Please Help With What I Can Safely Tow? :)

[KandT]

I just bought an F250 SuperCrew with the 6.7 Diesel.  The door Jam sticker tells me my GVWR is 10,000 and that gives me just under 2600 pounds that I can safely have in the vehicle including hitch weight.

For the life of me, I can't find a GCWR.  I will stay within safe standards but TT get heavy fast!

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks All.

 

[SpencerPJ]

This will tell you the specs you are looking for, I assumed you bought a 2019.
https://www.ford.com/cmslibs/content/dam/brand_ford/en_us/brand/resources/general/pdf/guides/Prelm19RV&TT_Ford_SuperDtyPU_May4.pdf


What is the Carry Capacity on the yellow sticker in the drivers door?  That is your payload, very important number.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

If it's not a 2019, there is similar info available for prior years, all the way to 2003.  See https://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/

The GCWR is determined by a combination of factors, e.g. wheel base, rear axle gearing, 2WD/4WD, tire & wheel size and cab style.

 

[donn]

That 2600 cargo cap number you gave.  Is that as scaled or brochure number?  Depending on configuration the truck loaded full of fuel and two people could easily scale over 8000 pounds.  Heck my 2004 ext cab Chevy DA 4x4 scaled 7500 pounds.  So  come on give us the real numbers.
Oh and yes 250s are notorious for low pin weights.
Lets assume in the real world your truck scales loaded ready to go at 8000 pounds.  That leaves you 2000 pounds for pin.  That translates to a 10,000 pound loaded trailer.
While your at getting real weights, get a good rear axle weight.

 

[KandT]

The 2600 number I gave is from the door Jam.  I assume this is fully fueled.  My registration says it is only a hair over 7000 lbs unladen weight. 

Based on the links provided I am thinking towing capacity is between 14,100 to 15,000.  I have the 3.55 rear axle super crew 4X4. 

It is funny that it actually has 55 pound more torque and 100 more horsepower than my 350 Caterpillar that was in my Vectra.

 

[KandT]

Ok - I found the GCWR in the manual.  It looks like I am good to go at 15,000 lbs. 

Thanks to all who helped me with this issue.  I didn't realize I was going to need to put so many pieces of the puzzle together myself.  Nonetheless, I feel good about my purchase and I suspect I will get quite a bit of service out of this truck. 

 

[donn]

Go ahead and hook up that 15K fiver.  After one or two pulls you will understand that your grossly overloaded.

 

[SpencerPJ]

The 2600 number I gave is from the door Jam.  I assume this is fully fueled. 

Full of gas, and probably 150# driver.  Nice truck! You should be able to drag many TT's around.  They can add up if you are thinking ToyHauler with toys. 

 

[KandT]

Go ahead and hook up that 15K fiver.  After one or two pulls you will understand that your grossly overloaded.

Thanks Donn.  I am asking these question humbly.  Please explain.  Will it be the weight of the 5er in the bed or the total weight that you feel will be a concern?

Thanks!  Remember this is the friendliest place on the web.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Another factor is Total Frontal Area. 

From the Ford Towing Guide SpencerPJ linked to above:

Frontal Area Considerations

Frontal Area is the total area in square feet that a moving vehicle and trailer exposes to air resistance. The chart above shows the maximum trailer frontal area that must be considered for a vehicle/trailer combination. Exceeding these limitations may significantly reduce the performance of your towing vehicle.

For the F250 and above, the rated Total Frontal Area for a 5th wheel trailer is 75 sq. ft. or less.  That's 8 ft. wide x 9.3 ft. high or 8.5 ft. wide x 8.8 ft. high.

For a bumper pull trailer, the rated Total Frontal Area is 60 sq. ft.  That's 8 ft wide x 7.5 ft. high or 8.5 ft. wide x 7 ft. high.

Most RV trailers are significantly taller than those limits, which means they need more power to carve a hole through the air at highway speeds.

If you're loaded to the maximum GCWR, you won't have much power left over to overcome the wind resistance of a tall 5th wheel trailer.

 

[SpencerPJ]

Excellent point Lou  )
This Frontal Area is almost always overlooked and plays into the 'real' towing experience.  I like that these specifications are becoming more published.  Must be that customers are going back to Dealers and saying 'you told me it could pull XYZ', but forgot the details that XYZ needed to be flat steel on a flat trailer.

 

[Ernie n Tara]

At a load capacity of 2,600 lb. you have to count on 20 t0 25% of the fiver weight plus any passengers, tools, food, the hitch (200 lb) and any other loads in the truck. If that adds up to 600 lb., you have 2,000 left for the fiver or about 8,000 to 10,000 lbs. Gross weight. You might get to 12,000 by not carrying as much but not much more.

Incidentally, with the large truck and relatively high (numerically lower) gears that load rating makes sense.

Ernie

 

[KandT]

Thanks All!  I appreciate the education!

 

[donn]

Thanks Donn.  I am asking these question humbly.  Please explain.  Will it be the weight of the 5er in the bed or the total weight that you feel will be a concern?

Thanks!  Remember this is the friendliest place on the web.

Again please remember that you need accurate weights before anything.  Load the truck up like yoir going camping and go across a set of scales.  What you need is the loaded weight plus weight on the rear axle.  Next you need to find from Ford the GAWR.  That is Gross rear Axle weight Rating.  Simple math will tell you how much you can load the truck and rear axle before exceexing either.  Using the 20% number will give you the maximum fifth wheel weight you can handle.  As a worst case that number consider that as the fivers GVWR.
I started out thinking like you  had a 2500 and it could handle anything.  Once we brought our 13,500GVWR fiver home and loaded it up I drove across the scales.  Surprise we were 1300 pounds over the trucks GVWR. And way over the tire load capacity.  Added air bags, new tires and towed for three years until I could aford a new truck.  Went to a dually and never looked back.  In that 3 years I never felt in control with the 2500.  Same trailer, same load and the dually was a dream. 
If you want a fiver keep it under about 10,000 GVWR and you will be fine.  You will be able to pull way more TT than you will be able to load a fiver.

 

[grashley]

I know I am a late comer. Sorry.

Your Payload - how much you can carry - is, by definition, the GVWR minus the actual truck wt.  The yellow placard wt of 2600 is 10,000# minus the weight if THAT truck with a full tank of fuel as it left the factory.  No cargo. No passengers.

The total weight of passengers, cargo, FW hitch and FW pin wt can not exceed 2600#
For a TT, total weight of passengers, cargo, WD hitch and tongue wt can not exceed 2600#

Use 20% of the FW GVWR as a good estimate of pin wt.  If passengers and cargo in the truck weigh 400#, and the hitch weighs 200#, then the most the pin wt can be is 2000#, which is 20% of 10,000#.  As Donn said.

Now GCW  Assuming the above of a 10,000# truck and 10,000# FW, minus 2000# pin wt counted twice - as part of both truck and FW wt, your actual GCW is 18,000#

Now for a TT, a 2600# Payload, 400# passengers and cargo, and 80# WD hitch, you can handle a 2100# tongue wt.  A 15,000# TT is well within this limit!

 

[KandT]

Thanks all - The last thing I want to do is be one of those "front end in the air and vehicle struggling" heading down the road so I appreciate the guidance.  I saw one today in fact.  Looked like a 1500 series and an old fiver.  I was able to understand why what he did was wrong based on this thread.  Again, thanks. 

I think I will ease into it with a shorter bumper pull with weight distribution hitch.  Cross winds make me a little nervous if we head out west. 

 

[SpencerPJ]

I think I will ease into it with a shorter bumper pull with weight distribution hitch.  Cross winds make me a little nervous if we head out west.

I think you will be happy with that decision, you do have a nicely capable truck though  )

 

[KandT]

Again, I want to thank everyone for their help.  I have to admit I am a little nervous to tow.  BUT I was nervous to drive my first 31 foot class C and nervous to drive my 36 foot class A towing my Accord.

Does anyone think I am getting in over my head getting an 8,500 pound 35 footer - bumper pull for my first TT?  Again I am rated for 15,000 pounds and I am going with the bumper pull to avoid the frontal area with a 5er.  I will get a weight distribution hitch.

We were looking today and found 2 that are in that range.

 

[SeilerBird]

Again, I want to thank everyone for their help.  I have to admit I am a little nervous to tow.  BUT I was nervous to drive my first 31 foot class C and nervous to drive my 36 foot class A towing my Accord.

Does anyone think I am getting in over my head getting an 8,500 pound 35 footer - bumper pull for my first TT?  Again I am rated for 15,000 pounds and I am going with the bumper pull to avoid the frontal area with a 5er.  I will get a weight distribution hitch.

We were looking today and found 2 that are in that range.

Just about everyone is nervous about towing or driving a new RV. Generally that feeling goes away pretty quickly if you are not overloaded. A properly set up RV is usually pretty easy to drive once you have had a little bit of practice. The secret here is to not be overloaded and to be set up properly. Since you are here asking the right questions you should be OK if you follow the advise given out by our weight experts.

 

[donn]

Again, I want to thank everyone for their help.  I have to admit I am a little nervous to tow.  BUT I was nervous to drive my first 31 foot class C and nervous to drive my 36 foot class A towing my Accord.

Does anyone think I am getting in over my head getting an 8,500 pound 35 footer - bumper pull for my first TT?  Again I am rated for 15,000 pounds and I am going with the bumper pull to avoid the frontal area with a 5er.  I will get a weight distribution hitch.

We were looking today and found 2 that are in that range.

Oh heck yes!  35 foot long TT is going to translate to over 40 feet nose to bumper.    Unless you use so ething like a Hensley Arrow of similar type of hitch there is no way. I would consider towing a TT over maybe 25 feet.  There are shorter, lighter fivers that would be a better choice cor you