'18 F-150 Car Trailer w/o WDH
 

Who has experience towing open car haulers without a WDH?
I've just picked up an '18 F-150 145" SCREW Max Tow.

I understand the manual say that you need a WDH over 5000/500 trailer/tongue. I also have used a '03 F-250 7.3 that has nearly identical ratings. (Payload is almost identical also)

2003 F-250/350 Super Duty 5,000 500 12,500 1,250
2018 F150........................ 5,000 500 12,200 1,220

I've never used a WDH on the F-250 pulling and 18' car trailer and jeep. Looking for experiences that other have had towing with a receiver ball hitch with the new 150's.

The need for a WDH on the F150 has less to do with payload and more to do with Ford being concerned about the suspension being able to handle weight on the tongue. The front end of the F150 is much lighter than the 250, much much lighter if the 250 has the powerstroke in it. The WDH helps move some of the weigh off the ball and back onto the front axle which helps /w steering and reduces the weight on the rear axle.

FWIW The new super duty's are rated to their full tow rating w/o Weight Distribution, just a difference between the 250 and 150 platform. One puts passenger comfort first, the other prioritizes truck things like towing heavy.

People tow over 500/5000 w/o a WDH, but I think the general thought is the tow will go much smoother /w one.

The professional chassis engineers (PEs) that determined the weight limits for your F-150 didn't stutter or stammer. They very clearly stated that any tongue weight more than 500 pounds requires a WD hitch. No ifs. ands or buts. The tongue weight of your car-hauler trailer when properly loaded will be more than 500 pounds. So are you smarter than the PEs responsible for the weight limits of your F-150?

I wonder why Ford of Canada told me that sticker or rating has come straight from the legal department.......not because the hitch won't handle more than the "stated rating", but to protect Ford and irresponsible truck owners. If your tow does not need weight distribution, as in the case with my equipment trailer.....why put one on? I have just over 700 lbs on the hitch, 6800 lbs on the trailer when disconnected. I say that because you can subtract the tongue weight off the trailer weight if you're connected to the tow vehicle. I cannot even induce a sway (unless I make a maneuver that no vehicle could handle even NOT towing ). Truck is level, trailer is level.....I don't need.....no.....I can't use a weight distribution and I would have to move weight to the tongue for it to work properly if I "had to".

Your hitch receiver is rated for a certain tongue/trailer weight. Mine, I can put 1050 lbs on it IF I use a WDH. The CVSE (commercial vehicle enforcement) looked at my setup and gave me the thumbs up. I asked about that little sticker on the hitch. They laughed...they only go by the max rated weight....WDH or not. Same went for the RCMP. Ford basically said the same thing.

I'm not trying to stir the pot here. I have done mega research, contacted the right people.....and got the answers I just stated. I consider my self a very conscientious driver, had to be pulling 53' trailers over roads like Kicking Horse Pass. Hence my research and confirmation of info.

Your truck isn't going to explode or anything, but Id get one sooner than later. We had a trailer we believed to be right around 5,000lbs. The hitch ball itself said good for 750lbs tongue weight. We hit the scales and found out our trailer loaded was 6300lbs and closer to 1,000 on the tongue. Whoops. Got a Blue Ox and it really helped transfer weight onto the front axle (rear was overloaded without it) and some weight was put back onto the trailer axles too.

Id be more worried about the standard hitch itself at the moment. Some of those hitches are only rated for 500lbs.

I wouldn't tow it without a WD hitch. Many do, but I wouldn't.

I understand the manual and what was designed.
A WDH doesn't change the amount of weight that the receiver can hold, it just adds a torque moment to the receiver and trailer that distributes a bit more of the weight to the truck front and trailer axles.

I'm aksing about those that have towed without a WDH, how did it do?

So here's the deal. Ford is clear on the 500/5000 max on the receiver hitch sticker and Page 38 of the 2018 towing guide.

However, Ford only gave one rating for all trucks. Therefore, this rating must be good for the worst case scenario, an xl RCSB. I'm not arguing with Ford engineers, I'm stating the very obvious fact that they never calculated and published realistic WC maximums for anything but an XL RCSB.

It's widely accepted that the 500/5000 is for stability not structural concerns. This can easily be proved based on forces seen with a 1320/13,200 WDH set up. They far exceed any you would experience with say 700/7,000 with WC. I know, I know, someone will say the torque is in the other direction. True, but the static loads seen during set up with the long shank of a WDH vs a short shank WC hitch exceed any reasonable dynamic load you could see with 700/7,000 on a WC hitch this side of running it off a bridge.

So we go to stability. When you consider the weight on the front end (>3000 for 145 WB max tow) compared to <2,647 (w/ 5.0) for our worse case RCSB. The 145WB max tow still has more weight on the front with 700/7000 WC compared to the RCSB with 500/5000. In fact, it still has more weight up front than the RCSB started with! Plenty for steering. And the funny thing is it actually needs less for steering and stability because the steering tires have more leverage on the rear axle and hitch point.

The more I think about this, the more absurd the 500/5000 seems for the longer WB and heavier variants of the F150.

But you didn't ask for any of this. You asked for experience. My HDPP 157WB tows a higher weight than you're talking about just fine WC. However, because you have lighter suspension, you'll have to be more aware of not going over GVWR and rear GAWR. Is it legal in my state? Yes. Could it be nit picked in court in the event of a mis-hap? Of course. Do I think I could successfully defend in court? Yes, and I'd be the first to call a Ford engineer to the witness stand.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...cdaad91e71.jpg

Worse case may be worse than you thought. Remember you can add a tow package to truck equipped /w 3.3L V6. I have never seen one but I assume the sticker on the receiver still lists the WC as 500/5000, those have to have less weight up front as compared to a 5.0L right?

Regardless great analysis - mostly because it helps me justify towing my 7,000lb boat w/o a WDH lol.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...f681b171f7.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...46172face0.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...85050c71f9.jpg
What he said! ;) And hey!!! Nice tractor!!!! LOL
With my setup I can be hands off the steering wheel when a tractor/trailer rig passes me going the other way. Very stable. And...approved by Ford hehehehe