55 replies to this topic

[leadsled9]

The brakes guys is trying to compare his undersized half ton (2000 tundra) to his over-sized f250. Apparently he has not looked at half-tons since 2000 since he thinks a f150 does not have the brakes to haul a 1500 pound camper.

If you reread my post I wasn't comparing my 1/2 Tundra to anything. I said, and I quote "If you compare the same make and model for any given year, 1/2 ton vs 3/4 ton."

I did look at a lot of new 1/2 tons and 3/4 tons before making my decision. In fact the 1/2 ton trucks were sitting right there on the same lot...right next to the 3/4 tons. It's really pretty simple. Walk over to the 1/2 ton trucks and look at the brakes....then wander on over and look at the brakes on the 3/4 ton truck. Surprise...the 3/4 ton has larger brakes. Ford just puts larger brakes on vehicles with a GVWR of 10,000 lbs.

I simply said that the 3/4 ton trucks will haul that Hawk better than the 1/2 ton trucks. If you read through a lot of the posts on this forum about the 1/2 vs 3/4 ton trucks you'll find a lot of folks agree. I haven't read one post on this forum where a member felt that his/her 3/4 ton truck was oversized for hauling a Hawk camper.

Did I say your 1/2 ton truck wouldn't work hauling a Hawk? No. It will work fine. Have fun with what ever you decide to buy to haul your camper.

[pods8]

We've had some chatter about this setup in the past and my buddy who has a 4x4 super cab short box F150 with a tonue cover just drove down to Portland so I figured I'd report his findings. 70mph, averaged 22mpg going down and 21mph coming back pulling a little 400lb trailer.

Pretty good unloaded hwy mpg numbers.

[ski3pin]

My brother, Fastshot just got one of these ecoboost F150's. He recently drove from Colorado to Southern California and got 23 mpg. This was unloaded and highway. He did not believe the sticker's 21 highway mileage. He's happy.

[5444]

Before the arrival of my twin boys, I decided I needed a bigger cab than my 2010 Tundra Double Cab offered. I really wanted a crew cab with a 6.5 ft bed. I test drove Ford's Ecoboost and the new 5.0 motors. Both were very nice and powerful. In fact, I thought the 5.0 felt like it had more torque, but on paper, I do not believe it does. The 5.0 is way better in the power department than the 5.4 it's replacing.

Anyways, Ford is very proud of their trucks and we were 2300 apart on price. I ended up stopping by a Toyota dealer, just to see what they had and found a 2011 Tundra Crew max Rock Warrior with 7300 miles. It was priced right and had way more room in the cab, but only 5.5 ft bed. As far as fit and finish, Ford won hands down. Very nice features/creature comforts, I wished by Crew max had. But the Crew max is a beast and as long as I stay off the gas, I average 14.4 in town. I have not taken a long enough trip yet to see how the highway mileage is. I usually only get to half a tank before I'm driving in town again and need another fill up.

[Ramblinman]

http://www.motormout...video.php?id=45

Some cool comparison in this video

[zanshin]

Been a while since I visited, thought I'd add comments to this.

We put a moderately equipped Hawk on a 2012 F150 with the 5.0L gas engine. Bought the truck before I really decided on the camper (was looking into a travel trailer at the time) or might have gone with a 3/4 t. Reading all these didn't make me feel much better about it.

So after a year of ownership of both now, here's an update. We didn't get to spend as many nights in the camper as we thought because of the way work winded up for us this year. Starting this year, we're both semi-retired (yeah, that means laid-off but almost eligible for SS to live off young workers until that cow runs dry).

Several short trips around to MO campgrounds and parks. A 4-day trip to IN, TN and KY almost to NC border and back. A 4-day long weekend to Southern IL area. And a 17-day trip from our home near KC, MO to Glacier NP, a grand circuitous route through Idaho Lolo Pass to Ponderosa Lake area, and back up through Salmon to Lolo again; over through Yellowstone and wandered across WY, down to Denver and back home across KS.

Hit a deer in the dark iby Burning Prairie, IL on the interstate on our first real multiday trip. Saw her at the roadside just before she ran out, doing about 68mph (the only place in IL where they have a forested median with water on both sides of the road. Braked like a sumbits -- so hard I worried I was gonna lose control, then remembered what everyone said about center-punching, got off the brakes and aimed right at her. Wife said she went flying off the road into the brush. Dented the bumper, broke the license plate holder, got some hair on the frame, that was it.

The fuel economy sucks across Kansas and Nebraska. of course, the crosswind wind always blows out there. I've made the trip many dozens of times in all types of vehicles, and it always robs the gas mileage by 5mpg minimum. We were getting about 14mpg checked at fill-ups. As usual, I tell myself I'm gonna relax, drive 60-65 and save money. Right.

Before I know it, I've got it at the legal 75mph, the 5.0L F150 runs like it doesn't know it's got 1225 lbs on it (scaled). Gobs of power, plenty for passing big trucks and running up all the big hills between there and Glacier on I-90.

Long story short, that trip was 5800 miles and we averaged a by-God honest 15.8 mpg for the entire trip. After checking it three times on the long-haul road stretches, it appeared I was getting NO better doing 65 mph on the freeway than I was doing 75 mph. Given that diesel is 60-65 cents a gallon more expensive here and just about everywhere else, I don't think that option offers me any more economy.

At least three times on that trip I had to dynamite the brakes to avoid someone doing stupid stuff; pulling out from an intersection, stepping off a curb, swerving over into my lane to avoid some other idiot. Brakes never failed to stop short enough. I credit this largely to the fact I maintain 360-degree situational awareness, and I don't try to drive a multi-ton vehicle like a sportscar just because it can go fast. I have many thousands of miles under my belt, from gun-jeeps in Vietnam, tracked carriers in Germany and the States, semis carrying logs, lumber or bulker tanks, step-vans full of candybars, and little straight trucks delivering tons of paper on city-delivery. Most accidents are caused by driving too fast for conditions (road & weather conditions, visibility, probable presence of potential hazards), rather than not being able to stop short enough when you realize there's trouble.

The next truck may be a 3/4 ton, but adding a few extra thousand pounds to vehicle weight in order to get bigger brakes and wheels seems well, excessive. Payload is more of a reason to me. Interestingly enough, 4WC on their Facebook page mentioned an F150 with 7-bolt wheels and 2500# payload. The way my little 5.0L engine pulls, that would be of high interest to me. I agree that the lack of availability of diesel in some areas is a bit worrisome to me, and whenever I do the calculations, the fuel economy between diesel and gas seems right about the same at the moment.

Interestingly enough, the wife and I got the truck out and took a Sunday drive last week along the MO river road and back, about 75 miles. It was leisurely, poking along at 45 mph or so, going through a few little towns on the way, and some back area two-lanes between farms. The economy gauges in the truck were telling me I was getting between 18.5 and 19 mpg with the camper on (but no gear loaded). I hope that's a sign the engine's getting broke in (about 14K on it now) and we can enjoy even better on the road. I anticipate I will have to keep the brakes maintained more than if driving the truck unloaded, and maybe shocks as well. Everything is stock right now, and I think tires will be the first change so I can feel better about going off-road. As it is now, we use state parks and a few selected (quiet) commercial campgrounds as our camping sites, so that isn't very challenging to the vehicle. Hope to be seeing some of the back-country areas as well in the future, but may just get a jeep or other 4X4 for those expeditions rather than drag a truck and camper through it. Ya never know...

[Mark W. Ingalls]

zanshin,


Thank you for that report.

[bsharp007]

Thought it was time to update this thread with some real world info. Turned 10k on a 2012 F150 Ecoboost with a fully loaded Hawk (almost all the options). The Hawk was weighed at the factory and I was shocked to find out it weighs 1500 lbs dry! Apparently the options weigh more then we think and FWC is very optimistic with their sticker on the back, unlikely that it weighs 800 lbs even without options.
So far the only Mod I have done to the truck is Ride Rite airbags. On the way home from the factory I was surprised at how well the truck handled the weight and there was plenty of power and I barely noticed it was back there. There will be E rated tires as soon as the stock tires get some wear, but other then that I dont feel any need for any other suspension upgrades. To date I have approx 4000 miles with the camper on including 2500+ miles with a trip to Baja last month, much of it on rough dirt roads and some on roads that I wouldn't even consider being on without 4WD and high ground clearance (including the peace of mind of a rear locking differential and FWD low).

The truck and camper were rock solid on the trip, I barely needed to tighten the turnbuckles although I have upgraded the turnbuckles with locknuts which I highly recommend. The mileage taken directly from the accurate trip computer is 19-20 mpg highway without the camper and 17-18 mpg highway with a fully loaded camper, passenger and dog and about 100lbs of kayaks on the roof. I actually get better mileage then my Tacoma did with a fully loaded Eagle and it feels way more solid with plenty of power.
The only downside so far is after owning 4 Tacomas is getting used to parking a full size truck, I wanted to remain a Toyota owner but the Tundra didn't compare to the Fords imho at this time, of course they will be updating their line of trucks soon as will Chevy and Im sure they will be nice.
Bottom line is the Ecoboost/Hawk is great combo and if you use your truck as a DD as I do you get halfway decent mileage without the camper.

[JHa6av8r]

The Hawk was weighed at the factory and I was shocked to find out it weighs 1500 lbs dry! Apparently the options weigh more then we think and FWC is very optimistic with their sticker on the back, unlikely that it weighs 800 lbs even without options.

I keep finding it odd that people are surprised by the weight of their FWC. The weight on their website and the placard on the back is for the camper with standard options.

Before ordering my FWC, I requested the weight of all options available and estimated the camper I wanted with options to be around 1,500 lbs. When my camper was delivered, a placard weight of 950 lbs was pointed out. The placard says weight with standard options. A certificate was then handed to me with the build weight with option of 1,435 lbs. A little lighter than I estimated before ordering.

[photohc]

Thought it was time to update this thread with some real world info. Turned 10k on a 2012 F150 Ecoboost with a fully loaded Hawk (almost all the options). The Hawk was weighed at the factory and I was shocked to find out it weighs 1500 lbs dry! Apparently the options weigh more then we think and FWC is very optimistic with their sticker on the back, unlikely that it weighs 800 lbs even without options.
So far the only Mod I have done to the truck is Ride Rite airbags. On the way home from the factory I was surprised at how well the truck handled the weight and there was plenty of power and I barely noticed it was back there. There will be E rated tires as soon as the stock tires get some wear, but other then that I dont feel any need for any other suspension upgrades. To date I have approx 4000 miles with the camper on including 2500+ miles with a trip to Baja last month, much of it on rough dirt roads and some on roads that I wouldn't even consider being on without 4WD and high ground clearance (including the peace of mind of a rear locking differential and FWD low).

The truck and camper were rock solid on the trip, I barely needed to tighten the turnbuckles although I have upgraded the turnbuckles with locknuts which I highly recommend. The mileage taken directly from the accurate trip computer is 19-20 mpg highway without the camper and 17-18 mpg highway with a fully loaded camper, passenger and dog and about 100lbs of kayaks on the roof. I actually get better mileage then my Tacoma did with a fully loaded Eagle and it feels way more solid with plenty of power.
The only downside so far is after owning 4 Tacomas is getting used to parking a full size truck, I wanted to remain a Toyota owner but the Tundra didn't compare to the Fords imho at this time, of course they will be updating their line of trucks soon as will Chevy and Im sure they will be nice.
Bottom line is the Ecoboost/Hawk is great combo and if you use your truck as a DD as I do you get halfway decent mileage without the camper.

I second that. My limited experience has been the same. Great truck combo with the Hawk.