Towing Question - F150 Pulling a Travel Trailer

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Shiden11

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May 30, 2017
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Hello all, I am looking to get a travel trailer and wanted to get some feedback.  I have a 2011 F150 2WD Super Crew with Ecoboost and max tow package.  The truck has the following specs:
GVWR - 7550 lb
Curb Weight - 5550 lb (based on 7550-2000 max payload)
Front Axle - 3750 lb
Rear Axle - 4050 lb
Max Tow - 11,300 lb

The trailer has these specs:
24 ft
Weight - 4345 lb
Carrying Capacity - 2155 lb
Hitch - 515 lb

Even fully loaded, I would be well under the max tow.  As far as GVWR, I am coming up with 7550-5550(curb weight)-515(Hitch)=1485.  That leaves 1485 lbs for me, my wife, and dogs, so about 800-900 lbs left over after we are all in the truck.  Am I missing anything or miscalculating?  Would my truck be able to handle the trailer?  Would it put too much wear and tear on the truck?

Also, on a side note, is it difficult to find campgrounds that will let you bring three dogs in?  They are all decent sized, not great danes but the smallest is about 60 lbs.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I forgot to mention, getting a 3/4 ton truck is not an option anytime soon.
 
Assuming your payload is 2,000 and the trailer weight listed is the gross trailer weight and not the dry weight the trailer looks to be a nice fit for your truck with room to spare.

ETA:

If the max trailer weight is more like 6500# that will increase your tongue weight to around 950#, which is probably doable with some careful packing.

Either way you should be fine
 
I strongly suspect that 4345 trailer weight is "dry", so the rig will weight somewhere near 6500 lbs loaded. Nobody every believes they will fully load their trailer, but nearly everyone is proven wrong, within a year of use if not immediately. Given that, the towed weight is probably OK but the tongue weight is going to be 650-750 lbs.

Is that 2000 lb cargo capacity from the sticker on the door post? I ask because few F150 Super Crews have that much capacity because the body is heavy. 1800 is about the most I've seen reported. And remember, that has to carry passengers and gear in the truck as well as the hitch and the tongue weight.
 
I pull my '92 Fleetwood wilderness with my 2000 chevy reg cab, 2wd, 3.73 gears, 5.3L, full towing package, can pull a little over 10k with a WDH. my camper weighs in around 4k lbs dry, 750 tongue weight ( according to the owners manual ), I purchased a pro series WDH, complete kit, spring bars are 1k, hitch is rated for 10k. my receiver is a class 4 or 5 ?, I have not had any issues pulling my camper. I would consider very strongly about buying a WDH :).
 
First, you are starting with data salesmen love, not accurate data!!

The true Payload for YOUR truck is on a yellow label on the driver door latch post, and includes the weight of all options.  The published max payload is for that body and drivetrain and NO options.

The actual TT weight as it sits behind your truck ready to go camping is much closer to the GVWR.

Use these numbers in your calculation for a much more accurate estimate.

With all that said, your math is correct, just bad starting values.  I believe you will be just fine, but please run the numbers to verify.
 
Your Super Crew runs closer to 6,000 lbs. wet curb weight. Figure 800 lbs. for hitch weight. Leaves you 750 lbs. for your people and dogs and stuff.
 
The 2000 lb number is a GVWR based payload and can't all be placed in the bed of the truck ie; over the rear axles. The tire placard payload number is useless for trucks with a high GVWR number and a low RAWR
These year model F150 rear axle (4050 rawr) may weigh in the 2500 lb range leaving around 1550 lb for a in the bed payload.

550 lb for a hitch ??  Maybe so but I doubt one weighs that much.

I'm not a dog person so I can't help you with that part of your question.
 
Thanks for all the responses.

Just to clarify, the GVWR and axle numbers for the truck are from the door sticker.  Also, I didn't see the max payload before but it is also on the door sticker, that is 1879 lbs.  The max tow is from the brochure but I'm well under msx with that anyway.

The numbers for the trailer are from the brochure.  The 4345 was the dry weight.  The max weight according to the brochure is 6500.  Also, I said the hitch was 515 lb, I guess I should have said tongue weight (sorry I am new to this).

So the new math would be 1879 (payload) - 975 (tongue weight) = 904 lbs for people, dogs, hitch, and misc.  The tongue weight of 975 is 15% of the 6500 although the brochure looks like it was calculating about 12% so the 975 might be conservative.  The first WDH I looked at was about 100 lbs so that plus people and dogs would still leave us at least a couple hundred lbs under max payload.

I would be purchasing this from someone I know so I will see if he can send me a pic of the trailer sticker tomorrow.
 
Thanks for the update. 

Hitch wt and tongue wt are two names for the same thing.  It will be 10% - 12% of actual TT weight, likely closer to 700#.

You should be fine!
 
And by the way, congrats on asking all these questions to research BEFORE buying the rig.  ;)  Unfortunately not everyone follows that process, especially with the Ecoboost models that have almost artificially high towing numbers.  Owners see that 11k# limit and then wonder why their F-150 is so squirrelly with a 10k# load.  Problem is that it's still a 1/2 ton truck and doesn't have all the other beefier upgrades of a 3/4 or 1 ton.
 
When looking for a truck to pull my last trailer, the salesman started showing us Ecoboost 150's. I showed him the payload stickers, and explained why an F-150 wouldn't work for our trailer. He started showing me F-250's then, and thanked me for the lesson on the difference between towing and carrying. I don't have the trailer or truck anymore. The salesman has my F-250 now.
 
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