Hi, I'm trying to find out what the max weight i can tow with my truck. I have a 1996 F-150 4x4, 5.8L, with towing package. It is extended cab and a short box. What i have found is that it is rated for 7200 Lbs. Is this correct? I have a gooseneck hitch. I've found information that says the truck should be able to handle more weight with the gooseneck. Is this true?
A few years back i bought a 31 foot gooseneck horse trailer with living quarters and loaded it down. I had a Suzuki quad racer, a 650 pound street bike, furniture and a bunch of other stuff in it. I drove it from Owensboro Kentucky to Twins Lake, Wisconsin. I had no issues at all. I'm pretty sure that is way more than 7200 lbs. So, would this hurt the truck in any way? I'm asking because people make it sound like the truck should have broke in half doing this. Even with all that weight it barely squatted. I want to get another gooseneck, because i like the way they tow. I'm trying to figure out what weight would be best for this truck. I know the 31 foot trailer was probably pushing it a little. I'm going to haul two horses. I don't want to stress the truck more than it was built to handle. I'm not worried about it breaking in half, because i've already proved that won't happen. But i'd like to know what effect stressing it has on the truck. Like the transmission, and the rest of the drive train.
Thank you!

 

Well a '96 owners manual says that max trailer weight for an F150, 5.8l, extended cab, 4x4, auto trans would be 7100 pounds. Of course that number would be for a base model with max towing package. Your GCWR is 12,000 pounds, so subtract the weight of the truck, along with the weight of the driver and any passengers/cargo that will be in the truck, and the number you are left with is how much you are rated to tow.
As long as the trans has been well maintained and has an auxiliary cooler, it shouldn't be a weak point. The E4OD was also used behind the 7.5l and 7.3l. The motor is also not a weak point (as long as it has been maintained well) since the 5.8l was used up to the F350. Your real limiting factor is just it being an F150. Mainly the chassis, suspension, brakes, and axle. It is usually safe to assume that any gooseneck trailer is going to be too much for a half-ton truck. But the risk of damage is going to be based off of HOW overloaded it is. If you are only slightly overloaded, then the main risk is premature wear of the suspension and brakes, but if it is really overloaded, then yeah, the frame can break. Along with a whole list of other possible failures.

 

Thank you! That answers most of my questions. Even a small gooseneck? I found a two horse gooseneck without the living quarters. If i can keep the weight under 7100 pounds between the trailer and the horses would a gooseneck be ok? And the other question i had above: is it true that the truck can handle more weight if a gooseneck is used vs a bumper pull trailer? I just upgraded the suspension with all brand new springs (front and back}, new bilstein shocks, sway bar bushings and links. All 250 stuff. The brakes got beefed up too. Everything was original and wore out anyway. So, my weak point now is frame and axle. So, once again if I just keep the weight around 7200 pounds or less I should be just fine?

 

We don't know half enough about your truck to know what it's rated for. Every detail & its curb weight matter: tires, maintenance history, damage, repairs, options, modifications, miles... You didn't even say which transmission it has.

Changing to heavier axles & suspension DEcreases the truck's rated cargo/trailer capacity, by exactly the amount of weight added. You cannot increase the truck's highway rating unless you're a professional automotive engineer who can certify the changes. Otherwise, you're only reducing what it can carry.

No one can realistically tell you that "you'll be fine". You're asking for trouble. You got lucky before; maybe you'll get lucky again. But if your luck fails, you're going to be in DEEP liability for all the damage you do, since you clearly know that you're over the truck's ratings. If you were towing off-road on private land, at crawling speed, you could safely tow a battleship. But on public roads, you're risking more than just YOUR life, truck, trailer, cargo, & livestock - you're risking everyone else's. And they didn't all agree to that risk.

 

Well, Shagg clearly knew what transmission was in it based on the information i gave. What else is there to know? I gave all important information: 5.8 liter, 4x4, 1996, towing package, extended cab XLT, short box. Everything else is O.E.M. Factory steel wheels and tire size. It's in mint condition (which shouldn't matter because i'm just trying to find out what this thing was rated at when it was built). And trying to understand why it was rated at that weight. Shagg, did a very good job explaining that without being condescending. Maybe i got lucky or maybe this thing is built a little better than most people think. That's what i'm trying to find out. And i'm not trying to push this thing to it's limits. That's why i'm on this website, so I can find someone that knows how these trucks were built and tell me what i should or shouldn't do with it. I already know what it can do, I just want to know what I should do. Because i don't want it to break in half. I know a lot of people that have used these F-150's to pull things that they "supposedly" can't pull. So, we are all really lucky or maybe these trucks can actually handle more than the tag says. As shagg mentioned this truck has the same motor as some f250's and 350's, and the same transmission. So, what is the difference in the frame that makes the f-150 weaker? What is the difference in the axle that makes the f-150 weaker? Why can I haul a full ton of stone in this truck and it doesn't break or completely sag the suspension? These are the questions I'm looking for answers to, and hoping someone can explain it in technical terms. Looking at it from a physics stand point a gooseneck distributes the weight much more evenly over the trucks suspension which should allow the truck to pull more. I still think a gooseneck is the way to go as long as I keep the max weight between the trailer and load somewhere between 7000-8000lbs . Unless someone has facts to say otherwise.
Thanks

 

No, that is no true.

The truck can tow the same MAX weight regardless of method of attachment. Gooseneck is sitting in the bed, over the rear axle. Bumper pull, with a weight distribution hitch, is putting the weight on the frame. The TONGUE weight can be different because the impact is on the PAYLOAD of the vehicle.

So, let's assume a trailer weighs 10,000 pounds (for ease of math). A wdh setup is best with 13% tongue weight. So you'd be putting 1,300 pounds of weight on the truck, plus the weight of people, stuff you added after it was made, etc, all impacting PAYLOAD. When you hit your max payload, you're done.

A gooseneck trailer is 15 - 30%. So a 10,000 pound trailer would be put least 1,500 pounds on the truck, impacting payload by 200 more pounds.

As was stated, F-150s are not designed for the kind of weight you are pulling, and you're likely exceeding capabilities, possibly by a lot. In short, it's likely very unsafe. And, if you were stopped and they weighed it, you'd likely have a problem, but the more important thing is safety of you, your passengers, and others on the road.

 

No, he GUESSED, and it seems like you're saying his guess was correct. But at this age, any truck could have gone through a dozen transmissions, and they don't all have to be the original model. Transmission swaps are relatively common, including all the transmissions Ford ever used in this chassis, and MANY of other brands.Well, since you asked...

(click this text)
That's meaningless, and incorrect anyway. OEM (original equipment Manufacturer) means the company that supplied a part to the assembly line - not the part. And if your truck has the OE (original equipment) tires, fluids, belts, wipers, bulbs, brakes, or battery, it's certainly NOT capable of being driven; much less, towing anything. So everything else is obviously not OE, either. And your first post (which is what I was replying to before) didn't contain that little note. You're also now DIRECTLY contradicting what your 2nd post says:So it's REALLY not original by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure I even want to imagine what you mean by "beefed-up brakes". There's no way to fit (F?)"250 stuff" into an F150's wheels or drums, so that's one more thing you need to clarify.If you had any idea how many different wheels & tire sizes Ford used on these trucks, you'd realize how useless that is, too.Another meaningless term. I've seen people refer to rustbuckets as "mint", and they were just as serious as you. It's a subjective term, so it doesn't help us understand anything about YOUR truck.Hence my original question. We can't tell you because we're not there to look at the truck and see how it's CURRENTLY built, or to know how it was ORIGINALLY built. You have to tell us (and maybe also SHOW us).Nothing that I've posted is condescending - you should look that word up. It means pretending to be as dumb as you think the person you're talking to is; an example would be an adult using baby-talk with a 5-year-old, so the adult "condescends" to a lower intellectual level. I'm talking to you like you're an adult.You mean like Ford? They DID tell you - it's printed on the VC label, and in the owner's manual.I was serious when I said it could tow a battleship. There is no practical limit to the weight it can pull, with just a few modifications. But there ARE practical & legal limits to what it can do on public roads.It's thinner.Too many to list them all, but suffice it to say: a 1/2-ton axle is weaker than a 3/4- or 1-ton axle.Because of the safety factor used in all modern engineering & production. And because it's a Ford - don't try that with a (contemporary) Toyota, Datsun, Subaru...That's not physics, and it's incorrect. The operator who positions the hitch & loads the trailer decides how the weight is distributed. But a GN hitch weighs a lot more than a ball-&-tongue, and an empty GN trailer weighs more than an empty bumper-pull trailer of the same size & capacity. All that extra weight comes OFF of the truck's GCWR, meaning it can pull LESS on a GN than on a bumper-pull.Then you should be able to pull the GN with a tricycle, right? Your logic is seriously flawed.Well, none of US is going to come stop you, but don't be surprised if SOMEONE stops you. But what physics or technical terms are you using to come up with those numbers?YOU have those facts - they're printed on the VC label in the driver's door jamb, and in the owner's manual. If you don't have the hardcopy, or if you just want a version that's more-portable & easier-to-search, dl it free from Ford:

http://www.fleet.ford.com/partsandse...owner-manuals/

But don't be surprised at the number of factors that Ford says are relevant to what can be safely towed, and don't forget that the manual ASSUMES no or very minimal modifications from how the truck left the assembly line (including tires, fluids, belts, brakes...).

 

My brother had (well, still has, actually) a '98 very similar to yours. Tows his 24' Cobalt around with no trouble at all, around 7,500 pounds rig weight (boat and trailer).
The gooseneck brings all sorts of factors into play and most if not all have been addressed in this thread. 5th wheel type setups have never been the forte' of a half-ton, but plenty do it; the Canadians in particular go bat shiite crazy with pulling 5th wheel RVs with F-150s, and seem to have little to no issues based on the various threads over the years.
Two horses are going to weigh what...3,000 pounds total, maybe? Still more weight than you had in your trailer described in your first post...but not excessive. Figure the average 2 horse trailer weighs around 5,000 pounds, according to a quick search.
Realistically you are going to be over what you SHOULD tow, but...most of us have had far more weight from time to time in our trucks and suffered no ill effects. I used to haul up to 3,000 pounds of soil, gravel, sand, etc in my little Mazda truck..and eventually broke the frame. But by gosh, it made many, many trips over many years and frankly only succumbed to it due to rust. So if your F-150 has a good, strong frame...shouldn't be too big of a deal.

 

Ok. I've only seen these trucks with either the wheels I have or the aluminum slotted rims. I have the steel rims with the chrome piece that is glued onto the wheel, or at least that is the way it appears to be attached. Once again: 1996 F-150, 4x4, 5.8L tow package E40D transmission, extended cab, short box, XLT, The tires are brand new but OEM size. The shocks are brand new, the coil springs and rear leafs are brand new, All tie rod ends and ball joints new, Sway bar front and back with brand new bushings, Sway bar links have brand new bushings, trailing arms in front are brand new along with brand new bushings, brand new steering box, brand new power steering lines and transmission lines, brand new brake lines, front brake kit from LS, The front and rear spring mounts are brand new. It has the same transmission cooler that's on the F-250. Took me forever to find it, because mine had a tiny leak. The shocks, springs, sway bar bushings are same as f-250, except I'm one spring minus on the back. I found out the hard way having to send parts back. Everything was all original form the factory when I bought the truck. I am second owner. It has dual tanks, I tore this thing apart over the winter and replaced everything that could possible be worn out. Except the engine and trans. Truck has 109,000 miles on it. It is not my daily driver. It sits 99% of the time. But it comes in handy when i need to tow boat, jet ski, motorcycle, horse trailer, or get stuff from the store. It has power door locks, windows, AC, cruise, power Lombard on driver seat . It is very well maintained. Oil change every 3000 miles, check air filter, check all fluids and change if necessary when the time comes. It has original radiator, but a new water pump. All hoses and the drive belt is new. It's never been in an accident or wrecked. Nothing has been modified, unless you count upgrading the front brakes. I think that just about covers it. If I'm forgetting anything important please let me know. So, I've looked around and there are different types of gooseneck horse trailers. I found some two horse w/0 the living quarters and If i can find one that is around 4000 pounds that should keep me under the max payload. I've also found Gooseneck stock trailers that don't have the loft. It's just an arm attached to the front of the trailer to make it a gooseneck, which would be much lighter than a two horse slant with tack room. So, are you still saying these wouldn't be ok?
Thanks