xcntrk

Keep in mind that aside from the dramatic use of aluminum materials to lower overall vehicle weight freeing up additional payload, the other major difference with the 2015 models is Ford's alignment with the SAE J2807 towing specification standards. So it's very likely the overall towing numbers for the F150 (which arguably have been inflated over the years) will go down with the release of the new models.

daveak

Are they for sure going to adhere to these standards? I would think this would be the best time - with the change to aluminum. However, you can order a 2015 truck now and you still do not really know the towing (or gas mileage for that matter) numbers. Me thinks there is some internal debate going on at Ford about this.

king nothing

Kind of a moot point since our payloads generally dictate what we can tow. Does it really matter whether your rated to tow 11k or 8k when your payload limits you to 8k anyway?

brulaz

I'd be willing to try a flat-bed trailer covered with paving bricks up to 11,500#, if I could arrange the load so only 10% tongue weight.

But yes, with Travel Trailers, and 13-15% tongue weights, we are limited by payload, and also rear GAWR and the receiver rating. Last time I weighed we were 130# over the rear GAWR, 20# under the receiver rating and 200# under the GVWR (payload). Since then I've cranked up the WDH a notch and moved more stuff to the rear of the trailer.

brulaz

When I was young and ignorant, agreed to have another leaf put on my rear axle so the p/u wouldn't sag so much with my camper. Looking back that thing was waaay overloaded, but was told another leaf would fix it.

Sometime later I was driving down the street, luckily in town and driving slow, when I was flagged down and discovered one of the rear half-axles+wheel had pulled out of the housing, about a foot. Bearing went and out came the axle. Just lucky I wasn't driving at highway speeds.

Now I'm sure that axle was way over-loaded, but since then I've been a bit up-tight about exceeding the rear GAWRs by any amount.

smurfs_of_war

yeah, if there is any rating that is best not to toy with, it's the GAWR. Those are mechanical limits (usually bearing) and bad things can happen. Usually not immediately, but it won't take long.

Ron AKA

If you read the fine print at the bottom of the second page of the Ford Towing Guidelines at the link below, you can see they base the towed weight on a tongue weight of 10-15% for a conventional trailer, and a king pin weight of 15-25% for a 5th wheel. Probably that is because of the location of the king pin over the axle or ideally about 4" in front of the rear axle. Another thing to consider is how the trailer loads up from the basic dry weight where the king pin weight is often specified. My current trailer has the fresh water tank right in the rear, and the grey and black water right in the front. Recommended practice is to travel with the fresh water tank full, and the gray/black water tanks empty. That actually lightens the king pin weight loaded compared to dry. Propane on the other hand often is in the front and does add to king pin weight, but not one for one. In any case the bottom line is they are allowing for a much higher hitch weight on a king pin compared to a tongue.

http://www.ford.com/resources/ford/g...F150_Sep11.pdf

A new fifth wheel caught my attention this summer in a campground and I talked to the owner. Both the truck (2014 Supercrew with 3.5 EcoBoost), and the trailer (Flagstaff Classic Superlite 8524RLWS) were brand new. See link below for specifications. I really liked the trailer but it is about 2 feet too long for us to accommodate. I have both trailer and truck length (garage) limits too. He said that it pulled like a dream. The interesting part was that in addition to pulling this trailer, he also had a very large trailered fishing boat attached to the back of the 5th wheel trailer. It had a 150 HP Merc engine, so was no lightweight toy. Apparently he bought the trailer to meet an overall hitched length of I think 66 feet, which he said is the limit in our province to pull in this configuration. I suspect he had to be over the total gross weight of the whole rig though. This trailer had the Sidewinder hitch on it, and was where I learned about it. There are other 5th wheel hitches which slide forward and back to accommodate short boxes. However I think the Sidewinder is the only one that may handle the shortest boxes.


http://www.forestriverinc.com/FifthW...pe=fifthwheels

Ron AKA

Cougar makes some 5th wheels specific for half ton trucks. However, they are all too long for my space. Also a bit heavier than some others. Unless we find something else I suspect we will go with a Puma 230-FBS (1100 king pin weight, 8100 lbs gross). Much more basic than that Flagstaff that I gave you a link to in that other post, but it is what we can fit. If I could fit that Flagstaff in my space it would be at the top of my list to pull with a half ton.

Flagstaff, Cougar, Puma -- all built by Warren Buffet!

brulaz

Just not sure what is the advantage of a fifth wheel when the trailer is only 24.5ft long? With longer trailers (>30ft?) I can see the advantage of increased stability and maneuverability when towing.

But I know there are many 24.5ft bumper pulls with much less dry tongue weight than 1100#, and with more height and space in the front because it doesn't go up and over the truck's bed.

xcntrk

That was actually my point with the new models. More payload is possible due to the lighter vehicle weight making the conventional & 5th wheel tow rating a more important factor. Meaning if the payload goes up and the tow rating down, it may be plausible that the tow rating becomes the limiting factor.