so you are telling me need a 350 to haul grocery's and bikes is educated I get the sarcasm about how much it could haul it is up to you the consumer to figure out 3/4 of the people here should not be allowed to town a 4x8 trailer but they are out towing 8000 pound TT did you know a focus can do 0-60 in under 4 seconds but wait you need the 50000$ RS to do that not the 15000$ special

 

 

Yeah HD 150, I'm pretty uneducated..... says the man who uses no capitalization / punctuation / sentence structure.

 

I'll re-phrase what I said so I don't appear to be such a slack-jawed yokel.
The newer trucks have enormous "towing" numbers but they are fictitious because you'll hit GVWR and/or rear GAWR at a much lower trailer weight, assuming the trailer is balanced within reason. Therefore the HDPP truck, with it's considerably better payload, most certainly can tow a bigger trailer. The quip I made about needing a 350 to haul groceries was aimed at the fact that, despite GVWR's pushing 8000 lbs, the payloads are relatively disappointing because the trucks have gotten extremely heavy with options and creature comforts. FWIW, 250's experience this problem also, which is why I HAVE a 350. My point is that I think it's ridiculous the mfgr's can publish these vague and misleading numbers. It's also sad that the salesman in original post didn't know enough about his wares to understand the relationship between the two factors in question.
With that being said, I'll go back to skinnin' my possum and sippin' shine.

 

Delete - duplicate

 

“It's also sad that the salesman in original post didn't know enough about his wares to understand the relationship between the two factors in question.“

Maybe there’s a reason the HDPP is separate from the Max Tow Package. He just might be smarter than all of us.

 

Okay, sure.

 

I guess the ultimate issue is whether or not the 15% "rule" actually matters in real life. There is no sticker on the F150 that say max pin weigh is to be no more than XXXX lbs. It does say this for the conventional hitch which is clearly marked with a sticker that says max tongue weight and trailer weight right on it

J2807 was simply there to make a level playing field in the MFG's claims. That way Ford cant claim they can tow a million tons because the driver was a toddler and weighs 50 lbs, they removed all the seats from the truck, and they had no spare tire and a 1/4 tank of fuel. That said, I dont think that J2807 was taken under any consideration by the federal gov or state govs however.

So my conclusion is that, whether ford wants me to or not, I can tow beyond 15% pin weight if my GVWR, RAWR, and GCWR support it. How could a cop pull me over, weigh my truck, and give me a ticket if everything is within spec and there is nothing that says pin weight must be =< XXXX lbs.

 

SAE only determines the method to set the max tow rating, Ford sets it. The 15% rule does seem to hold true for most f150 configurations just as you are limited by the 10% hitch weight mainly because of hitch rating for conventional towing. Ford knocks the tow ratings down on HDPP trucks by giving it a lower GCWR than the same truck with max tow. I’m not even concerned about the legality aspect, it’s a gray area that Ford needs to make black or white.

 

I have constructed a graphical representation of the towing capabilities between a 2018 F-150 with max trailer tow (MTT) and a 2018 F-150 with the heavy duty payload package (HDPP). For each configuration, I made 2 graphs: 1 with an assumed tongue weight of 10% of the total trailer weight and 1 with an assumed tongue weight of 15% of the total trailer weight.

Here is the data I used, which came from the F-150 Conventional Towing section of the 2018 Ford RV & Trailer Towing Guide. For both configurations, I used 157" wheel base supercrews with 4x4 and the 3.5L ecoboost engine.

Max Trailer Tow:
Axle Ratio: 3.55
Max GCWR: 18,400
Max Tow Rating: 13,000

Heavy Duty Payload Package:
Axle Ratio: 3.73
Max GCWR: 17,100
Max Tow Rating: 11,500

For the MTT, I assumed a GVWR of 7,050 lbs with a payload rating of 1,800 lbs. For the HDPP, I assumed a GVWR of 7,850 lbs with a payload rating of 2,600 lbs. Note that the payload rating directly affects the GVWR limit lines on the graphs below but has no effect on the max tow rating or GCWR lines.

For simplicity, I am assuming here that using a proper weight-distributing hitch will keep you under the front and rear GAWR as long as you are within the GVWR. It is always recommended to get weighed for verification.


Here is the MTT with 10% TW:




For any given payload used, the towing capacity is limited by the lowest line. As you can see, from a payload of 0 to about 150 lbs, the rated max towing capacity is the lowest line. From about 150 to 540 lbs of payload, the GCWR line is the lowest. And from about 540 lbs up to the maximum payload of 1,800 lbs, the GVWR line is the lowest.


Here is the MTT with 15% TW:




Just like the previous graph, the rated max towing capacity line crosses the GCWR line at about 150 lbs. However these don't matter since with a 15% tongue weight, the GVWR line is always the lowest line.


Here is the HDPP with 10% TW:




As you can see. the rated max towing capacity line crosses the GCWR line at about 350 lbs. The GCWR line crosses the GVWR line at about 1,570 lbs.


Here is the HDPP with 15% TW:




Just like the previous graph, the rated max towing capacity line crosses the GCWR line at about 350 lbs. The GCWR line crosses the GVWR line at about 960 lbs.


To put all this in perspective, I combined the two 10% graphs and the two 15% graphs into two final graphs that show all the lines using the same scale. For clarity, I made all the MTT lines one color and all the HDPP lines another color.


Here is the 10% TW comparison:




Here is the 15% TW comparison:




On the final graphs you can see that the HDPP generally has much more useable towing capacity than the MTT.

Final verdict: unless a skinny driver is traveling alone with no cargo, the HDPP wins.