towing with F150

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I STRONGLY  suggest the  Max Payload package.  It gives heavier springs, heavier brakes (I think) and heavier tires.  It also gives you an extra 1,000# of payload.  All those high tow ratings were for trucks with this package.  It will have a higher rear end ratio, thus poorer gas mileage, so they may be hard to find.

Those max tow ratings advertising loves to brag about are for a BASE XL model, max tow option and little else.  Two passengers and full gas tank.  No luggage.  No cargo.  And you usually see them pulling a load of lumber or bricks, NOT a camper!  Every pound of weight added in the form of options, passengers, cargo, bigger cab, longer bed, etc must be subtracted from that max tow number.

Honestly, the following is a much better way to evaluate tow capacity.
Find the yellow border placard on the driver door latch post which will state the weight of all passengers and cargo shall not exceed XXXX lbs.  This is the Payload for THAT truck as it left the factory with all options installed.
From this number, subtract the weight of all passengers, cargo, car seats, tool, toys and lumber you will carry in the truck.  Subtract 80# for a WD hitch.  What is left is the max tongue wt you can handle.
Multiply this number by 8 to get the max weight - that is GVWR - of the trailer you can safely tow assuming 12.5% tongue wt.
Multiply max tongue wt by 10 to get the absolute max GVWR trailer you can tow.  This assumes 10% tongue wt, and is the absolute minimum safe tongue wt % (tongue wt / loaded trailer wt X 100%)

Remember also that TT is a BIG sail you are towing behind your truck.  It catches lots of wind from passing trucks or natural gusts of wind that can push you all over the road if the sail is too big, the truck too small or the wind too strong.  The guy who said No Problem has 10 posts, and I never heard of him before.  There are several folks with hundreds of posts who have recommended to keep the length down closer to 25 ft.  I know them.  They know what they are talking about with thousands of towing miles behind their advise.
 
This is the only safe thing to tow a 30? TT is with this  ::)
 

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grashley said:
I STRONGLY  suggest the  Max Payload package.  It gives heavier springs, heavier brakes (I think) and heavier tires.  It also gives you an extra 1,000# of payload.  All those high tow ratings were for trucks with this package.  It will have a higher rear end ratio, thus poorer gas mileage, so they may be hard to find.

Those max tow ratings advertising loves to brag about are for a BASE XL model, max tow option and little else.  Two passengers and full gas tank.  No luggage.  No cargo.  And you usually see them pulling a load of lumber or bricks, NOT a camper!  Every pound of weight added in the form of options, passengers, cargo, bigger cab, longer bed, etc must be subtracted from that max tow number.

Honestly, the following is a much better way to evaluate tow capacity.
Find the yellow border placard on the driver door latch post which will state the weight of all passengers and cargo shall not exceed XXXX lbs.  This is the Payload for THAT truck as it left the factory with all options installed.
From this number, subtract the weight of all passengers, cargo, car seats, tool, toys and lumber you will carry in the truck.  Subtract 80# for a WD hitch.  What is left is the max tongue wt you can handle.
Multiply this number by 8 to get the max weight - that is GVWR - of the trailer you can safely tow assuming 12.5% tongue wt.
Multiply max tongue wt by 10 to get the absolute max GVWR trailer you can tow.  This assumes 10% tongue wt, and is the absolute minimum safe tongue wt % (tongue wt / loaded trailer wt X 100%)

Remember also that TT is a BIG sail you are towing behind your truck.  It catches lots of wind from passing trucks or natural gusts of wind that can push you all over the road if the sail is too big, the truck too small or the wind too strong.  The guy who said No Problem has 10 posts, and I never heard of him before.  There are several folks with hundreds of posts who have recommended to keep the length down closer to 25 ft.  I know them.  They know what they are talking about with thousands of towing miles behind their advise.
sailing!  I sail a 16' Hobie with 26 ' mast. that sail can harness wind and fly on 1 hull. so i know about sailing but not interested in  flying 2 wheels on a truck towing. lol
 
I tow a 5th wheel and boat with my 2016 F150 XLT Supercab 3.5L EcoBoost 2wdr with electronic locking rear 3.55 geared axle. Scaled it last Monday at 14,890 wet. I had no trouble on the interstate with cross winds, semis, or anything else. Truck handles it just fine. Speed limit is 70, I'm doing 60 and running about 1,700 rpm. I averaged around 11mpg fully loaded. When I jump up to 65mph I average 9.8mpg. I normally average 24.4 mpg on the interstate without trailers. I average 17mpg with just the boat doing the speed limit. 

My F150 also has a couple of the option packages, not max tow, just the towing package. Towing package comes with everything except the integrated brake controller and towing mirrors. Which means I had to add the Ford integrated brake controller and have the dealer activate it ($180). Plus I added aftermarket manual sliding towing mirrors, with electronic control, heated, and blinkers ($290). They came with puddle lights, however my truck didn't so those don't work.

My truck is rated at #6,900 GWR and #2,078 carrying capacity. I also have the factory running boards, spray in bed-liner, and box side steps. Truck with a full tank of gas (23 gallon), the wife, I, the dogs (shih Tzu's), Reese 5th wheel sliding hitch and all the aforementioned gear weighs #5,400. Leaves me with a max pin capacity of #1,500.

Crewcabs, higher trim packages, and 4x4 all reduce your carrying capacity. I walked the lot while they activated my controller and looked at a bunch of yellow door stickers. I seen 150's with higher GWR, yet they had lower carrying capacity. Most were 4x4, Crewcab short beds (5.5'). Mine is a Subercab with standard bed (6.5'). The only long beds where attached to regular cabs and I didn't check them out.

My tuck is rated for a maximum of 16,000 pounds. I'm well within my trucks limits and have no qualms about it handling my towing needs. My total length is 60', tip to tail. Illinois has one of the shortest length limits. However all Class I (Interstates) and Class II (State Highways) roads have no length restriction. It's the township, county roads, and cities that have the length restriction. There is an exception, you are allowed up to 5 miles off the Class I and Class II roads to get gas, reach your destination, and reach your campers permanent storage location.

I see no problem with a F150 for family, camping duties. I wouldn't use it for a full time RV lifestyle, but for the average Joe going on a week or two vacation with the family, weekends to the lake, and a daily driver back and forth to work. It'll meet your needs and save you expenses compared to 3/4 and up trucks.
 
Hanr3 said:
I tow a 5th wheel and boat with my 2016 F150 XLT Supercab 3.5L EcoBoost 2wdr with electronic locking rear 3.55 geared axle. Scaled it last Monday at 14,890 wet. I had no trouble on the interstate with cross winds, semis, or anything else. Truck handles it just fine. Speed limit is 70, I'm doing 60 and running about 1,700 rpm. I averaged around 11mpg fully loaded. When I jump up to 65mph I average 9.8mpg. I normally average 24.4 mpg on the interstate without trailers. I average 17mpg with just the boat doing the speed limit. 

My F150 also has a couple of the option packages, not max tow, just the towing package. Towing package comes with everything except the integrated brake controller and towing mirrors. Which means I had to add the Ford integrated brake controller and have the dealer activate it ($180). Plus I added aftermarket manual sliding towing mirrors, with electronic control, heated, and blinkers ($290). They came with puddle lights, however my truck didn't so those don't work.

My truck is rated at #6,900 GWR and #2,078 carrying capacity. I also have the factory running boards, spray in bed-liner, and box side steps. Truck with a full tank of gas (23 gallon), the wife, I, the dogs (shih Tzu's), Reese 5th wheel sliding hitch and all the aforementioned gear weighs #5,400. Leaves me with a max pin capacity of #1,500.

Crewcabs, higher trim packages, and 4x4 all reduce your carrying capacity. I walked the lot while they activated my controller and looked at a bunch of yellow door stickers. I seen 150's with higher GWR, yet they had lower carrying capacity. Most were 4x4, Crewcab short beds (5.5'). Mine is a Subercab with standard bed (6.5'). The only long beds where attached to regular cabs and I didn't check them out.

My tuck is rated for a maximum of 16,000 pounds. I'm well within my trucks limits and have no qualms about it handling my towing needs. My total length is 60', tip to tail. Illinois has one of the shortest length limits. However all Class I (Interstates) and Class II (State Highways) roads have no length restriction. It's the township, county roads, and cities that have the length restriction. There is an exception, you are allowed up to 5 miles off the Class I and Class II roads to get gas, reach your destination, and reach your campers permanent storage location.

I see no problem with a F150 for family, camping duties. I wouldn't use it for a full time RV lifestyle, but for the average Joe going on a week or two vacation with the family, weekends to the lake, and a daily driver back and forth to work. It'll meet your needs and save you expenses compared to 3/4 and up trucks.
thats really encouraging. do you have any issues retrieving boat on wet ramp? 2. do you recommend the integrated t-brake system compared to add-on after-market controller?
 
All of this is fine and dandy - however there us a,serious and deadly down side
I am not making this up to scare anyone

Last week i am visiting a customer who owns a wrecking and repair business. He is working on his truck as there is a power issue so we get to chatting.
Hes trying to get the truck running so he can do a recovery on a 30ft tt thats rolled into the ditch at the bottom of a hill
Truck was also rolled in the ditch F150
Asked what happened and the truck and trailer tried to stop for deer the trailer pushed the truck into the ditch and rolled them both
Family of 4 were all injured fortunately none seriously.
So i asked the question - how many of these do you see a year
Answer 8-10

Take it for what its worth.


A heavier truck may not have prevented this but the weight and bigger brakes, trans would have helped.
 
steveblonde said:
All of this is fine and dandy - however there us a,serious and deadly down side
I am not making this up to scare anyone

Last week i am visiting a customer who owns a wrecking and repair business. He is working on his truck as there is a power issue so we get to chatting.
Hes trying to get the truck running so he can do a recovery on a 30ft tt thats rolled into the ditch at the bottom of a hill
Truck was also rolled in the ditch F150
Asked what happened and the truck and trailer tried to stop for deer the trailer pushed the truck into the ditch and rolled them both
Family of 4 were all injured fortunately none seriously.
So i asked the question - how many of these do you see a year
Answer 8-10

Take it for what its worth.


A heavier truck may not have prevented this but the weight and bigger brakes, trans would have helped.

I agree 100%, I like to top out F150, Yukon, Suburbans, max size 25', weight arguments aside.  That 30tt was asking for it.  Maybe he didn't have his brakes set-up correctly on the TT and a heavier truck would have certainly helped. 

I remember once, I was pulling a 25' boat through the hills in TN, long decent to the lake, ceramic brakes on Yukon, at the bottom of the hill, I thought my boat was going to push me right off the loading ramp, wouldn't stop.  Talk about standing on the brake.  I did stop.  Them brakes smelled for a day.
 
with large combination vehicles...the trailer brakes stops the tow vehicle,  not the other way around

On a semi truck combo,  the trailer or trailers most always out weighs the tractor,    and it's pretty ugly when you lose trailer brakes.
 
sightseers said:
with large combination vehicles...the trailer brakes stops the tow vehicle,  not the other way around

On a semi truck combo,  the trailer or trailers most always out weighs the tractor,    and it's pretty ugly when you lose trailer brakes.

Thats correct in fact most trucks dont have brakes on the steer axle BUT the trailer brakes on a commercial trailer are HUGE - on a pleasure trailer or Rv they are tiny little things and the tow vehicle does most if the braking
 
steveblonde said:
Thats correct in fact most trucks dont have brakes on the steer axle BUT the trailer brakes on a commercial trailer are HUGE - on a pleasure trailer or Rv they are tiny little things and the tow vehicle does most if the braking

Not around here.  (on a com. truck)  when you get pulled into scales for a random inspection you have to have properly adjusted brakes on the steer axle the same as all the other axles,  it's a fix-it or tow-it situation.

Many a driver has had to lay under his truck on a cold rainy day and adjusted up his brakes at scales.  We used to slack off on the front axles brakes if we knew we were gonna hit bad weather, but if you got caught at scales you ended up driving with wet pants.

Trailer axles are engineered to have large enough brakes to stop the rated weight of the axles just in case of a disconnect.. 
 
steveblonde said:
All of this is fine and dandy - however there us a,serious and deadly down side
I am not making this up to scare anyone

Last week i am visiting a customer who owns a wrecking and repair business. He is working on his truck as there is a power issue so we get to chatting.
Hes trying to get the truck running so he can do a recovery on a 30ft tt thats rolled into the ditch at the bottom of a hill
Truck was also rolled in the ditch F150
Asked what happened and the truck and trailer tried to stop for deer the trailer pushed the truck into the ditch and rolled them both
Family of 4 were all injured fortunately none seriously.
So i asked the question - how many of these do you see a year
Answer 8-10

Take it for what its worth.


A heavier truck may not have prevented this but the weight and bigger brakes, trans would have helped.
heavier truck? watch this :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gqaqs66Yfs
 
We don't know if that semi was overweight or what happened exactly.  Too bad they filmed the scenery at just the wrong time.

Did that car even slow down?
 
that was likely an Empty trailer...not an overloaded trailer.

an empty trailer is far more dangerous in heavy winds.
 
Hobie1 said:
i want to buy a TT 20'-30' and buying a 2018 F150 to tow it. the 2.7L ecoboost v6  towin cap rated to 7700lbs and the 3.5L is rated to 12,000lbs.  of course the 2.7L gets slightly better gas mileage. based on your RV experience, what would you recommend?

We have a 2014 F150 3.5 Ecoboost that tows our 25 footer like a dream. I'm happy with it and the fuel mileage even though it's the all steel version of the truck. I say go with the 3.5L, you will be happier.
 
MrWizzard said:
We have a 2014 F150 3.5 Ecoboost that tows our 25 footer like a dream. I'm happy with it and the fuel mileage even though it's the all steel version of the truck. I say go with the 3.5L, you will be happier.

agree, for the minimal towing use you have, go for the 3.5 and max tow package.

once you get serious, then upgrade to a more capable truck.


 
solarman said:
agree, for the minimal towing use you have, go for the 3.5 and max tow package.

once you get serious, then upgrade to a more capable truck.

Yep...Go Freightliner or go home  :D
 
MrWizzard said:
We have a 2014 F150 3.5 Ecoboost that tows our 25 footer like a dream. I'm happy with it and the fuel mileage even though it's the all steel version of the truck. I say go with the 3.5L, you will be happier.
Thanks for the heads-up. I made a short list with 3.5L and sent to a few dealers. seems the 2018 3.5L is in short supply. must be very popular for a reason
 
Hobie1 said:
Thanks for the heads-up. I made a short list with 3.5L and sent to a few dealers. seems the 2018 3.5L is in short supply. must be very popular for a reason

Just go order exactly what you want... Then you'll be happy  :))  It's only money  ;)
 
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