grey2112

Howdy gang. I'm sort of new to the world of trucks and towing/trailering. I bought a 2011 Ford F150 XLT with a 3.7L V6 engine, towing package, 3.73 gear ratio, 2wd - 2 years ago and have only put on 8000 miles so far. Vast majority of it has been towing a 19 foot boat with a 2-stroke engine and 60 gallon fuel tank - so probably about 3500-4000 pounds total using a single axle boat trailer.



We are now wanting a bigger boat - a 25 foot boat with one motor, 100 gallon fuel tank - probably a total weight to pull of 6500-7000 pounds.



I looked up my max towing weight allowed on my current truck and it looks like it is about 6400 pounds or so.



So, here's the question - it appears I need to swap out for another truck. I honestly can't imagine getting much larger of a boat, so something that could safely tow 7000 pounds would be ideal. We maybe do 1-2 trips a year down to the Keys (about 500 miles on interstate one way, at 65 mph or less most of the time). I am a very safe driver, and wife likes to drive the truck as well.



Our only other experience with towing was using a Suburban 2500 with 8.1L engine to tow a 31 foot travel trailer (dual axle with electric brakes). It had an anti-sway system on it.



So, do I need to get a F250 Superduty gas engine (don't really want or need to go diesel) or would an F150 with v8 or Ecoboost v6 do everything I need to do and then some? Again, I'm looking for safety, decent MPG (yeah, I know - you can't expect great MPG when towing - LOL), and reliability. I love the 2011 F150 I have now, and the wife thinks it is more comfortable and quieter than our Sonata) but we definitely need more towing capacity for our new boat.



Any special things to look for, axle ratios, differential/e-lock, anti-sway control, special towing packages, etc.?



Was thinking of waiting until the end of the year and seeing if I can get a killer deal on a 2012 or 2013 model year at the end of the year as well as a decent trade on my very low mileage truck. Don't know if that is right route to go vs. trying to sell my truck privately and hoping for the best.

diver165

An F150 w/ Ecoboost is more than up to the challenge. Just look for the MaxTow package. I would also think the 5.0 or 6.2 engines would handle the new boat w/o issue as well.

Just look for 3.73 gears w/ a V8 and in the case of an EcoBoost get the max tow option. Either way it will have all you'll need to tow that new boat. I tow a tandem axle car hauler w/ electric brakes. I recently put a ton of bagged mulch and prob another 1.5 tons of landscaping blocks and other crap on my trailer. And honestly.... I did not know it's even behind the truck. I've hauled similar loads with my Expedition w/ 5.4L V8 and it did fine but I could tell I was pulling something!

IMHO, go with an Ecoboost w/ Max Tow. There are killer deals out there to be had, especially on XLTs (because there are more of them out there). I love mine.

sdmartin65

My brother went thru the same dilema a few years back. He opted for the 6.2 gas super duty. When the trailer is heavy the sd just makes for a easier,less stressful towing. Less sway just more solid overall. That was his comment

IowaSTX

You can certainly get an F-150 that will have enough towing capacity to haul that kind of weight.

Here is a link to the 2013 F-150 towing specification page:

http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/specifications/towing/

I have a 2013 STX, 5.0 motor, 4x4, SuperCab, 145"WB, 3.55 gears. From the chart on that web page, you can see that my max towing capacity is 7800lbs. My same setup, but with 3.73 gears, the towing capacity would be 9400lbs.

An EcoBoost, with MaxTow package can go north of 11,000lbs, but if you're not hauling that much, a 5.0 can be had for a bit cheaper, especially with some of the rebates and incentives that are going on right now.

You'll certainly need to make sure that you get the brake controller as well, but if the truck you end up liking doesn't have it from the factory, the factory one can be installed relatively easily after the fact.

Good luck!
-Andy

tomb1269

If you are looking to be safe and your wife enjoys driving as well and the truck will be a daily driver then you most likely want to stay with the F150 vs the Superduty F250 or 350. However, you need to be careful of the "Max Tow" ratings provided by Ford. These trucks have more than enough power to pull the loads listed, however its the payload is hwat gets most people caught with not enough capacity. I am not much on boats and trailers however you may want to give this a read http://www.thehulltruth.com/trucks-t...ion-hitch.html it looks as if you boat guys only transfer 5 to 10% of trailer weight to the tongue. However, you still have a 500/5000lb limit in the hitch without a weight distrubtion hitch.

smokeywren

Ford's tow ratings are wildy optimistic. Yeah, the engines and drivetrains can pull the weight they suggest, but the pickup will be severely overloaded over the GVWR of the pickup because the hauling capacity of 99% of the F-150s available is too low for the trailer tongue weight of a 7,000 pound trailer..

Example: My 2012 F-150 SuperCrew Lariat with EcoBoost engine and the towing pkg has a GCWR of 8,400 pounds. But my travel trailer that grosses 4,870 pounds with 650 pounds hitch weight when wet and loaded on the road overloads my F-150 over the GVWR of the F-150.

The tow ratings are based on GCWR and ignores GVWR, but for 99% of all newer F-150s, GVWR and not GCWR is the limiter.

So ignore those fictitious Ford tow ratings and compute your own.

F-150 4x4 with EcoBoost engine has three different GVWRs.

Standard with or without the regular towing package is 7,200.

Part of the max tow pkg includes an upgrade of the GVWR to 7,700 pounds.

8,200 pounds GVWR is available only as part of the HD Payload package, which is a very rare option.

Your boat & trailer must have a minimum of 10% hitch weight to tow safely, and 12 percent is better.

Call it 7,000 pounds, with 700 to 840 pounds hitch weight. To be sure, use the 840 pounds hitch weight.

Since my F-150 is overloaded with only 650 pounds hitch weight, then you want the minimum of 7,700 pounds GVWR to tow that 7,000-pound boat without being overloaded. That means you must have the Max Tow Pkg along with the EcoBoost engine or 6.2L V8 engine. If you'd rather have the 5.0L V8 engine, the max tow pkg is not available with that engine, so you must get the HD Payload package on that F-150. Those are rare as hen's teeth, so plan to order it and wait 6 weeks for delivery.

Bottom line: Do not accept a new F-150 with 7,100 or 7,200 GVWR. Insist on at least 7,700 GVWR, and even better is 8,200 of the HD Payload pkg.

The F-150 will work only if it has at least 7,700 pounds GVWR. So as a minimum it has to have the Max Tow pkg. And you probably won't find any of those on dealer's lots, so you'll have to order.

The F-250 with 6.2L V8 gas engine will also work just fine, but it will cost a little more. However, dealers are much more likely to have an F-250 6.2L in stock than the F-150 with max tow or HD payload. So by paying a bit more you'll make the hunt for a suitable tow vehicle very easy.

My high-school age ganddaughter is in the same boat right now. She needs to tow 7,000-pound horse trailer. She can't find a properly equipped F-150, and she doesn't really want an F-250. So she's probably going to have to order an F-150 with max tow and HD Payload to get what she wants combined with what her Mom knows she needs.

tomb1269

SmokeyWren -Boats are different, single axles are 7 to 12% tandems or more are 5 to 10%. The issue with a boat will be actual tongue weight vs the hitch rated tongue weight without WD. As the boats tend to use mostly surge brakes WD hinders the brake operation. There are 2 WD systems on the market designed to work with surge brakes and the single pole frame on a boat trailer However, now there are two weight-distributing hitches designed to work with trailer surge-brake systems: the Equal-i-zer Sway Control Hitch (www.equalizerhitch.com) and the new Reese SC (www.reeseprod.com). Grey2112 you may want to check these out. For more read more: http://www.trucktrend.com/features/t...#ixzz2RV1Czeni

jeffinthebag

I didn't trust the ecoboost engine, so I went with a crew f150, 4x4 5.0 with the Heavy Duty payload package. Payload capacity on the door say 2200. Plenty of extra payload capacity for a trailer and a family without legally overloading it and risking my whole family lives or the lives of other. I don't want to be sued and if a fatal accident occers, the DOT will be all over the truck and trailer checking the weight.
Secondly, Even the dealer I bought it from , one of the owners had the ecooboost and swapped it out for a 5.0. Way to many problems out there with that motor. Matter of fact the new remodeled f150 will have the new updated ecoboost along with the full size transit. The current ecoboost is a crap shut! Win some lose some. Are you willing to gamble 35k to 45k for a ecoboost?

smokeywren

No, boat trailers are not different when it comes to percent of tongue weight required for safe towing. You need at last 10% tongue weight, and if the gross weight of the boat/trailer is more than about 3500 pounds you also need a weight-distributing hitch.

That is achievable with modern equipment. You can move the trailer axles forward or backward on some boat trailers, and you can move the boat forward or backward on the trailer to increase or decrease tongue weight. And as you pointed out, there are now WD hitches available that will work with surge brakes.

The serious boater that drags the boat a bunch of miles to get to the water will spend a bit more for a trailer that has electric over hydraulic brakes, and probably disk brakes instead of drums.

smokeywren

Yes, I did. MSRP $43,575 for my 2012. Having owned a Ford Turbo-Diesel PowerStroke for over 10 years, I'm convinced the Ford engineers know about turbos and turbocharged engines. And they've had a coupla years to prove they know something about the twin turbo design of the EcoBoost. Mine has over 18,000 touble-free miles on it now, and over 6,000 of those miles was towing. It's great. My only complaint is it doesn't get the 20 MPG I expected unless I slow down to 55 MPH. But your 5.0L doesn't do any better.