So is that vote for a 20'-22' trailer?? I'll literally be pulling to Milan from bemis and rawsonville area. I'd be taking Tuttle hill most of the way. All dirt back road for the most part. I won't be hauling a ton of stuff with me either, I'm just a test and tuner and the car only runs 12's so it doesn't break anything at all ever either. I figure a winch at most will be all there ever is. I'll be usually driving the car there too once it gets closer to being completely done as a cruiser, but for now, it'll be lawn mowers and junk being pulled for the most part. No more weight than the mustang would be.
Slow back roads are very doable. My little plastic H3 Hummer pulled a loaded 30ft enclosed a few miles down slow back roads when we had no other options that weekend. That is a little more extreme than what you are proposing.
You need to make sure you have a class 3 or 4 hitch. Something solid not a rusty old class 2. Airbags might be needed.
Denny Villemure
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Vortec 4200 Turbo IROC-Z on 15psi
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I used to use a 1984 Chevy 4x4 1/2 ton pickup to tow comparable. The truck was heavily modified though, 4wheel disc and everything, and weighed a little under 3700lbs. The 305 (technically 315) was OK with it but it was always in 3rd or less. The loading of the trailer was critical though, especially after 8k.
Knew plenty of people towing similar setups with 302 powered F150s.
When I towed with my 84 I would swap out the rear leaf springs and put on a set of LRE tires when I was going to tow something more than an empty trailer. Without those two things the trailer would push the back of the truck around and it made you nervous. This was expressway travel and the part that made me nervous was reducing radius exit ramps. So I'd put in the heavier springs and the tires so I could use more tongue weight (about 1400lbs instead of 750) which made it a lot more enjoyable to drive. I got pretty good at swapping leaf springs.
Later I got a GMT800 (99 NBS Silverado) and it was about as comparable to drive (at low RPM, the 315 made way more power), except the leaf springs were a foot longer which caused weird handling issues when towing. So I ended up getting airbags and a rear sway bar to help with the pushing and the pogo-stick behavior. It was fine after that and I no longer swapped leaf springs or tires. Later ended up dumping the factory hitch for a Curt hitch that was more rigid. I'm still using the same airbags and sway bar 3 trucks later.
If you put bags on it, a rear sway bar, good shocks, a good brake controller, a anti-sway bar for the hitch at which point I highly recommend a weight distributing one, and good stiff tires it will be fine and tow like a newer truck but missing about 200hp. Unless it has airplane gears in it (numerically lower than the 3.55 those trucks usually had) you won't mind. It will be a struggle to get going but it's a Ford truck so you're probably used to that. That generation Ford pickup had garbage rear springs that resemble W-shaped wet noodles after a couple cycles so I wouldn't be surprised if you end up with a broken eye or cracks around the center pin. I'm assuming the AOD is all-original and in that case it will probably smoke itself the first time you put the hitch pin in the receiver since they hate heat as much as a 700R4.
Firestone used to make a bag kit called SportRite that fit that generation of Ford. They also made a kit to put bags in the coils in the front. Both are very nice.
This has turned out to be a good post. I do already have air bags, but as mentioned, the factory leaf springs on the 2wd's were garbage, and only a little bit better if you got the 5 pack leaf instead of the 4 pack leaf. My truck does have the 5 pack, and a large transmission cooler. It's the 95 e4od that's in it too, so the stronger of the weak gas motor e4od's. We'll see what I do, I would be getting a weight distribution hitch at the same time I bought the trailer. I'm a big fan of trans temp gauges too, there's a perfect spot for a 2 1/16 gauge right in the dash too. Had one in my old 4x4 truck I put in after I put 38's on it. I do think I'm gonna go look at trailers and get a weight on a few different ones and go from there.
The only thing I keep thinking about is that back in the day, these truck were primarily what everyone was using, and they always towed weight back then, so why not now?
25 years ago it took a performance car to stop as fast as a modern half ton pickup. I think back in the early 90s they measured stopping with trucks in minutes. People knew this and there was less asshattery on the road.
25 years ago you just had to worry about Billy bob trying to merge onto the expressway with a clutchless shift his clapped out 1991 S10 pickup while smoking a Marlboro Red with a beer between his legs and adjusting his Kenwood radio. Now every idiot on the road is texting and giving as much asshattery as they can muster and won't give you an inch.
My work has a 24' enclosed trailer that I have been kinda poking upper management to sell since we never use it anymore and it just sits. Its prolly about 10 years old but has been stored indoors 99.9% of the time since the one before it got stolen. I'll find out if upper management has considered getting rid of it yet and let ya know.
One of the trailers I have is a bare bones 24' enclosed. I've towed it with a 2016 F150 with max tow and a 2019 RAM (1500) with a hemi, and a 2005 2500hd chevy. All trucks towed it just fine, even with a 4200# demon inside. We always make sure the trailer brakes are working and use load bars if the load sags the truck. I've never tried it with an older truck....a 302 with an auto might not work out for that. If you do it, don't use overdrive and drive slow.
11 Mustang GT (street car)
87 Grand National (grudge car)
Misc old Ford street cars
I have also been looking at enclosed trailers but more for storage since our HOA wont allow sheds. I was originally looking from something used but it seems like everything is listed pretty close to the price of a new one.
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