End of the V8 Power Wagon's?

[Trailmaker]

That's really the issue with newer Fords with the all aluminum body - they're rated to pull and carry more because they're lighter, but they're LIGHTER which isn't always a good thing. As you discovered, that light (I'm guessing) aluminum-bodied Raptor didn't have enough weight to help slow you down. I mean it'll do it, but you've got to be 100% aware of what you're doing.

For instance, between my wife, me, and my FIL we have 3 trucks: her F150, his F250, and my PW. Her F150 supposedly has a curb weight of about 4500 lbs. His F250, with the 7.3 Godzilla motor, comes in at about 6200 lbs. My tank of a PW comes in at over 7k. Having pulled a lot of the same trailers with both his truck and mine (we don't usually pull much with hers, though that 2.7 twin-turbo has some giddyup)...I'd rather have my PW. It just feels like I've got more control over what's behind me.

Correct. The weight is what I was missing that day. Hindsight I would have put my luggage in the bed and started slowing down 100 yards sooner. It was my 2nd week of ownership and first tow with that truck. Coming home, I made the adjustment needed mentally and physically so that would not happen again. Though I also prefer to tow with a longer wheelbase as well. I bet it’s not easy to tow maw weight with a gladiator or a Tacoma neither.

 

[akguy09]

I hope not.

Small turbo gas engines may out perform large block V8's, but at our elevation (9,900 feet average for my zip code) the turbos need to work harder from what I've read. Spinning faster to compensate for the thinner atmospheric pressure which generates more heat. With the thinner air comes less heat displacement. I understand that restrictions can be put on turbos so that they don't exceed a set maximum speed.

Not really all that true. At altitude a turbo engine works less hard than an NA engine. Altitude makes NA engines struggle and lose much more power and drive-ability. The heat generated by the turbo is accounted for with the inter/after cooler.

 

[crash68]

Small turbo gas engines may out perform large block V8's, but at our elevation (9,900 feet average for my zip code) the turbos need to work harder from what I've read. Spinning faster to compensate for the thinner atmospheric pressure which generates more heat. With the thinner air comes less heat displacement. I understand that restrictions can be put on turbos so that they don't exceed a set maximum speed.

What your overlooking is turbos (or superchargers) make up for the power that a naturally aspirated engine looses as you go higher in elevation. Modern day turbos have intercoolers, liquid cooled and pressurized oil system, overheating isn't really a problem. Anytime you make more HP there is more heat generated.
If a turbo overspeeds it's usually due to poor engineering or application error. An OEM turbo charged engine isn't going to suffer from over speed conditions on stock tuning.