I am saying even if it could move the empty trailer that is useless to me. I need it full of quads or race cars to take anywhere which is 10-12k for me. I am sure we could all get by in a little truck, I just chose not to. My main concerns are the folks here talking about strapping 28-32ft goosenecks into their F150's and hitting the mountains. It sounds a little ridiculous. I see your points on setup etc. Be safe with those goosenecks guys.:thumbsup:

I'm glad to see you have changed your message. Because your original point was that an F-150 couldn't move the 5,000 lb trailer safely.

That is highly misleading to someone shopping for a truck for that purpose.

Maybe the person who is doing the pulling needs a few lessons in how to drive something that weighs less than the load they are pulling. I drove 18-wheelers for a long time and never let trailer push me around. I did the pulling, and as I said in an earlier post on this subject, I pull my 30' Chapparal with my F-150 and have no problems with control or power.

You have to pull VERY defensively with a big box and F150. Once I was up to 40-45mph I had almost no acceleration, low tongue or not. I was melting down the 5.4 to merge onto the highway. Here in the mertroplex the on ramps are short and all three lanes of traffic does 75+mph. It took a LONG time to get the load up to highway speeds. If I wanted over and people did not yield I did not have the power to jerk the load up another 10 15mph to move over. I know there are guys that are perfectly happy hauling 60mph and hoping traffic yields to them. I like to have enough grunt to merge on short ramps and get over when traffic is flowing heavy and fast like it does in the big cities.

I tell you this though, I would never even consider pulling my enclosed with my 01 Sivlerado. So I do know the 09-up has significantly more frame, trans, brakes, electronics than other half tons. I just wouldn't pull a large enclosed or camper with it. The 5.4 needs another 100hp, maybe the 6.2 will fix that. My brother's 6.2 Denali gets up like a truck should. The F150 is the heaviest half ton around, it needs another 100hp to make me smile. After three F150 Lightnings and three F250's I am hooked on the torque and power that Ford can make...

More power can be beneficial but it can't substitute for lack of towing skills.

I would listen to the pro's. They know how to move the loads safely even though most of them only have 500-600 hp or so which isn't a lot considering the frontal area of their trailers and the huge weights they haul. Safe towing is not all about power, it's about knowing how to use what you have properly.

And the fact that Ford's are built heavier and with more rigidity than other trucks in their class is actually an advantage when it comes to towing. You continually prove that you know very little about towing by complaining that the F-150 is disadvantaged by weighing two or three hundred lbs. more. It might feel manly to have 450 hp at your disposal in a light truck to jerk that big trailer up to 70 mph in record time but it has little to do with safe towing. Ask the pro's, it's much more about control, braking ability and situational awareness. Leave speed to the NASCAR guys and the rice boys.:rolleyes:

I'm actually surprised someone with your mindset spends any time on the Ford forum. You should be out seeing how many Dodge engines you can self-destruct.:lol:

It still amazes me that people still complain about lack of power. They done it in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and now 2010. The trucks get faster and faster and more and more power but people are never happy. Tell a 18 wheeler driver that he cant drive with that size load because he only has 500-600hp and that he cant tow that load because he cant overtake people or do 0-60 in 8 secs with a full load. They will laugh in your face. I can pull away faster on my mountain bike than what a 18 wheeler can but just because it's slow it don't make it dangerous. We will hear the same thing again when the 6.2 comes out that it needs more power. It never ends. Power does not equal safe towing.

I couldn't agree more. My 09 has the 9600lb towing capacity so I know not to push my luck, but I pulled a buddies 26ft enclosed trailer loaded with his 79 Trans Am race car. His son borrowed his truck help a buddy move and my friend needed to drop his car off to have some paint work done. He told me the setup weighed 8000lb, but I told him there was no way because the truck pulled great. Not one single white knuckle moment. I am no towing noob, I pull a 40ft enclosed trailer for work all over the country that weighs in at 15,500 with a 2008 Dodge diesel. I was very impressed with how well my F-150 did, no lack of acceleration, braking was great, and the truck didn't look like the rear bumper was gonna drag the pavement. My only complaint is that I didn't have the tow mirrors which would have been great since the trailer was so long.

I dont have an 09 or 10, but my 05 does pretty well towing. I was a little bit concerned about it when i was towing my ranger through the mountains it was working super hard after 13 hours of towing and i was loosing speed on a pretty steep incline but it made it fine. It runs like a top and I can run 70mph towing 7500lbs all day long. I wont trade it for anything.

Racefan99

I just bought the Passport 292BH. Its very nice and hopefully will meet our needs. I did as much pre calculations as I could bear and my math said I would be good. GVWR is going to be close after loading. RAWR is going to be close after loading. I will have the final numbers when I have it weighed. I know where you are coming from when thinking safety first. It pulled OK. I have to work on setting up my equalizer hitch better. I had too much weight on the rear of the truck. Made the bumpy roads terrible and the front a little light. Once I get that balanced I will feel much better. Don't worry, even my little 4.6 had enough power for me to reach 70 up the WV hills. I did not need that much speed but she just kept on winding up. Cruising 55-65 is what I did most of the way and the smooth roads were comfortable. The 6 spd in tow haul mode works well. The brake controller functioned as it should. I'm adding up the damage now. I will fill up in the morning and get the mpg for this last tank and I will try and write up a nice summary. Nothing as nice as Real's mid winter tow extravaganza, but I will post something that may or may not be of use to you.

MGD Fan, that is the best pic I have seen in a while.

Are you really serious? Hey, a simple pull test is fine, but to make any assumptions on your part based upon pulling your trailer with it's WDH configured for your 350 is pure ignorance. IF, and it's only an IF, your WDH was properly configured for a loaded 24ft car hauler for your F-250, it in no way comes close to what your F-150 would be configured for. Just the pitch on the WDH head alone probably tainted your results. The WDH properly configured for your F-250 should have had a fair amount of weight transferred to the front axle on you 250. That, with no weight in the trailer (as you said), had way too much weight on the front axle of your 150, which lightened the rear end and created sway. No wonder you has the anti-sway kicking in. The empty trailer actually made it worse.

Kinda late, but the tongue weight posted by the OP is over the rated TW (500 lbs). A load distributing hitch may help. There is some wiggle room with maximum tow ratings, but never exceed the maximum weight of the truck + trailer + people/gear, etc.

Be careful listening to people who tell you they towed yadda yadda yadda over the maximum rating and "no problems". Towing puts a lot of strain on a vehicle, especially the tranny. High temps will boil the tranny fluid and the vapors will turn to shellac and adhere to parts, and one day the tranny will drop out and usually at the worst time.

Nice looking rig, but you need some more weight in the front to stop the sway. Setting you weight distributing hitch up is tricky till you get it right. I don't think you are underpowered, just don't be afraid to flog it till you get up to track speed on the interstate.

Anyone know about campers? I was thinking about travel trailers too, but I think I'd still like to be able to tow my Mustang on a trailer... I have the 6.5 bed. I used to have a 250 with a camper, but that was an 8' bed... does anyone make a camper that will fit the 6.5 bed? light enough for an f-150 (SCREW, FX4) while also towing a trailer?

Camper *AND* towing with a 1/2 ton truck? That's going to put you way over GVWR and rear GAWR. Shoulda kept your 250.

We tow a 7200# 30' travel trailer with a 09 F150 and the truck makes towing easy. We also towed this same trailer with an 03 Tundra and going down hill was quite exciting not to mention swing in the wind of the BST along the highway. We tow arounf 12K miles per winter and the F150 handles the trailer very well.

Ted Rowan
2009 F 150 FX4
max towing package
2008 KZ Spree