Highlander7264

I bought this truck to tow my 2014 Keystone Passport Ultralight 2890RLS 33' trailer. The propaganda sheets says it will tow 7700lbs. The dry weight of the trailer is 5390lbs. The Lariat has an ARE topper (210lbs) and came equipped with the Trailer Sway Control, Towing package, Integrated Brake Controller, 18" wheels, 7350# package, and Equipment Group 501. I'm using an EZ Hitch with anti-sway bars. Me and the wife, and a couple of small bulldawgs, are not full time RVer's and plan only highway/interstate traveling. I do not have access to any scales as we live in a small Colorado mountain town. Am I correct to expect that this truck will handle this configuration?

KR Kodi

iTrader: (1)

The PAYLOAD CAPACITY of your truck will almost surely be the rating that will limit the weight of the trailer that you can pull.


Below are the stickers on my driver's side door - the top one has the GVWR and front/rear GAWRs; the bottom one has the payload capacity:







What does the sticker on your door say your payload capacity is???


The payload capacity is the empty weight of the truck (completely empty, except for a full tank of gas) subtracted from the GVWR. As it says on the sticker, "weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed xxxx lbs".

Subtract the weight of your topper, and any other aftermarket stuff such as a bed liner, and that will be the weight that you can load into/on the truck.


Then subtract the weight of you, the wife, and the pups, and any luggage, firewood, tools, etc., that you'll be carrying in the bed/cab. What remains is the weight available to load onto your hitch.


Your WDH head will attach to your hitch, and probably weigh 50 or more lbs, so subtract that. What remains is the max tongue weight of a trailer.


The tongue weight needs to be 10% to 15% of the wet&loaded trailer weight, with a realistic minimum of 12%.


A trailer with a dry weight of 5390 lbs will probably weigh 6500 lbs when loaded. 12% of 6500 gives you a tongue weight of 780 lbs.


Another way to look at it is to subtract the tongue weight and weight of your WDH head from the payload capacity, and that will tell you how much weight remains for your topper, family, and anything else you want to carry in the truck when towing.


I suspect that with the 7350 lb GVWR on your truck, your payload capacity is going to be sufficient to easily carry what you plan to have in the truck, and there should be plenty of payload remaining to handle the tongue weight of a 6500 lb trailer.


Let us know what your payload capacity is.
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5.0GN tow

You will likely be good to go, but like the previous poster said watch the payload. You run out of payload long before tow rating. The 5.0 tows very well and I pull a larger, heavier trailer than you describe, but my truck has fewer options than yours and a higher payload most likely. I have towed with just about every V8,I6 or V6 Ford has made since the late 70s or early 80s and the 5.0 is among the best in my experience.

Highlander7264

OK, I have the 7350 package so the GVWR is 7350 lbs, Front: 3750; Rear:3850

The payload capacity is 1525 lbs. A SWAG at the usual load on the truck for topper, WHD, bodies, dawgs, etc., is about 730 to 750 lbs., and I'm being generous, and using 75 lbs for the WHD w/bars. Subtracting that from the payload capacity gives me 775 to 795, lbs for a tongue weight.

Max GVWR on the trailer is 7200 lbs, put I doubt seriously that we'll ever get that much in it. My SWAG was about the same as yours...6K to 6.5K lbs, max, wet, propane gassed up, clothing, food, incidentals.

So, according to your formula using 12% on a range of 6K to 6.5K lbs, that should give me a tongue weight on the trailer to be between 720 and 780 lbs. That should make the rig configuration just about right, yeah?

Many thanks!

A7B2FX4

The numbers may sound good but you'll be pushing the performance limits. Living in a high altitude area can really decrease the pep of a normally aspirated gas motor. Think the rule is a 2% decrease per thousand foot of increase.

Highlander7264

Regardless, I'm committed now with the purchases. It's not like I have any choices.

hunter7389

As a 1/2 tower of a 5000lb DRY weight toy hauler (add atv's, food, camping stuff, etc) getting up to ~8000lb...

It will be fine. A properly adjusted W/D hitch, and LT rated tires are musts. You wont win any speed contests, uphills will work harder, and diesel/ 5th wheel setups will fly past you. It will do just fine though.

DieselDawg

I am close to the same situation as you. SEE SIG


7200GVWR pulling a 29' TT (31' back to tongue). Truck weights in at 6,000# with everything but me and the wife and maybe an ice chest. So 6400# it is. Leaves me 800# for hitch weight. So I am close. Mine with the 3.73 gears is rated to pull 9600# so I am ok there also. No problems at all towing but I would not get any bigger a TT than this so I have a little bit of a safety margin.


You should be fine with the right setup. I am not a fan of the P (passenger) Rated stock rubber...so I put some E-Rated tires on with the lift and air them up to 55f/60r. WDH is the other vital part...

Highlander7264

You'll be fine. That 3.73 rear makes the difference. My 2004 Chevy had the 5.3 liter with the 3.73 and it did well...too well. That dang Chevy transmission kept slipping, even after a rebuild at 58K. I traded it in w/less than 72K because it was acting up again. Bought it new, had it for 11 years but just didn't trust it towing any more. Expecting much better service from this 2014 Lariat, even with the 3.55 rear end.

5.0GN tow

You will like pulling with the 5.0. If the 5.3 did ok for you the 6spd with the 5.0 will make you very happy. I truly love towing my GN horsetrailer with mine and it's quite a bit heavier than yours.