Hi,
I have a 2019 supercab f150 3.5 eb max tow pack with 20in rims door show GVWR 7050. According to the tow guide I am good to tow 12900. I currently tow a travel trailer at about 7000# including gear water propane etc. plus payload. Seems to me that towing as much as 12900 on an f150 of any sort is a bit much.
So my question is what is a reasonable weight to be placed behind this truck? Im looking at upgrading the travel trailer and the sales guy said that a trailer weight of 8900 is to much for any f150. I appropriate the sales guys concern but now I am a bit spooked.

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

So... Easy answer-
1 - What does the payload sticker say on your door frame (yellow)
2 - What is the tongue weight of the trailer? ( that is dry weight so add 150lbs or so)
3 - what is the weight of the stuff you plan to haul in the truck? (passengers, dog, cat, tools, anything not stock)

1 - (2 + 3) = Must be greater than zero

This is very basic, but will get you started in the right direction. That towing number is really meaningless, you will run out of cargo capacity (yellow sticker) way before
you will see that max to number.

 

What DMD said... I'll only add that the difference between dry tongue weight and ready to travel tongue weight can be quite substantial on some travel trailers so you really have to scale the trailer tongue the way you're going to haul the trailer to have a realistic number to work from. For example, my TT tongue is listed at 430 pounds dry. But that doesn't include propane, batteries, water, blocks, wheel chucks, etc. My actual tongue weight is 900 pounds ready to roll.

 

That 12,900 is the heaviest trailer your drivetrain can pull without overheating anything in the drivetrain, and without being the slowpoke holding up traffic on hills and passes. But that is not the limiter as to how much weight you can tow without exceeding any of the F-150 weight restrictions.

You can pretty much ignore GCWR (and tow rating which is based on GCWR), because by the time your load reaches GCWR you've exceeded GVWR and/or rear GAWR, and/or your hitch weight rating. Instead, be concerned with the max weight that the weakest component of your hitch can handle, and with the GVWR (and payload capacity which is based on GVWR) of your tow vehicle. GVWR is usually the limiter of an F-150, but if you are under GVWR, then also check the rear GAWR

Depends on the payload you haul in/on the truck when towing. You can guesstimate your payload, but most of us are lousy at guesstimating. So here's what I recommend you do to determine the max weight of a travel trailer (TT) you want to buy:

1] Load the F-150 with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing.
2]] Drive to truck stop that has a truck scale and fill up with gas.
3]] Weigh the wet and loaded F-150
4] Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded F-150 from the GVWR oft the F-150. The answer is the max hitch weight you can have without being overloaded.
5] Subtract 100 pounds from the max hitch weight and the answer is the max tongue weight (TW) of any TT you want to consider. (That 100 pounds is for the weight of a good WD hitch, such as an Equal-I-Zer)
6] Divide the max TW by 13% and the answer is the max gross trailer weight of any TT you want o consider.

 

Thanks for all the good info. I guess I am looking to understand that the truck can pull 8900# trailer. I got some math to do.
Thx again

 

quick numbers
curb weight 5000
people weight 370
food/etc in back of truck 400
=5770
7050 gvwr - 5770=1280-100 for hitch=1180/13%=9076
sounds reasonable to me.

 

Is that 8900 a dry or GVW of the trailer? Big difference there. Also, what's the length of the trailer? There's a huge difference towing a flatbed trailer with 8900 of cement blocks rather than an 8900 trailer with 8'x32' walls to catch wind.

Don't let the tail wag the dog!

 

8900 dry...Good point and this is in anticipation of buying a new TT. Length I want to keep about the same as my current TT which is 32'. bumper to tongue and 5300 dry.
Do you suppose I would notice a big difference in towing the extra 3500#s?

 

Sure you would notice a difference. It's not just 3500 pounds. With a bigger/heavier trailer, you'll likely add more contents, adding even more weight.

To be very blunt and honest, you're wishing and hoping your truck can do what a 3/4 or 1 ton is designed to do. I actually think you've found the one and only honest RV salesman that is watching out for your (and others) safety instead of making a quick sale. He advised well.

Tow ratings on any vehicle are measured in a very precise "laboratory" setting that doesn't reflect real world scenarios such as traffic and a trailer that is shaped like a huge box instead of a flat bed trailer with flat sheets of steel for weight. The tow rating is also based on a completely empty tow vehicle that only includes a 150 pound driver...Not a happy go lucky overweight camper, his wife, their fur babies and a couple big-gulps in the cup holders. The tow rating also can be a huge amount (in your case 12,900) but the hitch may only have a limit of 1000 pound tongue weight...limiting the actual tow rating of the vehicle.

This is not even getting into the fact that you've got an aluminum body, light weight truck and you're asking it to bumper tow a trailer that could easily outweigh it by 30% or more.

My signature lists my current tow vehicle (F250) and travel trailer. I pulled the same trailer with a F150 Ecoboost and was within my ratings; however, the truck was maxed out by the trailer...it weighs 7500 fully loaded and is 29' 6" long. The F250 upgrade was welcomed with a much safer and confident feeling towing experience.

Smokeywren's calculation in post #4 is spot on. Give it a shot and see what your truck can actually safely tow.

 

I don't believe the OP's yellow payload sticker says 2,050.