acdii

If you were to review all the posts under this subforum, the most frequently asked question is, what can I tow, or can I tow this, or how much trailer can I tow. Pretty much all boil down to the same answer.

Here is a link to a really good worksheet for getting the weights down to see if you are within the weights for your TV. https://www.f150forum.com/f82/number...4/#post5656287

If we treat this as a living document, maybe get it sticky status as a go to guide for NEWB's looking to tow, or for those who want to upgrade from a pop-up.

Note about GCWR on 15+ https://www.f150forum.com/f82/number...5/#post6005916

There really is one, and only one limiting factor that determines how much your truck can tow. Regardless of your engine, transmission, driveline, or any additional helper springs added on, Payload limits what you can tow.*


With a tag along, AKA bumper pull, trailer, to properly tow, you must have between 10 and 15% of the trailer weight resting on the trucks ball. Any less and you have a tail heavy sway monster, any more and you overload the trucks hitch, and cause extreme handling conditions with raising the front wheels of the truck to a point where steering is greatly affected. (exception to this are small cargo trailers that weigh less than 2000# fully loaded, you can load heavy on the ball as long as it doesn't exceed the hitches rating, without impacting the truck, since they rarely go over 500# TW. In these cases it is always a good idea to put the heaviest items at the front of the trailer)

Payload is the amount of weight above the trucks actual fueled, empty weight that it can carry. This weight includes all passengers, the driver, any and all cargo in the bed, the weight of the hitch itself and the weight of the trailer that is on the ball. This is based on the trucks engine and gearing combination, type of frame, body style, and options installed. An example of this is a 2.7 EB vs a 3.5 EB or 5.0. The GVWR of the 2.7 will be lower than either of the other 2 engines, therefor, limiting its payload, towing capacity and GCWR. This is reflected in it's payload on the sticker.

To determine how much trailer your truck can tow, it is fairly simple to find out. Start by weighing the truck empty, then with the occupants who would normally travel in the truck when trailering. Subtract the empty weight from the loaded weight, this tells you how much payload has been used. Subtract this amount from the GVWR, which is shown on a White tag applied to either the drivers door, or the drivers side B pillar.

The difference then determines how much trailer you can legally tow. Keep in mind that any and all cargo in the bed, and the weight of the hitch will need to be subtracted from the difference as well. In some cases, you wont know what you will have back there, so keep this in mind when looking to give yourself some wiggle room on weight.

When looking for a trailer, using a ballpark of 13% for tongue weight, take the GVWR of the trailer and multiply by 13%, .13. This will give you what 13% of the trailer fully maxed out will weigh on the ball.

Example, 7700 GVWR trailer X .13 = 1001. (little known odditiy, on a windows machine, using calc.exe, if you do 7700/13%, and dont hit enter, you will get the same answer)

In my case, I had a 2014 F150 that had a 1470# payload. Based on the above calculations, my truck can pull that trailer with me and my two kids with the trailer maxed out. Considering that the trailer should never be maxed out while traveling, you should always make sure to account for the occupants weight when camping so as to not stress out the stabilizers, you should always have a decent fudge factor.

Once I had my trailer configured with all our supplies, bedding, clothing and full tanks(black and grey should be near full for a baseline, but not needed), I loaded everyone in and went to the scales. Turns out I was over by 400# on the trucks GVWR and on the axles, but I was way below the GCWR which was 14,000#. My GCWR was 12,700#. Wait, I am 1300# under GCWR but my truck is overloaded? How can that be?

This is where people make a huge mistake when buying a truck and trailer, they use GCWR as their buying factor instead of using the trucks Payload. That max GCWR is only useful if your a farmer, or work in construction, and pull trailers that use pintle hitches and dont have tongue weight.

In my case, I had overlooked a couple factors that put me over GVWR and GAWR. For one, I had a RWD truck without a tow package. It had 3.15 gearing. I also had an ARE topper that added 200# to the bed, oops, forgot about that. I also did not factor in that I would be carrying a generator and 5 gallons of gas, tools, and other misc gear in the bed, well theres another 150#. It all added up to me being 400# over, guess what honey, you will have to take the car. In reality, it actually worked out extremely well. My mom travels with us, so the two women drive the car, and drive ahead to scout out rest stops and gas stations, and gives us wheels if we need to head into town for items, and not have to take the truck. The kids can either ride with me, or with them.

If you already have a trailer, and know it's weight and you are in the market for a tow vehicle, shop by that yellow tag, look for one that has the highest payload, and keep in mind that the higher the package and the more the options, the lower that number will be.

In the F150 lineup, an XLT 300a Screw cab with 6.5' bed, will have a huge payload compared to a Platinum Screw with 6.5' bed, by as much as 1000# or more! But how can that be, aren't they all the same truck? The cab, mechanicals, frame and bed are, but that is where the similarities end. A manual cloth seat can weigh as much as 50# less than a Heated/cooled, 10 way memory seat with massage in a Platinum. A pair of those just ate 100 pounds of payload. Pick up one of those seats and you will know, I have a 2012 FX4 H/C 10 way in my basement, it is HEAVY! Add in a sunroof, power rear slider window, subwoofer, inverter, and all those other fancy items into the cab, and they all eat away at the payload. Externally add the power running boards, BLIS, and even that shiny tailgate emblem and you ate up even more payload.

That old adage of have your cake and eat it too, does not apply here!

If you want a solid tow vehicle that can haul a nice heavy trailer, whether it is a Tag-a-long or a 5th wheel, you have to forego the luxury items if you want a 1/2 ton truck. If you want those luxury items, you have to go to a 1 ton to get them. Even a 3/4 ton can have payload issues if you chose to go full bore superduty and get one with a Powerstroke diesel. When shopping for my 2016 I looked at a 2015 F250 diesel, and at some XLT 5.0. Guess which ones had the higher payload, yep the XLT's, by 200 pounds.

When shopping for a trailer, disregard book values for tongue weight and dry weights and focus on GVWR. Reason being is that these values are on a base model with no options, no propane tanks, and no batteries. They are also calculated weights, not actual weights from a scale. This is what it should weigh, not what it actually weighs.

Instead, focus on one number, GVWR. This is the maximum amount of weight the trailers frame and suspension can carry, and also a number that the majority of owners would never even get close to.

Confusing? Maybe, on one hand, ignore GCWR when shopping, and on the other focus on GVWR. Don't get them confused with each other. For the majority of trucks out there that have a tow package, the gearing will be configured to get the max GCWR for that engine. In most cases, the GCWR will exceed the payload rating for that particular truck.


So when you are in the market for a travel trailer or other large trailer, and already have a truck, hopefully you will find the above information handy to pick out the trailer best suited for your needs and your truck. If you have a trailer and need a truck, then hopefully you will find this handy to find the right truck.


* There are a few exceptions to this. A zero weight hitch, where the trailer is flat towed such as a hay wagon, or similar, in this instance, you can tow up to the max GCWR of the truck. Some trailers can load heavy over the axles, like a Horse trailer, and not affect TW, which allows for GCWR as well.




GVWR = Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. This is the maximum amount the vehicle can weigh
GAWR = Gross Axle Weight Rating. This is the maximum amount of weight an axle can carry.
GCWR = Gross Combined Weight Rating. The maximum amount of combined weight between truck and trailer that the entire rig can weigh.
Tag-A-Long/Tagalong = Bumper pull trailer, one that uses a ball and socket that is attached to the receiver on the back of a vehicle.
Fifth Wheel/5th Wheel = This is a trailer that uses a pin and is hitched to a platform in the bed of the truck that centers the weight over the rear axle. Similar to a semi trailer configuration. These are usually very heavy, large trailers that are pulled by 3/4 - 1 ton trucks due to their heavy pin weight, though there are some 1/2 ton trucks and some trailers in this category that can be matched up.
TW = Tongue Weight. The amount of weight directly on the ball. This in addition to the weight of the hitch is subtracted from the trucks payload

Item not mentioned as they have no direct bearing on this;

WDH = Weight Distributing Hitch. This is a type of hitch used to redistribute tongue weight forward and rearward, and in some cases control sway. These are required for any trailer that exceeds 500 pounds of tongue weight, or for trailers that are prone to sway.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

A simple guide ... thanks

acdii

Minor items that I didn't add for reasons that for the most part are already above required ratings.

Tire load ratings. These usually exceed axle ratings, but if you are looking at used trucks, make sure that if the OEM tires were replaced, the replacements have equal or higher load ratings. Pretty good article a I ran across in my research, http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/tow...-load-ratings/

LT tires are a decent option, they have stiffer side walls to handle weight better, but don't think they will increase the payload, they wont.

Adding lifts can also affect your payload, so make sure you weigh the truck when all is done. Larger wheels, tires, and lift kits all add weight.

Don't assume that adding helper springs, air bags, or other suspension enhancements will increase your payload. While they may allow your truck to handle more weight, legally, that yellow sticker says otherwise. They will also NOT increase your GAWR.

Adding them to enhance ride quality and handling, , adding them to tow more weight, .

Just remember, just because the truck can tow and haul more above it's GVWR and Payload, doesn't mean you should. If for some reason there is a crash, even if you were not the cause of it, if someone is injured, or worse, killed as a part of it, if word gets to a lawyer, and it most likely will, that you ran overloaded, lets just say, you wont be having a good day. In a crash with injuries or a death, the police investigate everything, which takes several hours and usually closes the road. They go through skid marks, vehicles loads, taking measurements of debris to determine where first contact occurred, from which direction, and although they don't actually weigh everything, they can determine based on the tags of the truck and trailer and cargo if the vehicle was within legal limits. Since this all gets documented and lawyers have full access to this information, do you really want to experience this?

smokeywren

I hate "fudge factors", because most people underestimate the weight they will haul and thus wind up being overloaded.


Much better is to load the tow vehicle up with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing. People, pets, tools, jacks, jack stands, campfire wood, toys, everything that will be in the truck and not in the trailer. Then subtract the weight of the wet and loaded truck from the GVWR of the truck and the answer is the maximum payload capacity available for hitch weight. Subtract another 100 pounds (approximate weight of a good weight-distributing hitch) from the maximum payload capacity available for hitch weight and the answer is the maximum payload capacity available for trailer tongue weight. Divide the maximum payload capacity available for trailer tongue weight by 13% and the answer is a very close to the maximum wet and loaded weight of any tandem-axle travel trailer you can tow without being overloaded.

If you want to be certain you don't buy more trailer than you can tow without being overloaded, then divide the maximum payload capacity available for trailer tongue weight by 15% instead of 13%. And if you want a fudge factor, then then divide the maximum payload capacity available for trailer tongue weight by more than 15%.

For example, if you have 900 pounds available for trailer tongue weight, dividing by 13% = 6,923. Dividing by 15% = 6,000. Dividing by 18% = 5,000 pounds.

acdii

Good points. When weighing the truck without trailer though, put the hitch on, and any parts such as the bars and sway bar if it has one, in the bed touching the tail gate. The majority of people will have one of the types of hitches that have these. There are a few hitches that are attached to the trailer, like the Hensley that you will need to estimate.

Reason I chose 13%, its right in the middle, and if the person loading the trailer does so in a way to balance and not overload the trailer, they will fall in that range. In my case I am at 11%, its just the nature of the trailer and we travel light. A good thing to do though, is once you decide on a trailer or trailers, get some feedback on what the TW percentage others have found with their setup. Some trailers by nature can be tail heavy or nose heavy just by the design of their floor plan. I have a bunkhouse with the bunks and bath in the rear, as well as the refer sitting just behind the rear axle, making it tail heavy when empty. Sliders especially fall into this category depending on where they are located.

As Smokey pointed out, give yourself a min-max starting at 13% and the whoa that bugger is too heavy at 18%.

Just keep in mind that the maximum tongue weight any of the F150's can handy is 1200 pounds on the ball with WDH. That is with the Max Tow package hitch. YMMV by year. EDIT, 1320 with Max Tow in later years.

Ricktwuhk

Unfortunately people post without reading, even when there are stickies that answer their questions. Part of the couch potato - immediate gratification society we have.

acdii

That's true, yesterday I saw 6 threads in a row by different people regarding water leaks in the trucks.


Then there is the TL;DR posters who wind up getting a TL;DR answer to their one sentence question, which has sometimes wound up being a cut and paste answer to someone elses exact same question. Makes you wonder if they actually read the response.

BigDozer66

I hope that isn't a problem that everyone of them have!

Simnut

We are camping here on Vancouver Island and just watched a Dodge 1500 pull out of here pulling a 36'+ trailer that was FAR too much for that truck!. Elaine and I were amazed he even steering with how high the front end went! He also loaded all the exterior stuff (rugs, fire ring etc) in the back of the truck. Was scary enough to see that I almost called the CVSE. I only hoped he was very close to home. Apparently he was as he came back with the pickup to grab the rest of the stuff. EVEN though he was close to home...it was dangerous! Makes me mad because many of us take such care to be legal.

Magnetic157

You don't have to weigh it twice. Why go through all that when you can just weigh the truck once with the truck loaded with occupants, full gas tank and stuff you normally pack while trailering then subtract it from the GVWR (white sicker on the drivers side door). The difference is your remaining payload.

Empty weight described above will rarely 100% equal out to your yellow posted payload unless you literally take off every single accessory and strip the truck down to nothing as it left the factory. Which is sometimes impossible especially with bed liners and such.

You can't take for example, 5,400 lbs "empty" minus 6,000 lbs loaded and say your payload is less 600 lbs from the yellow sticker without factoring in things like bed liners, aftermarket accessories not easily removed, etc. etc. which all reduce that number even further.

Just minus out your loaded weight from the trucks GVWR (posted on the white sticker) and you will have your remaining payload available.