Calculate your loaded trailer weight. Let's figure on 9500lbs. Your hitch weight could be as much as 1,425lbs at that weight, assuming WDH set up right. How much does that leave in your payload for passengers and cargo? Also subtract 100lbs from payload for the hitch weight.

I wouldn't worry about sway as much as being within your weight limits. That's a big bumper pull and will be at the top end of all your limits.

 

Hi, Jbondo1210, and WELCOME! to our campfire.

I doubt it. The Ford tow rating is severely overstated for a wet and loaded RV trailer towed by a wet and loaded F-150 with everybody and everything in it when towing to the campsite. So towing capacity is not your limiter. Payload capacity is your limiter, and more specifically payload capacity available for hitch weight. Or for a really heavy travel trailer like the one you're considering, the tongue weight capacity of your receiver hitch may be he limiter.

Your hitch is rated for max tongue weight (TW) as well as max trailer weight. You will run out of TW capacity before you get close to the trailer weight capacity.

Most serious RVers with a family will load a travel trailer (TT) with about 1,000 pounds of camping stuff. So if the dry weight spec of that trailer is accurate, that means a gross trailer weight of about 9,800 pounds. Yeah, your tow rating is probably more than 10,000 pounds, but the tow rating assumes nothing in the truck but a skinny driver. A 9,800 pound TT will have average TW of about 13% of gross trailer weight, so about 1,275 pounds of TW. Add 100 pounds for a good weight-distributing (WD) hitch and your hitch weight will be about 1,375 pounds. The TW rating of your receiver is probably less than 1,375 pounds, so your hitch will be overloaded.

So your F-150 has enough power and torque to PULL a 10k trailer. But you don't have enough payload capacity (i.e., suspension, brakes, frame and other components) to haul your family and stuff in the pickup as well as the hitch weight of a 10k trailer. So GVWR of your F-150 is another limiter. GVWR minus the weight of the wet and loaded truck = payload capacity available for hitch weight.

You can do a rough estimate of the weight you must haul in the pickup, including people, pets, toys, campfire wood, tools and jacks, everything. Subtract that weight from the payload capacity of your F-150 and the answer will be a rough estimate of the remaining payload capacity available for hitch weight. If the payload capacity available for hitch weight is less than 1,375 pounds, then you'll probably be overloaded when wet and loaded for a camping trip.(The payload capacity of your F-150 is on a yellow sticker in the driver's door frame.)

Most people underestimate the weight of people and other weight they will haul in the pickup, so to be sure you should weigh the wet and loaded pickup on a CAT scale. "Wet" means a full tank of gas, and "loaded" means everybody and everything that will be in the truck when towing. People, pets, toys, campfire wood, tools and jacks, grill and fuel for the grill, everything.

Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded pickup from the GVWR of the pickup and the answer is the payload capacity available for hitch weight. Again, if your payload capacity available for hitch weight is less than about 1,375 pounds, then that's too much trailer for your F-150.

If that trailer is too much for your F-150, with the payload capacity available for hitch weight you got by weighing the wet and loaded F-150 you an easily calculate the maximum GVWR of any TT you can tow without being overloaded. First compare the max TW of your receiver hitch with the payload capacity available for hitch weight. If the max TW of your receiver is more than the payload capacity available for hitch weight, then the max TW of your receiver is your payload capacity available for hitch weight.

Subtract 100 pounds from the payload capacity available for hitch weight to get the payload capacity available for tongue weight (TW). (That 100 pounds is for the weight of a good WD hitch). Divide the payload capacity available for TW by 13%, and the answer is the max GVWR of any TT you want to consider buying.

For example, the max TW capacity of your receiver is 1,200 pounds and your payload capacity available for hitch weight is 1,100 pounds, then 1,100 divided by 13% = 8, 462 pounds. So you shouldn't consider any TT with GVWR more than 8,462 pounds.

 

Unless you have the below quoted truck, I doubt there is enough to tow that trailer

You have two negatives against that truck, lack of mass, and lack of payload. That is too big a trailer for a light duty pickup. I don't care what Ford says the F150 can tow, there are limits, and a 37' long trailer is one of them. You will not have enough forward mass to stay planted when a gust hits that huge slab side behind you, and even the best hitch can't compensate for that. I personally would not tow anything longer than 30' with an F150, even if it were an HDPP, there is just not enough weight on the nose. While you might get by with the tongue weight, there really is no compensation for the forward mass. But, that is just my opinion from 30+ years hauling and towing.

 

 

you didn't clarify if you have the Max Tow Package or just the regular tow package. also what is the payload capacity of your truck?

good choice of the 4pt. Equal-i-zer. i've had one for 12 years.

 

Going to a lighter trailer without knowing your specific truck's towing capacity means you still might have too large of a trailer. There is a lot of variance as to how much different trucks can tow based on installed options. The first thing we need is the available payload for your truck that is on the max payload sticker on the drivers side door column. We also need to know the weight of all passengers, pets, their personal effects and cargo that will be in the truck when you tow. From this we can estimate how much payload you have left to carry the trailer tongue load and WDH hitch head. This same number will also let us estimate the maximum loaded trailer weight your truck can tow.

 

Here is an example showing what I mean by too long a trailer on a light duty vehicle.

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/f...d/29679219.cfm

The Suburban is rated at 8K towing, trailer is rated at 7600 GVWR, and while weights and capacity lines up, and may have been spot on, that suburban is no match for a 37' long trailer, especially with the extended bumper and who knows what hanging on it. Anyone telling you otherwise has zero common sense.

 

Hate to see post/thread like that. I notice that most folks that had never owned a TT (trailers at home depot doesn't count) don't do their due diligence when researching TV specs and end up getting what the salesman will sale them. Once they've already purchase the TT, either they take the risk, get a bigger TV, or trade TT to a smaller one which either way will be costly. Pick your poison I guess. Spend the time to know the numbers and crunch them. Then decide either get a big TV then buy the TT, or find the TT you like then find the TV. Stay safe out there and happy camping!

 

I had a 35' triple axle 5th wheel that was only a little bit under the maximum for my 2004 F-250 with 6.0 diesel. I religiously hit the CAT scales on every trip.

I can't fathom a 37' TT towed by ANY F-150.