Success!



I want to thank 16IngotFX4, Jethro1192, Johnny Paycheck and especially davek22554, Marshallr, bad packet, coacher & Laminar. You responded to my previous thread…. “Am I at my max tow limit” which saved me money, headaches and worries.

Because of your responses, I had a successful 3.5 hour 215 mile tow with no problems. Here are the details. I needed to tow my BMW X5. The first time I towed it, someone at the shop mentioned I was carrying too much weight. I knew I needed to tow this vehicle again for a longer distance so I came here and asked questions, here are the results. All weights listed are in pounds. My F-150 payload is 1739.

I filled my F-150 with gas and weighed it. I was in the truck during the weigh in, it came to 5620 (- subtract) my weight = 5410. I then went and picked up the trailer & BMW X5. I weighed those. I was on the scale again during the weigh in. The total was 7720 - my weight = 7510. I wanted to get the tongue weight so I pulled the truck on the scale but left the wheels of the trailer off the scale. The weight was 6280. I took 6280 - 5410 = 870 (tongue weight) which is about 12% of the total trailer weight. As you can see on the CAT sheet, the steer axle was 220 and the trailer axle was 6280. I left the F-150 on the trailer axle scale & had to walk to the front (steering axle) scale to press the button. She took the weight as I was standing on the steer axle scale. That scale is pretty accurate, it was only off by 10 lbs as I can assure you I weigh 210 on my bathroom scale. I wanted to get my remaining payload so I took the tongue weight (870) + my weight (210) + my girlfriends weight (170) = 1250 - the F-150 payload (1739) = 489 lbs left for other items. We had about 200 lbs of luggage & other items so I had 289 lbs of payload left.

So with all this info, I was able to tell I was overweight by 10 lbs on the U-Haul trailer. U-Haul says the max load for the auto transport is 5,290. I took the weight of the BMW & trailer (7510) - the weight of the U-Haul trailer (2,210) = 5300 (BMW weight). Even though I was over by 10 lbs, I decided to tow. The U-Haul configurator does not recommend this towing combination. I thought it was because the BMW was too heavy for the auto transport, however, when I select a super duty as the tow vehicle, the configurator recommends that combination. What I concluded from this is that U-Haul thinks the F-150 isn’t safe/capable enough to tow a BMW X5. I don’t see how. I’ve taken all the weights and everything looks fine to me unless I’m missing something. Maybe the experts here can chime in.

Thanks again for all the responses.

 

The only thing I can see (I just had lunch, so maybe I’m not reading straight right now) being an issue as far as UHaul goes is that you didn’t have enough caboose on your tow vehicle to meet UHaul’s requirements. See the third requirement.

A Super Duty would make that cut, depending on configuration, of course. I know of no 7,510# F150s. 80% of that is right at 6,000#.

The Firestone fiasco years back really got UHaul jittery and I get why. Lots of hungry lawyers out there.

 

Tongue weight of 870. If a factory hitch receiver then max tongue weight without weight distribution limit is 500lb, so if a factory receiver you are over by 370lb, or 74% unless you change to a trailer with weight distribution.

 

Yep, your right. I didn't pay attention to that. That's why the configurator didn't recommend it. With the F-150 I was only at 75% of the combined weight. Ok, got it now. The F-150 towed it fine though. It was a 1 time tow. Glad everything went ok.

 

7250x0.8=5800... Truck + OP + girlfriend + luggage was 5990

OP ~ The configurator kicked your truck because it took the heaviest weight for the X5 (5300?), multiplied it by 0.8, then checked to see if that was greater than the median weight for a SCrew with your bed length. As most are below 80% (Every XL and XLT, some Lariats), it did not recommend you tow that vehicle.

There's a reason it states that it does not RECOMMEND... you can bring a weigh to a uHaul dealer to show your vehicle weighs more than 80% of your tow, they'll let you out the door with the trailer.

For those that bother to check. Most don't and will force all checks on the computer and let you roll out unless something looks especially sus:

 

This is making sense now. I didn't know you could take the weight to U-Haul and they would override what the computer is recommending.

 

They can, but whether or not they've got the brains to understand what you are saying...

The weight difference between the lightest XL and heaviest Limited in a given cab/bed configuration can be damn near a thousand pounds. Their system does not take that into consideration, it just does a worst case calculation. Same for the towed or dollied vehicle, it uses the heaviest possible weight.

 

You must be speaking of the receiver?? My hitch say 11000 lbs max gross trailer and 1,100 lbs max tongue.

 

10000 trailer and 1100 tongue is weight distribution only.

Weight carrying is always 5000/500 on the F150.

 

If it is a factory receiver you have a 500lb limit weight carrying. Pretty much any aftermarket receiver will be 1000 or higher. Weight carrying limits are not clearly listed in requirements to be called "classIV".

Lot's of guessing as to why Ford has this limit on their receivers. My personal guess is to pass SAE understeer tests for tow ratings, and this particular test is invalid the minute you make any suspension change that will impact understeer. Regardless, being over a sticker amount would make you subject to citation if seen during a roadside inspection, but being over something in the manual will not. I don't really care about the receiver rating and go over regularly. I pay much more attention to staying within payload and axle ratings. The receivers are mild steel so if truly overstressed it will bend.