I should retract my easily hit 18 statement. I easily hit 18-19 before I put AT tires on. Its more like 17-18 now, but my AT tires are still the same size as the originals and nearly all my driving is highway. I run the numbers by hand too, in case you were wondering. If your buddy is pulling a 21' ranger, then that would make for some big difference compared to my 19' Norris Craft. But you can make a truck get better mileage if you want it too, just as I can make mine get 11mpg if I wanted. My '99 F-150 got 17-18 with the 4.6L v8, but dropped to 12-15 when towing (depending on where I was). Figure up the cost of a few miles per gallon and expand that over 4hrs of driving and your foot starts getting lighter.
Just for comparison, I put "real" ethanol free gas in my Tundra after filling the boat but didn't notice any significant mileage difference.

Worried about down the road with the V6 ecoboost holding up. I will stick with my paid for Cummings.

Ha, you aren't kidding. Toys are nice, but paid for toys means you can afford to play with them more!

Watch this video and the rest in the series...Well see if any other brand will try the same...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-fCzBHVFTY

My experience even with V8's towing boats is the transmissions wear out. I see this problem coming in the future on them.

Yep had 3 in my dodge before 100k with most of those miles pulling my boat.

Yep, couldn't have been said any better!

As far as the super unleaded goes in the Toyotas, maybe they changed that but I know when I looked at them a few years ago the 5.7 "Iforce or what ever it's called" said to use super in it. I guess if I had driven my rental Toyota at 55mph I suppose it might have gotten better but our speed limits around here are 70. Maybe your roads are flatter out in East Texas too? All I can say about the one I drove is not impressive.

buy AMERICAN

What ever you do buy American! I've got a 08 F150 and my father bought a new F150 with the big v8 yesterday. I've got a 5.4 Liter in mine and it tows great, can't say much for the new one since its only a day old.

My '08 Tundra was made in Indiana. The Tundra also has the highest percent content of American made parts of all the full size pick-ups.

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=top&subject=ami&story=amMade0611
Notice that this article says that only vehicles with 75% domestic content actually make the cut.
"Detroit's full-size pickups, once a dominant force on the AMI, remain off the chart. The F-150 held a commanding No. 1 spot in the first three years that Cars.com compiled the index, with domestic parts content as high as 90 percent. Alas, today's Michigan- and Missouri-built F-150 bears only 60 percent domestic content rating. Similarly, the Chevrolet Silverado, which held second place for much of the F-150's reign, has just 61 percent domestic content. Chrysler's Ram 1500 pickup's 70 percent domestic content fares better, but it still falls short of the AMI's 75-percent cutoff."

So none of them are 100% American made, but the Tundra is the only full size pick-up that made the 75% cutoff. The big 3 all fell short, despite once holding the top ranks.
Not saying to not buy any others trucks. Just saying if you are really gung ho about buying American , the Tundra is as close as you are going to get.

I hear that all the time to from all brands of trucks and my question is how often are those tranys being serviced my last truck had over 110k when I got rid of it LOTS towing and very hard driving services every 30k and no trany problems. My current truck is almost at 150k and by most standards for a half ton would be considered abused according to my driving habits and what I tow it has pulled up to 18k lbs on the highway and pulled boats of that size out of the water on many occasions with regular services NO trany problems

Toyota has been golden with their marketing/manufacturing of their products. Their marketing folks should be getting a fat check with what all they have done with the moves to the US from a foreign company. They are laughing all the way to the bank.

Dodge is known for its weak transmissions and even weaker solenoids that runs their transmissions. I used to own a '99 Dodge and the trans was definitely the weak link.

The new Ford engines are the real deal though. Being a big car guy its in general and not a fanboy of any particular brand I'd say Ford engineers finally got something right. The ecoboost will be copied by others just wait and with it make gobs more torque than a stock 5.0 its a better choice for towing. Now turbo engines always have their downsides but if engine performance is really important theres things that can be done to counteract some of the negative.

The new 5.0 is a monster also, a few tweaks and an aftermarket tune and you have a 400whp beast tearing up boats ramps. Chevy and especially Dodge better step up their game quickly or there may be another bail out going on.

As for the buy American comment. GM outsources so much stuff its sickening. Tundras are built in San Antonio.

And cause we're talking engines and I love to brag, heres proof im not a fanboy. My '91 fox with a chevy heart....notice the badges says 5.7 not 5.0

18,000 on a half ton?

Frequent transmission service is the best way to keep them working and out of the shop. Having them flushed by a dealer is best, and is really cheap insurance compared to an overhaul!!