Hi all,

I recently purchased a camper trailer and have some concerns about towing it with my F-150. I have never towed something this big or this heavy, here are the specs of the truck and camper...

2013 Ford F-150 EcoBoost w/ tow package (capable of towing up to 11,300 lbs I believe) I did install a Firestone air suspension kit rated for 4,800 lbs as well. That has helped keep the backend from dropping too low due to so much weight.
Camper is a 38' 9,200 lbs travel trailer with 2 axels. Fully loaded I am probably sitting around 10,500 lbs (but have not weighted it yet).

I know I am probably pushing things to the limit here. I towed the camper about 160 miles from Omaha NE, to KC MO on interstate 29 (which is pretty straight and flat). I thought it did well, used a little more than 3/4 of a tank of gas. I wanna say I have a 33 gallon tank?
There were a few times when a semi would pass me and I would start to sway left and right, but nothing too bad. I had hoped to travel up to the Pacific Northwest this summer, but am concerned about going through the mountains.

I guess I am wondering if any veterans of towing can give me their opinion on this setup. Am I going to mess up my motor/trans towing this much? Do I need to move up to an F-250? Is there something I can add to my setup to make this safer to tow? Any thoughts and recommendations are much appreciated.

 

You are drastically overweight. Your trailer is too long, and too heavy, for an F-150.

Go read the payload sticker on your doorjamb. When you're done with the math, you'll see how far over your are.

You can PULL a lot of weight. You can't TOW anywhere near that. Think hay wagon with 2 axles and no tongue weight.

Assuming you are at 10,500 pounds, with 13% tongue weight, you have 1,365 pounds. Go read the sticker on the hitch receiver. You've gone over that limit already, and you haven't accounted for the weight distribution hitch, assuming you have one, which is around 100 pounds.

There is no such thing as a 33 gallon tank. It's 36 gallons or 23 gallons.

The towing section of the forum, www.f150forum.com/f82, has thread after thread reviewing the numbers. You'll find people will tell you right off the bat that you cannot tow a 38' trailer with an F-150, it's too light to handle that length.

Post back when you find your payload sticker.

 

Yikes! Here is a picture of said sticker. And it must be the 36 gallon tank then, couldn't quite remember.

 

That has to be one of the lowest payload stickers I have seen.
And you are towing one of the largest loads I've ever seen.

You, sir, need a SuperDuty...F250/F350 with DRW to make this a non-knuckle biter. And don't even think about attempting that mountain run...

 

Well, I feel like the biggest idiot on the planet right about now.. getting a larger truck just isn't in the cards for me at the moment.

What would be the maximum towing weight I could handle with the truck I have? I am probably going to have to trade in for something much smaller it sounds like. I do have the stabilizer bar hitch as well.

 

A 5000 lb trailer would eat up 650-750ish lbs of your payload leaving about 650-750 lbs usable payload for passengers and cargo in the truck which is reasonable. That's loaded trailer weight, not dry weight. Around 3500-4000 lbs dry weight is a good place to start. Remember, 4 skinny guys are going to weigh 600 lbs. Four bigger guys could easily be 800-1000 lbs.

You could go a little heavier, maybe as much as 7000 lbs. But only if you're the only person in the cab and if you don't carry much weight in the truck.

 

You have about 8 lbs less payload than I do in my truck.
It's a comfy vehicle to drive around in but if I wanted a luxury travel trailer for the camping trips I'd be screwed. haha.

 

If you are going to tow make sure you get weight distribution bars and a sway control. It will help until you can change truck. Trucks are very expensive now. Also keep speed to no more that 55-60. Not sure how safe it is but if you have to tow at least do this.

 

If you are going to tow make sure you get weight distribution bars and a sway control. It will help until you can change truck. Trucks are very expensive now. Also keep speed to no more that 55-60. Not sure how safe it is but if you have to tow at least do this.

 

I realize I made a comment here that is semi-related to another towing thread from the same day.

Yesterday I missed where OP is towing 10,500lbs with a 1400lb payload. The vehicle is in fact quite overweight.

The trucks in the catalog can tow 11,300lbs, however you probably didn't buy the truck they use in the catalog.

Do the math or even better, weight the tongue. You will see the tongue weight is eating up almost all your payload. 10500*.13=1365 tongue weight. You've got 36lbs left over, approximately, based on actual weight of the vehicle. You installed a Firestone suspension kit. How much does that weigh. lets just say it weights 50lbs. Your truck is now overloaded by 14lbs. Did you remove any factory installed items, if so you get that weight back. Do you have floor mats, subtract that from your available payload.

These of course are rough numbers but you get the idea. You'll need to weigh your truck to know how much is left over for you to utilize with cargo and tongue weight. Marshall above has already given you additional information about passenger weight to consider.

The internet law is pretty clear, however. If it tows fine then you are okay. And a great unit of measure is fuel usage, and it only took 3/4 tank of gas so you're definitely safe to carry on. LOL

Yeah, I'd consider at least reducing the amount of cargo you are hauling if you continue with this trailer. How many things in the camper can you leave home. Sadly, it's not a 1:1 ratio, meaning if you leave 100lbs of blankets and coats behind, your tongue weight hasn't reduced by 100 so you'll really have to do serious purging.


It's tough to say whether or not you are causing damage to the motor/trans. Premature wear is probably worst case scenario. You're asking the turbos to work hard, often. If you have a 3.73 rear end, that will be in your favor to help with transmission, shifting will be better as you've got lower gears to help get that load moving. Transmission longevity is mostly based on how sloppy/laggy the shifts are. Best you can do for both the motor and transmission is to change fluids frequently. As in not waiting for the 100,000 mile transmission service.
The motor makes power and I'm sure the trans is adequate but you should plan on servicing it more often.
I'd add in to service the rear diff as well.
I can't speak for certain on this topic: While you do have a low payload capacity, I assume you have the same rear axle that would be used on a lighter truck with 1700lbs payload -therefore your 1400lb tongue weight should not be too hard on the axle and wheel bearings. It's just that your overall truck is heavy, reducing payload. The rear axle weight may still be within spec.
Again where I am not certain, if the axle is different in a 'tow package' vs Max Tow. If you don't have a heavy truck, but rather have the less capable tow vehicle with a weaker axle, I'd say 'premature wear" is possible but not something that will blow up during the next trip.
I think my truck us the 7200lb version (is that a thing) with 1409 payload, however I have a Lariat that has about every option Ford offers. What is the next size down, 6700 truck?

Good luck with whatever you decide on but I'd start with purging trailer weight. If you are carrying heavy stuff in the truck, move it to the trailer. Best if you keep the truck bed empty to get that weight off the truck, make it tow weight, not a direct payload impact weight.