I thought I’d create this thread to document my experience with my F150 and towing. This thread is not intended to guarantee anyone anything, but rather present my first-hand experience towing with an 05 F150 5.4 4X2. I had acquired a trailer that can weigh fully loaded, close to 8500 pounds. My budget had me looking at the F150 in this age range and based on Vin build sheets and data available online, I found the truck I wanted with low mileage (95k) that also looked pretty nice. It had the tow package with tranny cooler and heavy duty breaks and trailer brake controller port. The VIN for this truck indicated its max towing weight with a weight distribution hitch at 9500 pounds. The Gross Vehicle Combined Weight (GVCW) rating is 15000. Essentially, truck and trailer fully loaded shouldn’t exceed 15000 lb’s.

There seems to be a lot of disputing those numbers, but I could only go on data, not speculation and opinion. My truck weighs in around 5300 before cargo, so reality is with a fully loaded truck and trailer, I’m pretty close to the max.

First experience towing the trailer with my truck was ok, not great. Trailer was empty and had to tow to a shop for some work. I noticed it was kind of a dog going up a steep hill near the storage lot. Once on the freeway, I found that if I lost my momentum going through some mountains, it was pretty tough to maintain 40.

Second towing experience was the maiden camping trip. Trailer was fully loaded with water, although no toys since this was a mountain trip. I estimate I had it loaded with at about 7300. The road out was a two lane windy road through the mountains. I found that coming out of 25mph turns into uphill runs, I could barely get up to 40-45 and that was wide open throttle. It seemed like the transmission wouldn’t downshift when it needed to. It would downshift for a little bit, then shift back up. Overdrive was turned off. It made it, but there were a few times it had me worried if I’d make it to the top. Once in the campground I had to stop on an uphill section. I was almost unable to get going. Full throttle, engine just wasn’t really responding. I came here after and posted that experience and learned a few things (https://www.f150forum.com/f4/towing-experience-318696/). 1-35 inch tires reduce your towing capacity with the 3.73 rear differential. 2-A lifted truck also is not doing you any favors when it comes to towing. If you are shopping for a truck to tow something, keep this in mind when you see that lifted truck with big tires that just looks COOL!

After this trip I was having a little bit of anxiety because our main trip is about a 275 mile trip to the Dumont Dunes in California that will take me through some pretty steep mountains in the Cajon pass on I-15 North. At this point, I’m already committed to the truck and don’t have the budget to go get a diesel as many will recommend. The consensus was that I needed to have the rear differential upgraded to better accommodate the big tires. I went ahead and spent about $1000 on the job and went to a 4.56 rear differential. I also got a custom tuner and bought a Custom Towing tune. Used tuner $200, $135 for two tunes (one for towing, one for regular driving). I serviced the transmission and found it looked like it had been service relatively recently. No brown or burnt fluid, no big pieces or broken snap rings, and no rubber plunger that indicates it had never been changed. I filled with Maxima racing SynATF. Next, as I’ve previously posted here (https://www.f150forum.com/f4/easy-tr...-guage-319695/), I got myself a transmission temperature monitor.

And the moment of truth arrived over Thanksgiving weekend as we headed to Dumont. I was fully loaded with bikes, beer, gas, food, clothes. Heavy, although I waited to load that extra 900 pounds of water until I got closer to the destination. In the first pass that I had trouble keeping speed going to the shop, I was easily able to keep 50-50 mph, although this was downshifted, pulling around 3500RPM’s. It was warm, 75 degrees out, and during that climb, the temp reached but didn’t exceed about 220. I found that 48 mph seemed to be the downshift mark, and if I was patient and stayed at 45 it didn’t need to shift, pulled around 2500 RPM at around 215 degrees on the uphill climbs. This stayed consistent during the trip. At no point or climb did I not feel like I didn’t have what I needed. The custom tune has a very deliberate shift, no loss of momentum on upshift and downshifts. On flat freeway speeds, transmission temp stayed right at 185 degrees. On the way back, those mountain grades are reversed and you have to worry about keeping your downhill speed under control. The trailer, much lighter than on the way out (all liquid dumped, probably 1000 pounds lighter), didn’t drag as much. When it was fully loaded on the way out, I was decelerating on the downhill runs with no gas applied. Empty though, the truck did want to accelerate. Without riding the brakes too much and occasionally engaging the manual trailer brake to slow me down, I was able to maintain a safe downhill speed. Gas mileage on the way out was a puny 7mpg or so, while on the way back was a little better, around 8-9mpg. I rarely get better than 11 in city driving anyhow. Good thing gas was down to $2.45 for the trip. Minor victory there.

In summary, I feel like I have what I need to use my truck and trailer the way I need to with weights that some will debate. I felt safe and did not feel as though I was putting my family at risk. I wish I’d have been able to piece together some of these things before I bought the truck. I love the truck, but didn’t need to spend the extra money to get it really tow ready and its no fun constantly hoping for a magical fix to crappy MPG. In hindsight, I’d likely not gone with a lifted/big tire version. But, I did, and it works now, so I’m happy. I hope this helps the next guy who’s got a ton of questions like “Can I tow my *insert money pit* with an F150?”.

 

You never say what the Payload sticker says inside your door... Is it there for an '05?

In the pic, it looks like your headlights are aiming up. If so, perhaps your WDH is not properly adjusted?

 

Door sticker says 7050 GVWR, but no specific payload. Subtract 5300 curb weight and estimate payload to be 1750. The best I've been able to adjust the WDH still has the rear end sagging about 2 inches. I installed airbags that level out the ride. I usually deflate them to make un-hitching easier. In this pick I hadn't aired them back up yet. Good questions.

 

Length of travel trailer?

 

21 foot, 24 with tounge.

 

A 5.4 4x2 should not have that much difficulty in towing your trailer I'd think. What is your rear gear setup? I have a 2007 4x2, with the 4.6 V8 and 3.55 gears. I pull a Jayco 16 foot trailer that weights out at around 5500 dry. While I don't set land speed records, I can pull this trailer at normal highway speeds and occasional hills without difficulty. Perhaps my hills are not as extreme as yours though.

I will also mention that I pulled this camper with my 2001 Ford Ranger 4x4 equipped with a 3.0 V6; it had the 4:11 gears, and pulled the weight, but it labored like you are describing with your truck. This is why I stepped up to an F150 with a V8.

I know you can find towing specs for the Ford F150's online; just google your year truck, and the words "towing capacity". You'll find a spread sheet that Ford puts out that you can fill out and find out how much weight you can tow. For example, the document you'll find will list weights for certain options, (rims, etc). You subtract these equipped options weight from the total GVWR for your truck (which will also be listed in this doc for your year/model truck). This will then give you how much weight your truck is rated "safely" to tow. Your rims and tires being oversized are going to reduce your towing capacity. When I went from 17 inch to 18 inch, the spread sheet had me reducing the total weight by about 200 pounds; small changes like this drastically affect the towing weight!

A 4x2 is certainly rated lower GVWR then a 4x4 due to the frame and axles, but your 4x2 with the 5.4 should not be straining like you mentioned.
Another thing you can try is to tow the camper without it filled with water; most camp sites have a water fill station that you can fill your tanks at when you arrive. If you're "boondocking", then this is not an option of course. Another option is to try and camp one night in your driveway; determine what you actually use in the camper that night, and leave everything else at home when you actually go camping at your site. All the "crap" parents and kids bring along that they think they need adds up in wasted weight.

 

In re-reading your original post, the transmission temps are inline with what you can expect when climbing hills with that much load; as long as they drop below 200 on level roads, your good. This is why that transmission cooler is so important! And make sure you change that transmission fluid every 25 to 30K to get the most out of the transmission.
And disable the overdrive during towing.

 

I was in the same boat as you:
2007 fx2 5,4 3,55
7000lbs gvw toyhauler
didn't have any issue.
I don't do lot of hill but when I did go through the apalachian between quebec and New-brunswich.....I just floored it and went up no issue.(normal to loose some speed but never went lower then 50mph)

 

Key for me with the 35 inch tires was the re-gear from 3.73 to 4.56. I had no problems pulling after that, although I haven't been in the scenario of taking off from a dead stop on a hill yet, but I suspect I won't have the same problem again.

 

Just some really lousy gas mileage with those rims/tires and rear gearing and towing, I'll bet.