1disneynut

This is my first truck. The tow capability is 7600 pounds. If I purchase a travel trailer weighing 6600 pounds, will I be able to have 1000 pounds of "extras" stored inside?

smokeywren

Hi, 1disneynut, and WELCOME TO F150Forum, and to our campfire.


Wrong question. You want to know if you can tow that trailer loaded with 1,000 pounds of cargo
without exceeding any of Ford's weight limits.

The answer is "probably not", unless your F-150 is a very special F-150 with the heavy duty payload package (HDPP).


The towing capacity or tow rating of the F-150 is very misleading. You cannot get close to that tow rating unless your F-150 has no options, a very plain trim option, and absolutely no weight in the F-150 except a skinny driver. So for most of us, the tow rating (and GCWR) is not the limiter as to how heavy a trailer you an tow without being overloaded.


The payload capacity of the F-150 is usually your limiter.


The best way to estimate the maximum weight of any travel trailer (TT) you can tow without being overloaded is to load the F-150 with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing. Then drive to a truck stop that has a CAT scale, fill up with gas, and
1]weigh the wet and loaded F-150,
2] subtract that weight from the GVWR of the F-150 to get payload capacity available for hitch weight,
3]subtract 100 pounds from the payload capacity available for hitch weight to get payload capacity available for tongue weight
4] divide the payload capacity available for tongue weight by 13% (0.13) to get max wet and loaded TT weight.


Don't be surprised when the answer to your max trailer weight without being overload is nowhere near 7,600 pounds. It's probably closer to 6,000 pounds max, and if you load similar to the way I do, I'm overloaded when my TT grosses less than 5,000 pounds.

Ricktwuhk

Forget that 7,600 number.

Read the many threads on this section which explain how to read your Payload sticker and calculate the max LOADED trailer you can pull. Very likely NOT that much as Smokeywren noted.

chimmike

Yah, please. before making the thread, it might've been a good idea to read about the first 6 threads in this section which at some point all deal with towing capacity.

acdii

First and last post in this one pretty much lay it all out for you.

https://www.f150forum.com/f82/number...w-read-392649/

atwowheelguy

With half ton trucks, often the limiting factor is GVWR, the total weight on the truck axles, rather than GCWR, the total weight of the truck and trailer that it can move.

Four trips to the scales while tuning my weight distribution hitch showed the following amounts of trailer tongue weight transferred to the trailer axles: 5.7%, 15.2%, 17.1%, 20.5%. It could be reasonably assumed that 15% of the tongue weight could be transferred to the trailer axles, leaving 85% of the tongue weight on the truck axles.

Also during those four weigh-ins, the tongue weight as a percentage of trailer weight was 10.5%, 10.8%, 12.5%, 13.6%. A reasonably conservative estimate would be 13%.

So the way I estimate a maximum trailer weight that would be limited by GVWR:

Max trailer wt. = (payload - occupant wt. - truck cargo wt. - 80 lb. hitch wt.)/ (0.13 x 0.85)

An example would be:
Max trailer wt. = (1600 - 700 - 100 - 80) / (0.13 x 0.85) = 6516

An estimate of maximum trailer weight limited by GCWR would be:

Max trailer wt. = GCWR - truck weight
If truck weight is unknown, estimate it:
Max trailer wt. = GCWR - (GVWR - payload + occupant wt. + truck cargo wt. + 80 lb. hitch wt.)
An example would be:
Max trailer wt. = 15300 - (7100 - 1600 + 700+ 100 + 80) = 15300 - 6380 = 8920

So in this case, the truck is rated to "tow" a 8920 lb. trailer.
But it is only rated to "haul" the tongue weight of a 6516 lb. trailer combined with the other weight of occupants and cargo in the truck.

The payload is determined by subtracting the weight of the truck from the GVWR.

The GCWR is shown on the towing guide here: https://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/

The GVWR and payload are shown on the weight sticker on the driver's door: