A sweet little VIN resource for Ford vehicles right here

[Steven L]

With so much of my time and efforts online being invested in the realm of the travel trailer towing, i.e. trailer hitch weights, unloaded weights vs. gross weights, carrying capacity. tow vehicle GVWRs, GAWRs, payload limits, dry weights, curb weights, GCVWRs and ...

Well it was nice stumble across this very handy VIN decoder tool on a Ford Truck forum, which will yield a wealth of valuable information on any Ford vehicle that they have official data for.

VIN Decoder - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

Plug in any VIN# and get answers to plethora of possible questions as to exactly what any specific Ford designed by them can do as far as pulling a TT or hauling a 5th-Wheel, or most any other towing application.

If I'm duplicating previously discovered information here by posting this thread I beg the pardon of the memberhip.

Should a Mod or Admin come across my post and think it helpful enough to include the link in the "Resource" sections of the Fourm, by all means please feel free.

 

[SpencerPJ]

I put my vin# in, said not found. You will not get useful information like payload or towing package, or maxtow etc. Often if you go to a Dealers website, they will let you see the window sticker or carfax. Look at the coding, delete their vin# and add what you have an interest in. Works 50% of the time.

 

[CharlesinGA]

Most of the VIN decoders I have found are very stringent on requiring upper case letters, even if it does not say so. Also count your characters carefully to make sure you have 17 characters.

Mopar had a nice VIN decoder that gave you a complete build sheet, several pages printed, but it is gone now and what they have,(after you sign up) is one telling you what transmission and engine you have (duh!) and nothing else.

If you go to the dealer parts department, and pull out your insurance card (which has the VIN on it) or a picture of your VIN, they can give you a build sheet.

Charles

 

[xrated]

I put my VIN in the decoder and it gives a bunch of "general" information, but nothing worthwhile that is specific to my truck......kind of a waste of time in my opinion unless you don't know whether you have a SWR or a Dually, gas or diesel, long bed or short, etc, etc.

 

[Steven L]

I put my vin# in, said not found. You will not get useful information like payload or towing package, or maxtow etc. Often if you go to a Dealers website, they will let you see the window sticker or carfax. Look at the coding, delete their vin# and add what you have an interest in. Works 50% of the time.

I've honestly no clue why it didn't work for you. I've been using it for 3 days now since I came across it, and it's worked every single time.

Here are some screenshots of just one of 5 sections of information Ford provided to me on a F350 dually I picked out randomly from a dealership listing online, and I've done this with at least 2 dozen trucks so far.

Looks to me like a TON of useful information on everything you mentioned, plus quite a bit more. I just copied the VIN as listed and pasted it into the field for the number in the link.

Sometimes I've needed to hit enter again as I'll get an red-lettered error notification after sending it the initial try, as there must be a CAPTCHA challenge on the other end of the link that didn't time out correctly. But I've never failed to recieve a report yet on any of the vehicles I've entered once the link accepts the number.

 

[Steven L]

Most of the VIN decoders I have found are very stringent on requiring upper case letters, even if it does not say so. Also count your characters carefully to make sure you have 17 characters.

Mopar had a nice VIN decoder that gave you a complete build sheet, several pages printed, but it is gone now and what they have,(after you sign up) is one telling you what transmission and engine you have (duh!) and nothing else.

If you go to the dealer parts department, and pull out your insurance card (which has the VIN on it) or a picture of your VIN, they can give you a build sheet.

Charles

This is why I've been using C&P to enter the VIN# rather than typing it out manually, as I'm known far and wide for my legendary (nearly mythical really) fat-fingered skills with any keyboard, both tactile and virtual.
Just ask around Charles because from coast to coast, that's known about me like butter 'n toast.

I've looked at easily in excess of 200 trucks now in the past 3+weeks online, and I can't recall one instance where the VIN# wasn't provided, Either directly in the dealership listing, or any vehicle history check (CarFax, AutoCheck, etc.) that most will include a link to in their listing.

One other tidbit I'll share about these online vehicle history reports is that the information you can glean from an Experian Autocheck, is about as useful as the paper you could print it out on, should one day it become possible to feed toilet paper through a printer.
I'm of a firm belief now that Experian provides their "comprehensive data" in cahoots with dealerships, as a means of offering them coverage from the many blemishes you can sometimes find on any particular vehicle when a CarFax report is also available on it.

I've had more than enough instances of this where I can find both reports located at different websites on the same exact truck, and the CarFax data is far more informative and in-depth than an AutoCheck summary.
So much so in fact that I've gotten to the point of nearly dismissing every truck being offered online I'm looking at, if I can't find a CarFax on it, or when calling the dealership and asking for one being told they only use Experian, and decline to provide a CarFax when I specifically request one.

 

[SpencerPJ]

I've honestly no clue why it didn't work for you. I've been using it for 3 days now since I came across it, and it's worked every single time.

I re-tried with cap lock on, it worked. It is grossly wrong for my truck. It says it is a XL, mine is a Lariat, as I special ordered it. If you would like to see, I'll pm you my pdf window sticker for you to verify. My point is, be careful using it as an only source of info.

 

[Probe1957]

With so much of my time and efforts online being invested in the realm of the travel trailer towing, i.e. trailer hitch weights, unloaded weights vs. gross weights, carrying capacity. tow vehicle GVWRs, GAWRs, payload limits, dry weights, curb weights, GCVWRs and ...

Well it was nice stumble across this very handy VIN decoder tool on a Ford Truck forum, which will yield a wealth of valuable information on any Ford vehicle that they have official data for.

VIN Decoder - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

Plug in any VIN# and get answers to plethora of possible questions as to exactly what any specific Ford designed by them can do as far as pulling a TT or hauling a 5th-Wheel, or most any other towing application.

If I'm duplicating previously discovered information here by posting this thread I beg the pardon of the memberhip.

Should a Mod or Admin come across my post and think it helpful enough to include the link in the "Resource" sections of the Fourm, by all means please feel fre

 

[Probe1957]

It doesn't work for me either. Comes up with a truck, but not my truck.

 

[Steven L]

I re-tried with cap lock on, it worked. It is grossly wrong for my truck. It says it is a XL, mine is a Lariat, as I special ordered it. If you would like to see, I'll pm you my pdf window sticker for you to verify. My point is, be careful using it as an only source of info.

My bad, I forgot that point and thank you for the correction.
I should have mentioned that it will generate only the data that they are required to include on their vehicles at a base model level, and so any special order information will likely not be included in the ranges of value groups you'll see generated.

Only those base option packages that can be added, without it departing from Ford's list that won't constitute a "Special order", are included in their numbers.

I still find it useful as there are actual numbers included that Ford never prints for public consumption on their website or stickers, such as the curb weights as measured by individual axle and a few other details. But you are correct that I would never use any single data point or data source as my sole means of reserching a tow vehicle, or rely on it as "gospel" when making a decision on purchasing it.

In fact each of my test drives thus far have always included a trip to the nearest CAT scale to get an actual measurement of vehicle weight, and then I can add back an approximate number to represent it at a full tank of fuel, where ever the gauge might be at the time of verifying it.

 

[whiteva]

Excellent site, works just great!
Thanks

 

[Steven L]

It doesn't work for me either. Comes up with a truck, but not my truck.

I also learned another wrinkle just now that I hadn't previously noticed. Once you enter your VIN#, there is a drop down menu immediately above the data generated that you can use to further refine the results by wheel base, trim level and cabin, as they apparently only generate base XL numbers by default.

If you're not seeing your specific truck, then that may be of value in getting closer numbers.

 

[ButchW]

Does this work with Ford powered MHs?…I know there is much added after it leaves Ford to become a MH, but are some of the basics sti there?
Butch

 

[Steven L]

Does this work with Ford powered MHs?…I know there is much added after it leaves Ford to become a MH, but are some of the basics sti there?
Butch

Haven't tried entering a Class-C VIN# yet, and I'm not in the market for one so I doubt I will try.
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You're welcome to try your hand at it though.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Does this work with Ford powered MHs?…I know there is much added after it leaves Ford to become a MH, but are some of the basics sti there?
Butch

The most you will get is the information on the chassis. Anything plunked on top of that after it comes off the assembly line won't be there.

 

[steveblonde]

Just phone your ford dealer give them the vin and they will send you a 15 page build sheet complete with specs and options included/excluded

 

[Steven L]

Just phone SOME ford dealers give them the vin and they will send you a 15 page build sheet complete with specs and options included/excluded

Fixed

This has worked on some occasions for me, and not so much on others.

The key of course is to find a local dealer where the employees understand that true customer service is extened to ALL of the general public, and not just to those folks who are found on that dealership's lot and seen as potential customers.

 

[ButchW]

The most you will get is the information on the chassis. Anything plunked on top of that after it comes off the assembly line won't be there.

Yea, I really wouldn't expect more than that...
Butch

 

[Tom_M]

I ran across that site a couple of years ago. It works for more than Fords. It also works for my motorhome on a Ford chassis.