New to Grand Design & New to this owners forum

[mepgray]

Greetings fellow GD Owners,

Wanted to take a minute and introduce myself to the forum. I really like having a shared site like this where other GD owners are blazing a trail to these upgrades. With my past campers, I had to piece together different ideas.

While I'm not new to the camping world/ off-grid camping, I am new to Grand Design. For years we kept seeing more and more GD campers and thought when we get our next one, we'll definitely look at GD. Well, we (my wife and I) have drank the koolaid and purchased a new 2023 2500RL last week.

In my Boyscout days I always camped in a tent and when I got married we camped a few times together, but my wife had always camped in her parents "mouse house" camper, it was one of those old 13' aluminum ones from the 70's. So, she wasn't much interested in sleeping on the ground. So, when our daughter came along we upgraded to a Coleman Bayside popup, which we used for several years, but began to out grow it, so we started looking at upgrade options and attending a couple camper shows. Then one day at a swim meet my wife found the model we liked and made the jump from a popup to a 36' Cougar 31SQB TT (yes that's a huge jump). We drove from Denver to Indiana in my F150 and hauled it back home (quite the adventure). So for the past 10-year, we've pulled this Cougar all over the West/ Midwest. Being in Colorado, we really enjoy the mountains and glamping off-grid in remote BLM/ Forest CG sites.

In the beginning we primarily used our portable Honda generator to keep the battery changed (don't have much use for AC at 10K feet, or watching TV) so the battery was usually fine. Then as we started extending our time out, we had challenges with keeping the battery charged, so I switched to two 6v Golf Cart batteries in series. Later I installed a panel, mppt controller, inverter (for limited use to charge phones, computers, and tablets),

Now that our daughter off at college and doing her own thing, we're working at downsizing our life (house and everything in between). We're wanting something that fits our lifestyle and our Golden Retriever. A TT that's easier to tow and easier to get into smaller sites. While in the beginning I would pull our Cougar with my old Duramax or as of late my F350 6.7, I really didn't need a beast of a truck only to pull our camper a a half-dozen times a hear and "downsized" to my 2018 F150 King Ranch with the 3.5L EcoBoost.

The theme for us, maybe like a lot of people nearing retirement is "downsize". So, I/we have downsized our Truck and now Camper. So, am looking forward to searching for & learning from you all here on this site how I might go about making some upgrades as the weather gets warmer and we can get out and enjoy our new 2500RL

Thanks

[TucsonJim]

Good morning Mark, and a hearty welcome. That 2500/F150 combo is a nice package. One of our moderators had a F150 with Ecoboost that served him well for many years.

Happy trails.

Jim

[mepgray]

Good morning Mark, and a hearty welcome. That 2500/F150 combo is a nice package. One of our moderators had a F150 with Ecoboost that served him well for many years.

Happy trails.

Jim

Thanks, glad to hear others agree that the 2500RL works well with the F150. I'm much happier with the 2018 F150 EcoBoost vs my prior 2015 F350. Amazing too how the twin turbo 3.5L ecoboost has more HP and 150 less torque than my old 2007 LBZ Diesel. Since I'm a recreational camper and really only ever needed the Diesel for pulling the camper a few times a year. The F150 is a better choice for my family.

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Mark,

The Ecoboost V6 is an amazing engine for towing. Many die-hard V8 owners won’t admit it, but the turbocharged torque curve is far stronger for towing. I hauled a 10,000 lb 5th wheel for many years with this engine. I had the HDPP version of the F150 to carry the 5th wheel pin weight, but the standard F150 suspension should be fine with your trailer.

When I stepped up from an Ecoboost F150 to a diesel F350 with the same 5th wheel trailer, the most surprising thing (in retrospect) was how well that Ecoboost did by comparison.

Rob

[mepgray]

Hi Mark,

The Ecoboost V6 is an amazing engine for towing. Many die-hard V8 owners won’t admit it, but the turbocharged torque curve is far stronger for towing. I hauled a 10,000 lb 5th wheel for many years with this engine. I had the HDPP version of the F150 to carry the 5th wheel pin weight, but the standard F150 suspension should be fine with your trailer.

When I stepped up from an Ecoboost F150 to a diesel F350 with the same 5th wheel trailer, the most surprising thing (in retrospect) was how well that Ecoboost did by comparison.

Rob

Likewise, I stepped down from the F350 to the EcoBoost, and it pulled my Cougar up and over Eisenhower Pass (11,013 ft), Berthoud Pass (11,307 ft), and Vail Pass (10,662 ft) just fine. While I can't necessarily do 75 mph up and over, it'll certainly do 65. I've even passed big 3/4 & 1 ton trucks pulling their campers. My challenge has always been the downhill side, the trailer weighed more than the truck, so it would push me around a bit. It's with this that I'm hoping the small & lighter 2500RL will help.

[GreggGDMomentum]

Howdy, I'm pulling a 21G about 8500 lbs loaded and 1200 tongue weight with my 21 F150 Screw with 5.0 and 3.73 rears and after the Andersen WD sway control hitch and getting rid of the FX4 "off road" bouncy shocks and switching to Bilstein 4600's all the way around has been very helpful (a blessing actually) and calming at highway speed. I get a little truck over 65 but nothing scary. On the tap next is the rear anti sway (roll bar), I can't believe trucks don't come with them on the rear, but towing now isn't bad and I think the price will come down still on the Hellwig 7788 in the future.

On the powertrain side, I went in search of the V8 with the 3.73 because I was told by a couple mechanics they are bullet proof when you tow a lot and that's why Ford went back to the V8 in the Raptor instead of the V6T (I could be wrong about which version, I don't follow these things and the info was verbally supplied because under constant heavy towing and load the turbos and a couple other things get issues over 80k miles. I don't know this first hand and as fact myself as I went years without a truck, (see signature line) just going on friendly mechanic advice. Same as you I didn't want to get back into the big truck syndrome yet and the diesel price to go with it when unloaded, but I wanted a way to get the toys around in style and have some fun weekends with the last one finishing up college and starting her life. The truck tows like a beast and climbing hills at any speed I don't need to go over 3,500rpm. However at 70mph level it stays in 7th gear at 2600rpm and gets about 8mpg. at 65mph it goes to 8th gear and I get 10mpg, oh that wind resistance! Anyway welcome and enjoy your setup, I'm sure the turbo loves to pull, cheers!

[Cate&Rob]

mepgray
Hi Mark,

You will be amazed at what the Ecoboost can do for engine braking. Set the speed you want on cruise control or double brake pedal apply and let the engine do its thing. A little scary when it downshifts to high RPM to maximize engine braking . . . but, still doing what it is designed to do. Our Ecoboost brought our 10,000 lb Reflection down the Cumberland Gap with very little brake apply required. I was religious about service intervals and never had any problems through 150,000 miles with about 25% of that towing. My son has this truck now and it is still going strong.

Rob

[Cate&Rob]

GreggGDMomentum

One of the most effective things that you can do to improve the stability of a base F150 is to replace the standard passenger car tires with LT (light truck) tires. This is what Ford did as part of the HDPP (Heavy Duty Payload Package) on this factory F150 option.

Rob

[Jay HHI6818]

We had a 2016 F150 5.0 engine 6 speed transmission and towed a 26 ft Avenger TT. Guy rear ended wife and frame buckled on both sides so dealership had truck for 5 months replacing the frame. We had a vacation planned to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Berwick Maine. State Farm paid for rental truck and it was a 2017 3.5 L eco-boost 10 speed transmission. It was incredible how well the eco-boost towed our camper! Much better than the 5 L

[Cate&Rob]

This graph is a little dated (later Ecoboost engines have even more power). You can see where the Ecoboost (green line) reaches max torque at about 2000 RPM and holds this through 4500 RPM. The 5.0L V8 (blue line) has to get above 4000 RM to even approach the torque level of the turbocharged V6. In addition, the boost capability can hold this torque curve to 10,000 ft elevation. The normally aspirated V8 will be even further down on power in the mountains.

Rob

[mepgray]

GreggGDMomentum Howdy, I'm pulling a 21G about 8500 lbs loaded and 1200 tongue weight with my 21 F150 Screw with 5.0 and 3.73 rears and after the Andersen WD sway control hitch and getting rid of the FX4 "off road" bouncy shocks and switching to Bilstein 4600's all the way around has been very helpful (a blessing actually) and calming at highway speed. I get a little truck over 65 but nothing scary. On the tap next is the rear anti sway (roll bar), I can't believe trucks don't come with them on the rear, but towing now isn't bad and I think the price will come down still on the Hellwig 7788 in the future.


Thus far I too have removed the rear shocks and put Bilstein 5100’s on the rear. Also switched out the King Ranch 20” rims with D-load tires for King Ranch 18” with KO2’s E-load. Also instead of the anti sway or hellwig, I went with the Roadmaster Active Suspension (RAS) to help with load/ sway. They also help with reducing the leaf spring flex and axle twist. Looking to also replace the front struts once I see how the new trailer loads/ drops the back end.

Never thought to try using the cruise control on the downhill side of the mountain pass. Have just left it in tow mode and double tapped the brake to let the engine/ tranny do the job.