Eff0neFitty

Well, now it really sucks how that damn sticker says 500 pounds max tongue weight. 500 pounds / .13 = 3,846 pounds. So even though the sticker says 5,000 pounds max gross trailer weight, you can really only do 3,846. I'm thinking that obnoxious sticker is the real limiting factor here.

rd.king

The 500lbs tongue weight is just the limit of where Ford say you need a WDH.
Just figure how much payload you have to spare for tongues weight.
Buy a WDH and go.
WDH is just a towing tool like a ball or a chain right tool for the job.

Eff0neFitty

So this all boils down to, you need a weight distributing hitch (WDH) or else your towing limits are basically gonna just suck. That wasn't on the TV commercial either.

You see people around towing stuff all the time and I wonder if they all really take the time to figure all this out and know the specs. Like just everyday random drivers know all this.

Ricktwuhk

Some are ignorant.

Some are stupid.

Some don't give a crap about endangering themselves and their families, or the public.

My father in-law used to use different sizes tires. He put extra air in the smaller one. He towed with a Mercury Grand Marquis. Broke the hitch on a trip, had it welded back on. Had dealer tell him suspension needed to be replaced. Lost steering, luckily on a side road at 25mph.

Tow safe, or don't tow.

Kd70qc

You are right. Most people don’t pay much attention. Most people don’t use a weight distributing hitch. I was in the parking lot of a big box sporting goods store last week, there was a 2017-2019? F150 parked with a boat connected to it. He had a standard hitch, and I thought The boat probably isn’t too heavy (20’ bass boat). When we came out of the store at looked again, and I noticed that the hitch appeared to be bent down at a 10-15 degree angle. I just saw a post last week with a picture of a broken hitch, so this caught my eye.

As I write this I am camping in a travel trailer for the first time. Over the past few weeks I have been researching all this, and like you, I was a little surprised. The owner of this trailer told me that the GVWR is 4,000 pounds and that it would have 550lbs of tongue weight. He provided a weight distributing hitch, so I thought I would be well within my safety margin, but was concerned that the trailer would be improperly balanced, and would have more tongue weight than he was telling me. (I’m renting.)

The night before, I loaded my truck with everything but one person and some of their stuff. I measured front axle weight, rear axle weight, and total weight. I was at 2340 on my rear axle, which was 1200 lbs below my rear GAWR, and 5560 for total truck weight with the remaining gear, 1040 lbs below my GVWR. I thought, good, that gives me a good margin for error.

the next morning, with the last passenger and their cargo, I had 200 more pounds on the rear axle. Still plenty of margin for error.

When I picked up the trailer, I checked the numbers on its sticker, and with the weight distributing hitch, there was only about an inch of squat. I felt pretty good, so off I went down the road. I definitely noticed the trailer back there, but the truck was accelerating and braking just find, with no trailer sway.





350 miles down the road, I pulled into a truck stop with a CAT scale, and weighed the entire setup for $12.




Towing a 3240 lb trailer I learned the following:

1) The weight distributing hitch and the way the trailer was balanced put 700lbs on my rear axle. Almost 280lbs more than it should be for that load. - but - the truck sat and drove fine.

2) At 3280 lbs under my max GCWR, improperly loaded, I could easily overload my rear axle.

3) properly loaded and balanced, with a weight distributing hitch, I’m sure I could load my truck to the max 6600 lbs my truck is rated for, and tow a 6300lb trailer, or load less in the truck and up to 7,000+ lbs in the trailer. (My truck is rated for 12,900 GCWR. Truck + trailer)

4) The Factory brake controller, electronic stability control, and towing software in the truck are pretty impressive. There is even a trailering checklist that covers each item I learned in the towing guide and on YouTube.

5) My transmission stayed “cool”, running 5-10F hotter than when I commute. (197-205).

6) I got 10 mpg.

7) with that little bit of squat, my headlights were aimed noticeably higher.

So the take-away, is yes, the closer you get to your max rated weight, the more homework you have to do, and a lot of people over load their trucks and/or trailers. Some get lucky. Some have things go very bad for them.

Eff0neFitty

Great post and again why I'm thinking the question "how much can I tow?" cannot be answered with just a single number. The answer is a list of numbers for different ratings and you can't exceed any one of 'em.

I am a bit jealous how my truck has similar specs as yours but has lower weight ratings. What do we think the weakest link is, tire/rim size or something with the suspension?

Ricktwuhk

You're making it way too complicated IMO.