Looking to upgrade to either the V-10 or PSD. Needless to say, the diesel prices have me a bit worried.

Here is my dilema, I want to tow a 39 foot 5th wheel toyhauler. The wet weight should come in right around 15-16k. I have a 31 ft class C with the V-10 and I'm very happy with it.

Will the V-10 do a good job at pulling the 5'er or should I go with the PSD?
* I plan on using the truck to pull on level gound, no hills to speak of.

It would be very easy to buy the PSD - since all of the dealers are stocked full of them. I can't even find a V-10 to test drive..

 

Diesel prices have created some good deals on diesel pick ups. With the weight you are pulling I would go with the diesel. You may not be planning on any hills but you will be maxed out with the gasser if you do encounter them. Better to have a little extra torque than not enough.

 

Since you are on a V-10 forum, you should be expecting feedback along the line of "yeap, it will do it". And it will. The secret in getting it done is order the truck properly. Make sure it has the towing package and a correct rear end to get the job done, 4:30 or 4:88 should do fine. I don't recall the rear end ratio of my 31' Jayco C-Class off hand, but best I recall it is a 5:something. Keep in mind that your will not only be pulling the 15-16K weight of the trailer, you need to add in the weight of the truck. Depending on the config. of the truck this would be anywhere from an additional 6-10K +or- a pound or two.
When pulling my fifth wheel, I prefer to do so with my PSD however. I prefer the low end grunt of the diesel torque to get the trailer going and maintaining speed on grade. I also prefer the brake stopping power of my F-450 when pulling heavy load. My 5er is a Travel Supreme triple slide, it is a little on the heavy side.
I recommend you take a trip over to RV.Net : RV.Net - The Leading RV Community, Club, RV Travel and Information Source for Recreational Vehicle Camping and visit the forums on fifth wheels and then tow vehicles and do some research as to what other RVers have put to the test.
This is just my opinion, and we all know what opinions are like.............

 

We pulled a 13K plus 5th wheel all over the country with a 05,CC,LB,Dually, V-10 for three years in all kinds of road conditions...fairly level gound and some killer grades. The answer is..the V-10 will indeed do the job. In 08 we went to the same truck but in the 6.4 Diesel. We will NOT put down the Big V-10 it did a fine job and served us well. However.. for the more power and torque that the diesel has and the weight you are pulling the diesel will do a better all around job.I will not compare motors because they are two different motors designed to do different things.The V-10 does what it is designed to do and does it well as does the diesel. My present 08 6.4 is a F-350 CC,LB,CC Dually, 4X4 and weighs in at 9212 loaded for towing..truck and camper 22K plus..you could be in the 23/25K range.. The diesel will do a better job.. This is a honest reply and.... In my experience.,.

 

Although I like my V10 I would get a diesel for towing 15K. My V10 tows 10K just fine but 15K is diesel territory.
However, I do not like the new 6.4 and I would never buy another 6.0.
I am still looking for a nice, hardly worked 7.3............

 

agree, my v10 pulls 10-12 fine but 15k on hills would be easier for the dz.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. The tone I am picking up is that the V-10 will do it but the PSD will do it better.

Tough decision to make.

 

I get really tired of this 15K is diesel territory. I pull a 15800lb trailer all the time and I gross at 23500 truck and trailer and thats with a 2000 2V 4 speed V10. And no I don't just pull in the flat lands I pull form coast to coast (we are fulltimers) and shortly we will be leaving for Alaska for the summer. We just when form Brookings Or to our home base in Ne and we averaged 9.2 hand calculated (55 to 60 mph) pulling this kind of weight the smokers can't do much better. I would like a 5 speed tranny but I have to wear this truck out first. There is no way I would ever buy a diesel or tell anyone else to buy one.

Denny

 

Denny sounds a little testy today!!

 

I pull a 13,000 lb 5ver with a 2V-V10 with the 3.73 rear end and the 4spd tranny. It pulls my 5ver fine except climbing mountains. I have slowed to 35mph in second gear pulling a couple of mountains, however other trucks and RV's were also just as slow as I was coming up these grades. With the weight your planning on pulling I would absolutely get the 4.30 rear end though. It would not affect your towing mileage much if any. I get a hand calculated 7.1 mpg to 10.3mpg towing my trailer depending on driving speed, hills and wind speed. I have a friend with any 06 DMAX with about 20K miles on the clock and he only gets high 11's when towing his 5ver so I am having a very hard time justifying getting a diesel the next time round.

 

No one told him to buy a diesel.. we , former and present V-10 owners said the diesel will do a better job in that weight class and it will...The MPG betwen the newer diesels and the V-10 is narrowing.I personally would not buy a diesel for the better MPG alone..there are other considerations..however 2 or 3 mpg Better when doing 12./15 miles a year adds up. We have pulled some of the best hills in the country with the V-10 and now with the 6.4 diesel..there is a BIG difference.
By the way Rvpuller the weight numbers you state must be a typo as they far exceed all spec's and ratings for your truck as per the 2000 trailer life towing guide.

 

I'm not over the GVWR of my truck or trailer if you are talking about CGVWR thats for warranty only and after almost 8 years of pulling with this truck its well past the warranty. If you are wondering about stopping the trailer has Dexter HD brakes (12.25 X 33/8 shoes) and the best controller money can buy (Brakesmart), the trailer will also stop the truck.

Denny

 

Lots of typos then...The tow guide list your 5th wheel tow as 14,100LBs..they made a mistake..as that is less than the 15,800 of your 5th wheel. That means your truck weighs in a 7700lbs..sort of light for that truck loaded for towing..wonder what the pin weight is?? Did not know that CGVWR was for warranty only..how about the other specs and ratings..when the warranty is over can you exceed them without worry...However since you have been doing it for nearly 8 years with no problem that verifies it is OK.
The things you can learn on a forum such as this is amazing..

 

Back to the original question. Last fall I traded a '02 Dmax for a new V10. A couple months ago I put on 1600 miles with a 6x12 box trailer in tow. Avereaged 8.5 mpg. On one run with a head wind I was ready to have my diesel back. Would not hold 65-70 mph in OD. Tranny would shift down and it was off to the races. Couldn't hold throttle light enough in 4th to not gain speed or shift into OD. Repeated this cycle for over 100 miles.

I started running 92 oct fuel and got better milage and more power. Towed the little enclosed home from a race for my son. I was impressed with the improvement. Good power and the lie-o-meter showed 11.5 mpg. That translates into an honest 10.5-10.9.

A little over a week ago I hooked on to the 5er(about 30 ft/10,000 lb) for a test run. You know... new pickup, new hitch, new brake controller. Wanted to see how it was going to do. No matter what anyone says IT IS NOT A DIESEL when it comes to pulling. Looks like OD will only be used on flat/no wind or downhill. Starts to pull at 3500 rpm and really gets to work somewhere over 4k. Then it upshifts and it's pretty much game over. And I didn't even have the toy trailer on behind the 5er.

Since I only tow heavy a few thousand miles a year I think it'll do for now. I'll know more when we get in the mountains. That may happen this weekend, but the forcast doesn't look like camping weather.

 

richfaa, nice tongue in cheek