Modifying a Ford F-150 for Increased Towing Capacity
If you find yourself exceeding the towing capacity of your Ford F-150, these member-recommended mods can help.
One of the biggest selling points of the Ford F-150 is its class-leading towing capacity. And if for whatever reason you exceed those lofty limits, you move on to the Super Duty. But what if you already own an F-150 and want to keep it, yet you’re already exceeding the truck’s gross vehicle weight? Well, there are certainly ways to safely increase your existing truck’s towing capacity.
And that’s exactly the conundrum facing F-150 Online forum member coreyva. The owner of a 2010 Ford F-150 recently stepped up to a large travel trailer, one that puts him over the truck’s GVW. Making matters worse, he lives in a mountainous region. So what should he do? Head to the forums and ask our experts, of course!
“I have a 2010 SuperCrew with 75,000 miles. I’m the original owner and it has been well kept. I had a slide-in for awhile, but recently upgraded to a Starcraft 265RLS travel trailer. Living in Idaho, there is no escaping mountains and the truck struggles with them. I have weight distributing bars and airbags on the truck. Fully loaded with the trailer, the truck weighs 8,260 pounds, and the trailer weighs 6,860. I know that puts me about 500 pounds over the GVW, but I can live with that. What I need is a bit more power in the mountains. While I will at some point upgrade to a Super Duty, it’s just not in the near future. Since I’m only towing 8-10 times a year, I think I’m better off keeping the truck and installing a supercharger.
So what I’d like opinions on is if you think it’s worthwhile on this truck and if it will provide enough of an increase in power for my configuration. I’m not a lead foot, so I’m really only looking for towing help. Since the truck is in such great shape and long paid for, I’d really like to keep it as long as possible. 5-8 years longer would be great, but I don’t want to adversely affect the longevity. I’ve looked at the Procharger, but wonder if there is a different one better suited for my usage.”
Slapping a supercharger on the truck is certainly an easy way to add considerable power. But it can also be a slippery slope. As many folks, including Roadie, point out.
“A tuner would help some, as well as lower gears. But I think I would just be patient until I could afford that upgrade to an F-250. A supercharger would open up a large can of worms, I would think.”
“I’d look at a tuner and long tubes before I went off the deep end and went S/C,” adds Patman.
Tuners are certainly a popular choice as a cheap and easy way to add power. But lower gears could also help, as Roadie explains further.
“A tuner may add 20 hp and you would notice the difference. Lower gears shouldn’t be so terribly expensive if your truck is 2wd. I thought I had a rear diff problem and talked to the local 4×4 shop. They told me it wouldn’t be more than $600 if they had to rebuild the entire unit. To use a supercharger in a towing application, the engine would probably have to be totally rebuilt to handle the extra stress and heat, and probably your transmission too. Megabucks.”
“If you have done gears before, get 4.56 for both axles. Then an SCT programmer with a custom tune from a reputable mail order tuning shop,” adds glc.
And that’s perhaps the most important caveat here – finding a reputable shop. Custom tunes run the gauntlet from good to very, very bad. So it’s obviously important to seek out a place that has a good reputation. It appears that the OP is going to go with both a tune and a gear swap in his Ford F-150. So we’ll see how that turns out. Be sure and follow along here, and chip in with your own suggestions if you have some!
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