CowboyWill

OK... I understand how it all works, the risks, etc. But what I dont get is, how there is nothing I can do to my F150 to give me another 500#s or so of payload?

Ricktwuhk

You can not get it all you want, but it is a fact.

sunofabeach

reduce what you carry in the truck and transfer whatever you can to the trailer. remove your spare tire and transfer it to the trailer.


personally, if I'm only 100lbs - 200lbs over GVWR, I wouldn't worry about it. throw a set of airbags on it and call it a day.


500lbs over would definitely make me rethink what I carry though.

sunofabeach

You, your dogs and your stuff weigh 786lbs?


you definitely have room to reduce what you carry.

schmenke

I usually make the mother-in-law take a bus.

atwowheelguy

Well, you have already bought the trailer and you have said you are not going to buy another tow vehicle. The only thing to do is to load it for camping and go to the scales and see HOW MUCH your truck is overloaded. Then shift as much stuff as you can to get the weight out of the truck, but keeping at least 10% of the trailer weight on the tongue, but 12% or more is better for avoiding trailer sway. Wind and passing truck draft will be an issue with a camper trailer that long.

Look in your truck owner's manual to see how it says to adjust the WDH. Measure the height from the front bumper or wheelwell lip to the ground. Put the trailer tongue on the hitch and measure again. My Ford manual says to adjust the WDH to lower the front end half way back down to the unloaded height. Some here say to lower it all the way back to the unloaded height.

Then go to the scales. It takes three weighings to tell where you are.
1. Weigh once all hooked up. Front axle on the first scale platform, rear axle on the second scale platform, trailer on the third scale platform.
2. Weigh again with the WDH bars unhooked, axles in the same places.
3. Unhook the camper and weigh the truck alone, two axles on separate scale pads.
All that costs about $16.

Then you can do a little arithmetic to tell the weight of the camper, the weight of the truck, and how much tongue weight the WDH is transferring to the front truck axle and to the camper axles.

http://www.publicscaleslocator.com

CowboyWill

I have a 4" Rancho Lift w/35" tires, and I was smart to buy a matching spare. That's where all my wieght is coming from. I also have tools and things in a truck box but not 500#s.
My spare tire is a good idea, that's almost 100# there!

CowboyWill

I'm working on no mother-in-law, hence the trailer!

Wannafbody

Here's my opinion. Whoever makes the hitch receiver assembly, puts a weight rating on it. Ford is well aware of what number is on that hitch and hasn't forced the manufacturer to reduce that number to match Ford's number. IMO that's the tow rating, in your case 10,500. Now, due to legal reasons or Ford design weaknesses, Ford drops that rating to roughly 9700# or so depending on vehicle build. Going over a couple hundred pounds probably isn't going to kill your truck or anyone else. But staying close to Ford's rating is probably safer for the truck.

You can change to stiffer springs which will handle more load but you can't legally change Ford's ratings for your truck.

smokeywren

Those are the max weight ratings for your hitch receiver, and have nothing to do with the weight ratings of your F-150. All 2009 F-150s with the regular trailer tow package have that receiver.


Normal for your 4x4.


GVWR is a limit, and cannot be changed without investing more than an adequate tow vehicle would cost. But payload on the sticker is calculated, using invalid assumptions about the weight of your truck. Actual payload available for tongue weight is GVWR minus the scaled weight of your wet and loaded truck, ready to tow.



GVWR 7200 minus 6560 actual truck weight leaves 640 pounds available for tongue weight. And that assumes your 6,560 number includes the weight-distributing hitch plugged into the receiver, and any other weight in the truck that will be in it when towing. Payload capacity also assumes a full tank of gas, so your payload capacity is less than 640 pounds -probably closer to 600.


600 pounds max hitch weight is a travel trailer (TT) with the normal 13% tongue weight that grosses no more than about 4,615 pounds. That's an itty bitty TT.


[quote=Cowboywill] My first question is how does someone get a actual tongue wieght of my travel trailer other then using specs in the brochure?


Several ways.


One way is to weigh the rig twice, once with the wet and loaded truck without the trailer, and again with the trailer tied on but without the weight-distributing spring bars tightened. Add the weights on the two pickup axles to get pickup GVW. Subtract the GVW without the trailer from the GVW with the trailer tied on but without the spring bars. The answer is your actual tongue weight.


Most accurate way is to use a Sherline tongue weight scale and weigh the tongue of the wet and loaded trailer.


A decent estimate is the GVWR of the trailer times 0.13 (or 13 percent). That will give you the max trailer weight you can have without overloading the trailer axles. For example, a travel trailer with GVWR of 6,000 pounds would have about 780 pounds of tongue weight. So if you load that trailer to 6,00 pounds gross trailer weight, you will probably have about 780 pounds of tongue weight.


There is also a way to use a bathroom scale and some lumber to weigh the tongue. Do a search on the internet to find the how-to article for using a bathroom scale.


And you can also use a CAT scale. Put the trailer axles on one pad and the hitch over a different pad. Disconnect the trailer and move the pickup off the scale. The scale ticket will give you trailer axle weight and tongue weight as well as gross trailer weight.



The only practical thing you can do is to replace the light-duty F-150 with a heavier duty pickup. Back in 2009, Ford sold an F-150 with the heavy duty payload package that had 8,200 pounds GVWR. That added almost 1,000 pounds payload capacity compared to your standard 4x4 with 7,200 pounds GVWR. And of course Ford makes numerous models of heavier duty trucks - F-250, F-350 SRW, F-350 DRW, F-450, F-550, F-650 and F-750. If you want to haul heavy, you have to buy more truck than an F-150.