cwalker2731

Folks, please accept my thanks in advance for offering your opinion on a towing question, not unlike others on this board.

Here is what I have:

- 2013 F150 FX4, Ecoboost, 3.55, 5.5' bed (not w/ extended towing)
- GCWR: 15,500
- GVWR: 7,200
- Base Curb Weight: Approx 5,615
- Max Loaded Trailer Weight: 9,600
- Max Payload (B-Pillar): 1151 (FX4 Appearance Package - lots of options)

I am considering the following TT that I know touches on my payload limits:
- 2013 Coachmen Freedom Express Liberty, 34' and change
- Hitch Weight: 766
- Empty Weight: 7490 (actual weight off of yellow sticker)
- Will use Equalizer hitch (will this effectively "reduce" hitch weight by 20%?)

Dealer says this would pull like a dream but I need to be comfortable with these numbers as I would never take dealer's words verbatim.

My calculations place me under GCWR and GVWR but slightly over the payload with myself (200) and wife (130) traveling only. Will the Equalizer hitch remedy this?

Am I crazy to consider this scenario?

Many thanks!

Chris

KR Kodi

iTrader: (1)

The weight distribution hitch will definitely help. Take a look under your rear bumper and you should see a sticker like this:




You'll need to load up your trailer, hook it up, and go to some scales to get the actual weight of everything.

In addition to the max payload you mentioned you saw on the sticker, you should also note the max axle weights listed, like you see on the top sticker below:




When you weigh your rig you'll know better exactly what you're dealing with.

Bob

lomcd

I have a WDH and it definately does spread the weight throughout the vehicle and the tailer; this would work.
I have one concern; you state that you will be at the max weights

Have a 2002 SC 5.4 3.55gears GVW 7500. Pull Jayco TT 29FT 7500gvw. This is near the max. weights and I find it struggles and is not a pleasant experience when towing.
A previous truck/trailer combination was at approx. 80% of towing weight; this worked ok even in the mountains. Pulled great and stress free.
Many half tons are near 3/4ton weights when towing and you will be disappointed. We spend a good deal of money and then realize the truck will not pull the rig; by adding the WDH will work but at what cost.
I would be concerned about spending all the money and then being disappointed as this will make the truck struggle being near the max weights and will be an extra strain on youself. I would look for a trailer with less weight. I know two co-workers who brought near the max. towing based on the salesmen and went to a bigger truck after the first season as they found the towing stressful. Could you take it for a test hooked up before you pull out the check book.

smokeywren

Good rig. You can gross up to around 15,000 pounds and still have enough power and torque to drag the trailer up mountain passes. So pulling the weight is not a problem with your EcoBoost drivetrain.

There's you problem. The GVWR is a firm engineering limit, but the base curb weight is extremely misleading. Nobody tows a trailer with an F-150 that weighs only 5,615 pounds. Yours will weigh a lot more than 6,000 pounds with family, hitch and a full tank of gas.

That's a cruel joke. Yes the EcoBoost drivetrain has enough oomph to pull over 9,000 pounds, but not enough payload capacity to haul the hitch weight of the trailer without being overloaded.

That word "max" makes that a very misleading number. Ignore it and compute your own actual unused payload available for hitch weight.

You won't be just "touching" the payload limits, you'll be severely overloaded.

Another cruel joke. Those are "dry" numbers, with absolutely nothing in the trailer. Ignore them and go by the GVWR of the trailer. Wet and loaded trailer will weigh almost the GVWR when on the road with a family. Wet and loaded hitch weight will be 12.5% to 15% of GVWR of the trailer. Use 15% in your estimates if you don't want to be overloaded when on the road with your rig.

No, the WD hitch will NOT change the tongue weight (TW), also called hitch weight. The WD hitch will distribute the TW so a lot of it gets distributed to the trailer axles and the front axle of the tow vehicle, but it doesn't change the TW at all.

The dealer wants to sell you something, so he's lying through his teeth to make the sale, or to give him the benefit of the doubt, he's just ignorant. He probably doesn't care that you'll be severely overloaded after you have paid for the new trailer.

No. The WD hitch will distribute about 20% of the TW back to the trailer axles, thus removing it from the weight on the 4 pickup tires. But you'll still be severely overloaded with a 9,000 pound trailer.

Your calculations are way off because you used dry weights and not realistic wet and loaded tow vehicle (TV), trailer, and tongue weights. You may be under the GCWR, but you'll exceed the GVWR by a significant amount.

Yes, you'll have to be missing a few brain cells to try to drag that much trailer with your family on a camping trip with that tow vehicle. Here's what I would do:

- load the pickup with everything that will be in it when towing. Family, pets, hitch, cooler?, toolbox full of tools?, whatever. The cooler and tool box can go in the trailer, so to minimize the weight of the TV maybe don't include them yet.

- Go to a truckstop that has a certified automated truck scale, such as a CAT scale or a J scale.

- Fill up with gas.

- Weigh the wet and loaded TV. If you don't have the shank and ball mount with ball of the WD hitch installed yet, add 50 pounds to the weight of the TV.

- Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded TV from the GVWR of the TV. The answer is your available unused payload, or the max hitch weight you can have without being overloaded.

- Divide the available unused payload by 0.15 to determine the max GVWR of any TT you should consider. It probably won't allow anywhere near a 34' TT.

Mine is overloaded with my 20' TT, so don't be surprised if your available payload for hitch weight allows a TT with a GVWR of only 5,000 pounds or so (= up to 750 pounds TW).

If you want to buy an RV trailer that won't overload your TV, and you don't want to trade up for more truck, and if they don't make anything light enough for your TV to handle without being overloaded, then consider a different type of trailer. I camped with my family from the time my two kids were small until they were grown and gone, using a folding camping trailer that weighed less than 2,000 pounds empty, and maybe 3,000 pounds wet and loaded for camping. Mine was very primitive, but I bought it in 1968, and they make much fancier camping trailers now. You can keep the GVWR to less than 4,000 pounds and still have most of the modern conveniences of a TT, including hot water and a reefer and a restroom/shower and a slide, with AC and furnace for HVAC duties. (Mine had nothing in it but a dinette and an ice box in an 8' floor. We hauled a Coleman gasoline stove, Coleman latern, Coleman gasoline catalytic heater, 5-gallon water jugs, big plastic dish pan, 1-gallon can of Coleman gas, and a slop jar with a commode lid. Today you can get a much bigger box with hot water, range, reefer, furnace, AC, and restroom and still keep the GVWR down to less than 4,000 pounds. For example:
http://www.forestriverinc.com/PopUpC...266&RVType=TNT