F150alabama

I’m in the Army and am trying to make the most of moving. We are moving from Alabama to Anchorage, AK. Would I be able to tow a 7500 lb enclosed trailer 7x14 with a 2007 F150 5.4 4x4? If not, what would you suggest? Thanks for your help!

techrep

iTrader: (1)

If that is loaded weight .. no problem.. you will need trailer brakes and a WDH.

BlackBoost

No idea what stats are for 2007 models or the 5.4L. Best answer is to look up the stats and capacities for your truck's model and configuration and go from there.

F150alabama

Thanks, yes the trailer weighs 2300 lbs and we would have 5000lbs of stuff.

F150alabama

Thanks, I am looking at buying a truck and the 2007 is in my budget. I’m having a hard time tracking down the specs for the truck without having one here to look at.

smokeywren

Not enough info for a comprehensive reply. But assuming the worst case of a SuperCrew with 3.55 axle, then your GCWR is 14,000 pounds and your tow rating is 8,100 pounds. But you can achieve the tow rating trailer weight only if your wet and loaded F-150 weighs less than (14,000 minus 8,100 =) 5,900 pounds.


On a PCS move, your F-150 will probably weigh a lot more than 5,900 pounds, so what's the next check? You will exceed the GCWR of your F-150 with a 7,500-pound cargo trailer if your wet and loaded F-150 weighs more than (14,000 minus 7,500 =) 6,500 pounds before you tie onto the trailer.


That means nothing in the pickup but people with total weight of less than 600 pounds. All other weight must go into the trailer and not in the pickup.


And even then, GCWR may not be your limiter as to max trailer weight. GVWR is probably your limiter. If you load the pickup to 6,500 pounds, then tie on a 7,500 pound cargo trailer, the properly-loaded trailer will have about 1,000 pounds of hitch weight, including the weight of the required WD hitch. That's about 7,500 pounds on the two truck axles, and I'll bet your GVWR is less than 7,500. (A 2012 F-150 4x4 has GVWR of 7,200 pounds).


So I would guess than when you get on the road and stop at a truck stop that has a CAT scale and weight the rig, you're going to be overloaded over the GVWR of your F-150. You might get by with an overloaded tow vehicle for a short trip to the beach, but expect trouble on the long haul across the ALCan highway.


If your axle ratio is 3.73, then the GCWR and tow rating increses b 1,000 pounds. But your GVWR remains the same, so GVWR is probably your limiter.


Another concern is weight capacity of your trailer tires. If your trailer has ST205/75R15C tires, that's not enough weight capacity to handle a 7,500 pound trailer. So you may need to do what I did on my 7k cargo trailer, replace the tires with ST225/75R15 D or E and replace the 5.5" wide rims with 6" wide rims.



Don't be overloaded over any of the weight limits of truck or trailer. Get rid of whatever weight you must get rid of to stay within the weight capacities of truck and trailer. Use the nearby CAT scale to be sure you're not overloaded before you head for Alaska. If you are overloaded, then take out some of the weight and ship it via UPS or a freight company. Then weigh it again to be sure.


The CAT scale will give you 4 weights, steer axle, drive axle, trailer axles, and gross combined weight.


1] Add the weights on the steer and drive axle to get GVW, and compare the GVW to the GVWR of the F-150. That's your most likely problem.


2] compare the weight on the drive axle to the rGAWR of the F-150.


3] add the GAWR of both axles of the trailer to get combined GAWR. Compare the combined GAWR of the trailer to the trailer axle weight


4] compare the gross weight of the rig to the GCWR of the F-150


And again, you don't want to be overloaded over any of those weight limits, especially on the long haul to AK.