Am I out of luck?
04-28-2013, 12:17 PM
#1
Am I out of luck?
New to the forum as a member but have been using this forum for some time as it's an awesome source of information. I have a 2013 4x4 f150 scab 5.0L 3.55. It is my daily driver, mostly highway. I will try to provide as much info as I can.
We decided this year to buy a holiday trailer, it will make one trip down to the RV lot and one trip back per season (600mi round trip).
Other than that it won't be doing much towing.
Now that we are looking into a trailer, I've done the research on this truck and it doesn't have much in terms of max towing capacity, I think around 7800lbs.
Although I didn't buy it for towing, it does have the package with brake controller and all the additional parts. Not the max towing package.
Anyways, on to my question. I have looked at a ton of posts about this subject and the forum has been helpful but often there is some conflicting information. We are looking at a 24' holiday trailer with a dry weight of 4932lbs. Allowing 1500lbs. for additional "stuff" that would put total max around 6432lbs? Using the 10% formula does that make the tongue weight 643lbs. thus over the 500lbs in the ford specs?
Also allowing 80% of max for towing am I over what I can tow?
I've got a pad of paper full of numbers and it's getting pretty confusing.
Like I said, I didn't buy it for towing but it is a 1/2 ton truck with a tow package, it would really suck if my brand new F150 "best in class for towing" can't even do what a basic Tundra can do(9500lbs).
Anyone can feel free to chime in, I know it's been asked a lot with different configurations. I just want to tow safe and within legal.
We decided this year to buy a holiday trailer, it will make one trip down to the RV lot and one trip back per season (600mi round trip).
Other than that it won't be doing much towing.
Now that we are looking into a trailer, I've done the research on this truck and it doesn't have much in terms of max towing capacity, I think around 7800lbs.
Although I didn't buy it for towing, it does have the package with brake controller and all the additional parts. Not the max towing package.
Anyways, on to my question. I have looked at a ton of posts about this subject and the forum has been helpful but often there is some conflicting information. We are looking at a 24' holiday trailer with a dry weight of 4932lbs. Allowing 1500lbs. for additional "stuff" that would put total max around 6432lbs? Using the 10% formula does that make the tongue weight 643lbs. thus over the 500lbs in the ford specs?
Also allowing 80% of max for towing am I over what I can tow?
I've got a pad of paper full of numbers and it's getting pretty confusing.
Like I said, I didn't buy it for towing but it is a 1/2 ton truck with a tow package, it would really suck if my brand new F150 "best in class for towing" can't even do what a basic Tundra can do(9500lbs).
Anyone can feel free to chime in, I know it's been asked a lot with different configurations. I just want to tow safe and within legal.
04-28-2013, 12:55 PM
#2
Senior Member
You will be fine. That 500lbs hitch weight even applies to the tundra. That is the max without the Weight Distribution Hitch (WDH). Any trailer over 5k weight should need one. The reason why you towing is lower than the Tundras is the rear end. Yours is a 3.55 and the Tundras is a 4.10 (or something close to that). Because of that, you will get better mile per gallon (mpg) but tow less. You could very easily go to Ford or any mechanic and swap out you 3.55 for the 3.73 gears (couple hundred bucks ) and raise your towing to 9k.
But at you numbers you gave so far. You will be fine at that weight. All you need is a WDH (even for the tundra) for a trailer over 5k. The WHD also make the hitch rating like a 1000 lbs.
But at you numbers you gave so far. You will be fine at that weight. All you need is a WDH (even for the tundra) for a trailer over 5k. The WHD also make the hitch rating like a 1000 lbs.
04-28-2013, 01:02 PM
#3
Thanks for the info, I knew I was reading something wrong, it just didn't make sense. That swap out of the gears is great to know it's possible. I wasn't sure if that was factory upgrade or not or a whole rear end?
You just lowered my blood pressure to normal levels.
You just lowered my blood pressure to normal levels.
04-28-2013, 02:41 PM
#4
So far it looks more like $1800 to $2000 to do a gear swap on a 4x4? And speedo has to be re-calibrated? I guess we will have to think long and hard if we ever decide to get a bigger trailer and calculate that into the cost. I'm sure I would lose way more than that trading the truck in for another F150 to get the extra lbs in towing.
So far we are ok with this trailer so maybe I won't have to cross that bridge but good to know for future.
So far we are ok with this trailer so maybe I won't have to cross that bridge but good to know for future.
04-29-2013, 02:30 PM
#5
Senior Member
You will be fine. That 500lbs hitch weight even applies to the tundra. That is the max without the Weight Distribution Hitch (WDH). Any trailer over 5k weight should need one. The reason why you towing is lower than the Tundras is the rear end. Yours is a 3.55 and the Tundras is a 4.10 (or something close to that). Because of that, you will get better mile per gallon (mpg) but tow less. You could very easily go to Ford or any mechanic and swap out you 3.55 for the 3.73 gears (couple hundred bucks ) and raise your towing to 9k.
But at you numbers you gave so far. You will be fine at that weight. All you need is a WDH (even for the tundra) for a trailer over 5k. The WHD also make the hitch rating like a 1000 lbs.
But at you numbers you gave so far. You will be fine at that weight. All you need is a WDH (even for the tundra) for a trailer over 5k. The WHD also make the hitch rating like a 1000 lbs.
04-30-2013, 01:59 PM
#6
Senior Member
ACJC- Here is the definitive on towing cap for 2013 F150's - http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/specifications/towing/
for what you provided your either at 7500lbs or 7700lbs for the trailer on a 13500lb GCWR, the difference being wheelbase 157" wheelbase only has 7500lb cap. Payload is where you will run into problems again the 157"wb takes you from 1700lb payload to a 1570 payload, as both have a GVWR of 7350lbs. Now that you know what you truck can do, look at what the trailer will do to your weight load. By your comments you expect the trailer to weight in about 6400lbs, at 10% tongue weight you will use up 640lbs of payload (not bad), however if your tongue weight % is more along the lines of the majority your looking at 12.5% or 800lbs of payload used. Still okay as long as you do not over load the truck with people and stuff. You will need a Weight distrubition hitch as your over 500lb tongue and 5000 lbs trailer. The hitch will take about 75lbs (bars and all) from the payload. Now add you the wife the kids, etc that will be in the truck as well as the cap or tonnue cover and subtract that from your payload. if you you are at 0 or higher your good. If not you need to lighten the load in the truck. One way is to make sure and pack everything in the trailer. One trick to knock off 100 lbs or more is to take the truck spare and put it in the trailer while towing. Remember that you only transfer 12 to 13% of any weight placed in the trailer. If the math is realy close you may want to get the truck weighed vs. just using numbers. Weigh the truck full of gas, with everyone and every thing in the truck including the WDH and subtract it from your GVWR, this will provide you with the true payload remaining..........Hope this helped. I believe from the numbers you have given you'll be close but still legal.
for what you provided your either at 7500lbs or 7700lbs for the trailer on a 13500lb GCWR, the difference being wheelbase 157" wheelbase only has 7500lb cap. Payload is where you will run into problems again the 157"wb takes you from 1700lb payload to a 1570 payload, as both have a GVWR of 7350lbs. Now that you know what you truck can do, look at what the trailer will do to your weight load. By your comments you expect the trailer to weight in about 6400lbs, at 10% tongue weight you will use up 640lbs of payload (not bad), however if your tongue weight % is more along the lines of the majority your looking at 12.5% or 800lbs of payload used. Still okay as long as you do not over load the truck with people and stuff. You will need a Weight distrubition hitch as your over 500lb tongue and 5000 lbs trailer. The hitch will take about 75lbs (bars and all) from the payload. Now add you the wife the kids, etc that will be in the truck as well as the cap or tonnue cover and subtract that from your payload. if you you are at 0 or higher your good. If not you need to lighten the load in the truck. One way is to make sure and pack everything in the trailer. One trick to knock off 100 lbs or more is to take the truck spare and put it in the trailer while towing. Remember that you only transfer 12 to 13% of any weight placed in the trailer. If the math is realy close you may want to get the truck weighed vs. just using numbers. Weigh the truck full of gas, with everyone and every thing in the truck including the WDH and subtract it from your GVWR, this will provide you with the true payload remaining..........Hope this helped. I believe from the numbers you have given you'll be close but still legal.
05-01-2013, 11:12 PM
#7
Thanks so much for the reply. I think I will weigh it just out of curiosity. Luckily I have the option of going down for a weekend alone and parking it for the season. I like a margin of error in my math so I might drive solo if I need to.
This forum has been great, I now feel more educated on these matters than most RV salesman. It definitely helps us narrow down the used trailer marketplace. Need to find a balance between a comfortable/legal size to tow and living space. When I first saw the 7800lb max tow I knew that would be whittled down quickly!
This forum has been great, I now feel more educated on these matters than most RV salesman. It definitely helps us narrow down the used trailer marketplace. Need to find a balance between a comfortable/legal size to tow and living space. When I first saw the 7800lb max tow I knew that would be whittled down quickly!
