Joe Swital

Hi all,

Lots of great info on here.. I am continuing to search but I am hoping someone might be able to help me. I have a 2013 F-150 SCREW with the 5.0 and 3.73 gears. It is the Tuscany Black Ops with lift kit, big tires, etc. I have been towing my boat with no issues (approx 2200#).

The camper we are looking at is a 2014 Keystone Hideout 27DBS with equalizer hitch. Dry, the camper comes in at 6505#. Loaded with camping gear and water tank full (45g) and I am guessing will be around 7500#'s.

My owners manual has the GCWR at 6849#'s. My hitch says it is rated at the following.. Max Gross Trailer Weight 10,500# and Max Tongue Weight 1,050#.

So the question is... Can I safely pull this camper? The furthest I will be trailering it is about 40-50 miles, twice a year. Other than that it will be quick trips on the weekend maybe 5-10 miles both ways.

The dealer let me hook up and take it for a test drive. I didn't go very far but did attempt a gradual decline and then back up. No notable issues that I could see. Tranny was at normal temp, but again it was a short drive. This was also straight to the hitch, no equalizer at this time. I live in ND so it is pretty flat for the most part. Some hills but nothing major. I will not be towing the boat and camper together. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Thanks in advance!

Joe Swital

One last thing.. My window sticker says 7350#GVWR Package

Joe Swital

Ok.. Bear with me folks. I am losing my mind. The 6849# i mentioned is actually kg.. The manual says 15,100#'s. Hope that will make a difference.

Fuzzman71

Ya I am curious about this as well, I am picking up the 26bhs. I have the 3.55 ratio. Sorry Joe, I wasn't trying to hi-jack your thread.

brulaz

Pretty sure you'll be at or over your truck's GVWR. And perhaps close to everything else (receiver rating, rear GAWR). It all depends upon how much payload you have left in the truck after your mods, and how much tongue weight your loaded trailer has.

But you're not towing that far or that often, sooooo ....

TomB275

Based on what you have written, I would have no concerns. Make sure tire max load rating can handle the load (tongue weight should be about 10% of trailer) considering truck will carry you and stuff and people.
Get familiar with electric trailer brakes and adjust the settings so it is smooth. Read the manual and adjust the delay and brake force in a test run.

Ole Man Dan

If you towed more often, I'd recommend some E-Rated tires.
Stiffer sidewalls keep down a wallowing feeling in curves.

BUT...

If you don't plan to tow often, P-Tires will do the job. If you have 'P' tires, make sure they are aired up to max. PSI.

I agree with the other guys on load wt.... You are at or over the Max.
However if you take it easy, you will be surprised how well the trailer will tow. The Equalizer hitch, properly set up, will do a good job for you.

uzikaduzi

look on the tire pressure sticker for the max cargo or payload... this will change with different packages even with the same wheel base and drive train and while the black ops looks awesome and i'm interested in one, I have no idea what it does to those number since it's fairly less common. the screw is the lowest cab configuration regarding payload and the Platinum's i've seen have just slightly over 1000pds of payload (and if yours is similar you would likely be way over if you had anything in the truck besides you and anymore than 10% of tongue weight)

most people get pretty close to 1000-1500 pds of extra stuff in their campers but normally this continues to increase ever season you camp. 7500 likely isn't a bad assumption but I would personally go with the assumption of the gross of the camper when figuring if you can pull it because the dry weight likely will be lower than the actual delivery weight of the camper. the gross for that camper looks like it's about 8k. I try to be pretty aware of weight since I'm slightly over payload as it is but every season, there's a new thing that would make camping more comfortable or more enjoyable that ends up going in the camper and once a thing is in the camper, it stays there whether i use it or not. gotta be prepared and you never know right?

now at 8k you have a minimum of 800 pds of tongue weight. sway is decreased with additional tongue weight normally so I'd shoot for 12-13% which is more like 1k and if you get much more than that you can't use your factory hitch (good luck replacing that because your bumper attaches to it and not the truck) I'd be surprised if you had anything over 1500 pds of payload capacity... so lets assume that's what you have, you only have 500 pds left for the truck... 300+ for just you and the misses and the remaining 200 will be used very quickly with very limited gear in the truck... now your truck isn't going to explode and kill everyone if you're a little over payload but it's not great for the truck either so you'd have to try and decide your comfort level but my guess is this is too much camper for your truck. you mentioned it being pretty flat where you are and that would certainly help. you can get lighter weight campers with similar layouts but normally those lighter weight ones are cheaper in construction and/or are missing or are light on options... i have a jay flight swift 267bhs which is a light weight version of the jayflight 26bhs and the major differences are that i have smaller holding tanks, not underbelly cover, and smaller propane tanks.

Joe Swital

Thanks everyone for the input.. I did call two different Ford dealers and they both said the same thing.. I should be fine and under the max load rating. One did say I was rated for 9700#'s actual towing, not including the truck weight or occupants. Not sure how much to beleive as I couldnt even get someone to answer my question from a local dealer. Had to call other citiees

uzikaduzi

you'll be under tow capacity but I really really doubt you'll be fine on payload and if you are, you're gonna have to be very mindful of what you have in the truck. I would take their advice with a grain of salt. if someone doesn't tow, they likely assume you can just hook up a trailer so long as it's weight is under the max towing number and ignore everything else which is very wrong.

look at that tire pressure sticker and get the max cargo/payload number subtract the tongue weight from that (gross of the trailer * 12 or 13%) and what you have left is what you can put in the truck... and that's anything you put in there, including yourself