I'm out of payload capacity, can't carry tongue wt of my trailer - WHAT CAN I DO????
03-19-2014, 08:00 PM
#41
I'm curious to get your report after you use it next month. To me it seems like a great idea for someone that has a truck with plenty of towing power and very little payload capacity. I appreciate threads like this were ideas and experiences with less used products are shared.
I have a 2011 ecoboost max tow and am towing a 30' travel trailer with my family just within the limits of my rated payload. The only difference between my truck and the trucks rated for lower payload that year is an extra leaf spring and 3.73 rear end as far as I can tell? The ecoboost pulls the trailer easily and handles the payload very good even with stock tires and no airbags.
I have a 2011 ecoboost max tow and am towing a 30' travel trailer with my family just within the limits of my rated payload. The only difference between my truck and the trucks rated for lower payload that year is an extra leaf spring and 3.73 rear end as far as I can tell? The ecoboost pulls the trailer easily and handles the payload very good even with stock tires and no airbags.
03-19-2014, 08:26 PM
#42
...The addition of LT tires alone does not increase payload capacity. In fact most P tires that come on trucks have a load rating higher then the truck can carry. So even if the LT tires have a higher load rating, the only thing you have done is perhaps increase the trucks ability to handle the weight, by that I mean overall stability....
The max weight for the axles on my truck (GAWR) are 3750 for the front, and 4050 for the rear.
I just went out and looked on the 20" Pirelli Scorpion ATR P tires that came on my truck and it says the max load is 2403 lbs.
So, I can load each tire up to 2403 lbs and I'll have the axle carrying 4806 lbs.
That overloads either the front or rear axle.
So....I could put heavier load capable tires on the truck, but they're not going to increase the load carrying limit of the axles, and it's the axles that are the limiting part of that equation.
Bottom line - the P tires that came on the truck can already carry more load than the axles can handle.
I agree that the LT tires with a stiffer sidewall might give a more stable ride.
Bob
03-19-2014, 08:44 PM
#43
Senior Member
You've handled your tongue weight issue perfectly. enjoy the drive. I chose airbags to keep everything levelled. my truck has 1340lbs of payload capacity. my 2005 sienna has 1680lbs of payload capacity. i suspect these numbers, outside of the legal and marketing realm, aren't really indicative of capability. just my opinion.
But this is an interesting little toy. I think it's overkill fir a little trailer like tsh, but hey it's your rig. Best of luck!
03-19-2014, 08:56 PM
#44
Senior Member
03-19-2014, 10:00 PM
#45
Senior Member
I have not towed anything with mine but I can tell that the tires are stiff. It does not heel over like a racing yacht in the curves. I was going to change to Pmetric tires (at least 2,400lb capacity because they are 7-10 lb lighter than the LT's and so would give a better ride but after reading about the differences, I'll probably just stick with the LT's. I do agree with the OP that you should not overload (go past Ford rated capacity) your truck.
03-20-2014, 09:47 AM
#46
All other nonsense in this thread aside; moving to an LT tire for towing is worth it alone for the increased side wall strength. Those P-rated scorpions @ 35psi suck for towing as the load wallows around on the weak sidewalls. I ditched them and made the leap to E-rated tires @ 60f/70r psi and it's night and day different for towing. Stable as a "rock"
Down side? Rougher ride. Possibly a fuel mileage effect.
03-20-2014, 01:47 PM
#47
Senior Member
Good luck w/ the toad. An fyi, you state the tongue is only 11% of the trailer. So if you added 200lbs of wife gear and 500lbs of tools to the trailer you'd only transfer about 80lbs to the truck. Even if it where all up in the nose of the trailer and shifted your tonuge weight % to 13 or 14% you'd still only transfer 100lbs give or take. As space can be a premium, with a little ingenuity you could design a temporary gear loft to hold luggage etc over the nose or tail of the car. Think of something similar to the beds that raise up in the rear of the tow haulers. You could mount support rails (2x4) to the sides f the trailer then build sections that span the trailer width that are made of 2x4 and plywood 2 foot deep (easy to take in and out and rigid)that interlock (bolt /clamp/latch together) with a foward up right and a rear up right and you could load in a good bit of gear above the car.
it would have a shape similar to this: |____|
You'd want the forward upright to be 2 or 3 feet (if not nearly touching the roof), You could also use a cargo net or similar to assure nothing bounces out and on to the car below.
it would have a shape similar to this: |____|
You'd want the forward upright to be 2 or 3 feet (if not nearly touching the roof), You could also use a cargo net or similar to assure nothing bounces out and on to the car below.
