Hello, this is my first post and I would like input from anyone on pulling a fifth wheeler. I have an '05 f150 fx4 supercrew with the towing package. My wife and I are currently considering purchasing a 26 ft. fifth wheeler but I am hesitant because I am not sure if this engine will do OK. The lightest camper we've looked at is 5,000 pounds while we've looked at some that are 7,000 pounds. If anyone out there currently pulls a fifth wheeler with this setup could you please respond. Additionally I'm told that I will need to have a slider due to my shortbox and I've done some reading here where folks have talked about "helper" springs while others have talked about "air shocks". If anyone could point me in the right direction as to what I need to do to pull a fifth wheeler I would greatly appreciate it. If anyone out there feels that this truck is too light to pull these kind of trailers please let me know as well. Lastly, the reason we're looking at a 26 ft. is I'd like to pull my boat behind the trailer (about 2,000 pounds). If anyone has some insight as to what this is like, I'd appreciate your input as well.

Thank you

 

Ford says no to Supercrew and fifth wheels. I say no to any half ton and fifth wheels.

Here are some things to keep in mind when RV shopping.

Dry weight rating and delivery empty weight are usually 10-15% off.

Take a 6k pound trailer, 20% of its weight in your truck bed, than a 400 pound hitch, 4 passengers and their camping gear and youi'll quickly be well over your rear spring and maybe axle ratings.

You can spend a lot of money on an F-150 and still be less capable than an F-250 for less money. And, the V10 provides way more torque than the 5.4L.

 

I know this is not exactly pulling a fifth wheel, but I towed my Jeep TJ on my carhauler this weekend on a round trip of about 600 miles. The jeep and trailer are right at 6000#. It handled the load fine, but once we got into the hills the tranny temp stayed around 189-195. I know this is not overheating, but we were only the hills of east texas, I'd hate to see if we were in the mountains somewhere. We averaged 9 MPG running 70 MPH with overdrive off. I think a fifth wheel plus passengers and gear, plus the added wind drag of a camper over a jeep on a trailer would be way more than these trucks could handle and still make it a comfortable/safe ride. Jut my opinion.

Robbie

 

You need a 250/350 Superduty with the long bed and a V-10 or Powerstroke diesel to pull that 5er and a boat behind it.

The 150 was not designed for this type of work, and will fail miserably, not to mention how potentially dangerous this would be.

Time to trade up to a Superduty.

 

In the back of my mind I was expecting to hear this. I really appreciate your input as I'd hate to make a financial move of this size only to regret it later. Thanks again.

 

I would like to know if someone gets this to work. If the hitch needs to be over the axel, there doesn't seem to be enough distance to the cab to allow the front of the trailer to swing around when you turn. I would prefer to pull a 5th wheel than a TT.

 

The answer to that is an automatic slide hitch, like the PullRite SuperGlide

PullRite SuperGlide - Short Box 5th Wheel Towing.

In most cases you will still be over gross, as the payload capacity of the Supercrew short bed is not enough to pull most 5er's.

There are a few ultra-lightweight 5er's on the market, but the selection is very small.

 

Payload of F-150's are in the 1650lb range. Take away 350 for the Superglide (D/L the owner's manual), 500 for passengers (two adults and two kids). that leaves 800 pounds availible for the hitch/tounge weight. 15% best case (15-20% recommended) of the 5th wheel means 5333 pounds of travel weight before you are over the F-150's GVWR. That's using minmun numbers and no other camping gear/cargo in the truck. This is why I don't recommend half ton trucks for fifth wheels trailers. They are not designed for even light ones.

 

The truck could pull a 6k or 7k pound fifth wheel but it won't win any races doing it.

 

Not advocating this just telling you what I see. Here in Iowa MANY farmers have F150s pulling 5th wheels regularly and have hundreds of thousands of miles on these trucks. You won't see many of them posting here - they don't give a crap about us on the 'puter - they're out working their trucks.

So yes it can be done and done safely and reliably. Are there better ways to do it - Of course. but you can do it just fine.

 

I doubt those farmers have hundreds of thousands of miles on the same trucks and are towing on highways. Tooling around country roads at 40mph is quite different than interstates at 60+mph. Every F-150 I've seen with a 5th wheel is sagging the rear end giving up most of their sunpension travel.

Whatever, Ford says don't do it if you're over their ratings. I agree. Do people do it anyway? Yep. Are they the smartest people in the world?

 

My parents have a 00 F150 XLT (extended Cab) 4x4 Short bed that they pull a 5500 lb (without all the extra crap they bring) fifth wheel with just fine. I did add helper springs for them later, but it pulled fine without any problems even without the springs. I am not sure about the screw, because the bed is small, but with the standard bed it pulled great. They have 145k miles on that 00 and it still runs great. Never had to replace a thing except a coil pack that decided to quit working. I would bet that it depends on how often you are going to be towing the 5th wheel. I would get the super duty if you plan to do it often and keep the vehicle for a long time. You can't beat a diesel for towing.

 

I recently traded my '06 FX4 Super Crew for an F-250 SD Crew Cab. I pull a 23' toy hauler (~7,000 lbs loaded up) that was "within" my F-150's tow rating (8,700 lbs). As APT stated, your payload rating will be a limiting factor. My F-150 was somewhat similar to yours. Mine had a payload rating of only 1,455 lbs, so with the toy hauler tongue weight and passengers we were over the payload rating before placing anything in the bed of the truck. Tongue weight 980 lbs, me 210 lbs, wife 130 lbs, two kids 140 lbs, and a dog 25 lbs = 1485 lbs. My F-150 was able to pull the load and handle just fine on the Ohio flats, but I make a few trips through the mountains on I-77 each year and I did not want to chance it. Look on the inside door frame of the driver side door, there will be a sticker giving the payload/cargo capcacity of the truck.
https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=6941

 

idk jack about towing but I think a Diesle SuperDuty will do the job better

 

Hope this helps