Hey guys first time writing something here so i thought why not a towing question.
I have the 2006/F150/sc/5.4L/3.73 gears and im looking into buying a trailer in the near future. The trailer im looking at is a 27' and has a dry weight of 6800 lbs and i figure at max about 8000lbs loaded. Now i looked at the owners manual and the max towing for my truck is 9500 lbs. Should i have any problem towing the trailer. Ill be mostly be pulling it through the desert which i don't see being too much of a problem, I'm just curious to know realistically how it will tow up grades.

thanx for the help.

 

I towed a 26 ft. travel trailer that weighs ~6500 lbs. and is rated 7700 lbs. GVWR. My truck was an 04 SCAB with the 5.4L3v and the 6.5 ft. bed, and the 3.73 LS differential. Tow rating is reduced by 500 lbs. for 18 or 20 inch wheels. The truck worked hard on the hills but on flat ground it could stay in overdrive going down the road.

 

I think the general consensus by most who post on this forum whould say if you can hook it up, you can pull it.

By putting a trailer loaded of 8,000lbs on your truck, technically no you have not broken the max tow weight, but you have probably broken the GCVW, Gross Combined Vehicle Weight, which is the maximum weight that the vehicle with the trailer attached is designed to travel safely down the road.

By people who tow daily, the acceptable and safe towing limit for an F150 with a trailer is around 5,000lbs. Yes they will tow larger...but poorly.

 

Ill never tow anything with anything less than a 3/4 ton anymore.

Just asking for problems. IMO.

 

I have a 29'11" TT that wieghs roughly 7100 lbs that I've towed from VA to Myrtle Beach SC and was overall very pleased with how my truck hadled the load. It pulled very well but is a bit underpowered. But for me towing this load around six times a year or so for vacations the truck is fine. I will be adding an additional trans cooler and probably doing the edge for the gauges and trans shift points. By the way that wieght includes all our stuff in it.

 

I personally have a '04 suprcrw, with 5.4L, 3.55:1 gears, pulled fully loaded
27' travel trailer, 2gens in bed to tennessee for KATRINA. Handled hills no prob
At worst trans downshifted to 2nd for a mile or two, I slowed to ~50 on
interstate. New 5.4's have lots more power than previous years.

_____________________________________________
'04 suprcrw 5.4
airaid intake
magnaflow exhaust
banks torque power headers
GMS power coils
Ford Racing plugs
Hypertech Hyperpac
dyno: 348.6rwhp 392.7rwtq

 

Aight thanx alot guys for the info and from what you said it sounds like I should be ok.
Thanks again for the info.

 

What about a single jet ski or motorcycle?

Personally, I feel that 5,000-6,000 is about as much as I would want to tow often with a 1/2 ton. The newer 1/2 tons, however, are all about as heavy as the 3/4 tons of the early 90s with better brakes, more power, etc, that people had no problem towing 10k lbs with, so YMMV...

 

I bet that trailer weighs more like 9k pounds with camping gear and some fluids/fuel. Every RV "dry Weight" rating is 10-15% under delivery wight because it includes no accessories or options.

Besides being over or near your truck's tow ratings, I wouldn't want to pull that much weight on a regular basis with any 1/2 ton pickup. 5-6k max.

 

BAH! Throw that in the bed!

 

[QUOTE=APT]I bet that trailer weighs more like 9k pounds with camping gear and some fluids/fuel. Every RV "dry Weight" rating is 10-15% under delivery wight because it includes no accessories or options.Agreed, but a dry weight of 6800 lbs plus 15% for load is still under 8000 lbs (7820 to be exact), and the truck is rated for 9500, so he's still only pulling 82% of the max weight the truck is rated for. If properly balanced when loaded (i.e. not too much tongue weight) it'll be huffin' and puffin' on the hills, but for occasional use, it won't be that big of a deal.

Most guys tend to feel most comfortable with the rig up to about 75% of what it's rated to tow. Get over that and it starts to feel like the trailer is bullying you around. Pack it light, load it evenly, and tow it dry, and it'll probably be well within the comfort zone for that truck.

Just my .02

-Joe

 

You forgot about camping gear and fluids/gas. 6800 Dry rating + 10% (RV lie factor) curb weight @ delivery, plus water, LP, clothes, food, extra vacation/camping stufgf, and you'll be at 8500-9000 pounds at the scale on the highway all loaded up with the family.

 

Check the payload and or tire sticker on the inside of the drivers door frame on the lower right side. This is the number you should be concerned with. As I have stated on other posts here, the 2006 F-150 FX4 S. Crew that I recently traded for a SD had a payload rating of 1455 lbs. Tongue weight, myself, wife, 2 young daughters, and a 25 lb dog put us over the payload rating without putting anything in the bed of the truck. I pull a 25ft toy hauler, stated tongue weight of 980 lbs, got a tongue weight scale and the real weight was ~1150 lbs. My truck had a rated tow capacity of 8700 lbs which I was well under, but over the payload capacity of the truck. The truck was fine on the Ohio flats, but did not like any hills (5.4L with 3.73 gears).

 

hey i went to go check that sticker out and it said not to exceed 1723 for load weight. So now when i add up the total load weight i include the tongue weight of the trailor with passengers and gear?

 

That is correct. Add the weight of everyone in the truck, any options, any cargo, the tongue weight of the trailer, that number is your Gross Vehicle Weight. It should not exceed 1723 lbs. in your case. You should also check your Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating and be sure you don't exceed it as well.