I own a 2010 F150 FX4 Super Crew w/short box. The door jam sticker says the max capacity is only 1150 lbs, is this because of the short box?

 

No, it's because your truck empty weighs 1150# less than the GVWR. So if your GVWR is 7200#, your truck weighed 6050# when it left the factory. Being a 2010 FX4, you most likely have a highly optioned truck, and each of those options deducts from available payload.

 

And from that capacity you subtract:

- any modifications you've made to the truck - tonneau cover, bedliner, etc.
- weight of all passengers and their cargo
- if you tow a trailer with a weight distribution hitch, ~100 lbs for it

What's left is the max trailer tongue weight you can have, which should be about 13% of the total trailer loaded weight. With your low payload, your trailer towing capability will also be quite low.

 

Yikes - that's pretty low - my wife's CX-5 has a payload of 850lbs according to the sticker.

I wish more people knew to look at this -my neighbor just bought a 2014 Sierra and was bragging how it can tow 8,500lbs - I showed him his payload sticker of 1,200 lbs and tried to tell him gently that he won't be able to tow anywhere near 8,000 lbs.

 

Towing capacity is much different than payload. How much you can tow (pull) vs how much you can carry.

 

except that MOST trailers have a tongue weight of an approx. 13% trailer weight. So an 8000# travel trailer will put approx. 1040# on the truck.

Then you still need to carry:
driver
hitch (WDH can be 100#)
passengers
any and all other crap that is in or on the truck.

1200# payload is used up pretty quick if hauling around a family and trying to tow.


Obviously a dolly type trailer with wheels at the 4 corners and a free tongue will put much less weight on the truck. And most boats have closer to 5% tongue weight. But the average TT or cargo trailer will be 10-15%.

 

driver and full tank of fuel are generally accounted for before payload is named.

regardless, ~850lb 'payload' for an SUV is all the passengers and cargo it can carry....but if you tow something with that, that reduces payload too. And a CX5 isn't rated to tow even 3500lbs, iirc.

 

Correct - he bought it so he could buy a medium sized RV to travel with.

 

The F-150 payload number on the door sticker does include a full tank of gas. It does NOT include the driver though, this has been discussed many times.

 

My 17 F150 FX4 Screw w/6.5' bed lists 1564# on the door. The newer ones might have higher capacity? Mine does have the max tow package, so that probably contributes something to the capacity (or not, I don't know...I don't have a trailer).