Raptor Rocks at Heavy Towing, Too. Surprised? (Video)

Summer is finally here and the perfect time for some camping, which, of course, means lots of towing — and the Raptor’s great at it.

We don’t need to tell you that the Ford F-150 Raptor isn’t your average pickup truck that’s super-heavy, built to tow an insane amount of cargo, and meant to be used to complete trips to and from places like Home Depot. The Raptor is more of a high-performance truck geared toward those that want to travel at high speeds while off-roading. So, with summer finally here, how does the sporty Raptor cope with towing large cargo?

We get the answer from YouTube channel Family Wheels, whose host, Paul Karchut, recently took the F-150 Raptor on a family trip to see how well the truck can actually complete truck- and summer-related tasks, like towing trailers. The Raptor, as the video points out, is rated to tow up to 8,000 lbs., which isn’t a whole lot for the F-Series family, but it’s enough to get the job done.

Karchut towed different sized trailers: a smaller one and a larger, heavier one at 6,800 lbs. He found that the Raptor dealt with both in stride. “Actually, its [10-speed automatic transmission] is remarkably composed,” says Family Wheels‘ driver. “The truck finds the right gear and sticks to it. It’s not frantic like I thought it would be.”

In terms of towing, there’s a lot to like about the Raptor, as Karchut points out. The width of the truck, for instance, doesn’t require the vehicle to need towing mirrors, and the wrap-around camera, which is optional, really helps the driver when towing.

‘For what the Raptor is, which is an off-roader that
happens to tow pretty well, it’s very impressive.’ 

To kicks things off, the driver began towing the smaller trailer and managed to get 13 mpg on a 370-mile trip. Not bad at all.

Overall, Family Wheels‘ towing test had no sympathy for its subject and really pushed the Raptor to its maximum potential. And when the larger trailer was attached to the F-150, the transmission was briefly affected and started to “act up,” but the tow button on the shifter quickly put the truck back in the right mindset. “I started to feel at that point that the truck was searching a little bit more with the transmission until I popped it into tow or haul mode. Then, all of a sudden it did stick to its gears a lot better,” says Karchut.

Towing the much heavier trailer obviously challenged the Raptor’s capabilities more than when it was hitched to the lighter, average-sized trailer. “If you put a 7,000-pound trailer behind [the Raptor], it actually weighs quite a bit more than the truck itself, so at that point, it kind of feels like the trailer is wagging the dog a little bit,” claims the driver.

‘The truck finds the right gear and it sticks to it. It’s not frantic.’ 

Another interesting thing the reviewer discovered about the Raptor is that when it’s carrying a large load, the front end apparently “perks up,” naturally aiming the vehicle’s headlights up. “The Raptor has been designed to sit flush at all times, so if you do put a load into it, it squats down quite a bit and that also means that your headlights are going to be pointing up into the air a little bit,” says Karchut.

After considering the results of the entire towing test, the driver makes it apparent that the many pros totally outweigh any minimal cons. “For what the Raptor is, which is an off-roader that happens to tow pretty well, it’s very impressive,” says Karchut.

For those that are interested in purchasing a Raptor, don’t worry, it’ll be able to tow your boat and then some.