good hands

First post and thank you in advance for your answers.


I currently have a 6.0 f250 diesel that I tow my 24ft 9500lb race trailer with and want to buy a truck that is more conducive to being a daily driver. I only tow about 15 times per year and am fully aware that there will be compromise going down to a 150. My question is if I get the ecoboost, max tow, max payload package will a 150 get the job done safely ? According to Ford it will give me a 11300 towing capacity and a payload of 2300 which seems to be in safe range. I would certainly use a weight distributing hitch too so on paper this sounds like a no-brainer. Your experience, opinions, and comments very welcome and appreciated.


Scott B
Pville Va.

brulaz

Sounds good to me.

The hitch receiver may only be rated for 1150# max, that's 12% of your 9500# loaded weight which is ok. And that would leave 2300-1150 for the rest of your payload.

A WDH with good built in sway control and off you go.

That close to the hitch receiver limit, you might want to invest in a tongue weight scale. Especially since the car's position in the trailer will have a big effect on tongue weight.

You will probably have to order the HD payload package. Don't let the salesman talk you out of it. Absolutely necessary for that trailer.

good hands

Absolutely. Found 2 on the lot of my local dealer out of 210 f150's in stock. A needle in a haystack almost if you don't order one.

A7B2FX4

It's a rare dealer with the HD pkg on the lot! Sounds like you've done your research. The f150 as you listed will be a lot more fun as a daily driver but not as good as the F250 for towing 9.5K. That said it still is doable but expect less MPG with the Eco while towing. The best part you'll never have to worry what part of the 6.0L will self destruct next.

jmiller72

I had to order mine. There were non within 700 miles of my area (south east michigan) where bouts are you located?

good hands

Ain't that the effin truth !


Northern Va. outside of DC.

zx12-iowa

I tow 8k lbs with relative ease without max tow or hd package. So 9500 with those seems like no biggie.

good hands

I think I'm involved with the racing crowd which frowns upon towing with anything smaller than a 3/4 ton PU. Ford is has really set the bar high with the 11300 towing capacity with this truck and a lot of old school folks aren't buying it.


Maybe I'm the test dummy ?

jchristian11

The ecoboost will tow as well as your f250, I tow a gooseneck horse trailer at 9500 lbs as well or better than my buddy does with his 2005 f250.

smokeywren

Average tongue weight on a "bumper pull" race trailer is 12.5%, but depending on exactly how you load the race car in the trailer, that could go up to 15% easily. So I'd count on 15%.

9500 x 0.15 = 1,425 tongue weight.

As brulaz noted, your receiver hitch is rated for less than 1,425 tongue weight with a weight-distributing hitch. So your first job is to find a heavy duty receiver hitch that will fit an F-150 and be rated for more than 1,425 pounds tongue weight. I doubt you're going to find a receiver rated for that much tongue weight for a late-model F-150. Way back when, Ford made a so-called F-250 LD, which was an F-150 with the HD Payload pkg. Curt and B&W both made class 5 receivers rated for more than 1,425 tongue weight for the '97 thru '03 F-150 and F-250 LD. Search on Curt #15303 and B&W BWHDRH24400 and you'll find those receivers. But they won't fit an F-150 newer than 2003.

Face it, the F-150, even with the HD Payload pkg, is simply not enough truck to be towing a 9,500 pound bumper-pull trailer. If you really want an F-150 to pull a race trailer, then trade trailers and get a fifth wheel race trailer with GVWR of not more than 10,000 pounds.

A 2014 F-150 Lariat SuperCrew 4x2 with 6.5' bed and HD Payload pkg is going to weigh around 6,500 pounds with a full tank of gas, a good slider 5er hitch, and nothing else in it but a skinny driver and one passenger. GVWR is 8,200, so that leaves 1,700 pounds for max pin weight. Loaded to have 17% pin weight, a 5er race trailer could weigh up to 10,000 pounds before you exceeded the GVWR of the HD Payload Pkg.

Bur your best bet would be to bite the bullet and buy an F-250 as your tow vehicle. If the stock receiver hitch doesn't have at least 1,425# hitch weight capacity (with a WD hitch), then there are several aftermarket Class 5 receivers available for a SuperDuty that will give you enough receiver to do the job right.

Consider doing what my daughter did. She wanted an F-150 with HD Payload Pkg to tow her horse trailer without being overloaded. F-150s with the HD Payload pkg were not available anywhere, and she didn't want to wait to have one built. So she bought an F-250 SuperCab Shorty. She loves it.