New guy here with questions about towing...What I own: '06 2wd Super Cab 5.4. From what I can tell from owning this for 2 weeks is everything is stock with the exception of a new set of 285 65 18 tires. What I want to tow is pretty light weight, 4500 to 5000 lbs 22 feet long travel trailer. Other than an obvious brake controller, what else would be recommended to keep things safe and running smooth??

 

<p></p><p>I think you need a Weight Distributing Hitch with Anti-Sway control. If you don't get one, all of the approximately 500-750# of hitch weight will be carried by your rear axle, which will probably overload it (and the tires) and your front end will be lifted so that steering control will be compromised. In addition, when braking, the trailer will nose-dive, which will push even harder on the rear of your truck, lifting the front end even more, making the front brakes on your truck ineffective. Air springs on your truck will NOT transfer the weight to both axles.</p><p>In addition, I'd give serious consideration to installing an auxiliary transmission cooler. You'll need to install a 7-wire electrical plug too (with its associated circuitry), so that you'll be able to charge the trailer battery while traveling.</p><p>- Jack</p>

 

5000 lbs dry is gonna be pushing your max capacity on the truck once you're loaded up.

Remember every passenger, and everything inside your truck, and the tounge weight all go into your GVW/GVRW weight ratings

 

What's your GVWR? What's your payload? What rear end gear do you have? Do you have the factory "tow package"?

Are those trailer weights dry or fully loaded?

You say you haven't "towed" before? Does that mean you haven't even hitched up a little utility trailer or small fishing boat before?

Lots of things to consider just towing any of those light trailers too..

In other words.... We (I) need more info from you..

Mitch

 

whooooa ok a lot to think about and more research needed..So the trailer LOADED realistically should be no more than 5500 pounds...I thought the towing capacity on this vehicle was about 7500??? So 550 pounds of hitch weight.. passengers extra crap in the cab and bed 800 pounds...The truck does have a 7 pin stock plug, it's round not rectangle. Maybe mathematically I am not seeing this correctly. But thanks again for the help

 

Towing is between 6500 and 9500. Depending on cab, engine, axle, max tow etc. You're more than likely on the bottom end of the scale

http://www.ford-trucks.com/specs/200...pecifications/

 

<p>AkeyBabe, you're assuming the hitch weight is 10%. it's usually at least 12% and can be higher. So, figure at LEAST 660# for your 5500# trailer. You'll need a Weight Distributing Hitch rated at 800-1000# and the appropriate hitch receiver mounted on your truck. WDH's are not light - I think my 600# rated hitch is about 70#, and that weight has to be added to your cargo load.</p><p>If the 7-pin plug is wired to all pins, then you're fine there. And, you MIGHT have the tow package on your truck, since I don't think it's added unless you do. Do you see a transmission cooler in front of your radiator? (It will look like a small radiator.) And, do you have the hitch receiver under the rear bumper? (Tube with a square opening.)</p><p>Ideally, you should not exceed 80% of your truck's tow capacity or axle limits. In practice, this is not an easy margin to maintain. In my case, with a 3500# trailer, I am very close to my axle limits when I tow.</p><p>- Jack</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

 

HI AkeyBabe.. If you could post these stickers from your truck, that would help a bit..

These will be on the drivers side door jamb on either the door itself, or the the jamb.




These are mine for my 2013 Max Tow F150, so you probably don't have these figures on your 06, but it would help if you could at least post the figures for your GVWR/Rear GAWR/Payload figures..

Mitch

 

<p>Mitch, I wonder if you've noticed (like me) that the sum of the two axle limits is greater than the GVWR? It was that way for my old 2005 King Ranch and is this way too in my new truck. I'd think if your axles can support a total of 7800#, the truck should be good for that too.</p><p>The other thing I've found out is that my truck weighs 6420# with just me inside (weight from our landfill scale). The GVWR on it is 7200#. Now, I DO have a bed cap installed, which adds maybe 200#, but the &quot;base weight&quot; is certainly high already. According to the sticker, I can only &quot;safely&quot; add about 800# in cargo and people. It's interesting to me because my truck has the same tires on it as yours (about 2400# max load each), and, my axle limits are actually a bit higher than yours. So, do you get a higher GVWR just from beefed up springs?&nbsp;</p><p>I had my truck loaded to about 7600# when I took a bed load of junk to the landfill recently, and it didn't look like it was overloaded at all, and, it drove just fine too. I suspect there's a fairly good margin of safety built in to the GVWR. Does anyone reading this have a different opinion?</p><p>- Jack</p>

 

Hi Jack.

I've always known that the GVWR is always LESS then the combined front/rear GAWR of trucks of any series. But, it's the closest total on this 2013 F150 than I've seen on others.

On my old 97 F150, it had a front GAWR more than the rear GAWR! I think that was because it had the "snow plow" option but, IIR the front was #3500 and the rear was only #3250! Yes, it had the 9.75" rear end too! The GVWR on that 97 was only #6250..

I weighed it with my little 22' TT hitched up and while I don't recall the exact weights (it was over 10 years ago), I recall I was under the front axle weight, but over the rear by about #500 and the GVWR by about #800..

It had over 255,000 miles on it without ANY drive train issues and at the time, I thought it towed that little TT just fine..

When I weighed the same TT with the 13 F150, I was about #400 under the rear GAWR and about #600 under the trucks GVWR.

So, still not a lot left to be able to tow the #11,300 "tow rating" it has (and stay under it's weight ratings), but I would not fret about towing a few hundred pounds over it's GVW ratings like I did with the 97..

I simply love how this 13 performs towing and not towing in terms of performance and mpg's compared to my old 97 and I would love to have that 97 in my garage to this day! But, I had to trade it for the 13...

Mitch

 

Based on my experience about 25 yrs ago, I'd highly recommend you have a battery on the TT. The electric trailer brakes work much better because the truck can't provide as much juice through the harness as a battery mounted on the trailer. My 2 cents.

 

Roadie, what??? The 12v battery on the trailer has nothing to do with the electric brakes on the trailer, other than for the emergency break away feature if the trailer becomes disconnected from the tow vehicle.

The tow vehicles brake controller and the TV's battery provide all the power the electric brakes need for the trailer when you press the brake pedal in the TV...

Mitch

 

<p>^^^X2!^^^</p><p>And, I strongly suspect he DOES have a battery in the trailer. I cannot imagine a towed RV without one.</p><p>- Jack</p>

 

OK guys here is every sticker I can find..my hitch, and sockets, what I believe is to be a transmission cooler and anything else I can find to take a pic of PLUS the specs of the trailer I am looking at...once again..the tires and rims on this truck I believe are from a new truck...

 

Hi AkeyBabe,

Thanks for the additional info. Yes, it looks like you have the factory tow package, so you should be good to go for trailer towing.

There will always be a 'limit' on the truck that goes beyond the trucks "tow rating". It could be the GVWR or the rear axle rating or ??

Depends on how much you load in the truck including passengers, stuff in the bed, etc.

Say you load up the truck to it's full #7050 GVWR limit.. At that point, technically, you don't have any "tow rating" left..

In general, you should be fine with a #5000 fully loaded trailer. You might still go over some weight limit by a 'tad', but that's up to you to determine what your limits are and go from there.

My #5000 trailer was #3800 "Dry". I filled it up pretty quick with modifications and stuff I like to bring camping with me.

I'd be comfortable with a trailer up to around #6000 GVWR with your truck, but that's me.. I'd be comfortable with a trailer up to around #7500 with my truck.

Good luck!

Mitch