Towing with a 350?

[jakes89f150]

I towed ~5500 pounds from bellingham to colville with my 89 f150. Stevens was an absolute bitch... i was down around 30 in first a couple times. my truck has a 302, 3.55's and 33's... oh and the best part of the trip was losing trailer brakes coming down a hill, and should i mention my truck has a locker in the rear. I WOULD NEVER DO IT AGAIN!!!!!...
454 or 460 :awesomework:

http://bellingham.craigslist.org/cto/926417394.html

 

[wheelinjp]

at work we towed 0ver 7000lb. loads all over the country with small block work trucks running vortec 350s and 4l60e trannies, and the trannies lived till 150-200k miles.most service trucks on the road are small block rigs with auto tranny,

 

[PORTER]

Been here done that. Gearing is key if you want to maintain decsent pulling power, and also add an oversize cooler for the trans as well as A shift kit.

 

[tomsbrokeagain]

350 towed fine for me this weekend. Not the same type of power as my tuned Duramax.

 

[karhart77]

towed everything even the clothes dryer!

 

[TheMasterbater]

towed everything even the clothes dryer!

TOok me a second to realize what you were talkin about :haha:

 

[tomsbrokeagain]

towed everything even the clothes dryer!

It's a washer get it right.

 

[karhart77]

so sorry i didn't mean any harm to your fragile redneck sensitivity!

 

[tomsbrokeagain]

so sorry i didn't mean any harm to your fragile redneck sensitivity!

:fawkdancesmiley: :redneck: :redneck: :fawkdancesmiley:

 

[Pat]

I wonder what everyone towed with in the '80s???:redneck:

I don't know, I didn't have a drivers license yet. :haha:

 

[MATCHBOX]

So how much over weight are you on that truck. Towing over weight isn't that smart.

 

[Boomer]

You can tow with a 350/350, 350/400, 454/400. I just depends on gears and how you build the combo. I tow with a 86 1/2 ton 4x4 with a 355/400 and I have no problem with Bow Hill or I-90. I also get 20mpg in my truck it's all in how you build it.

The 20mpg sounds a bit unrealistic.

 

[Freeride]

Small blocks can work fine for towing. IMO it's more about the suspension and brakes. I used to tow with a 97 F150 with the 5.4 and 3.73s and it did great. An average Jeep and car hauler combo only weighs around 6K. That is really not very heavy at all. A buddy has 92 F250 with the 5.8L 351 and 3.55s and it tows fine. Doesn't win any races, but handles the weight well.

Now I tow with a 6 cylinder and it gets the job done okay...

 

[Cascade_Crawler]

Now I tow with a 6 cylinder and it gets the job done okay...

my I 6 tow rig could use more power :;

 

[Binder]

Horse power is horse power and that's what determines how well your engine is going to pull. Typical BB gasser comes from the factory with more HP than the typical deisel. The question is how long will that gasser last pulling heavy like that?

 

[Boomer]

Horse power is horse power and that's what determines how well your engine is going to pull. Typical BB gasser comes from the factory with more HP than the typical deisel. The question is how long will that gasser last pulling heavy like that?

I think torque is where the real towing advantage lies. My big block Suburban was factory rated as having 230hp and 385f lb-ft of torque. The Dodge CTD that replaced it is rated at 215hp and 440 lb-ft of torque and pulls much better than the higher HP rated 454.

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

I think torque is where the real towing advantage lies. My big block Suburban was factory rated as having 230hp and 385f lb-ft of torque. The Dodge CTD that replaced it is rated at 215hp and 440 lb-ft of torque and pulls much better than the higher HP rated 454.

Indeed.

Figure a hotrodded all to hell pickup will be pushing in the neighborhood of 500 horsepower. My 3406E is only rated at 435 horsepower so by the HP theory it should pull 44k without a problem then right?? I know better than that. :haha:

It's allll about the torque.

 

[Binder]

You guys are both smoking crack!

 

[Freeride]

I admit I don't understand the relationship of torque vs HP to towing power, so I just bought as much of both as I could! :redneck:

Seriously though, I used to tow with a 315 HP Nissan Armada and it got it's butt kicked pulling up to the Rubicon by a 250 HP 7.3L PSD (don't know the torque specs on either one). Also pulled with a 385 HP Tundra, and my 350 HP Dodge pulls the doors off that one....

 

[Binder]

I admit I don't understand the relationship of torque vs HP to towing power,

The relationship is simple.
HP=(torque*RPM)/5252
In a nutshell torque is a twisting force NOT a twisting motion. Torque doesn't move though you can measure it on something while it's moving. When torque is applied to something and the twisting force becomes a motion and that thing moves it now can be measured in RPM. As you can see above if there are RPM's then it's HP.....
HP moves things while torque doesn't.
(Horse) power of a tow rig is just one attribute. How it tows overall is a combination of lots of things.