toben

I have a 2001 f-150 supercrew with the 3.55 axle and 4.6 v8 so my towing limit is 6600 pounds.

I found a 5000 pound RV that I am going to rent before I buy anything.

It seems that I have 1600 pounds to hold my wife, kids, luggage, food etc.

Three questions:

1. Should I dump most of the gear into the trailer or into the truck bed?

2. If I hook up a 5000 pound trailer do I need a weight distribution hitch?

3. Do I need to hook up the RV brakes to my truck or can I wing it for one weekend trip?

Thanks!

NC F150

I ask the same question about the WDH before buying my 4300lb travel trailer. All I can say is, the hitch makes it pull great. Very little money spent for a lot of return. With the WDH, my TT pulls better than my old john boat without it.

NC F150

As for brakes. I was told it would be okay without. However, I wouldn't want to stop 5000 lbs without trailer brakes. Again, with trailer brakes I don't notice any fade in stopping.

RainDesert

The hitch makes a big difference for the better. If you plan on using a trailer in the future, I would get one for sure. For the brakes, if you a experienced tower than I would think you would be fine, especially if you are not going down any steep grades. Just be smart about it. A brake controller can be had for +/- $75 and your truck should be prewired w/a harness if your truck came w/a tow package. Easy install.

raisin

Don't pull 5k without trailer brakes. Sometimes even with brakes its a rush trying to stop. Most states require working trailer brakes on trailer weighing more than 3000 lbs, but not all. 6k truck, 1600 lbs payload, 5k trailer with no brakes = accident waiting to happens= lawsuits. 12600 lbs. If you said I'm going down the block slowly well ok.

Hitch on truck is rated for 500 without WDH. Trailer tongue weight will be around 600/700 lbs. So it will be overloaded without WDH. It will take weight off front wheels, unsafe...

PerryB

The last post is right on about the brakes. When the tail is as big as the dog, you need brakes, end of discussion. As to the gear, load as much as you can in the trailer, just try to distribute it as evenly as possible ahead and behind the axles so the tongue weight remains about the same as it is now. I would consider the WDH to be on the required equipment list also. It will make a night-and-day difference in the stability of the truck/trailer going down the highway.

smokeywren

That's the "tow rating", which is the GCWR of the F-150 minus the weight of the bare pickup with no options and nothing in it but a skinny driver. It tells you only the weight your truck can PULL without overheating anything in the drivetrain and without being the slowpoke holding up traffic on steep grades. But it's severely overstated because nobody tows with no options and nothing in the truck.


But your truck also has a payload rating, which is the GVWR of the F-150 minus the weight of the empty F-150 before you tie onto the trailer. For almost all F-150s, the GVWR, not the GCWR is your limiter as to how much weight you can tow without being overloaded.

And hitch weight. Hitch weight of a 5,000-pound TT will be around 650 to 750 pounds.



Is that 5,000 pounds number the GVWR of the TT, or the dry weight? If it's the dry weight, then you're going to be overloaded when wet and loaded on the road.

The CAT scale will answer your question. You're much more likely to exceed the GVWR of the F-150 than the combined GAWRs of the TT, so I'd put anything that weighs more than a feather in the trailer, distributed so the tongue weight is 12% to 15% of gross trailer weight.

Yes. Ford says a weight-distributing or fifth-wheel hitch is required for any trailer that has hitch weight more than 500 pounds. And your 5,000-pound TT is going to have a lot more hitch weight than 500 pounds.

There are lots of stupid people in the world, and they do lots of stupid things. Towing a 5,000-pound trailer without trailer brakes is stupid. As well as being illegal in most jurisdictions. New York requires trailer brakes on any trailer that weighs over 1,000 pounds empty. California and 4 other states require trailer brakes on any trailer that grosses over 1,500 pounds. Most states require trailer brakes on any trailer that gross over 3,000 pounds. Texas is the weirdo that requires trailer brakes on any trailer that grosses over 4,500 pounds. In Canada, Ontario has a 1,360 KG limit (a bit over 2,000 pounds).

So yes, you need to hook up your trailer brakes before you tow a 5,000 pound TT more than around in your yard.