Specific specs need translating

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LynneT

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Posts
22
Location
NW Louisiana
Oh how I wish that I didn't have to post this .... I have been reading every forum post related to towing capacity, etc... hoping to feel like I understood what my particular circumstances were but I have decided to just five you guys the numbers off the truck I currently have and see if there is any difference in what I have been reading, etc...

I bought a used 2005 F250 Supercrew Lariat Longbed 4x4 Diesel a few months ago ...

After looking at the info on the inside door jam and the options on this truck, this is the info I have:

Door sticker indicates:  Front GAWR - 6000 LBS.
                                Rear GAVW  - 6100 LBS.
                                GVWR - 10000

Sticker shows options:    6.0L v-8
                                  Torqshift 5-speed Auto trans
                                    3.73 Ratio limited slip axle
                                    10000 GVWR Package
                                      Electronic shift on the fly
                                      Camper Package
                                      Rear Stabilizer bar    FX4 pkg.
                                      Tow command system

I think I included all the options having to do with towing/hauling ..... so ......what does all this mean?  Can I handle more pin weight or ... what is the bottom line?

Thanks in advance for entertaining this info .... hundreds of times, I am sure!


 
BTW ... I am looking to purchase a 5er and from what I can gather with all the talk about towing, pin weight, etc .... the pulling power is not going to be the issue so much as the weight in the bed over the axles, right?  I am looking to pretty much park the 5er and live in it full time for awhile, so I won't be hauling this up and down the road ..... yet.  By then, I may have again upgraded my tow vehicle if I see a problem with what I now have! 

I also wonder if rear overload springs are standard on this particular truck also .... or is that part of one of the option packages I mentioned above?  ;)
 
:-\  I guess this topic has been burned out!!!!  I was hoping to understand better what I was dealing with .... the dealers are no help .... all I hear is "You got plenty of power/truck to pull what you need"

I just want to know how much pin weight I can handle with the info I posted. ;)  Anyone!
 
You may need to be a little more patient. Your original question was posted only 2 hours 18 minutes before your last message.

We don't have an army of folks expert in all facets of RVs and RVing sitting at their PCs waiting for the next question to pop up. We have a group of volunteers from across North America who, together, have a broad range of knowledge and experience. At any one time, some may be in transit or offline for other reasons. Additionally, when they can get online, they don't all favor the same time for visiting this forum.

Be patient and someone will likely be along to help you out.

Thanks
 
LynneT said:
Door sticker indicates:? ?Front GAWR - 6000 LBS.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Rear GAVW? - 6100 LBS.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?GVWR - 10000

Sticker shows options:? ? 6.0L v-8
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Torqshift 5-speed Auto trans
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 3.73 Ratio limited slip axle
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?10000 GVWR Package
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Electronic shift on the fly
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Camper Package
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Rear Stabilizer bar? ? ?FX4 pkg.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Tow command system

Pulled out my copy of Ford's 2006 RV & Trailer Towing Guide. The info should be pretty much the same for 2005. For your truck configuration, according to the guide, the heaviest 5W you can safely pull is 15,700Lbs. The pin weight should be 15% to 25% of the loaded trailer weight. You need to either weigh the truck or talk to a dealer to get the unloaded vehicle weight. That weight plus the trailer weight should NOT exceed the GCWR on your truck. The GCWR is on the same sticker where you got the axle ratings -- should be the top printed line right after where you got your GVWR. In my case, it is 13,000 GVWR and 26,000 GCWR.

Of all the options you mentioned, the GVWR, Engine, Transmission, Differential and Drive Train (4X2 or 4X4) are the important items to consider when trailer shopping.

Had a bear of a time getting the guide - dealer just gave me silly looks - but finally found it on ford.com where I could down load it. I got it after we got the 5W, and was really relieved to find out that I was well within specs. When I get home tonight, I'm going to attempt to locate the PDF and get one of the moderators to put it in the proper forum so all can read it if they so desire. Lot's of interesting stuff. Covers Pickups/Chassis Cabs, Slide In Campers, Van Converstions / Class B's, Class A's, C's and trailers - course its Ford related only.

Larry
 
My apologies to all for sounding so impatient!  I have learned so much from all the advice/info given on this forum!  I have searched and read posts and been told so many things ... then, I hated to post another "towing" question for fear that I should already understand all this stuff for as much as it's discussed and I have read!  I do appreciate the availability of everyone involved and their knowledge.  Thanks Tom!

Larry,
I will check that sticker again and see what else there is there.  I'm one of those that really wants to understand how things work, how you arrived at the answer, etc... so I thank you for your explanation into the figuring .... I want to be able to pass along this info and be able to explain how I got the answers!
 
No need for apologies Lynne; I was merely trying to explain why you won't necessarily get an immediate response.

Although I've towed trailers in the past, I must admit it was in pure ignorance. I try to avoid answering the trailer towing questions here, deferring to our trailer/towing experts.
 
I have read sooooo much on this subject and I understand the importance of the whole deal!  I also know that it seems as if most may be looking for someone to tell them what they want to hear about their tow vehicle being just fine for the job!  Too many factors involved in all this towing stuff! 
The last thing I want to do is try to justify why I'm overloaded when I knew better!  Ignorance is no defense and with me being in law enforcement .... well, need I say more?!!!!! :-X

8)
 
LynneT said:
I have read sooooo much on this subject and I understand the importance of the whole deal!? I also know that it seems as if most may be looking for someone to tell them what they want to hear about their tow vehicle being just fine for the job!? Too many factors involved in all this towing stuff!?
The last thing I want to do is try to justify why I'm overloaded when I knew better!? Ignorance is no defense and with me being in law enforcement .... well, need I say more?!!!!! :-X

8)

You need to read one more thing:? Trailer Life's tow rating tables.? ?You can find them at www.trailerlife.com in the Tech section.? Go and see.? ?Your truck will be there.? ?Be sure to allow at least 10% in those ratings, 15% if you plan to tow in the mountain and coastal west.
 
2006F350 said:
... I'm going to attempt to locate the PDF and get one of the moderators to put it in the proper forum so all can read it if they so desire..
Larry, if it isn't in PDF form, and you have a way of reading it but don't have a way to put it into PDF form, try a neat little utility called CutePDF. It is free for non-commercial use. Comes in two parts, both freely down-loadable and low in download time too.

Once you have installed it you will have a virtual printer installled in your printer section, I suggest you make this your default printer, that way if ever you hit print and a printer isn't connected, this baby handles it without your desktop/laptop giving you all sorts of grief about no printer connected. BTDT way too many times.

The output is a basic but quite OK PDF file that can be freely shared with others. If the original has graphics and links to sites then the same will be in your PDF. I just 'printed' up a copy of this page and have attached it as a sample. Check it out.

I use this baby all the time and have never been disappointed in the output. You ll find it (and its bigger pay-me brothers) at  http://www.cutepdf.com/products/ plus good support, FAQ's etc.

If this message is helpful perhaps Tom might put this message into somewhere that other folks can find it?
 

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Ian said:
If this message is helpful perhaps Tom might put this message into somewhere that other folks can find it?

Ian, if I move the message it will no longer be attached to this topic. Why not go ahead and highlight/copy your own message and paste into a new one on the PCs, Comms, Electronics board.

Personally, I have little use for PDF files.
 
Tom: Personally, I have little use for PDF files.

I did too, before I got the Fujitsu duplex sheetfeed copier. Now I have 2.15 Gig of PDF files of receipts, manuals, magazine articles, recipes, etc all neatly labeled with many keywords and easily searched. I was a terrible filer of all the articles I saved.

Preview opens the PDFs quite quickly (The Adobe program is one of the slowest to load).
 
Adobe Reader ver. 6 was very slow to load because of all the plugins it came with, most of which aren't needed by most people.  Ver. 7 is much quicker, it loads a PDF file as quick as my text editor load text files.
 
Just sent the 'Guide' to the forum administrator for posting to the correct library .. was too big to attach here. Anywho, I'm glad that we could help Lynne. Don't be hesitant to ask questions because you think they may be dumb, the only dumb question is an unasked question. I've been RV'ing on and off for the last (well, I wont say as I'll be giving away my age), but the 5W we now have is a first. Done some dumb things (like driving out from under it and having it try to follow making a big frown on the back of my truck and severly damaging my pride and wallet). So now, if I have a question, no matter how dumb it seems, I'm going to go to the right folks that know the answers.

Larry
 
Thanks to everyone and I'm sure I will continue to ask lots of questions .... within the last seven months, I have gone from purchasing a KZ TT 26 ft. Sportsman Sportster toyhauler, towing it with my F150, to getting a F250, to selling my home to my son and investing now in a 5er for full time living in a permanant spot (temporarily) on the back piece of my property until something else (land) comes along to build on or maybe I'll just hang out in the 5er and travel in a few years in it!  Whatever happens ... I'm excited about what's going on and the opportunity to be able to be "mobile" when and if the mood strikes me.  I have family north and south, (Michigan and SW Florida) so places to go won't ever be a problem!  I'm now in the process of narrowing down my "new home" purchase, weighing the pros and cons of the brands I'm considering! 

I think after reading all that I have ... when I do "get on the road", my TV may have to be a DWR, so ........ 

THANKS AGAIN  and you'll be hearing more from me, I'm sure!    ;)

 
SHAME ON YOU GUYS!  You've hijacked Lynne's important towing question and turned it into a computer discussion!

Lynne,
You need to locate the GCWR - it is one of three critical numbers. GCWR is Gross Combined Weight Rating and is the maximum weight of truck & trailer combined when fully loaded for the road.  The other two are the Actual Vehicle Weight (measured or calculated) and the GVWR, which you have (10,000 lbs).  You need to determine the actual weight of your truck, preferably by weighing it at a public scale but you can estimate it from the manufacturer's spec for unladen vehicle weight.  That will enable you to determine how muchweight carrying capacity is left, called payload.

Here's the Ford truck spec page for 2006, but your 2005 should be the same: http://www.fordvehicles.com/trucks/superduty/features/specs/
It shows a max payload of 2600 lbs for a Superduty Crewcab diesel.  The Payload in the chart  is Ford's estimate of the difference between the trucks unloaded (empty) weight and the GVWR. Their estimate includes a 150 lb driver and fuel but not any gear onboard, e.g. a fifth wheel hitch, maybe a passenger or pet, recreational gear, etc. Figure at least another 150 lbs for the hitch plus whatever else you may carry with you.  That further reduces your available payload to something under 2450 lbs. That would be the maximum hitch (kingpin) weight of the fifth wheel you could tow. In practice it will be less because ALL the fifth  wheel weight falls on the rear axle, which cannot by itself carry the entire Payload. Again, the only way to find out for sure what can be carried on the back is to weigh the rear axle empty and subtract that from the rear GAWR (6100 lbs), but I'm going to guess it will be about 2200  lbs.

The Ford fifth wheel towing capacity estimate shows a max of 15,500 lbs for an F250 diesel automatic with 3.73 rear axle, but you have to subtract any weight you added to the truck yourself. Again, that's the hitch and any gear & passengers onboard. I used a 150 lb estimate for the hitch above, so subtract 150 plus anything you may carry with you.  Maybe estimate 300 lbs for now. Later when you weigh the truck we can calculate it more accurately.  That estimate is a bit higher than is typical for this truck, but close enough for now.

So, all this says you could tow a 15,200 lb trailer that has a kingpin (hitch) weight of about 2200 lbs. Any 15,000 lb trailer is probably going to have more than 2200 lbs on the hitch when loaded, so you are probably looking at something in the range of 14,000 lbs tops. [I estimated that a 15,000 lb trailer with 15% of its weight on the hitch would put a 2250 lb load on the hitch. 15% is fairly ight for a loaded fifth wheel, but there is a lot of variation among them.]

I've done some scientific wild-assed guessing [SWAG] here, based on the Ford estimates and experience. Actually weighing things is the right way to do it, but this should give you an idea of what you can shop for. Once you find something you like we can see if  more accurate data is needed. You might choose something enough under the maximums so that you don't have to worry.
 
==SHAME ON YOU GUYS!  You've hijacked Lynne's important towing question and turned it into a computer discussion!==

I have a song on the computer here "Brain Sludge" I just thought "Thread Drift" has the same scan

Don't you know thread drift is THE LAW on the internet?  ;D
 
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