mph for best mileage......

You also missed the boat and the dock on the mpg for the 6.7. 16-17 in my dually unloaded. 11-13 pulling the 32' with two rigs, 13-14 pulling the single open trailer with one rig. The srw 6.7 F350 I replaced it with gets 19.2 unloaded stock no tune.

Just passing on what friend told me and I saw on his dash the one time I drove it. Glad you're doing better. I did watch that video of Powerstrokehelp.com that was posted in the first part of the post. 6.7 owners should watch it. I sent it to my friend who owns one.

 

[Broncitis]

The Ford 7.3 liter Power stroke diesel is the bench mark by which all other trucks are measured. Their last years was 2002 with 6 months into 03. I have an 02 F350 crew cab long bed dually 4x4 with an auto trans and 4.10 gears I pull a 39' toy hauler 5th wheel with a '66 Bronco inside. Wanna guess how much this setup weighs? The rig gets 10 mpg while loaded to the gills. Up around 25 mpg unloaded. This is around 60-62 mph. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else. I've heard good things about the new 6.7. A friend has one and it pulls like a mule except it gets 6-7 mpg.

I have a real hard time believing 25 MPG.

I've driven my 2000 7.3L/auto F350 crew cab SRW with 3.73s since new and have logged 280,000 with it and the BEST mileage I ever got was 17.5. And that was on a 200 mile trip when I was unloaded and had to creep along at 45-50 MPH because the rain was so hard people were pulled off the road afraid to drive in it. Typically 14.5 unloaded, 11-12 with a single trailer and Bronco behind it.

Before we got the Volvo my dad had a 99 7.3 dually crew cab with Banks upgrades and when we towed our 40' enclosed with two Broncos (~18-20K) we got 8-9 MPG, barely more than we get with the Volvo hauling 4 rigs.

 

[savage]

The Ford 7.3 liter Power stroke diesel is the bench mark by which all other trucks are measured. Their last years was 2002 with 6 months into 03. I have an 02 F350 crew cab long bed dually 4x4 with an auto trans and 4.10 gears I pull a 39' toy hauler 5th wheel with a '66 Bronco inside. Wanna guess how much this setup weighs? The rig gets 10 mpg while loaded to the gills. Up around 25 mpg unloaded. This is around 60-62 mph. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else. I've heard good things about the new 6.7. A friend has one and it pulls like a mule except it gets 6-7 mpg.

Man I wish my 97 dodge diesel got 25 miles per gallon, PULLING A 38 FOOT FULLY SELF CONTAIN, PLUS 2 SLIDE OUTS AND FULLY LOADED. I would get about 8 to 10mpg, that's with a banks system that gives this diesel a ton of power, by it's self it get's 15 to 18 mpg, depends if I KEEP MY FOOT OUT OF IT.So I'm kind of skeptic at 25 mpg.;D

 

[Bart]

I don't believe I said I regularly get 25 mpg, that's the best I got. I had a 98 one ton Dodge dually 12 valve Cummins with everything tuned up but the pump. I towed the 5th wheel one time to Bishop, Ca with the Bronco in the back and it groaned all the way up there and all the way back. Picking up this 7.3 was the best thing that ever happened to me. Say what you will about anything motor wise there is still no substitute for cubing inches and 7.3 means 444 cubic inches. New one might be smoother, quieter, but they don't live as long, cost as much to repair or anything else I can think of. Like my Bronco compared to Jeeps. I have an XJ Cherokee and it's a fine grocery getter, but as for a rock crawler give me my Bronco and my 7.3 to get it there and back.

 

[5001craig]

I've belonged to cumminsforum.com since 2008. Threads always go south when talking about mileage. Just check my sticky 2013 Mileage Thread.

The Ford 7.3 liter Power stroke diesel is the bench mark by which all other trucks are measured. Their last years was 2002 with 6 months into 03. I have an 02 F350 crew cab long bed dually 4x4 with an auto trans and 4.10 gears I pull a 39' toy hauler 5th wheel with a '66 Bronco inside. Wanna guess how much this setup weighs? The rig gets 10 mpg while loaded to the gills. Up around 25 mpg unloaded. This is around 60-62 mph. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else. I've heard good things about the new 6.7. A friend has one and it pulls like a mule except it gets 6-7 mpg.

7.3 was an awesome engine. I had a 1997 (F-350 DRW) and a 2000 (F-550 Crew Cab Cab-Chassis). Both were great.




However, my '06 CTD and '13 CTD are in a different world.

 

[kb6677]

:
Just passing on what friend told me and I saw on his dash the one time I drove it

I don't believe I said I regularly get 25 mpg, that's the best I got.

I was fine dropping this after others questioned the 25mpg. With these posts, what's the deal?- top quote you typed you "saw" 25 on the digital readout on a friend's rig you drove, now your truck has gotten 25mpg- as I said, I owned more than one from '96 to '02. You could hit reset, going down hill and it would read out crazy high numbers to start with- 30's was not uncommon.

I agree with you 100% on the 7.3 being a great engine in great trucks. I have regretted many times selling my '02 in '06 with 58k miles on it.

There is just no way a 4.10 gear Dually will get 25 real mpg! Best I know of came from a friend's Dad's '02 srw F350 with a 3.73 gear and 6speed -22mpg empty on interstate heading to the coast of NC- flat- bone stock, now has 265k miles on it- second clutch!!

 

[savage]

I don't believe I said I regularly get 25 mpg, that's the best I got. I had a 98 one ton Dodge dually 12 valve Cummins with everything tuned up but the pump. I towed the 5th wheel one time to Bishop, Ca with the Bronco in the back and it groaned all the way up there and all the way back. Picking up this 7.3 was the best thing that ever happened to me. Say what you will about anything motor wise there is still no substitute for cubing inches and 7.3 means 444 cubic inches. New one might be smoother, quieter, but they don't live as long, cost as much to repair or anything else I can think of. Like my Bronco compared to Jeeps. I have an XJ Cherokee and it's a fine grocery getter, but as for a rock crawler give me my Bronco and my 7.3 to get it there and back.

From the post the others and I were questioning the MPG, not that the ford 7.3 was a bad truck or engine, from what I read, they liked the 7.3 engine. But now you write that the dodge was a dog pulling your trailer. I don't know who built and tune your dodge, but if any diesel is built and tuned wright you can get awesome power out of them, I have buddies with chevy's ,fords and dodge and they all pull strong.

 

[ScanmanSteven]

Here you go Okie, a progression of trucks we've owned. 93 Dodge Cummins 5 speed, 97 FL60 Freightliner with Allison 6 speed 4 door 10 alum bed, 2001 FL70 Freightliner extended cab, 8' bed, Eaton 6 speed auto shift, oh yes, 4 wheel drive, went anywhere we wanted.

 

[Broncitis]

Very true Karl!

On the downhill side of Eisenhower Pass in the Rockies the Volvo gets 99.9 MPG according to my computer. On the uphill side, not so much!

FWIW, all my 7.3 mileage was calculated, but with that said, the computer was pretty close since I do not have mods on my 7.3. My dads was off a bit from actual calculated mileage.

 

[welndmn]

I know this is a ford forum but the 7.3 was never a "benchmark" of anything.
The benchmark for the 3/4-1 ton diesel will always be the 5.9 cummins.

 

[sprdv1]

How does one determine whether a 3500 has an Aisin or not when shopping around?

I've rode in Steve's rig. It's pretty nice. Probably couldn't go wrong if you chose that one.

Good luck bud.

 

[Seventee]

I know this is a ford forum but the 7.3 was never a "benchmark" of anything.
The benchmark for the 3/4-1 ton diesel will always be the 5.9 cummins.

He actually has a legitimate claim. The 6.9 and 7.3 were hauling loads years before the Cummins was even a twinkle in Dodge's eye and in far greater numbers than the meager 6.2 GM. It provided the impetus for Dodge to pursue a diesel engine in a pickup line that likely would have otherwise dried up and disappeared in the wind.

 

[welndmn]

Not realy, pretty much they started out the same time.
The 5.9 was used in tractors and busses since 84, dodge grabbed it in 89.
The first 7.3 was 1987,
The 6.9 in 83.

I've owned them all, the N/A 6.9 and 7.3 were workhorse engines but dogs.

 

[Seventee]

Not realy, pretty much they started out the same time.
The 5.9 was used in tractors and busses since 84, dodge grabbed it in 89.
The first 7.3 was 1987,
The 6.9 in 83.

I've owned them all, the N/A 6.9 and 7.3 were workhorse engines but dogs.

The Navistar was also used in many applications other than Ford installing them in light duty pickups.

I actually prefer the Cummins but won't deny the value of the 7.3.