I am planning on towing a 8,500 lb. trailer. I know the truck is rated at 7,700 lbs. witht he 16" wheels.
My questions are:
If I put 15" wheels on the truck, will that increase the towing capacity like it does going from the 17" to the 16" ?
It seems the rating has more to do with the tire size. What is the truck alone rated for?

 

I would not tow that much with a half ton even with 13" tires. It's too much for your truck. I tow about 6500# and would not go any higher and still feel safe.

 

cant put 15s on it because of the brakes

 

I used to have a 1500 Suburban with a 350 motor. It handled my heavy trailer OK. I would think my FORD would also.
Thw suburban was a 1/2 ton, four wheel drive, 1993.

Thanks for the 15" tires not fitting because of the brakes.

 

Racer70 , Wow 8,500 is alot! what kind of trailer are you going to be towing tandum axel is it toll hall heavy equepment? is that the total weight?

would you just be towing it a few miles?
rarely or often?

I just purchased a 29' travel trailer that is 5830lbs dry , and I feel like I was on the edge not really for the engines sake , but my gears are a bit "tall" 3.55 I would also be concerned about stopping. that much weight are you flatlander or in the mountains. I live in CO and hill / passes do make a big diffrence.

Loaded up with kids and fuel in the truck and packed for a weekend I will up 600lbs truck weight and trailer weight will be a bit over 6000 lbs. my truck does it it just don't DIGG it? ifyaknowwhatImean...

would really like to have 3.73
or the next size 4.00?

good luck that is a heavy trailer , where I live I couldn't get away with it....

 

Does your trailer have electric brakes or are you depending on the trucks only? I believe the brakes on the 150 are the limiting factor. In either case, I would still becareful and give yourself lots of distance when stopping.

 

I have a 22" enclosed race car trailer. The trailer is rated at 10,000 lbs. I race midgets all over the north east.
I will be posting some pictures in a few weeks of the truck and trailer and race car.
If you want to check out my racing, go to my web site at http://pages.cthome.net/racer70

 

Racer70,
The size of the tires is not really the sticky point here. Your vehicle cannot exceed a certain gross combined weight limit. My screw can tow 8000lbs, because it's a 2wd. My truck and a trailer weight of 8klbs adds up to a gcwr of 13000lbs. That is what the sticker on my truck says is allowed. Your vehicle is able to tow 7700lbs, because you have an extra 300 lbs in weight because of your 4x4. The bottom line is that the combined gross weight hasn't changed, but the heavier the truck gets, (i.e. 4x4 then 4x4 w/17's) the less you are "leagally" allowed to tow! The truck will probably do just fine, but Ford is telling you that anything over 7700lbs, exceeds what you should be pulling. 4x4's w/17's can only pull 7500 or 7300lbs, something like that. Going to 15's isn't going to make your truck any lighter. And if you pull more than you should, and break the truck, your warranty might become null and void. And if you wreck into someone, you might incur some legal trouble for overweighting your truck!

 

The reason why the gcwr is decreased with the 17" rim is the effective axel ratio is lowered (numerically) due to the 1" taller tire.

 

I pull 5500 to 6000 lbs and take it very easy on relatively flat, even terrain at consistant rates of speed. No way would I attempt the amount you're talking about, particularly under potentially adverse conditions beyond your control.....like rain, or wind.

I say...pay close attention to the advisory specs...

 

I would suggest a F-350 for that load with a modded 7.3 powerstroke. Good luck

 

Mr Bill you are so right! about take it easy! man I just picked up my new trailer this week and on the way home some stupid with a lil Saturn thought he could just do a real zippy turn right on red in front of me well what he faild to realise was he was on loose sand from snow the prev day and instead of ziping he just spun a bit ended right in front of me pulling 6,000 lbs I hit the breaks hard was going about 25 mph and good thing I hit nice clean dry pavement or his lil saturn would have been toast and I would have been even more pissed then I already was had already nervious wife in the truck (Screw) and kids. it is not the everyday perfect conditions we need to plan for it is the idiot factor and mother nature factor , I say we bought our riggs to enjoy ourselves , so take your time and enjoy the ride , man I used to get in souch a hurry to get out of town (camping) that trafic had me so stressed out there was no way I could actually enjoy myself once I did get there.

Mr Bill what do you pull that is 5,500- 6,000 lbs ?

I have a 29' travel trailer , can't wait for the spring weather to get here snowing a bit here today! talk to ya later , Skully

 

Thanks for all the good info.
My sticker on the truck has a GVWR of 6,750 lbs. One book I have gives the trailer rating of 7,200 lbs. That same data says GCWR is 12,500 lbs.
But if I add up the 6,750 and 7,200 that gives me 13,950 lbs.
I know I'm on the limit of the truck, but there should be a safety margin in the Ford data that is actually a little more.
I'll let all of you know at the end of my race season, in the fall, how the truck made out.

 

I've been trying to find the pic of my dad's new 24 foot trailer that the Tampa Tribune took as it lay on its side still attached to his Ford Explorer, also on its side, on the shoulder of Interstate 75?.

That was a few years ago and Dad's passed away since....but on it's maiden voyage his new trailer flipped, over-turned the Explorer towing it, and thankfully no one was injured. Traffic was backed up for miles and the STate Police were not amused. Dad was cited for the gross weight violation...along with a few infractions like driving to endanger, etc.

I'm still looking for the pic.....