OK, so I've got my truck with the mods listed below and looking at a trailer. It's a 24' toy hauler with a dry weight of 6,100 punds. Will only have two motorcycles in it at a weight of barely 800 lbs total. The traler does have a 65 gal water and 26 gal gas capacity, but guess you could pull it with those empty since that's about 800 lbs also. Yea, I know it sucks to have to watch your weight like that but can't swing a trailer and a new truck, so what's a guy to do.

Only other mod I am definately going to get done is a gear change. Looking at 4.10's.

So...let me have it!!

 

So from a specification perspective I would guess that you would close/at/beyond your GCWR for truck and trailer when you get all the gear and people involved. Check out http://www.rvtowingtips.com for some good ideas on what you should be looking at for a truck/trailer combination as well as a spreadsheet calculator. Check your manual for what your ratings are with the 4.10's and go from there.

For myself I tow a 5200lbs dry trailer which is about 6-6.5k loaded. I have an '04 5.4 3v with CAI/Exhaust/XcalII (92 octane tow) 3.73's and I don't know that I would go much beyond what I have for a couple of reasons...1)I am fairly close to my specs based off of GCWR (my 8800lbs tow rating doesn't really come into play as you will see on the rvtowingtips site) and 2) comfort of driving. I prefer to not white knuckle when I am going on vacation.

 

So loaded with bikes, food, water, fuel. clothing. dishes and all the other stuff people put in travel tailers you weight will be 7500-8000lbs?

Will it tow it....sure

I'd tow that....with a Super Duty and never even stress it out...but make it flex it's muscle.

Tow that with a F150...no.....most 150's are happy if you can keep the total payload, meaning passengers, bed load, and trailer under 5000lbs. Pop-up and a loaded bed come to mind....no matter what the salesman told you or what you saw on TV ad.

Now if I was having a slow month, and you really wanted to buy a trailer from me, would I sell you that trailer for your F150...sure...I sell trailers. I say to myself as you left the lot, "he'll gonna have to buy a bigger truck or sell the trailer."

 

I'd say no. Have you looking int othe hybrid toyr haulers with external bed/cargo space? Something like this 21SD or the 21SSD would be good.

 

I'm not going to say you can't tow that, but I will tell you what I decided in a similar situation to yours. I had a 2003 F150 Super Cab FX4 with the 3.73LS and factory all-terrain 17s. I towed our 26 foot 6,500 lb. travel trailer to Florida the first summer we had it, shortly after buying it. Based on that experience, I traded up to an 04 SCAB F150 to get more power as soon as we got home. Since then I have traded up to an 06 SCREW to get more back seat room and I have been happy with the towing ability of this truck pulling that same travel trailer. The 03 couldn't even get into overdrive while towing except when going downhill. The 04 and the 06 can tow in overdrive and stay in it while on level ground. 4.10s may help some but you will take a hit on your gas mileage for everyday driving.

Edit: All 3 trucks had the 5.4L engine, the 03 had the 2 valve heads.

 

Owners manual says 8,300 lbs for a trailer weight and 13,500 for the GVWR, but I'm judging by your guys' comments that none of this really matters...just your experience with the truck itself?? What's the weak link in not towing a trailer like this with an F-150??? Power, tranny, etc, etc?? I guess I don't fully understand, and trying to learn "why" when you have a 1/2 ton new truck that say for example, is rated for a 10,300 lb trailer, but the truck itself is no bigger, nor weighs more than my F-150?? Thanks guys.

 

i tow a toy hauler also comes in at over 7K, my truck towed it just fine, and i have huge tires and lift, i take it on 400 mile round trips cruise at 65mph the whole way no problem on steep grades i would have to turn overdrive off and go up the hill at 50 mph, i could feel the weight back there sure but it towed just fine. tranny never got over 160 on the gauge exept going up really steep grades it would see 180, engine temps never went past 190(have 180 T stat with e-fans) i would do it IMO

(BTW this was before the forced induction havent towed with the supercharger yet)

 

My box is a 21 foot that is 4900 ULVW. 100gal of water, 10 gal of propan, 20 gal of gas, 2 quad, 1 dirtbike. My truck is like yours, 5.4 2v. Get a 19 foot...

 

It isn't a question of if the truck will pull the trailer. Sure it will. It is a question of how well the truck will handle that kind of weight. The truck will really struggle and be overtaxed. I pull 5,000 lbs with my 2V 5.4 and it does pretty well, but I wouldn't want to pull too much more with it.

 

Well, here's my position. On Tuesday I get to go do a test pull with my truck. I also requested instead of pulling my trailer empty, that I pull a trailer that weighs close to 8k lbs. Figured this would give me a more realisitc idea of what the truck will do. Any tips, pointers, ideas or things like that to look for???

--Will it pull it?
--How much does it push me around?
--How does it stop?
--Does the trans stay unlocked the whole time or not?

Any others???

 

yeah I would pull it, the 150 will do fine

 

Yes it will pull, but be realistic about what you are pulling and your expectations of the truck. It will take much longer to accelerate and longer to brake. I never set any land records but at the same time I am always able to keep pace with the other vehicles once up to speed.

It will push you around quite a bit. That load will outwiegh your truck. The biggest thing on a load that large is getting the tongue weight perfect. Once the tongue weight is set as it should the trailer is just a extension, although a heavy one at that, of your truck. It will track and follow nicely. Do watch out for wind though coming off 18 wheelers passing you. That gives me the most trouble as the trailer wants to drag my *** end into another lane when the air from the semi rushes past it

How it stops will depend on the ability of the trailer brakes and your brake controller. For something that large a brake controller is pretty much a must. My trailer had elect brakes but I did not have an onboard controller so I left alot more distance incase of an emergency

Let the trans tell you what it wants. Chances are it will need to stay unlocked due to the wind resistance and weight, but try to let it go into OD and see what happens. If it can get into OD and pull the load without unlocking the torque converter or hunting between OD and 3rd leave it in OD for better milage and less trans heat. If it is hunting or slipping keep it out of overdrive as you will quickly burn up those clutch packs riding in OD with the torque converter slipping. I only have the 4.6 with 3.55 gears and pulled that load through the tx hill country and was able to maintain 65-75 without much of a problem and with Od on. I did kick it manually to 3rd for the big hills, but as soon as I crested them I kicked OD back on

 

See, this is what I'm trying to learn about the whole big trailer thing...a trailer is going to outweigh any truck. Just like you see these dualies pulling 5th wheels...trailer still outweighs the truck. Maybe not a good example, but trying to understand why that's an issue?? Just like with a new F-150 or Tundra with a 10,300 lb trailer capacity...the truck itself is no bigger or heavier than mine. So that leads me to think like the limiting factor is not the physical spec of a truck, but the engine/trans/suspension/brakes and stuff??? No...

I have a good brake controller and just did new brakes on the truck with new fluid flushed through. Thinking about adding stainless steel braided lines all the way around also.

Ahhhh yes...this is definately going to be the true test, isn't it?? I am also going at least 4.10 on the gears, if not 4.30's...need to account for my tires anyways. That alone puts me at 4.10 to regain a stock 3.73 performance.

 

Yeah to a certian extent. Your model does not have the fully boxed frame, outboard shocks, f-250 leaf springs ect the newer 150 has. So yea the newer trucks are better set up to deal with these larger loads, but your truck is still completly capable of handling this load without any drama. The manufacturers have to keep bumping these tow ratings up every year to one up the competition. The truth is when the trailer gets heavier than the truck it will still pull, but emergency manuvers are now extremely unsafe. Trying to swerve to miss an accident, coming over a hill on a stalled car ect is times when the trailer outweighing you is a huge concern. Yeah bigger brakes and features some of the new trucks have will help. But use common sense and driving with caution is the best saftey feature of all. So yes it can and will tow and people do it, but it is not near as nimble as it was previously. As long as the driver is experienced and drives within the abilities of the truck and trailer no problems will arise.

Sounds like your set up in the braking dept

4.10's would be good enough IMO. 4.30 are going to kill your milage for normal day to day driving, too high or RPM at frwy cruising speed

 

Also pulling a trailer around the block is a little diff then doing it for hours at a time. Ever stop light seem's go get harder and harder to get away. Make sure you got peddle left, Make sure you can keep 3 gear locked. Yah you can pull in OD, But soon as you hit a little hill or any wind you will be down in 3rd......and then 2nd