Mine is an 01 super cab, 5.4L, 3.55 rear end, classIII tow package, 17" wheels. The owners manual is confusing me, can anyone tell me what my tow capacity is? I think I might be exceeding the max a little. Do you think a super tuner will help? Mods made to date, Air intake tube, new exhaust. Any thoughts?

 

Looks like 8400lbs with the 3.55 and 17" wheels. You can improve the performance of the towing, but if you are overweight, you're overweight. Should you be involved in an accident while towing, your insurance company may abandon you.
What are you towing? What weight?

 

I have the same combination with the automatic tranny. The GCVW rating is 12500 and the truck weighs just under 6000 empty. I think the tow rating is 7300, but you can't go that high due to the weight of the truck. This means the trailer maxes out at 6500, but you have to decrease that pound-for-pound with what you put in the truck, including yourself.

I just weighed my combo at a truck stop the other day. I pull a 2-horse trailer with dressing room. The truck fully loaded with me, my two dogs and wife came out to 6340 and the trailer with tack, but no horses came to 2940 for a combined weight of 9280. Add another 2000 lbs for two horses and I'm at about 90% of capacity when at my heaviest load. (BTW, I usually only trailer one horse, anyway.)

The truck pulls fine with one horse or two, but I wouldn't want to pull any more weight. I'd say for this spec truck, 5500 lbs of trailer is about as high as you want to go. Oh, and I definitely suggest the use of a weight-distribution hitch. It helps a lot.

 

Rikster,

What kind of horse trailer do you have? Is it all aluminum, steel, or a combination of the two? I've been researching new trailers on the internet, and I'm trying to decide which all-aluminum bumper pull to buy.

According to my owners manual, the max. trailer weight for my truck is 7500 with a GCWR of 12500.

 

This is what I pull: http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/hom...l.asp?ID=14871

This is not my actual trailer, but we've got the same thing. It's a great trailer. I highly recommend it.

 

That's a good looking trailer! It even matches my truck.

I was hoping to find a 2-horse slant load stock/combo for around $9000.

 

and YES! The Micro Tuner will help quite a bit.

 

The only way you can 'truely' tow that "max trailer weight" rating is IF your fully loaded truck, including tongue weight, passengers, fuel, beer, and whatever else you take with you weighs #5,000 or less...... Otherwise, you will be over your GCWR and if you read the fine print, Ford states that you still can't go over that either.

I can tell you, that just ain't gonna happen with our trucks! It's a nice marketing tool they use, as they come up with that "max traler weight" rating by subtracting the GCWR from the Curb Weight of your truck.

If your truck is a stripped down work truck and it weighs around #4300, then it's possible to tow that "max trailer weight".

Actually, these trucks WILL tow a heck of a lot and do OK when over it's GVWR. Heck, I'm right at mine with only a #4500 travel trailer! But, you start going too much over the GCWR and you'll have problems IMO. Stopping and hills will really take it's toll on the truck. Not to mention the fact that you are towing something that outweighs you by several thousand pounds! It's not a fun experience when the trailer wants to go one way, and you want to go another!

Anyway, just trying to point out that you can't go by those max weight figures and expect to max out on your GVWR at the same time!

 

Mitch is totally right; this is why I had to get rid of my beautiful paid off 150 for a the overpriced PSD below

My 2002 F-150 was rated for 8300 lbs. and it did tow my 7500lb. trailer admirably, but it was working its 5.4 litres for every ounce and the braking/ handling was a white knuckle affair which wears on ya' after a couple hundred miles....

 

I'm towing a 27' cabin cruiser from San Diego to Phoenix. It should weigh in at 7700#. I'm definately getting the micro tuner ASAP. I've been getting a wide range of responses, even from the dealer, I'm not sure what to believe. Thanks for your info.