I know my truck is rated to tow 13,000#, but that doesn't mean i *should*. We're looking at travel trailers with a GVWR in the 7500-9000 range.
Those of you with SCREWs & 3.5 EBs that tow travel trailers in that weight range, how does the truck perform on the highway? I'm looking to get a trailer that is comfortable for my wife and I but also comfortable to tow at highway speeds.

Also, I'm thinking I may get airbags instead of using a load equalizing hitch, experience? opinions?

I'm kind of surprised that there isn't sticky about some of this stuff....

 

I pull a trailer with a 7700 GVWR, curb weight from the factory of 5400lbs. Scales out at 6000lbs for a one week trip, but it is just the bride and myself traveling. Plenty of power for the hills of Kentucky and SC. I'd skip the air bags just get a good hitch. I use the equalizer 4pt, works well and I have a pleasant tow even with crosswinds. I cruise at 64 MPH, seems control issues become a problem for any vehicle combo above 70 MPH

 

You are understanding some things incorrectly.

First, your truck is not rated to tow 13,000 pounds. Your truck has options on it, from the factory, and may even have things you've added to it. Therefore, it's unique. Ford has printed your payload on a yellow sticker on your door jamb.

A weight distribution hitch distributes the trailer's tongue weight forward to the truck's front axle, and some back to the trailer. Airbags don't do that. Airbags don't do anything but reduce squat, which shouldn't be an issue when you buy the right trailer for your limits, and properly adjust the WDH.

There are dozens of threads in this section of the forum that review the math involved. Basically, it's your payload, minus any mods you made to the truck (floormats, bedliner, tonneau cover, different tires that weigh more), minus the weight of you, your passengers, your pets, plus all the stuff that you bring into the truck and load into the bed. Minus 100 pounds for a WDH. Take that remaining number and divide by 0.13 (for 13% average hitch weight), and that is the max loaded trailer you can consider. Of course, you should allow for different passengers, i.e. four 200 pound guys is not the same as wife and 2 small kids.

You'll likely be in the 7,000 - 8,000 pound range.

 

Start reading all the posts on the towing section, these questions are asked every day, you towing is limited by the truck capacity on the yellow sticker in drivers door jamb.

Not using a WDH is like going into a fire without your partner and no hose line... Being a FF you can relate to that.

 

Yes, that makes sense to me!

 

You now have the basic calculations required so I'll give you my 'real world' experience. Prior to trading in, i had a '19 XLT EB Max Tow. My sticker payload was 1873 prior to adding a tonneau cover, heavier E-rated tires and a bedliner. Our travel trailer is 33' long with a GVWR of 9500 lbs....loaded for camping it was 8400. I would never consider pulling that trailer at full GVWR with my F150. As is (loaded to 8400 lbs). I was just under my axle ratings and with just the wife and I and two little dogs in the truck, I had a couple hundred pounds of payload to spare. I travel with empty tanks with the exception of a few gallons of fresh water.

As for towing experience,, once my Equalizer 4 pt. WDH was dialed in the rig towed really nice. No sway to speak of and pretty much no movement from passing semis. I would definitely recommend that if you are towing heavy, you upgrade to LT E rated tires. I also swapped out the rear shocks for Bilsteins which helped a lot with that porpoising feel. You should also be cognizant of trailer length - anything over 30' is a handful for a non-HDPP F150. Obviously it can be done, but towing this trailer now with my F350 is a different experience. There were many times with the F150 that I felt like the trailer was sort of in control and not the truck. I live in Arizona so do a fair amount of towing on grades. While I didn't exactly feel unsafe, I did have a semi 'white knuckle' experience from time to time. If I was towing lonly locally,, we probably would have kept the F150 but since we go cross country at least once per year, we decided that stepping up to a 1-ton was the way to go.

 

No, your truck is rated to PULL up to 13000 pounds without being the slowpoke holding up traffic on grades, hills and passes.

But you can TOW up to the GCWR and not be overloaded only if you don't exceed any of the other weight ratings of your truck (GVWR, front and rear GAWRs, receiver hitch weight rating). You'll also hear that payload capacity is your limiter, but payload capacity is simply GVWR minus the weight of the truck.

If you tie onto a 13k TT then weigh the rig, you'll probably see that you are overloaded over the GVWR nd probably the rGAWR of your pickup.

Almost always, the GVWR of the tow vehicle is your limiter as to travel trailer (TT) weight. If you don't exceed the GVWR of your truck, then you'll probably not be overloaded over any of Ford's weight ratings.

Probably too much TT for your F-150 if you load it as most RVers do for a family camping trip. For you to be sure, here's the drill:

1] Load the F-150 with all the people, pets and stuff that will be in it when towing. Don't cheat yourself - include all the weight that will be in the truck when towing = tools, toys, firewood, everything.
2] Drive to a truck stop that has a CAT scale and fill up with gas, then weigh the wet and loaded F-150.
3] Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded F-150 from the GVWR of the F-150. The answer is payload capacity available for hitch weight
4] Subtract another 100 pounds from the payload capacity available for hitch weight. The answer is the payload capacity available for tongue weight (TW).
5] Divide the payload capacity available for TW by 13%. The answer is the max weight of any properly-loaded trailer you want to tow with your F-150.

Performance is not a problem with your pickup.That drivetrain is amazing. With a properly-adjusted WD hitch, towing performance is outstanding. MPG is disappointing if you are expecting anywhere near the 20 MPG mark. Both my 2012 and my 2019 averaged about 10 MPG when towing cross country between west Texas and Eastern Tennessee.

Bad decision. If you need air bags, then you're overloaded. You don't want to tow when overloaded. Ford requires a WD hitch for any TW more than 500 pounds, and your 7,500-pound trailer will have a lot more than 500 pounds TW. If you cannot stand the slight sag in the rear end, even after the WD hitch is properly adjusted to eliminate the rise in the front end, then it's okay to install air bags to raise the rear end a bit. But raising the rear end does not eliminate the need for a WD/sway-control hitch.

Get a good weight-distributing/sway-control hitch such as an Equal-I-Zer 4P, Blue Ox SwayPro, or Reese Strait-Line trunnion. Don't settle for a cheaper hitch. Then install and adjust the hitch "by the book" to get rid of almost all of the front end rise caused by hitch weight.

If you've ever experienced uncontrollable trailer sway, you'll pay a lot to be sure it never happens again. You can get an Equal-I-Zer 4P hitch rated for up to 1,200 pounds TW for less than $700. My Strait-Line hitch cost me less than $600. But the ProPride hitch on my TT was almost $3,000 for a new one. I love my ProPride hitch, but I understand it's only a bit better than my Strait-Line.

 

Thanks for the great info. My last truck was a '96 dually with the 7.3L powerstroke, and I just mainly pulled goosenecks, so the only really heavy trailers I have experience pulling are not bumper pulls, which I know behave differently.

I know I'll have to be more deliberate now with this setup. We are only looking at trailers that are less than 30', mainly in the 20'-25' range. I just dont want to deal with something 30+' long again, especially in some of these RV and state parks. I dont have any experience towing with WDHs, while I understand the basic principle behind them, I was unaware that they and airbags were so different.

Luckily it's just me and the wife, no kids or pets....but we, like all campers, still have a lot of "stuff". And the wife has spoke of taking a "girls trip" once I teach her how to back a trailer (and/or setup the trailer backing on the F-150).

 

Spend the money on a good quality WDH. Equalizer 4-point, Blue Ox SwayPro and Reese Strait Line are favorites mentioned in many posts here. They will run you $500-$700. If you have deep pockets you can step up to the ProPride or Hensley for about 3K! I would guess those two would be overkill with a trailer sized appropriately for your truck, but many swear by them as they purport to completely eliminate any sway.

 

Without knowing more about your truck it is impossible to say how much you can comfortably tow. The axle ratio is needed as well as payload. And as has been stated payload is what will limit how much you can tow.

But here is the shot version, most 1/2 ton trucks are best with 8000 lbs or less. Theoretically many of them are rated to tow more, at least on paper. But even if you have a truck that will handle 10,000 lbs. by the charts, when you get to 8000 lbs it is time to at least consider a 3/4 ton. And the more you go over 8000, the more seriously you need to be thinking 3/4 ton