Gorman1142

I currently drive the '08 F150 5.4 V8 with a 3.55 axle ratio that has an 8400 towing capacity. I'm interested in purchasing an 35' camper that has a dry weight of 7600 lbs. We never tow our current camper with any full tanks (water, black or gray) and generally travel light whenever possible so I don't think approaching the 9600 GVWR of the new camper would ever be in question. My truck only has 49K miles so I'd rather not trade it in, but I don't want to slowly kill it over time. I've had people mention that I should add a transmission cooling system and I've had people mention that I should upgrade the axle ration from 3.55 to the 3.73 because that will give me about 1000 lbs more towing capacity.

Has anyone else had a similar dilemma? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

acadianbob

You are WAY over your head on this one. That is absolutely more trailer than your truck can handle.

First of all, you need to understand the exact figures for your specific truck; no guessing. You have made a common mistake by focusing on gross trailer weight. The real limiting factor is going to be the payload capacity of your truck. That capacity can be found on a yellow sticker in the driver side door jam.

Dry trailer weights are unrealistic. They do not include trailer options, what you load in the trailer, weight in tanks, battery, LP gas tanks, etc. You actual tongue weight is likely to be several hundred pounds more than the dry tongue weight in the literature.

Payload is important. Out of it comes the wet tongue weight, your family, WD hitch, and anything you put in the bed of the truck. You will be overloaded.

Finally, a rule of thumb is to divide your truck wheelbase, in inches, by 5. That is the length of the trailer, in feet, that you should be approximately pulling. So, if you have a 145" wheelbase, that's 29 feet.

camby

U will almost certainly be over your payload long before u hit your max tow. What is the max payload for your truck and the tongue weight of the trailer?That trailer is waaay to much for my truck and i suspect my truck can pull more than yours. F-150 almost always hit payload capacity well before they hit the max tow number.

Gorman1142

Thanks for the information. Based off you answers the GVWR of the truck 7,200 + the dry weight of the camper 7,600 puts me 800 over the GCWR. This all assumes my truck drives itself and i take no gear!!! Good thing I didn't buy or trade anything yet.

Thanks again.

RobertP

Your truck will be fine, and it will handle it fine as long as it has at load range c tires, the gears would be worth changing or u could go to 4.10 and have no issues pulling it what so ever, what's funny is if u had the heavy duty pay load package it comes with the light truck tires, it also has 7 lug wheels but I can assure that does not help the pay load, I've been towing for years since I was 16-17, and I'll say the 05 f150 I tow with is the best pulling truck I've ever pulled with and I mean in the ease of how easy it handles it, it drives great u don't have the white knuckle feeling and it has plenty of power, and has even more power than is needed with the Whipple supercharger, I also have a 04 4 door 2wd it pulls very impressive power wise for being stock, I looks like the weight police are here but I pull a 34bhpr premeir which has a lower gvwr than our 05 cougar which was 9500 lbs gvwr, I also pull a 30 ft enclosed trailor with a car inside pulls it great, I'll say this as I work on vehicles everyday theses f150 from 04- to current are way above were f250 were back in the late 90s, even loaned my 04 f150 and enclosed trailor to a buddy with a 93 350 duallie turbo he said my gas had more power and handled the weight as good as his old truck if not better, these trucks have 13 brakes front and rear there very heavy duty trucks and if it has a tow package factory it has the big trans cooler

acadianbob

This is irresponsible advice. Don't be mislead.

smokeywren

Dry weight is meaningless. That trailer probably weighs closer to 8,200 pounds with nothing it but normal options and full propane tanks.



Maybe not. but if you estimate less than about 9,000 pounds for the wet and loaded trailer, then you're asking to be overloaded. I'd estimate 9,000 pounds gross trailer weight, with 12.5% tongue weight, or 1,125 pounds tongue weight. Subtract that 1,125 pounds from your available payload capacity. and you'll see that there's not much capacity remaining for people, pets, tools, campfire wood, etc.


My F-150 also has 8,400 pounds towing capacity, but I'm overloaded with my TT that grosses less than 5,000 pounds. Because that 8,400 tow rating is based on the GCWR, which is not your limiter. Your limiter is the payload capacity of the F-150, which is based on the GVWR of the F-150.



If you don't already have an auxiliary oil-to-air (OTA) tranny cooler, then yes, you probably need one if you plan to tow a TT with GVWR more than about 6,000 pounds.



Not a bad idea. If I were going to tow a 9,000 pound TT with your F-150, I would definitely want the 3.73 and probably the 4.10 axle ratio.

RobertP

Well the gvwr being over a little is not that big of a deal, I'd stay under the heavy payload numbers, as those trucks aren't not really any heavier duty other than the tires, the frames are identical, I've been towing with my 05 since it was new with no issue towing 05 cougAr that gvwr at 9500 the way we towed it was right at 8000 lbs I took it to the scales, I was under my 9600 pound tow rating, I'm sure the gvwr of truck was close but there is nothing on these trucks that's gonna give up like I said I'd stay under the heavy payload of 8200 lbs, and u will be fine I've been working on these trucks since new have a bunch of customers with these trucks, I've even crossed the scales at 19300 gcwr with a scrap van with bed of truck full I was over loaded but it stopped the load with ease, and handled the load it's never been loaded that heavy but once but point is the 04 and up frames can handle the load, the trucks have big brakes not sure we're your concern is but I'd stay under the 8200 gvwr and 17100 gcwr as long as u do that u will be fine

RobertP

Just from the ford site heavy duty payload gives u 9.75 rear end 3.73 gears transcooler which most f150 have the big one and upgraded springs, and load range c tires on a liaret so there is nothing there except the springs and tires which can be added to a normal truck, so the stuff can be added just like adding a tow package so a still stand behind my numbers above as ford says it can do it