Can I carry a golf car in truck bed? Towing capacity question

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

rschindl

New member
Joined
Sep 17, 2017
Posts
1
Hello,  I am trying to determine if I can carry a golf car in my 2015 Ford F-150 truck bed while I tow my 2012 31' Keystone Bullet travel trailer.  I have two issues to resolve and I was hoping I could get some help from the expertise on this forum.  The first issue is my truck bed length.  In order to load the golf car I need to be able to put my tailgate down and drive in that condition.  The problem here is that my tailgate can't go down all the way because it contacts my trailer automatic jack control buttons. So I am looking of options to extend my hitch so that I can leave my tailgate down that won't decrease my towing capacity below what I need.  There in lies the second problem, weight capacity.  The golf car weighs between 1,000-1,200 lbs. But now I also need to transport the required ramps to get car on truck bed.  I am not sure how much those weigh.
So with both of those factors I would like to know what options I have (if any) to be able to load this golf car and leave the tailgate down with some sort of hitch extender.
Here are the specs for my towing vehicle:
2015 Ford- F-150 145" WB 3.5L V6 ecoboost 4 X 4 supercrew
GVWR: 7000 lbs
GCWR: 12,200 lbs
FRONT GAWR: 3450 lbs
REAR GAWR: 3800 lbs
Max gross: trailer weight: 11,000 lbs  (WEIGHT DIST)
max tongue weight: 1,100 lbs  (WEIGHT DIST)
Max gross: trailer weight: 5,000lbs (WEIGHT CARRYING)
max tongue weight: 500 lbs (WEIGHT CARRYING)

My travel trailer weight is 7,000 lbs

Thank you in advance for your assistance on this question.
Richard


 
You should find a yellow sticker on the door jamb of your truck that will show you the CCC or Cargo  maximum load for YOUR vehicle. I suspect you will be well over that limit with both the trailer and the golf cart included. Even the trailer tongue weight might be stretching it.
 
:):))

As Stu said, look at the yellow label on the driver door latch post.  It gives you the most weight the truck was designed to carry.  I suspect this will be LESS than 2,000 lbs.    This must cover everything carried in the truck including passengers, pets, cargo in the bed (Golf Cart), ramps, WD hitch and tongue wt of the camper.

You want to carry 1200# Golf Cart, including ramps, 800#+ tongue wt including WD hitch = 2000#+ and passengers too ???

Sorry.  You are likely very near capacity with the camper and passengers.

This truck WILL NOT handle the camper AND the Golf Cart.
 
The 3.5 eb certainly won't have any issues pulling all that combined weight.
  Your trucks problem are those small 3800 rawr.
rawr = P tires/wheels/rear spring pack and the small semi float rear  axle.

IMO the 1200 lb cart plus the trailers hitch load plus other gear in the bed will be well over 2200 lbs. The most a 3800 rawr can carry is around 1400-1600 lbs in the bed.....depending on truck selections.

 
longhaul said:
The 3.5 eb certainly won't have any issues pulling all that combined weight.
Pulling the weight is not the issue. On flat land it could probably tow a freight train. The problems occur in mountains, braking and cross wind handling.
 
If the numbers you quoted are accurate, you are surely exceeding the GCWR by a substantial amount even without the golf car. Plus I suspect that the 7000 lb trailer weight is the dry/empty weight of a 31 footer, not the loaded weight.

In any case, check that "yellow sticker" but I am confident that you do not have cargo carrying capacity for an additional 1000+ lbs. The trailer alone adds at least 7000 lbs (more likely 900) and the hitch, passengers, etc probably account for a few hundred more. The total is going to exceed the truck GVWR if you try to carry much more weight.
 
A few questions; As already asked, what's the yellow sticker say?  Also, what rear axle do you have and what wheels (17/18/20")?

A SuperCrew 4x4 3.5 EcoBoost with 3.73 rear axle can tow up to 11,700 lbs on the bumper (11,400 lbs 5th wheel) but you really need to know your payload here.  You can have anywhere from 1700-3270 lbs payload but being a SuperCrew cab it's more likely to be closer to the 1700-1900 lbs.  So a 1200 lb cart with 100 lbs of ramps only leaves you with 400-600 on the hitch.  As Gary said, you also have to consider the rGAWR/GVWR etc too...
 
You might have to consider getting a bigger truck or a lighter golf cart, for example my EZ-GO electric RXV has a curb weight of about 900 pounds from the factory, the new RXV Elite Lithium battery model weighs about 275 pounds less than my 6 year old first generation electric RXV.
 
Isaac-1 said:
You might have to consider getting a bigger truck or a lighter golf cart, for example my EZ-GO electric RXV has a curb weight of about 900 pounds from the factory, the new RXV Elite Lithium battery model weighs about 275 pounds less than my 6 year old first generation electric RXV.
I dont think the 900 lb golf cart is going to make it doable. As stated, the truck is pretty much toast with a 31 ft trailer.
 
Looks like that hitch extension reduces the load rating of the hitch.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2017-09-30 at 12.33.06 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2017-09-30 at 12.33.06 AM.png
    134.9 KB · Views: 19
atwowheelguy said:
Looks like that hitch extension reduces the load rating of the hitch.

Correct.  An extension adds more leverage to the weight, reducing what the actual hitch and vehicle can carry.  Physics.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
131,753
Posts
1,384,360
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom