Crank001

I had a 2103 explorer sport.. 3.5 eco boost, 6 speed trans with tow package that I've pulled my 2013 rock wood mini light trailer around for 2 years.
Trailer wet was just under 4300 lbs.
I wanted a bigger truck and trailer. I just bought a 2015 f150 full load with once again 3.5 Eco boost and max tow.
I just brought my 22 foot trailer in for its trade in inspection and hated every second of it. The trailer controls the truck. We did have wind gusts that day, but nothing crazy. The explorer never lacked power in tow mode and NEVER down geared far enough to see 5000 rpm on the dash, on level ground, coming to a stop sign.

I'm looking at at 27 foot trailer, dry it's just over 6000 lbs. if this truck pulls like that with a mini light WTF is it going to do with a bigger trailer?

Would hooking up my torsion bars on such a light trailer on the new truck effect it?
Does the transmission have to learn how to operate in tow mode for a while to figure out shift points?

At this point with the small trailer the explorer kicked the living crap out of my new f150 hands down.
Pulling the small trailer up a hill the transmission must have shifted 3 or four times slowing down the hole time. I've done that hill plenty with the explorer and it just laughed at it.
Advice ?

smokeywren

Depends on exactly which options your F-150 has, and where you're towing with a cheap hitch or a really-good WD hitch such as the Reese Strait-Line, Blue Ox SwayPro, or Equal-I-Zer. Or the best hitch of all, my ProPride 3P.


With max tow but without HD Payload pkg, then a dry 6,000 pound trailer is probably going to exceed the GVWR (and payload capacity) of the F-150. You'll have more than enough power to pull the load, but not enough payload capacity to haul the hitch weight of an 8,000-pound wet and loaded TT without exceeding the GVWR of the F-150.

Yes, definitely. My TT grosses only 4,870 pounds when wet and loaded on the road, but it certainly requires the spring bars to be hooked up to achieve decent handling.

Power is not a concern with my 2012 3.5L EcoBoost drivetrain. I made one trip 350 miles through the Hill Country of Central Texas dragging a 20,000-pound gooseneck trailer with no problems other than 6.5 MPG. I made another trip on that same route dragging my old 8,000-pound 5er with no problems other than 9 MPG. And I have the "tall " 3.15 axle ratio instead of the shorter legs of the 3.55 in your truck.

Crank001

From what I see I have a 7050 gvwr package with max tow.
Towing capacity is 11,100 lbs on paper. I don't think I'd ever want to come close to that.

The torsion bars are from our horse trailer that at this point I have big reservations about pulling it with one horse in it.

It's husky .. 500-1000 lbs

sunofabeach

Did you make any adjustments to your hitch after switching vehicles?

feifel

iTrader: (3)

What wdh do you use ? I have a Reese dual can and its a breeze pulling my 27' 6600 tt

Crank001

It's a husky weight distributing hitch. Only info i have is on the bars. 500-1000 lbs.

I'm looking at a new set up to go with the new trailer. This worked great with the explorer and a mini light trailer.

I'm concerned as to how the truck responded to 3600 lbs of a dry trailer behind it. Because it rather sucked.
Could strapping the torsion bars down as much as I did on the explorer cause this, as in did I create a situation with a bigger tow vehicle that now wants more weight ?
I cranked it down the same as I would have on the explorer.
I'm hoping I did something wrong.
Trailer was eye ball level. But if the explorer can pull that thing wet or dry, why the heck would it feel squirly in a f150, even if it had just a factory tow package. It still pulls more then the explorer.

feifel

iTrader: (3)

Did you readjust the wdh with your new truck? I know stupid question but I had to ask also I added a hellwig rear sway bar to my truck and that tightened up the rear end

Crank001

It went down one hole per bolt.

sunofabeach

I would attribute this to not having the hitch adjusted properly.

The amount of weight distribution required by your Explorer and your F150 probably won't be anywhere similar.

Get your new trailer and hitch, then go through the process of adjusting it properly. I think it will do just fine.

My current F150 tows my 7400lbs wet trailer just fine.

Mattwrotethis

I was the opposite, I HATED my truck until i towed with it.

2014 Supercab with the 3.7, 3.73s, and the towing package. It's a beast towing my 18' utility trailer no matter what I put on it. Tows better than three of the four V8 trucks I've owned.