BE25FX4

Havyek.... this is a good point, but wouldn't your trailer brakes do most of the work stopping the trailer? i'm new at pulling TTs and am looking for more info. thnx!

itguy08

Just by looking you have no idea if they or over or not. Towing our 35' unit, many would say we're way over for an F150. Except we have Max Tow and the GVWR of our unit is under 10k with a dry tongue weight of 780lbs. With 1860 lbs of payload, us 2 and our dog we're close but not over and well under our GCWR (under 15k last time I went through the Turnpike toll booth).

11screw50

Hook that up to most half-ton trucks and they are over. Chances are, that 780# dry tongue weight is near 1000 leaving you with 860 for your family and all your crap (in fact, even at 9k lb, that tongue weight should be up near 1100lb, plus the hitch). If there are only two of you you probably make it but add two kids and probably not. Plus, in recent years, for Ford anyway, max tow meant dumbo mirrors (not for the '15's though) and an EB. Center front plate, standard mirrors, big trailer = more likely than not over weight.

A half ton with a loaded bed pulling a 30+ footer, I would bet they are over if you put them on a scale. Just about any recent half ton Ram crew cab is at its limit with a family of four and no trailer connected.

Never mind that most half tons pulling 5'ers are over too (and plenty of those go by).

You can guess pretty well by looking. You may not be right all the time but I'd bet you would be most of the time.

smokeywren

No! Incorrect info.


The brakes on an F-150 are designed to stop the truck that weighs not more than about 2000 pounds more than the GVWR of the truck, but nowhere near the GCWR of the tow vehicle. That 2,000 pounds over the GVWR of the tow vehicle is for towing a small trailer that doesn't have trailer brakes. Most jurisdictions require trailer brakes on trailers that can weigh more than 1,500 or 2,000 pounds.


The trailer brakes are supposed to be able to stop the weight on the trailer axles. That's why it's important to be sure your trailer brakes are working as designed.

11screw50

I stand corrected.

That said, from the info I can find, most states do NOT require brakes below 3,000lb with some being much higher

MA is 10,000
TX is 4,500
AK is 5,000

Now that I think about it though, I think the owners manual does cover this.

mvander

My sticker says 2587#. Are some of us having issues with payload

brulaz

Pretty sure the truck's brakes are designed to stop the truck only, the GVWR, not the GCWR. The trailer is supposed to stop itself.

But there's certainly a safety factor built in.

If you only used the truck brakes for stopping the rig, the trailer would probably jack-knife in an emergency stop.

itguy08

Probably is close to the max tongue for us. But it will only ever be the 2 of us + A dog and 99.999% of the crap goes in the trailer rather than the bed. The only thing in the bed is some leveling wood. Also Max Tow does not mean someone didn't swap the dumbo mirrors. Ours was bought used and had the regular mirrors. The Ford Window sticker verified that it did have Max Tow so the previous own swapped them out

You could also get Max Tow with a 6.2 but they are rarer than a Unicorn, Leprechaun and Bigfoot put together.

True. Ram is the weakest truck on the market.

Yeah - we looked at some of the "1/2 ton towable" 5th wheels and the #'s never made sense. Unless you had some stripper truck with HD Payload and Max Tow and just you. Heck, even some F250's have less payload than a "normal" F150. Pick one with a crew cab and Diesel and, IIRC it's got 1800 lbs payload!

5.0GN tow

I know I have said this at least a hundred times, and Smokey has as well, its all about how your truck is set up. I have a non max tow, non HD payload 2013 with over 1800lb payload. Its a supercab, STX 4X4 5.0. It has very few options, no carpet, cloth seats, power doors and windows, ac and a am/fm cd player, all in all a nice basic truck. No power seats, no rear defrost, no sliding rear glass, no sunroof etc. Its a comfortable work truck, that makes a perfect tow vehicle.

I tow at max GCWR and near max payload a lot, read almost weekly, for well over 200 miles each time. I tow a GN 3 horse trailer, with air conditioned dressing room, awning on the side, loaded with Tack, feed, hay, camping stuff, food for the weekend and show clothes for two teen age girls. We are close two but not over any of our ratings, even with an over the rail tool box in the bed. The max pin weight(trailer with no horses on board} is under 1100, with horses on board it drops to 900, as they sit right on both axles. Pick the right trailer, match it with the right truck and you can tow a big trailer and do it safe.

My trailer is 4550 empty, dead empty, with horses and the gear listed above I hit pretty close to 7800 which is max for the truck. Per CAT scales I am good to go for being within my ratings. The key for me is keeping the load where it should be, in the trailer not the truck. My trailer has a max GVW of almost 17K. I have been towing all kinds of trailers, from tri axle lowboys,RVs, Boats of all sizes, to Horse trailers of all kinds, since I was old enough to drive and sometimes before that at the farm. Its all about load distribution and making sure you have the right set up. I dont like to blow tires and neither apparently does Sooner trailer, as it came with load range F truck tires on from the factory, so when I bought it, that is what I put on it. They are not speed restricted to 65mph, and the trailer rides very nice with them at 80PSI. Again instead of trying to strip weight off a truck, work on how the trailer and the truck are fit up together, and find the right combo.

xcntrk

My sticker says 3600# and I have 860ft-lbs of torque

I put whatever the hell I want in the bed of my truck when I pull my trailers. Sometimes I take gear I don't even use....just because I can.