Megamole

I have 2013 F150 ecoboost xlt 4x4 157” 3.31axle 7350lb gvwr I am planning to purchase a 7.5’x16” heavy duty landscape trailer 7k to tow my lifted 89 Jeep Wrangler weights about 4K. The trailer has electric brakes and I have the factory towing package. Ford says my truck can pull 9,100lbs, total trailer and jeep would be around 6k plus my family around 400lbs and tools 100lbs or less.


1st question will this be possible with my truck?

2nd what kind of hitch do you guys recommend?

I normally tow a small ATV trailer and I know this will be a big step up. I have towed bigger trailers with my 05 Tacoma, but without the weight of the jeep.
Thanks for any info you guys can provide!

Norotso

What you need to also know is what the cargo carrying capcity on the yellow sticker in your door jam says. That will be your limiting factor.
The good thing is that you might be able to adjust the position of the Jeep to balance the tongue weight to suit your truck.

Megamole

Yellow sticker weight limit is 1409lbs. I was also thinking the having the two axle trailer and moving the jeep centered over the axles will eliminate tongue weight. I trying to get going for this weekend and then can customize the truck with timbrens or air bags to make it a better tow down the road. This weekend I just want to make a safe trip.

mark waller

You need your tongue weight and a WDH.

clarkbre

If you can position the Jeep on the trailer to give you 10-15% tongue weight you'll have the trailer loaded correctly.

The other requirement is to use a weight distribution hitch. This will help the truck keep all four tires planted properly on the ground and maintain proper control of the trailer.

smokeywren

Yes, but as others mentioned you need to load the Jeep on the trailer to result in about 13% tongue weight. Assuming 6,000 pounds gross trailer weight, then your tongue weight needs to be about 750 to 800 pounds.


Then you need to connect he trailer to the tow vehicle (TV) with a good weight-distributing (WD) hitch that includes good built-in sway control.

Nothing cheap. If it uses sway bars that's a cheap hitch. Insist on one of these that lists for around $1,000 and is available online for about $500 to $700. The hitch should be for tongue weight (TW) of at least 800 pounds, and 1,000 pounds would be fine.


--- Equal-I-Zer


--- Blue Ox SwayPro


--- Husky Centerline HD 30390 (not the cheaper Centerline TS)


--- Reese Strait-Line with trunnion bars


Equal-I-Zer and Blue Ox don't make cheap WD hitches, so any WD hitch with their name on it will be good. But Husky and Reese make cheap hitches as well as the good hitches, so if you want a Reese be sure it is a Strait-Line, and if you want a Husky, be sure it is a Centerline HD part number 30390.


Here's my Reese Strait-Line trunnion bar hitch with 800-pound spring bars, complete with adjustable shank. Note that Reese also sells this exact hitch without the shank, but you must have the shank, so order the hitch that includes the shank. (If you find it new for less than $500, then read the fine print because it probably doesn't include the required adjustable shank.)
https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Dist...e/RP66083.html

8100hd

Smokey, those so called cheap WD hitches work just fine.

smokeywren

Yes they do, as long as you don't encounter severe sway-causing conditions. There are numerous combinations of sway-causing conditions that will result in the greasy side up when towing with a cheap hitch, but you'd still be cruising down the road if you had a better hitch with better sway control.


If you have ever experienced uncontrollable trailer sway, you'll pay a lot to be sure it never happens again. That's why I tow my TT with a Hensley ProPride hitch.

8100hd

Sway problems are usually a result of poor trailer design/loading then compounded by an a less than adequate TV. The old hitch design distributes weight the same way the new ones do, those old friction device use the principles as the sway integrated models and do the same thing. After many thousands of miles towing with the old designed WD hitch with no sway control I’ve never experienced a serious sway event. That includes a few “Oh sh_t” maneuvers at highway speeds. The Propride hitch is really the only hitch that qualifies as sway prevention as it does not allow it happen in the first place, but so will a properly sized and loaded TV/TLR combo.

Megamole

Wow, that’s a lot of $ I will probably only trailer to jeep a few times a year, then a few times a year with a load of ATVs and maybe some logs and general moving stuff. But I want to be safe especially with my family in the truck. I will call ETrailer and discuss the set up. Thanks guys for the info I have learned a lot already.