All the major manufacturers of pickups do this. They all say

never exceed the GVWR, front and rear GAWRs or GCWR.

Not the maximum specs that can be had on that pickup with the judicious choice of factory options, but the actual specs of that exact pickup as equipped from the factory.

and your pickup must be "properly equipped" for safely towing the load you want to tow.

So the max tongue weight you can have without being overloaded is 500 pounds. That's a properly-loaded tandem-axle equipment trailer with a wet and loaded weight of about 3,850 pounds. For a trailer without much tongue weight, such as a farmer's grain trailer, the max trailer weight you can pull is 5,000 pounds. But a properly-loaded equipment trailer loaded to 5,000 pounds gross trailer weight will have tongue weight of about 650 pounds, so you cannot tow even a 5k equipment trailer loaded to more than about 3,850 pounds gross trailer weight without being overloaded.

No. You pulled that number out of the air, or rounded down the actual tow rating between 7,500 and 7,900. The towing capacity for a 2012 F-150 with 5.0L V8 engine and PROPERLY EQUIPPED WITH A TOWING PACKAGE ranges from 7,500 to 9,700 pounds without need for a heavier-duty payload package, depending on wheelbase (cab and bed length), and 4x2 or 4x4. But for your F-150 that doesn't have a towing package, the towing capacity is 5,000 pounds. The 2012 RV and Trailer Towing Guide states very clearly, in big bold letters and not a footnote, that the required equipment for towing with an F-150 "for trailers over 5,000 pounds - Trailer Tow Package or Max Trailer Tow Package ". And that 5.000 pounds towing capacity assumes you don't exceed the 500 pounds tongue weight capacity, GVWR or rear GAWR of your F-150. So to repeat the above, the towing capacity of your F-150 for a tandem-axle equipment trailer is about 3,850 pounds, limited by the 500 pounds tongue weight capacity. GM and Ram with similarly-equipped half-ton pickups probably have about the same towing capacity.

 

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