waterboy1974

this towing question has a twist in it ;P

i have a 2013 ford f150 xlt regular cab 8 foot bed 4x4 with 5.0L 3:55 gears

i know how much i can pull (trailer) but now, i have modified the suspension! it has a tough country 6" lift with 35" tires on 20" rims, my questions are: can i pull the same trailer? can i tow more or less?

not planning to tow much, looking to buy a small travel trailer under 6500# (truck WAS rated @ 8100# towing (ford specs) ) and a small tandem axle trailer for my ninja and boulevard

i already drive slow when hauling stuff, not planning on going over 60mph.

your toughts?

thanks

P.S. i'm a newbie on this site

waterboy1974

oh! i forgot! alot of people include their family in their post to see what they carry with them when traveling, i got nothing!!! no wife/girlfriend/kids/dogs/cats/goldfish/hamster ect....just me myself & i :P

smurfs_of_war

The 35's with 3:55 are gonna hurt. You'll be putting a lot of extra strain on the tranny, larger and heavier rolling mass and your going to think your tank has a hole in it- and even with all that get up n' go the 5.0 has, you won't be winning any races. Also, with the lift, any and all towing specifications should be justly thrown out the window...

That being said. In the rear, I believe the RC kit uses a taller block, no? You can get oversized airbags to help there- since the lift will amplify the bulldog look a bit since I think the lifts level the truck out too. The front end- not much can, or to, be done. You will have the OEM coilovers still with a giant spacer up top. I don't think you will need to do anything up there.

If there is one thing I *personally* would keep a very CLOSE eye on- it's your ball joints and tie rod ends. The 6" lift puts some angle on those, add in the heavier 35" rubber and then the weight of a trailer on the back... might make me a tad more attentive to them.

In short- tons of guys do this. No reason you can't. It will be more of a learn-on-the-fly game now, but honestly, can't see why your rig will be any less capable or totally different than before. Just a couple of different items to pay more attention to now

smokeywren

Assuming you mean "without exceeding any of Ford's weight limits", then the answer depends on how close you were with the unmodified pickup.

Less. Your 8,100 pounds tow rating was based in stock suspension and tires. Your tall tires reduced your tow rating significantly, because they changed your effective axle ratio. And the lift increased drag significantly, so the lift also reduced the weight you can tow without issues. Factory tow ratings are overstated. Your real world tow rating based on wet and loaded truck and trailer was probably about 6,500 pounds with the stock truck, assuming just you in the truck. Now with the tall tires and lift, probably around 5,000 pounds gross trailer weight will be the max you can tow without having power and overheating "issues".

Depends on whether that 6,500 pounds is the "dry" shipping weight or the GVWR of the trailer. If it's the shipping weight, you'll be overloaded. If it's the GVWR, then you have a prayer of towing that trailer without exceeding any of Ford's weight limits, provided you don't haul any liquids or "stuff" in the trailer. But just a prayer. My F-150 with 8,400 pounds tow rating is overloaded with my TT that has GVWR of only 5,600 pounds and weighs 4,870 pounds when wet and loaded on the road.

Towing a second trailer behind a TT is illegal in almost all states. You can tow a second trailer behind a fifth wheel or gooseneck trailer in most states, but not behind a TT. So if you planned to "double tow" those two trailers at the same time, check out the legality in all states in which you plan to tow.

But moving to a fifth wheel trailer to make the second trailer legal takes you from the frying pan into the fire. 5ers have more hitch weight than TTs, so it's much easier to overload your F-150 with a small 5er than with a small TT.

Instead of a tandem axle trailer for the toys, look into one of those cargo carriers that connects to the TT with a double receiver, then has one or two small dolly wheels to carry most of the weight on the dolly. No, I have CRS and can't find a link to one right now. Or maybe a HogHauler double carrier, such as this one? Except you would haul them behind the TT instead of behind the tow vehicle.

waterboy1974

thanks for the imput

i'm choosing a small rv because i don't need much, it will be pulled by a 1996 mack ch613 to job site, just in case i need to move it, i want it small enough to be able to pull it with the f150, as for the motorcycles they are gonna be in a small 2000lbs tandem enclosed trailer pull by my truck with my boss behind the wheel.

before the truck, i had a 2012 ford focus with automatic trans. and i pulled a trailer with my 2 bikes in it with all my stuff in the car! the trailer with the bikes weighed about 2600lbs on a 2000lbs aftermarket hitch and made it from montreal to red deer no problem.....exept for gas! on a car that did 740km/tank (47 litres) all loaded up it did an average of 320!!! i expected that from a small car with a 2.0L 160 hp engine!

but now i make good money and hardly ever get to drive my truck so i dont really care about gas and i am white but not white enough to start racing my truck with a trailer behind it, so performance is not an issue :P

i am going to keep an eye on key parts and invest in a few like trans cooler and air bags like you guys mentioned, i bought the truck to take it off road and go places that i will mention eventually, more mods to come, i love to show off so pics will be posted from time to time

here is a pic of my babies together ...........with my old focus in the background

Boulevard

This is really hard to give a solid answer for. The 35's are going to bust your gearing down to about the equivalent of 3.20's, maybe less. The good part is that the truck may not care. If the truck will hold good RPM at the speed that you are travelling than you are good. It really doesn't matter what gear you are in. So, if you can hold 2800 RPM in second gear than good. You may actually have to drive faster so that you get 2400 RPM in third, which is better. I am not saying that those will be the numbers but you get the idea. For me, beauty truck like that, I'd drop a set of 4.11's in it (FORD U.S. have them as an option in their trucks) which would put you very close back to overall stock.

waterboy1974

might be looking to change thise gears to 3:73, i just want to load a trailer and go for a test run first

Boulevard

You will not see any sort of difference between 3.73's and 3.55's...virtually the same gear....100 rpm difference. Go straight to the 4.11's and that will bring you and your 35's back to having the same over all gearing as with the bone stock tires and a 3.55 gear set. There are plenty of internet programs out there that you can use that were made for exactly what you are doing.