This might be a stupid question but I'm going to ask anyway.......The question is... Can a travel trailer be TOO LIGHT for a tow vehicle.

I read a lot of posts regarding how some travel trailers are too heavy for certain trucks the way they are set up and equipped. The reason I ask is I have a 2019 F150 3.5 ECO Max tow 1814# payload. We are about to purchase a OUTBACK 28ourb with a 5900 dry weight and 7500 GVW. At the end of 2020 beginning of 2021 my retirement gift will be an F250 Diesel. So The question is could that trailer be too light for that truck. I understand that pulling a trailer is a fine balance between weight of the TV and TT. In my understanding too much tongue weight is unsafe due to over weight and steering/braking issues when that front end is lifted up.... not enough tongue weight will cause the trailer to sway and become in safe. This may be a stupid question but its me thinking things through....So in your opinions(s) will that LIGHTof trailer have enough tongue weight for a heavier F250.I understand all about sway bars and weight distribution hitches I just wonder if there would be enough weight on the hitch to combat sway. Anyways let me know what you think.

 

You might be surprised how much payload that diesel uses up with a 250. To light won't be a problem plenty of folks here will tell you you need a heavy dog to keep the tail from wagging the dog.

 

That makes sense, the heavier the truck the more grounded you are. The 2019 F250 payloads in the XLT model are ranging 2300 to 2500 from the ones that I have looked at. The gassers have a higher payload. Thats the double edged sword buy the gasser for payload and you give up that torque in diesel. Not sure how the payloads are going to look like in the new diesels that coming out

 

You won't even know it's back there. Honest.

 

Have to ask... why the 250 and not a 350? Same truck, few bucks more, but rated to tow almost anything. The 250 is very limited in tow rating and payload.

 

We are also thinking about a 350. Right now we have been looking at TT so the F250 is a perfect match really for any nice TT as long as you can find one with a payload around 2500# We are going to start looking at FW soon and if we decide on a FW then a 350 DW will be the truck. Unfortunately, I live in CA, the tax on it alone will be tremendous and registration fees are through the roof so I will have to purchase out of state when I leave.

 

No one ever said they wished they had less truck when towing a trailer.

If you go with an F350 SRW, then you've got a nice balance between payload (upwards of 3500-4000lbs) in the XLT trim, but you don't have to deal with the DRW when using it as a daily driver.

 

A typical payload on an F250 diesel in a Lariat package is just over 2000 lbs. Not much more than your F150. If you can live with an XL package it will improve a bit. Going to an F350 gets you significant payload increase, but a stiffer riding truck.

In 2019 you couldn't give me a diesel for recreational use. For commercial use where you pull/haul heavy loads on a daily basis and your truck is paying the bills instead of costing you money then I'd buy a diesel. I'd go with a gas engine F250 for recreational use. You'll save almost $10,000 over the diesel engine and pick up about 800 lbs of payload. Tow ratings on the gas engines are about 2000 lbs less, but since the payload is so limited on the diesel you may actually find the gas engine will tow more weight. It'll easily handle what you want to tow.

The diesel will get better fuel mileage and the engines typically last longer. But with the initial $10,000 expense, plus greater fuel and maintenance costs you'll never break even.

 

And for 2020 there's a larger gas engine in the 250 and 350 with a beefier 10 speed

 

too light? lol no.

Saw a F250 out of IN towing a TT here in FL the other day. No WDH. Sway like crazy. And it was probably a 25' TT.