Kristina

Okay so I own a 2015 f150 3.5l ecoboost with max tow package and 3.55 ratio. We currently own a kz 220 but it has no slide and with 6 dogs we are finding it cramped. Our truck hauls it no problem. It's unloaded weight is around 3500 pounds. We would love to upgrade and have narrowed things down to a couple of floor plan options but the whole towing thing is confusing. I found a couple of calculators online and even they disagree sometimes. Max payload for my truck says 1795 pounds. The trailers we are looking at is the Rockwood 2608 which has an unloaded weight of around 6600 lbs and a hitch weight of 796 lbs. It says cargo capacity is just over 2000 lbs and it is just under 30 feet total length. The other option we are looking at is a rear kitchen option, we are not sure of which brand but they all seem to be around 33 feet total length and somewhere in the 6000 to 7000 pound range unloaded. The cargo a carrying capacities vary greatly but our plan is actually to take out a couch to make room for dogs. My dogs are pomeranian so very little, all 6 would only total about 30 pounds. To give you an idea, there is only my husband and myself and our combined weight is well under 300lbs. We travel pretty light most of the time and only go a few hours away from home. We wouldn't be doing a lot of long hauls where we would be really loading up the truck or trailer. Do you think we are pushing the limits of towing for our truck? Thanks for any advice.

bstar1952

My '17 XLT has just about the same payload as yours and we tow a 34' East to West travel trailer, rear kitchen model. Weights are right in the range you mentioned, 6450 lbs empty but with a 900 lb tongue weight. We're at about 7200 lbs loaded. Even with the truck loaded up, we have about 350 lbs to spare in payload. This set-up tows very well, returned from a 1300 mile trip recently and had no problems whatsoever. I have installed Bilstein 5100 rear shocks, rear Hellwig sway control, SumoSprings in the rear and am using a Fastway E2 WDH". Also installed a set of Cooper AT3 LT tires. We are careful when loading the TT though, want to seek about a 12% to 13% tongue weight. From my experience and my opinion only, and we take long trips, you'll be fine. We're heading out on a 3000 mile plus trip next month and have have no worries with our set-up. We average right at 9 MPG most of the time. Happy travels.........

marshallr

Your tongue weights after the trailers are loaded will be more, figure 13%+ 100 lbs for a weight distribution hitch. The 6600 lb trailer will have 850 lbs on your tongue unloaded. Factor in another 100 lbs for a WDH and that would leave you about 850 lbs for the driver, passengers, and cargo in the truck. If you load it to the max 2000 lbs then you'll be pulling 8600 lbs with over 1200 lbs on the tongue. That would only leave 577 lbs. With you and your husbands weight of 300 combined that only leaves 277 lbs for camping gear and other stuff in the truck, doable, but cutting it close.

I think you'd be OK with that trailer, or any others at about the same weight. I'd just not go crazy heavy when packing. But I'd not want to go much heavier.

acdii

Please ignore list dry weight and tongue weight because you will never ever see them and you certainly do not want to tow with the posted tongue weight unless you enjoy driving with a death grip on the wheel.

Take the dry weight and add at the very least 1200 pounds to it, divide that by .13 to get tongue weight. That should give you a good baseline to stick with. The other method to use if a trailer has a low cargo capacity is the GVWR divided .13. That would be the max that trailer would weigh.

On average a trailer with a GVWR of ~7600 pounds is ideal for the F-150. There are a lot of choices in that weight range too.

smokeywren

There is only one sure method to determine the max trailer weight you can tow without being overloaded.

1] Load the truck with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing, including all the dogs and the dogfood and water that will be in the truck with the dogs.
2] Drive to a truck stop that has a CAT scale, fill up with gas, then weigh the wet and loaded F-150.
3] Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded F-150 from the GVWR of the F-150. The answer is payload capacity available for hitch weight.
4] Subtract 100 pounds from the payload capacity available for hitch weight to get payload capacity available for tongue weight (TW).
5] Divide the payload capacity available for TW by 13% (0.13). The answer is the max GVWR of any travel trailer (TT) you want to consider. {If the trailer specs do not include GVWR, then dry weight plus cargo carrying capacity (CCC) = GVWR}

You have the sane drivetrain I have, and I'll guarantee you that you have more than enough power to pull any trailer that's within the weight limits determined by the above exercise.

But just for grins, on the first trip with the wet and loaded truck and trailer, stop at a CAT scale, fill up with gas, and weight the wet and loaded rig. Add the weights on the front and rear axles of the F-150 to get GVW. Compare GVW to the GVWR of the F-150. As long as GVW does not exceed GVWR, you're golden. An you will absolutely love the performance of that drivetrain.

Flamingtaco

The LP tanks will add about 100lbs to the tongue (once filled), as will the WDH, so you are starting off with a tongue weight right at 13%/1000lb. You shouldn't deviate from that percentage much, so expect to consume 1200lbs of payload.

Within limits (as long as you watch the tongue weight). Since you are only driving a few hours, doesn't matter if you go 60 or 50 or 40, or whatever mph you feel comfortable to maintain.

Personally, I'd plan for things to not go to plan. You never know when a fire (or whatever) will close your favorite nearby park, or your wife's BFF from high school invites you half way across the country, and now you're doing a two or three day drive.

Kristina

Yes we know there is the possibility of a longer trip here or there but it would be very rare. We plan to go to the scales to get a better idea of the weight of what we normally carry is but it is just the two of us am the poms so not a lot of stuff to take.

Stitan

My tow vehicle is a 3.5cc 4x4 with max tow. Pulling a 7000lb 30' from tailer bumper to ball with no issues at all using a Equal-i-zer hitch. Im glad i didnt go longer but no doubt the truck would pull a longer trailer. A lot of state parks have a 30' max Btw.

Kristina

Is that unloaded weight?

Stitan

Loaded, we do camp dry most of the time. Even when i had fresh water full it made no difference.