ACLARK83

I have 2018 Ford F-150 XLT 3.5 liter V6 Eccobooast
5.5 ft bed 4x4
7000 gvwr
Non- factory tow hitch
I'm trying to figure out all my specs, I have a 26 foot travel trailer with dry weighf of 5,000 pounds and trying to figure what my towing capacity is?? Can anyone help me please?

MikeD134

Don't know your specs but check your axle code. Hopefully you'll have the 3.55 or more. I have a slightly larger trailer and it tows just fine, but I do have the max tow package.

ACLARK83

honestly I think it 3.31 if I'm correct

Turfengineer

I believe the manual has the GCWR for your truck. Subtract the truck weight and tongue weight of your trailer and you should be close.

Edit: On page 249 of my owners manual, it states “ Do not exceed a trailer weight of 5100lbs if your vehicle is not equipped with a Heavy Duty Trailer Towing Package.”

Page 250 starts the towing table that will have your GCWR. My truck, 4x4 SCREW with 3.5EB and 3.55 axle ratio is rated at 16,900lbs.

acdii

You will run out of payload before reaching capacity so ignore capacity. Ignore dry weight too when looking at trailers, only the shipper cares about that number.

GVWR of trailer X 13% will get you a max tongue weight on the trailer as a starting point, it can go higher if loaded to 15%, but rule of thumb is right in the middle of 10-15% tongue weight. If you have a trailer in mind, do this math, then see if your truck has what it needs to tow it, or if you don't have a trailer in mind, see what your truck is capable of.

First, look at the capacities tag on the drivers B pillar. It is yellow and tells you how much payload it has. Next go to the back of the truck and look underneath at the receiver, there is a tag on it that tells you the max hitch weight. All of the are 500/5000 weight carrying, the important one is the second set of numbers, EX: 1050/10500 Weight distributing. This has been the base towing package for many years, has changed a bit recently to a higher number for the HD tow package, I think to 1150/11,500. Payload and receiver weight will determine what you can tow. You also have to subtract passengers and in truck cargo, so the most important step once you know the payload and receiver values is to load up the truck with people and "stuff", and take it to a scale will a full tank of gas, and subtract the scale weight from GVWR, and that will determine exactly how much trailer you can tow. Take that number a divide by 13% for the GVWR of the trailer. So if your truck has 760 pounds payload left, that limits you to about a 6000 pound GVWR trailer. So IOW if you find a trailer with a "Dry Weight" of 5500 pounds, that means you can only add 500 pounds to it before you overload the truck, hence the reason I say to ignore dry weight.

smokeywren

Towing terms are complicated and thus confusing to most of us. Ford's definition of "towing capacity" is GCWR minus the weight of the truck when it exited the assembly line. But GCWR tells you only the max combined weight of truck and trailer your drivetrain can PULL without overheating anything in the drivetrain and without being the slowpoke holding up traffic on hills and passes. But it ignores GVWR, GAWRs, hitch weight capacity and any other weight limiter.

Acdii gave you a beginning as to how to determine your actual max trailer weight without being overloaded. Basically. GCWR (and resulting tow rating) is rarely your limiter. Instead, GVWR (and resulting payload capacity) of the tow vehicle is usually the limiter. And sometimes rear GAWR is the limiter if the hitch weight rating is high enough to handle the hitch weight of the wet and loaded trailer. Don't confuse GCWR and GVWR - they are completely different numbers.

Although GCWR is usually a useless number, the method to determining how much it is will be in the towing section of your Owner's Guide. You need body type, wheelbase or bed length, axle ratio, and engine to compute GCWR. After you know GCWR, then weigh the truck and subtract truck weight from GCWR to get tow rating, or towing capacity.

The payload capacity of your truck is on a sticker in your driver's doorframe. But that's gross payload capacity and not the actual capacity of your wet and loaded pickup. But gross payload capacity is a useless number for most folks. You need payload capacity available for tongue weighjt.

So if you're still with me, then here's how to determine your real-world max trailer weight:

1] Load the truck with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing - kids, pets, toys, firewood, everything.
2] Drive to a truck stop that has a Certified Automated Truck (CAT) scale and fill up with gas.
3] Weigh the wet and loaded truck.
4] Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded truck from the GVWR of the truck. The answer is the payload capacity available for hitch weight.
5] Subtract another 100 pounds from the payload capacity available for hitch weight to get payload capacity available for trailer tongue weight (TW). (That 100 pounds is the weight of a good weight distributing (WD) hitch with built-in sway control, such as an Equal-I-Zer.)
6] Divide the payload capacity available for TW by 13% and the answer is the max GVWR of any travel trailer you want to consider towing. IOW. your real-world tow rating or max towing capacity.

That 13% is for a travel trailer. For a 5er, use 20%.

lizARdman15

A year ago, I was making a similar thread.
Fortunately, I bought my F-150 with the idea I may need to tow, but not having anything even remotely close to big enough to worry about.

Since then, I have bought a 24' enclosed trailer, and just recently, a 26' travel trailer(technically 31'+).

Last week, i hauled the TT fully loaded for a week vacation and scaled at 12,820 lbs, just shy of my 13,200 max.

Truck pulled the trailer effortlessly and I even got 11 mpg due to flat land and 55-60 mph roads. Next rip to the mountains will not be so good on mpg, I am sure.

So, I really don't have an answer for your question since you have an after market hitch and no idea what you specs are, but I am glad I bought more truck than I thought I needed at the time.

ACLARK83

so on the specs it says with 3.31 maximum conventional towing is 10,000 pounds. Are you talking the 5100 pounds from the bumper?

MikeD134

Always good to hear of effortless towing when pulling north of 7000lbs. I was heading home yesterday with 30 MPH crosswind gusts and the tail had no effect on the dog. :-)

Mister C

Just curious, are you saying your trailer alone weighed in at 12,820, or the truck and trailer combined? That 13,200 reference sounds like your talking about your 20" tire/max tow published 'tow rating', which makes me think your talking trailer. If so, that is one helluva load! Do you have an HDPP F150?