smokeywren

The GVWR of your truck is the limiter as to how much weight you can haul in the bed and tow with the hitch. Your GVWR is 7,200 pounds, so that's the safe limit of payload, including hitch weight, you can haul without being overloaded.


Load your F-150 with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing. Drive to a truck stop that has a CAT scale and fill up with gas. Then weigh the wet and loaded truck, with you in it. Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded truck from the GVWR of the truck nd the answer is the unused payload capacity available for hitch weight or any other weight you want to haul.


That video is a sales gimmick, so they mention the very best payload capacity of any model of F-150. But that's not the truck you bought. The truck in that video is a regular cab XL with no options. SuperCrew King Ranch with all the optional toys has a lot less payload capacity than the truck in that video. And the tow rating Ford brags about ignores payload capacity, so it's overstated for any F-150 hauling the hitch weight of a normal tandem-axle RV trailer along with the normal payload of people, pets, tools, aftermarket options such as bed rug and tonneau cover.


Ford makes the truck that can hawl your stuff and/or tow your RV trailer without being overloaded. But if you want King Ranch luxury, then it's probably not an F-150. The F-250 SuperDuty with King Ranch trim is also available, but of course it costs more than the F-150. And smart buyers move up one notch to the F-350 SRW. The F-350 SRW looks, drives and acts exactly line an F-250, but it has 1,500 pounds more payload capacity than the F-250.

marknissan

I really enjoy reading this thread. I have towed very little in the past but now as I have a house remodel and few other things going I am starting to really use my truck. I guess I will possibly step into an f250 xlt if it would make sense.

smokeywren

I towed a small fifth-wheel RV trailer with an F-250 XLT CrewCab longbed 7.3L turbo-diesel for over 10 years and over 100,000 towing miles. It got us there, but I often wished I had spent a bit more money and got the Lariat trim. Apparently DW felt the same way, because when we ordered our current F-150 she insisted on Lariat trim.

TooManyVehicles

If you want to see other data points to get an idea of payload (on various trim levels of F150), check out the thread and spreadsheet in my signature.

thrifty biil

Yes, you need to step up. And be sure to check the door sticker payload. Options matter! My loaded 2WD 2010 Lariat supercab has a payload of 1450 pounds. An XL model from the same year was close to 2000 pounds.

I have an ARE camper top on the back of my truck, figure 250 pounds right there. Then you have the weight of the receiver hitch, passenger, driver, dog, stuff in the cab, stuff in the bed of the truck. All of that adds up to very little payload left for tongue weight.

Realize the F150 is a "half ton" pickup. Half ton = 1000 pounds. For some reason, many of us think half ton = 2000 pounds or more. So Ford sold a half ton truck, loaded with options, that still has a half ton of payload.

Start with what payload capacity you want/need, and buy a truck that has it with a healthy margin of safety. Trucks tend to run out of payload way before running out of tow rating.

Years ago we towed a nice fifth wheel trailer. I ended up going from a half ton truck to a one ton truck. This time, I tempered my trailer options to fit my F150. So I ended up with a 17 foot Casita fiberglass trailer.

ecobeest

So happy I bought (and ordered) my truck with towing in mind. Having such a terribly low payload will definitely limit what can be done safely with it.

Luckily I never cared for all the 'stuff' etc with any of my trucks. Their primary job is towing and are built as such.

That said it is critically important that you understand the limits of the truck you bought/