Is the reason for tow ratings marketing? I've never really understood the utility of that number.

Within GCWR ✓
Within GVWRs ✓
Within GAWRs ✓.

​​​​​Seems like "Tow Rating" takes care of itself.



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i just ignore them. i pull whatever i want to. its my truck i can do what i want. that's the way i feel. and ive proven multiple times that my truck can handle more than ford rates it. factory towing and payload ratings are the "safe" territories. if you go over, it becomes more dangerous and you have to be more cautious

 

That's all well and good until something happens. Any lawyer worth his pay can own you if he can prove you have exceeded the factory tow ratings.

 

As a retired firefighter/EMT, this kinda of attitude provides job security for us.

 

Tow ratings are fake numbers. First off, in the half ton world you almost always overshoot your trucks payload before reaching or even coming close to the tow "rating".
Secondly, a tow rating is more like a recommendation and not enforcable by law. Overloading your truck is enforcable, but so long as your truck is within its registered GVW, and the trailer is also within its registered GVW your legal in that regard.
Take a look into the commercial world. Back several years ago I owned HD trucks both gas and diesel. I know people that haul for hire aka "hotshot". Some of which haul campers from the manufacturer to the dealers. Some of those campers are in the ball park of 15k lbs, and they haul them with 2nd generation Dodge ram 3500 diesels. Those trucks were only rated to tow 12k lbs. But because of their high GVW, they could actually tow way more than that. And those guys have been through countless weigh stations as they are commercial and required to do so.
There isnt a law on the books that holds you to your "tow rating".

I do not advocate that anyone here go off and try to tow 15k lbs campers with an F150. I also will say you cannot blindly adhere to a tow rating.

 

What is your obsession with tow rating lately? lol

 

Actually it's more like GCWR. Don't mind me, I'm just mad because after 2 years Ford has yet to give me an official answer for the GCWR of my truck. Apparently they have no officially released info on 53B GCWR (except 3.3L 3.55).

I'm constantly searching for info and I get questions that occur to me... Like why a tow rating on light trucks. Heavy trucks don't have a tow rating just a GCWR.

 

​​​​​​At 10% I can scale 22,000 without exceeding my truck GVWR.

At 13% it would be 18,000.

 

GCWR is a useless number with 1/2 ton trucks as most of them will be over payload before reaching GCWR. Even a lot of 3/4 ton trucks will have this issue. Posting such numbers would just encourage more guys to overload their trucks. On bigger trucks you are more likely to max out GCWR and tow ratings before you max out payload. In that scenario it is a useful number.

There is probably never been a pickup made that hasn't been overloaded at some point in time. I know I have. Occasionally, with a little common sense and not grossly overloaded and it can certainly be done. But I believe in using the right tool for the job. If you need a bigger truck, use a bigger truck. Honestly, a 3/4 ton truck with a gas engine simply isn't that much more expensive,(cheaper in many cases), and doesn't use much more fuel. By the time you get a 1/2 ton equipped to come close to what you need it truly is cheaper to go with a bigger truck.

And it's not just a matter of safely handling the weight. It is wear and tear on the truck. Lots of 1/2 tons out there that died prematurely because the owners pulled their guts out trying to make a light duty truck do a heavy duty job. You see a lot higher percentage of older 3/4 ton trucks still on the road because they weren't pushed beyond their design capabilities.

 

Actually the most weight I have ever pulled with any of my f150s was about 16,000 pounds and that was with my 04. It was a trackhoe on a 24 foot big tex trailer. I pulled it for about 3 miles on a country road with little to no traffic. I didnt meet a car that day. I was only going 20 MPH with transmission locked in 1st. Those big tex trailers have good brakes and even with an f150 I didn't have any problems stopping but I was only going 20 and under.
There is no way I would take that load on the highway with an f150. No way I would. BUT if the conditions are right, you know country roads, low traffic, ability to drive really slow without holding people up, plenty off space to stop, you can accomplish a lot with an f150