Trailering RT-25

T

TexasEye

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Messages
270
Fluid Motion Model
C-248 C
Hull Identification Number
FMLT2599D808
Non-Fluid Motion Model
C-Dory Angler 22
Vessel Name
Tug Time, Athens, Alabama
Is a F250 a good choice for towing the rt-25?
 
We have a R25SC and tow it with a 1997 F250 supercab with a gas 7.5 ltr, rear wheel drive without posi-traction.
It works fine but my next tow vehicle will be 4 wheel drive because there are issues pulling her up steep ramps without unloading it as much as possible. Unfortunately, fuel economy suffers quite a bit with the boat in tow but that is to be expected. Our trailer has electric over hydraulic brakes which in my opinion after towing boats for 35 years is the only right way to equip a trailer for a boat in this weight category.
 
In answer to your question, the Ford F-250 could either be a great tow vehicle or just an ok tow vehicle. All depends on how it’s equipped. On a new 2018 F250 with base equipment, the max towing capacity is stated to be 13,200 pounds. Given a R25 on tandem axle trailer weighs in at between 9,600 pounds to 10,800 pounds depending on how much personal goods are on board and how much liquids are in the tank, you should be ok with a base model F250. But equipped specifically for high capacity towing, the towing rating goes up to 21,000 pounds which should be good to tow a R25, R27 or R29 without breaking into a sweat!
 
We just pulled our new-to-us R25 from North Carolina to Oklahoma. Test #1 -- Mountains. Test #2 -- Wind. Test #3 -- Eighteen wheelers.

Our tow vehicle is 3/4-ton Dodge with the 5.9 Cummins engine. Trailer is 12,000# rated and 36' in length with hydraulic surge brakes.

I can not complain about anything. Plenty of power climbing mountains in South Carolina. Next leg of the journey is pulling the Ranger to Alaska. Only 4,000 more miles across the Rockies along the Alcan highway.

For the last 2-3 years we have read and read about what tow vehicle is best. IMHO it's as much about the trailer and its braking system as it is the tow vehicle. A trailer that's more susbstantial than absolutely required safeguards you from one of the most dangerous possibilities--getting passed by an eighteen wheeler in a big crosswind. The subsequent sway created in this scenario can kill you.

Surge-activated hydraulic brakes take away the possibility of electrical failure by the tow vehicle. Many trailers are electric over hydraulic. My suggestion would be to have hydraulic brakes as the first option.
 
I’ve towed long trailers for four decades with surge brakes, both mechanical and hydraulic, and after going to electric over hydraulic disc brakes I would never, never go back to anything else. You get finely tuned proportional braking that a surge system cannot begin to match. It’s not the truck that stops the trailer, it’s the trailer that stops the truck if you have it dialed in just right.
Yes, if you have a rusty connector plug and lose the electrical connection it’s a problem. Just maintain the connection and you are gold!
 
TexasEye":26kyhiat said:
Is a F250 a good choice for towing the rt-25?
Click to expand...
We tow an R25 classic with a 2012 gas powered F250. Trailer has surge brakes on both axles. Handles very well. We're content at 55mph, slower uphill. If you want to pull faster than that diesel would be a good idea.
 
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Even though the engine/transmission/truck may be rated for 12,500 lbs, the hitch may be less.

This sticker should be on every truck hitch, regardless of make/model, and as you can see, our F250 diesel stock hitch was only rated at 6000 lbs for weight carrying (conventional) hitch.

I'd really urge you to crawl under truck and check this sticker.

I went to trailer hitch specialty shop and got after market Curt hitch rated at 10,000 lbs conventional.
 
Where is the sticker located on the trucks?

Does only ford do this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
the sticker should be somewhere on the hitch bracket itself that is bolted to the rear frame of the truck.

I found this article about horse trailers that talks about hitch capacities and has a jpg of a GMC hitch sticker.
 
R25 towed by a F250 should by a good combination. The Tow ratings are easily located doing a F250 Ford tow capacities search. As others have indicated some frame hitch have a smaller Max rating without distribution bars. The hitch manufacturer normally has a sticker on the face of the hitch crossmember. A rule of thumb is 2" receivers Class IV are rated for 10000 lbs and 1000 lbs without distribution bars, 1400 lbs 14000 lbs with distribution bars. 2 1/2 " receivers Class V are rated for 12000 lbs and 1200lbs without distribution bars, 17000 lbs and 1700 lbs (first # is trailer weight, second is tongue weight) This is a rule of thumb. I have a HD2500 Chevy rated at 14500lbs without distribution bars. It has a 2 1/2 " receiver. I still use weight distribution bars to help shift some weight to my steering Axel, reduce sway, and gives us a better ride. I use the SC 12000 model. The SC models use brake bad supports instead of chains. Backing up, turning, is not an issue. The bars are easy to install and remove.

We are towing a C26 which the dry weight is 1000lbs more then a RT-25. We tow it comfortably with the HD2500 6L gas 4.10 rear end. We have never towed thru the western mountains but I feel comfortable about doing that. I average 60 mph while towing slightly higher going down and slightly slower going up hills. At no time do I feel the equipment is being overloaded engine oil pressure, coolant temp and transmission temperature maintain normal levels. Fuel economy suffers 7.5 to 8 mpg. I really don't think you will have any issues Towing a RT-25 with a F250.
 
scross":2he05izl said:
It’s not the truck that stops the trailer, it’s the trailer that stops the truck if you have it dialed in just right
Click to expand...

I have a Prodigy controller on my Chevy 2500HD diesel with electric over hydraulic brakes pulling my R25. I find that because the Prodigy controller doesn't activate the brakes until the voltage is over 2V (or is it my electric over hydraulic brake system doesn't activate until it sees 2V - I'm not sure which), the trailer brakes only start to work after the truck brakes have been applied. Consequently my truck supplies most or all of the normal stopping power unless unusually hard braking is required. In addition to that, there's the slight delay in applying the trailer brakes while the actuator gets up to pressure. As far as I can see, there are no adjustments that will change any of that. The only options are whether to add boost or not but that's applied only after the brakes are activated. I would never say my trailer slows the truck unless there is hard braking going on or it is manually activated or is that the situation you are describing? Could you please elaborate on your statement so I can hopefully change my system.

Thanks

Doug
 
Very helpful responses, thank Y'all.

My F150 is just over a year old, No, I will NOT tow the RT25 with that vehicle, never...But I have towed the Boat trailer with the F150 and it doesn't like it...I have the Tow package with elec. display and even a checklist on the display, but my rear end, engine and aluminum body say no way...I bought the SPORT F!%) with the baby engine and High ratio rear end!!! Well, I didn't have a boat and only towed a 14 foot utility trailer...

Being a FORD Man I was thinking the F350 would be best but I don't want too much overkill, sounds like a properly equipped F250 4WD will do the job. Damn they are pricy...

I knew about the hitch ratings but have never crawled under the truck to look, not lazy, but knowing something and acting on it is often separated by stupidity and not necessarily laziness...getting up to look now, be right back...OK, it's a CLV rated at 5000 lbs tongue weight 500...and that's on a truck that can pull about 4200 pounds legally...(NO WAY)

Thanks again Captains and Mates, great info...Tex
 
I would say it depends on how you plan on trailering your R25. If short distances, day or two trips to get somewhere to cruise you should be just fine. In the perfect world 4X4 would be a benefit on steep and or slippery ramps. If trailering long distances, like across country or thru the mountains then a diesel would be best suited for those needs. So, as I said, it depends on how you’ll be trailering.

Jim
 
Doug,
My goal is wanting the brakes on the trailer, with the boat on it, to be at least as effective in stopping the truck+trailer combination as the brakes on the truck.
To this end, I use the same tires on the trailer as I use on my truck – Michelin LTX M/S2 LT225/75/16 for the trailer. I trust this gives all eight tires on the combined rig the same amount of tire traction when it comes to stopping.
In looking at the loads on all four axles with the boat loaded, my truck front axle is at 3,300 pounds, my rear truck axle is at 3,200 pounds and my boat trailer axles are supporting 4,575 pounds each. So there is quite a bit more weight on the trailer axles than on the truck axles which should give them the potential to be more effective in braking than the truck axles for light to moderately hard braking.
On my truck I use a Tekonsha P3 digital proportional brake controller. To quote Tekonsha, “Proportional based controls offer a smooth braking response to almost any stop. Through the use of a sensing device, the brake control can determine the tow vehicle's rate of deceleration and then apply the trailer brakes to match. In other words, Proportional controls deliver power to the trailer brakes in direct relationship to the actual physical deceleration of the tow vehicle.”
The link to the set-up of my controller is here: http://www.tekonsha.com/support/installation/N90195.pdf
Per these guidelines, I use B3 boost setting since my loaded trailer is right at 40% more weight than the truck. Per Tekonsha using the Boost settings: “You like the trailer braking to ‘LEAD’ the tow vehicle’s braking.” And this is what I want. With the B3 setting any delay in the braking to the trailer is minimal.
My starting setting on the Tekonsha was 6 per the instructions but I did a lot of trial and error making fast stops with the loaded trailer from 30 mph. I ended up getting a feeling that the trailer was slowing the combined rig more than the truck was at a setting of 6.8 on the controller. This setting was just below that where the trailer tires started locking up. Your optimal setting will vary depending on your specific equipment I’m sure.
On my towing experience I can feel the trailer brakes working stronger than the truck brakes when going down long steep grades and when doing moderately hard braking. And that’s what I wanted to achieve.
 
Just completed our annual round trip Mi-Fl pulling the Charlotte Ann. At this point we have pulled her ~20,000 miles ( a drop in the bucket compared to some on here)
3/4 ton truck ( or more) a must. 3/4 ton is perfect, actually. This is the 250/2500 series trucks in the big 3.
Electrohydraulic trailer brakes a must .
Diesel engine a must for long runs.

Sorry guys, not a snob, but the gas engine will be overworked and a fuel hog at these load levels when crossing mountain territory states all day long. For local hauling and short trips gas is fine. I have averaged roughly 10.5 mpg over the years for these trips. This trip I hit 11.0 mpg. Yes! :mrgreen:

I have two Duramax here on the farm, one with the factory controller and one with an aftermarket brake controller. Both work just fine with electrohydraulic. A used Duramax, while not cheap, will save you money over new. The comparable 2500 size Ford and the Ram are also vehicles that will do the job.
 
scross":2tr75h2r said:
On my truck I use a Tekonsha P3 digital proportional brake controller.
Click to expand...

Scross: Thanks for the response. We have the same controller: Tekonsha Prodigy P3. I set mine to 8.2 volts and B3 boost. How do your trailer brakes perform in city traffic? Do you feel they are activated with normal stop and go? I don't believe mine are activated at all since they require 2V minimum. Is it only my brand of electric over hydraulic (I don't remember the brand name) that requires that and therefore causes minimal trailer braking at light braking?

Doug
 
Doug,
Most of my towing miles with the R25 is on I-5 or on various 2 and 4 lane state highways in OR and WA. My city street mileage is pretty minimal - perhaps 100 to 200 miles a year.
But yes; I do feel I’m getting a decent response from the trailer brakes through town. Not that I’m ever going fast in town though. With B3 set, you should get a quick 25% of max braking power from the trailer brakes when the brake pedal is pushed. That’s what the Tekonsha manual says and what I feel to be happening with my rig.
One time in town when a complete jerk changed lanes right in front of me and then slammed on his brakes I did immediately lock up the trailer tires in a panic stop. Even the trucks ABS brakes were pulsing that time! The way I have my brake controller set may not be best for panic stops.
PS: Possible your trailer brake pads are glazed or air bubbles in the hydraulic lines?
PPS: I have a Titan Brakerite EHB unit on the trailer and the manual mentions nothing about it needing a minimum 2 volts to start working.
 
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