I apologize in advance for asking, but I couldn’t find a definitive answer to my question. I have a 2015 F150 ecoboost. I’m considering the purchase of a travel trailer that has a GVWR 7846.00 LB. My trucks GVWR is 7000 LB. Can I tow this travel trailer without issues? I appreciate you help, before I purchase!

 

You will need to share what your truck payload is. It's on the driver door jamb on the sticker.

Then figure how much your trailer will way when fully loaded and add anything you plan to put in your truck included your 3 kids, wife and Chihuahua dog.

With just me as a driver, no passengers, an 8,000lb RV and I'm pushing the weight limit capacity of my 2016 Lariat.


This is all about YOUR specific truck. Not brochures, trailer sales people or the internet.

 

The sticker on my door jamb says the combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 1730 pounds. My truck is a Lariat. My wife and I with 2 small dogs.

 

That can be a VERY misleading number. Reason I say that my trailer has a GVWR of 7700 lbs yet CAT scale weight fully stocked for a weeks travel weighs in at 6400lbs. What is your trailers difference in weight between the published "curb weight" and the GVWR. In my case it was 2300lbs. NO WAY would the just the wife and I put in that much stuff.
Are you, the wife, and the 2 dogs hoarders and will pack everything possible plus the "spare kitchen sink"?

I can only speak about my own experiences pulling a 7700GVWR trailer that really weighs 6400lbs there are no issues. Never ever think about a bigger truck when driving mine. I did put new stiffer tires on the trailer because I bought it used and didn't know the history of how well the existing tires were cared for.

safe travels

 

You are off to a good start then with 1700lbs payload.
Follow the trailer weight advice from others. Published weights can be a little misleading like mentioned.

 

I do not know the curb weight of the trailer. I’m going to look at it tomorrow. I will have to ask the owners. My wife and I are not hoarders by any means if anything we would be the total opposite. The trailer does come with a equal-I-zer 4 point sway control.

 

You can usually get curb weights by goggling the year and model number of the trailer. Since your not hoarders and it's just the 2 of you 1000-1200 lbs would likely be how much stuff you add to the curb weight for a weeks trip.
I use an equalizer hitch and am very happy with it.

 

The stickers on the trailer should have GVWR and either payload or empty weight. Most trailers seem to be around a 1,000lbs payload which seems reasonable. I have seen 2K+ on a few. I generally use the lesser of GVWR or empty +1000 to calculate TW which you truck will carry with its payload

 

Hey All - Another confused 2020 F150 used Lariat owner here. Hoping to get some understanding of what I could tow with this theoretically assuming an empty truck. Would I then just subtract passenger and gear in bed weight to have a max tow number?

Info from door:
Yellow Tire and Loading Info Sticker:
Combined weight of occupants and cargo should not exceed: 1720 lbs

Here is the white sticker:
GVWR: 3175 kg (7000 lbs)
Front GAWR: 1599 KG (3535 LB)
Rear GAWR: 1837 KG (4050 LB)

Tech Info from the VIN decoder at :
https://www.ford-trucks.com/

 

In a nutshell, your truck is capable of carrying a maximum of 1720 lbs.

that means that you, your wife and 3 kids will need to step on a scale and sum the weight.
You need to estimate the maximum weight of the trail you will haul. Lets assume a 7,000lb RV trailer. You should be configuring your trailer to have 13% tongue weight. that means your 7,000 trailer has a tongue weight of 910 lbs. (7000 x 0.13)

Subtract 910 from your available 1720. When you connect your trailer, your truck is now carrying 910 lbs leaving you 810 lbs to work with. Subtract about 100 lbs for a weight distribution hitch (it is required). The weight well vary but for sake of math, 100lbs is used.
Remember earlier when you weighed your family, now subtract that. I estimated 557 lbs for the family.

1720-910=810 remaining payload
810-100lbs WDH - 710 remaining payload
710-your family of 557 = 153 remaining payload.
Do you have a big dog and carry a lot of dog food, subtract that extra 90lbs.
Do you bring bicycles for the kids? Subtract another 100, or whatever they weight.
Don't forget 30lbs of firewood.

Side note: If you have added accessories to your truck you will also subtract that weight from your available payload. For example lets guess your spray liner weights 80lbs and your lightbar weights 20. You've given up 100 more pounds of payload and all of s sudden your 7,000 lb trailer is about to overload your truck, legally.

That should get you started.
Depending on what gear ratio you have will help determine how well the trailed at maximum for your truck will drive. They all work, bit if you have the highest gear ratio and the heaviest trailer, it is the least best scenario, however it's totally fine.

Hope that helps understand that your physical truck payload is the limitation. You have a good payload for a Lariat, you have over 300'lbs than my truck is capable of. That's the difference perhaps in you can carry 2 small adults that I could not bring with me.
The catalog weights you may read in ad's and brochures if for the lighest and most capable towing vehicle Ford sells which is a long bed 2wd XL model truck, or WT. The more features your truck has the more weight the truck is....the XL truck with no 4x4 and no sunroof is hundreds of lbs lighter, which means those hundreds are available for cargo weight.