how much truck???

well for 7k and under you can't go wrong with a bronco 95-96 I wish i still had mine I traded it for a F-250 I was going to do a enclosed trailer but decided on an open one show I can show off my car matching my truck....LOL

4.9 liter inline 6 will have no problem towing a trailer with a stang aboard. those are tourqe monsters.

I used to have a '96 F150 with a 300six in it, it was a good motor but I'd much rather have a 302. The 300 has grunt but not enough power to pull 4000lbs... Mine was the last production run with the mass air SEFI and it still only made 150HP, 260ft/lbs torque. Sharp looking truck though I do miss it!

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vikingpower said:

I used to have a '96 F150 with a 300six in it, it was a good motor but I'd much rather have a 302. The 300 has grunt but not enough power to pull 4000lbs... Mine was the last production run with the mass air SEFI and it still only made 150HP, 260ft/lbs torque. Sharp looking truck though I do miss it!

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no no no no 302 in a truck if you wanna do real work. getting a 302 over a straight 6 gains you absolutely nothing. both engines can tow the stang but both will do so very slowly. the 302 only puts out 190hp/280tq. i had a 92 with a 302 and 5-speed and what a dog that was, my g/f's family has a farm and their F150 has a straight 6/auto and 50 haybales on that is S-L-O-W going...and thats hovering around 2000lbs. if i needed a tow rig and it had to be from the 80-96 (97 HD) era, it would have a 351 or bigger. I just used a friends 95 F150 with a 351 to tow a toyota pickup on a dolley and it was perfect. i have also towed a few times with my dads old 86 F350 with a 460 and that towed like there was nothing back there. the straight 6 is probably the best motor ford has ever built durability-wise, and does a hell of alot of work for what it is, but for towing its smartest to opt for bigger. better to have a bit more than you need than not have enough. you will thank me the first time you have to climb any significant hill with a trailer.

for 7k i would say look for an 87-97 F250 with a 351. this will do all the work you will really ever need to do, and 7k will get you a NICE one. another friend is selling his NICE 96 F350 XLT pickup with a 351/5-spd small lift and nice wheels/tires for $6500. i say 87 because they all came fuel injected starting in 87, in 86 only the 6cyl and 302 had EFI...unless you dont mind having a carb. the 351 will get you in the neighborhood of 14mpg, but the 302 and 300-6 wont make it to 17 so i think its worth sacrificing 2mpg for a truck that can do the work you need. for reference, my 302/5spd truck was 15.5 to 16 at best.

hope this helps...i used to be WAYYY into ford trucks before i got into mustangs...ive come to be very picky about the truck id have for a certian type of job. haha...good luck

whoops...double posted like a moron....oh well, ill use this post to whore a couple pics just because i can i dont get to do this much...


heres my 92 Shortbed with the 302 that was too lacking in power to do any REAL towing...but it will do it if you have to...




and heres my dads old 86 F350 with the 460 that was a towing god...sucks that by todays standards, this truck is weak. by the way, those are 33's on that truck...

i used to use my 77 e100 van. Had the 300 inline 6 with a 3spd on the tree. pulled the stang 290mi and back with no problems. averaged 65-70 on the highway. only problems i had at all was the fact the van didn't have a brake controller on it. sure would have been nice.

The year after i sold that van i used a dodge durango with the smaller v8 and it did and awesome job. Gonna probably use my 4.0 jeep cherokee this year

For $7k look for a '90's diesel Ford or Dodge (GM 6.5diesel is crap).
Diesels get nearly double the gas mileage of a gas motor and have plenty of pulling power.

PJB said:

For $7k look for a '90's diesel Ford or Dodge (GM 6.5diesel is crap).
Diesels get nearly double the gas mileage of a gas motor and have plenty of pulling power.

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ditto, diesels are the only way to go if you are going to tow. even if it is a little older upgrade the turbo and flash the ecm, and you are on some way to serious power. may even outrun the stang if you build it right. I'd opt for the dodge cummins over the powerstroke. shouldnt be hard to find an older one in your price range.

My brother's truck outruns my Mustang by a full second and all he's got is a straight pipe exhaust and a Bullydog compared to my whole list of mods. His is an '05 Ram with a Cummins.

good luck finding a decent diesel for $7k. All the decent Powerstroke trucks (95+) unless low optioned or high mileage (read: beat) are $10k or more. The nice XLT 96 and 97's still bring close to $15k. The previous 7.3 and 6.9 turbo and non-turbo diesels are nowhere near as good as the powerstrokes, nor is the fuel mileage.

i was going to mention a diesel, but the only ones in his price range arent the desirable ones.

register on the forums at www.ford-trucks.com they are some good guys and will help you with anything you want to know

we dont have the boat anymore, but my truck (in sig) towed our old '69 16' newman around in the ozarks problem. would do 70 on the flats (untill the trailer springs wore out and the trailer started wobbling past about 55). granted, that boat and trailer probably only weighed about 2500lbs (on the bumper hitch no less), but im sure a fox would be no problem, espically with the right gearing and a good tranny cooler.

imo going diesel is way overkill for an occasional hauler, espically something light. if youve got a huge boat or pulling a dedicated race trailer, its worth it, but for a daily driver that might occasinally pull a smallsih car, it might not be. thats just imo.

btw qucik91lx, im guessing you at least at one time were on fordtrucks? cause that truck looks awful familiar (then again theres probably 50 of em that look exaclty the same on there).

Here's mine.
Not a FORD but it's sick.

My 97 F150 4.6, although notably lacking in brute power, tows the Mustang fine, with overdrive off.

The same probably applies to an earlier 302 truck. Most have 355 or so gears, and have to be out of od to tow, so they work fine.

I just towed a 3000 lb tractor on my Stang trailer 1200 miles from NH to SC with my 4.6. Did much better than I ever imagined, including going over Fancy Gap VA, one of only a couple places it went down to 2nd gear.

The thing with the dodge truck is you always find the cheaper than a ford of chevy and their cummins are great. I would definately not go with the chevy though. We got a new 05' x-cab one ton dually at the marina I worked for a few years ago and I did most of the driving their when we needed to haul boats and it was not impressive at all. Even had the thing in the shop about 5-6 times last summer. Nice truck other than that but overall not impressed and definately not worth the money. Hell, I think my uncles 1997 powerstroke would easily out pull the 05 dually we had.

I towed mine and a buddys 74 dart with my old 03 Dakota w/ the 4.7 V8. Handled the cars with no problems at all.

And a dakota can be had for cheap these days

PJB said:

For $7k look for a '90's diesel Ford or Dodge (GM 6.5diesel is crap).

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Although they are basically bottom of the barrel as far as HP/TQ goes in the diesel world, the 6.5's really aren't all that bad. Prior to '97 they had problems with heads cracking due to poor cooling, and the PMD's tend to die early without an aftermarket cooler, but all of this can be taken care of with several hundred dollars worth of upgrades.

My dad picked up a clean 97K mile '95 1-ton with a 5-speed and with a blown headgasket (and cracked heads) for $3500 off a dealer lot. For less than $2,800 in parts/machining we made it right. Bought it off my dad for $7,000 and have nothing but good things to say about it. I cash crop hay and needed something bigger than my 1/2 ton for yanking wagons with 4 tons of hay on them over the road. Although it may not do it nearly as quick as a duramax/cummins/stroke, it doesn't struggle in the least with any towing I have had to do with it. I get nearly 20 mpg (town and highway averaged).

To the original poster, if you want to do it on the cheap, I don't think a 3/4 ton f250 with the 300 six would be a bad move at all. Again, you certainly won't be overpowered, but as long as you don't live in the mountains or something, the truck should be perfectly capable of pulling a car on a trailer.

If you are looking to spend some more money, and will be driving the truck a lot, it's hard to not want a diesel. Problem is (don't know about other parts of the country) but 200K mile diesels (early 90's or newer) still command a TON of money. And with the price gap between diesel and gas, you aren't saving all that much money with improved mileage.

I don't know where I'm going with all this rambling, so I'm going to just stop now.