OK this is just trivia, sitting here having my morning coffee. I don't need any help with towing but get a kick out of so many messages that start like this (probably the #1 question in this section). No wonder everyone has questions, when you get mislead by the manufacturer and the dealer. I can see how people get in trouble, the brochure said I could. The latest FORD promo email reads (wow 14,000 #'s)

Whether you’re hauling something for business, or hitchin’ the boat up for the weekend, the 2023 F‑150 has everything you need to power your journey forward. With best‑in‑class available payload¥, impressive power ratings, and enough strength to tow up to 14,000 lbs^, this workhorse is the ultimate work hard, play hard pickup.

 

You can get a F150 that will get 25 mpg and you can get a F150 that will tow 14,000 lbs. But you can't do both with the same truck.

It's not just Ford. And if you get the right equipment, it is possible to safely PULL 14,000 lbs with SOME trucks. The problem is that Ford doesn't build many of those trucks.

And while it isn't just a Ford issue, I think it is more confusing with Ford. They offer so many options and packages that it makes things more complicated. All manufacturers have to meet CAFE standards which is the average fuel mileage of all vehicles sold by that manufacturer. To meet those standards Ford has to build a LOT of trucks that won't tow anywhere near 14,000 lbs to offset the fuel mileage of those that will.

I'm more familiar with Toyota than Chevy or Ram. Toyota builds a lot of cars rated near 40 MPG that can offset trucks that get poor fuel mileage. Properly equipped a F150 will tow more than is possible with any Tundra. But most of the Tundra's actually built will come much closer to meeting their advertised tow ratings. They build all of them pretty much the same with less regard to squeezing more MPG's out of them.

 

It's not only Ford with their deceptive advertising tactics, it's the world. I certainly pays to investigate, the more expensive the purchase, the more I investigate, then the safety thing too.

 

And they all use the word "tow" when they mean "pull". Here's our truck towing a train, or a plane.

A hay wagon can have no tongue weight and be very heavy, and be pulled. But, most trailers have tongue weight that dramatically lowers the capacity.

 

On the newest Ford's, you can get a scale option. Clearly one of the main intents of this is to help the driver ensure they don't exceed payload. On another forum/FB, a Lightning owner put around 3,000 pounds in their bed / trailer tongue, dramatically overweight, saying the scale didn't go high enough...