Ford as a tow vehicle

[wtmtnhiker]

Hi all,
Last summer I bought a 2017 Chevy Silverado with a 5.7l engine and 3.42 gears 36000 miles. I bought it mainly to tow a 7500# travel trailer. I hate the way it runs. It has the Active Fuel management and switches from V4 to V8 mostly on decel. The truck runs rough all the time with a sometimes subtle and sometimes not subtle bucking or misfire on light to medium acceleration which is worse when cold. Dealer says there is nothing wrong and this is the way it is. I'm looking at Fords as I want to take a long trip out west and then south from NH and the way the truck runs unnerves me. I'm looking at late model used maybe 2017 to 2020. They say a 3.5L v6 will tow up to 13,000 lbs. Is that so? Is it a reliable setup? I was leaning more toward the 6.2L V8 as being a little over kill but that makes me more comfortable. Any Ford owners out there with real world towing experience with these engines and model years I would like to hear your thoughts. Thanks.

[philh]

38' trailer and it's only 9000 lbs? Is that empty, or GVWR? have you ever weighed that trailer?

3/4 ton is likely to be more better than F150.

[Cristian123]

Have you looked into mods? There might be some info about it in the manual. In case you don't have it (I personally faced this issue), I can recommend checking https://manuals.co/workshop/chevrolet/silverado. It is possible to read the manuals right on the site and download them as PDF files. Hope it helps!

[Darklock]

curt12914 wrote:

pitch wrote:

wtmtnhiker wrote:
Thanks to all for the helpful replies. Going to look at a 2019 F150 3.5 with twin turbo on Friday.

Why come on here crying about your present vehicle not keeping you happy?
Yon made your mind up to switch to Ford before your finger hit the first key.
OK go ahead, You have my permission to buy a Ford, I hope that was the validation you felt you needed to pull the trigger.

Did we get out of bed on the wrong side today?

what you meant to say was "Why are you being such an ass?"

[blt2ski]

Chuck,
What I noticed about TH mode towing is DOD (6th) gets locked out. I can still tow in OD 5th of 6sp trans I have.

I've towed heavy enough the few times I've towed that I don't go from V6 to V4. It did do so towing my 2800 lb equipment trailer empty in same places as truck at 60 in non TH in DOD.

Interesting points you made.

Marty

[Campfire_Time]

Just want to add something I did not see, and correct something else.

Tow/Haul mode by itself will not lock out AFM on the 2014-2018 Silverado/Sierra. If it does while towing that's only because the weight and wind resistance forces V8 mode. You have to put it in M and select a gear lower than your top gear. This also locks out OD. For a 6 speed, run 5th gear. For an 8 speed run 6 or 7.

I see people complaining about the towing ability of the 2014-2018 Silverado/Sierras on the truck forums. When asked most of the complainers have no idea how to use Tow/Haul mode or how to lock out OD.

[blt2ski]

My V6 2014 has fuel cylinder shut off too. As noted, rough in the low 30 mph range. I've pull granted low windage trailers to 8000 with no issues. Something else as noted by others is wrong with your truck.

But, if you are going to be pulling as noted for a serious amount of time above 6000' elevation, the ecoboost frod makes sense over a non forced induction motor that loses 3% of it hp per 1000' elevation you gain vs sea level.

Reality, for a single trip, you 5.3 is more than capable assuming running correctly. But it will be slower at higher elevations than a forced induction motor like that ecoboost, turbo diesel etc.

Marty

[packpe89]

Long trip with that weight, would seriously consider 3/4 ton. Especially if near or over 30' long. I've towed with both the 3.5 and 5.3 and yes, the 3.5 is better, turbos in the mountains especially. Ten gears would help, my 5.3 was older (2007), so not quite apples to apples. Just completed first tow with Ram 2500, way better than 3.5.

[curt12914]

pitch wrote:

wtmtnhiker wrote:
Thanks to all for the helpful replies. Going to look at a 2019 F150 3.5 with twin turbo on Friday.

Why come on here crying about your present vehicle not keeping you happy?
Yon made your mind up to switch to Ford before your finger hit the first key.
OK go ahead, You have my permission to buy a Ford, I hope that was the validation you felt you needed to pull the trigger.

Did we get out of bed on the wrong side today?

[pitch]

wtmtnhiker wrote:
Thanks to all for the helpful replies. Going to look at a 2019 F150 3.5 with twin turbo on Friday.

Why come on here crying about your present vehicle not keeping you happy?
Yon made your mind up to switch to Ford before your finger hit the first key.
OK go ahead, You have my permission to buy a Ford, I hope that was the validation you felt you needed to pull the trigger.

[Shomemule]

bikendan wrote:

jerem0621 wrote:
My 2011 Tahoe was one of the early AFM engines

how can your 2011 Tahoe have one of the early AFM engines when my 2007 Avalanche had the 5.3 AFM, 4 years before yours.

It's 6 years earlier then mine 🙂

[bikendan]

jerem0621 wrote:
My 2011 Tahoe was one of the early AFM engines

how can your 2011 Tahoe have one of the early AFM engines when my 2007 Avalanche had the 5.3 AFM, 4 years before yours.

[wnjj]

jerem0621 wrote:
My 2011 Tahoe was one of the early AFM engines and the only time I notice it is when I am driving between 29-35mph and the thing keeps switching all the time. While towing or at any other speed it is totally imperceptible.

I agree. Something is wrong.

The F150 will fix the Chevy problem. Just research the issues. Sometimes the Devil you know….

x2. Our 2014 Yukon 5.3L is noticeable sometimes at those speeds. It feels like a very slight shudder or at least change in engine sound/vibration.

Turning tow/haul on does not disable AFM, at least on ours. I read somewhere that M mode does disable it but haven't tested that yet.

[wtmtnhiker]

APT wrote:
I recommend using Tow/Haul trans mode all the time to disable AFM. 🙂 If that still doe not meet your expectations and want to jump to Ford, then I recommend a 3/4 ton 7.3L if your TT is 7500 pounds dry. If 7500 pounds loaded, then the half ton will handle well. I recommend the 3.5L Ecoboost twin turbo engine, not the regular 3.5L.

I did try using the tow/haul mode as someone had mentioned that to me before but the AFM was not disabled. Maybe not on this year?

[wtmtnhiker]

Found out the truck I was going to look at had moderate to severe damage to the rear according to Carfax. I wonder if they were going to tell me or just leave it up to me to do my due diligence. I think they should have told me before I booked an appt to go see it but perhaps I expect too much. Oh well.