Hello, I am a newbie when it comes to towing stuff and I have a question for anyone that can help. I have a 2008 ford F-150 V-6 stick shift. 4.6 I think is the engine. The GVWR on the door sticker is 6500lbs. I have a 30 foot travel trailer that has GVWR of 6200 on the campers info sticker. I'm not sure but I'm guessing this is what it weighs? Anyhow, I don't have a tow package just a bumper pull, which says 5,000lbs on it. do you think I can tow this for three hours and not burn up my clutch or tranny? Its mostly flat as I'm going from east texas to Louisiana in it. And I plan on taking it slow. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

You have the 4.2L. I have the same truck. I personally would not do it without at least a frame mounted hitch that's made to pull that weight. If you don't rip your bumper off, you'll probably bend it down a bit.

Your truck is definitely not made for this type of load. I guess you can try hooking it up and see how it feels. But like I said, I wouldn't recommend towing that weight on the bumper or with the 5 speed.

 

Thanks for the answer, yeah thats what I was kinda thinking, but I wasnt sure if they under rate the bumpers or not. Guess I'll have to figure something else out.

 

This is one of those "better safe than sorry" situations in my opinion. Don't risk the damage to your truck or the potential damage to other motorists if your bumper suffers catastrophic failure under load at highway speeds.

 

The only way to do this is with a frame mounted hitch. I have a frame mounted class III that's good to 6000# I tow a 6000# trailer a few miles across town with it once and a while and my truck does a good job.

Get a Class IV frame mounted hitch. They should be good to 12000#.

Do you know the tongue wight? AAL might help the rear. If you're REALLY easy on it, your transmission should be ok.

Uhaul should be able to install the hitch for $150 parts and labor. Also, since you don't have a tow package, you probably only have 4 pin wiring. Guessing that camper probably has a 7 blade plug.

Lastly, without trailer brakes, you need to have a much longer distance to stop that thing.

Let us know what you do or if we can help out anymore. Anything is possible, just don't tow it on the bumper.

 

Your owners manual explains gvwr and all terms associated with towing. It would probably pull it but I would not exceed 80% of specifications.

 

Hmm, I thought eventually I could get a tow package installed, but you say a frame mounted hitch is almost as good? I did not realize that was an option. Do they weld the hitch on the frame or what do they do exactly? And my trailer is just a FEMA trailer that I got at an auction and the plug is a 4-pin. I'm not sure what the tongue weight is because that part of the sticker was weathered off of there. Yeah I dont have brake assist but I plan on leaving at about 4:00 am just so I've got a straight shot with no traffic. I had a Ford F-250 for a work truck that I had planned on using to pull my trailer home with, but tomorrows my last day at work (layoff) and the boss is being a real ***** about us using the trucks at all. So we gotta turn em in.

 

The frame mounted hitch would be the exact same thing the tow package includes. It's bolted to the frame. The holes are already there so there's no drilling involved. You could do it yourself. The tow package extras just include a transmission cooler along with the 7 blade plug.

Either way, you should be fine with the class IV hitch. Depending on the tongue weight, you'll probably be sagging in the rear pretty bad, though.

 

As you can see, my after market hitch looks just like the factory one. They can tow the same weight and are just as strong.



Here's my truck hooked up to the 6000# trailer. I'm not sagging because it's empty. I also have 4x4 blocks in the rear which make the back of the truck 1 5/8" higher than stock 2wd trucks.


Edit: Here's a better pic of the hitch prior to adding the 7 blade plug. You can see it's simply bolted to the frame. The are a couple more bolts on the back that aren't visible.

 

Wow, I honestly didnt even know that bolt ons like that even existed man. I figured if I wanted a Tow package I was gonna have to go get it welded onto the frame and pay out the ****. Thats awesome, I'll call uhaul and see if they have one I can get tomorrow. Thanks for all the help and the good info I really appreciate it. I'll post after this weekend and let you know how it went.

 

Not a problem. Lots of companies make aftermarket hitches for these trucks. Really easy to find. My local Uhaul stocked the exact hitch I needed. Sure, I could have bought it and installed myself. But it was only $150 including installation.

Let us know how it goes or if you need anything else.

The only other reason I'd pick Uhaul over the rest; They come with a lifetime warranty. Even if the hitch is damaged while jackknifing the trailer or getting rear ended, they will replace it free of charge. It's also made by Curt which is one of the top companies.

 

You'll need a WD hitch, brake controller, brakes on the trailer that work.. I can't imagine a FEMA trailer even has brakes if it only has a flat 4...

This has 'fail' written all over it... I've towed over weight with a trailer like 08 has with no trailer brakes and an E250 and it was a pucker ride the whole way...

Best of luck to ya!

Mitch

 

I had no issues stopping the trailer fully loaded. I can't imagine it weighed much less than his camper. Obviously, it's not going to stop half as fast as just the truck would, but it never gave me a problem.

But yeah, a WD (weight distribution) hitch would be a good idea.

 

it does have brakes, but I dont have a brake controller on the truck so theyre useless. I dunno how with a 4pin but it does.

 

I wouldn't do it. The 5 speed is only rated to tow 2300 to 3700#, depending on axle ratio and bed length. You can tow heavier, but it is NOT recommended. Even with an automatic, the max tow rating is only in the 5100 to 5700# range. I would DEFINITELY not do it without a frame hitch and brakes. If the trailer only has a 4 pin and it does have brakes, they are probably surge brakes - legal but not desirable.