As I said, 6000 pounds is the comfortable limit for most people and their 1/2 tons. Many people tow more than that. Keep in mind the towing fuel economy will be better with the diesel than an F-150. What does diesel cost in your area?

I'm a litlle confused, though. The truck cost is free, but the fuel isn't (at least while driving for work)? Do you get a new truck every year? How long will you have to drive your next truck? The 1/2 ton diesel is what i'm waiting for to upgrade which should come in 2009/20010.

 

I checked and the scrwews with 5.4 & 3.73 are rated for 9400 lbs. IMO these trucks can pull the rated weight very very well. I was over my towing capacity on my 4.6 by atleast 20% and had no problems so staying within the limits would be a very easy tow. I dont get why people are so afraid to work these trucks. On the dodge forum I was on previous to this they constantly overloaded Dakotas and Rams without ever questioning it and never had a problem. I have done the same to my Ford and she never wimpered

 

It's simple:

1,610 Payload
370 Two Adults
175 Two Small Kids
200 Fiberglass Top
650 Trailer Tongue Weight

That leaves 215 pounds for gear. You see, PAYLOAD plays a bigger part than TRAILER WEIGHT.

 

Yes, but there's also GCWR to worry about.

 

05extcabflare – I’m more interested in your experiences as it looks lie you have something similar to mine. Do you have any “wanting pangs” to get out of your F-150 because of towing experiences, or do you find it does well enough that you could pull your trailer anywhere and be happy.

In general, I just need to weigh the pros and cons hard, which seems fruitless because each F-150 and F-250 has their own. It all boils down to “want” I guess. Unfortunately, I will spend about 1,200 hours driving to/from and for work in one year. I’d like the comfort of an F-150. I just don’t want to ruin my weekends cussing at the wheel of a truck that just won’t handle it.[/QUOTE]

I'm always looking to get more power out of my ford. I do have, AF1 3.5, magnaflow SISO exhaust for torque, and the programmer. I'm happy with my setup. Sometimes I wish I had f-250. F150 was always my dream truck-f150 flareside,ext cab. It does bog down on the freeway, but nothing extreme. I never towed with stock tires- 35" tires weigh alot more than my stock tires. This is my first towing experience this year. My truck has 5.4 with 3.73 gears. I'm thinking about 4.56 gears for next year. Saving my pennies.PROS and cons of f150 has comfort, style, but less power. F250- Power, bigger.

 

This is all true, I use the numbers provided by Ford not as the gospel but as a recommendation. I will overload my truck in a headbeat without thinking twice about it

 

My '99 pulled 6,000# with just a 4.2l V6 and a 5 Speed... with 3.55's... No issues, heck I even had enough power to peel the wheels on grip-enhanced boat launches and on flat pavement... Not a problem if you've got a 5.4l or a 4.6l or heck, even the 4.2l v6 if you've got the stick and a tall rear end.

My '07, with the aftermarket 4.10's can pull anything. I've so far towed 4,000# and it was like a joke to the truck. So I could only imagine if I had the 4.10's in my '99 when towing the 6,000# boat... wouldn't have had to use 4th as much... could've stayed in O/D probably a little more.

 

I towed 6000lbs with my 07 KR Screw. It was a 20ft camper...no one has mentioned the "Pucker Factor!"

 

Due to a situation my work has put me in, I started looking at travel trailers seriously about a month ago. I've read all the load the hell out of the truck, you can't pull more than 1000 lbs, forget it all and buy a diesel posts... I have no idea what's right or wrong, and I fully expect to mess up my 150, but here's what I ended up doing.....

I kept looking and asking. I understand all the GCWR/GVWR/GVWR Front Axle/GVWR Rear Axle stuff (I'm an Engineer). But I kept getting hung up on how my KR 150 could supposedly be rated for a 7100 lbs fully loaded trailer by Ford (according to their documentation as well as my owners manual), but according to everything posted all over the web I can really only pull 5000 lbs max.

From everything I read, and my feeling knowing how engineering rates everything, I went ahead and bought a Keystone Cougar X-Lite. Their paperwork shows 6085 lbs for the trailer. Since I plan on living in the trailer, but return home every other weekend, I made sure it had all the clothes I need for a couple weeks, whatever basics I can live with for food prep, cooking and eating, food to last the first couple days, and no water in the tanks....I had set up for a campground arrival late on a Sunday night so the big requirements were to have enough clothes for a couple weeks, and food for a day or 2 before I went shopping.

According to RandMcnally, I pulled the trailer 456 miles from South Carolina to Alabama. I went through usual hills to mini-mountain foothills on this drive. The truck-trailer combo handled wonderfully the entire time. Did I "white knuckle it? Hell yes, I wasn't sure what to expect because of everything I read. I am not worried about towing my trailer back home, or someplace else, but I wont do it very often. I dropped from 16 mpg to 8 mpg towing it. Handling was fine, but it was as minimal loaded as I could keep it. I didn't have to hang on as the truck struggled up hills or anything like that, but I also didn't try to drive it like I do with the truck alone.

If I start hauling the trailer regularly, I would definitely be looking for a SuperDuty or maybe the baby Powerstroke if it's strong enough. Otherwise, I think you can handle it, just expect your truck to wear out faster than you want, and take it easy while you drive....Oh ya, remember to fill up often!

 

I will and have done as well. I've been 1500 pounds over GVWR. But I don't recommend it for towing 4-5k miles a year.

 

Well, like I said, for the amount of time it's just me in the seat with no trailer or load (90%) to the 10% towing, I could probably "suffer" through it. But, it would be hard to look back and be happy I gave up the Queen's Purse for a Sow's Ear so to speak by downgrading from a Superduty to an F-150 in terms of towing capability and towing pleasure. I'm trying to be a bit more practical and hopefully put some of that Superduty money in my pocket to use elsewhere rather than the boss indirectly taking it out of my paycheck to foot the freight on a real fancy heavy duty commuter vehicle. Kinda like buying a saltwater rod/reel to catch panfish most of the time. Maybe I'll see if my dealer can loan me an F-150 in spring for one day to try towing my rig around. Unfortunately, I'll have to reconfigure my Equalizer WD to be fair. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

What kind of fuel economy do you get with your SD? What do you expect to get with an F-150? (non-towing)

 

I have logged every fuel fill in most of my trucks, and with my current F-250, I have averaged just over 16mpg total over the past 24,000 miles - which includes some tanks as high as 20.6 and as low as 13.0. Average daily driver mileage seems to be around 16.5 to 17.0.

I have had a little experience with the new bodystyle F-150's, too. I checked the fuel logs for my last 2005 F-150 Supercrew 5.4L, as well as my more recent 2007 F-150 Supercrew 5.4L, and they both netted the high 16's to low 17's as an average daily driver, with an average of 16 for the lives of each respective vehicle. They were almost identical rigs, with the 2007 having a longer bed. Both were 4X4's. The 2007 had Troyer's, AF1 (3.5"), and Roush Off Road SIDO. It was more fun to drive than the 2005, and the enhancements really never affected the economy. In fact, I did better towing and as a daily driver, but numbers are slighted because I "enhanced" it 50% into my ownership of it.

Anyway, on an average, the F-150 could save close to $2,400 (at current fuel prices) over the diesel - not to mention the truck cost alone. yes, it won't tow as well, but over 90%of the time, it's me alone in the cab with nothing else. Again, I just hate to expect more towing for an enjoyable weekend, and wind up cussing all the way to the campground and ruining my weekend. I'll have to resolve myself to the fact that my more comfortable daily ride is worth it (if I do switch). I get a couple positive comments each week about my current F-250, which will make it even harder to downgrade, as well.

 

Finally, somebody admitting they do not need a great big truck. I see so many 3/4, 1 tons driving around with one driver dressed in dress cloths going to work. Come on, do they really need that truck when the most they probably pull is an 18' boat to the lake? Now if you pull a 8000lb + trailer, well yea, then they need it.

Here is my real world experience with my '04 F150. I mostly only use the '04 truck to tow on weekends, I have an '89 F150 for a work truck. I tow a 6000 GVWR 23' fifth wheel and a 17'6" bass boat behind the trailer. There is no way my fifth wheel comes close to the GVWR of the trailer, as my buddy has the same brand, year of trailer, which is 4' longer and his says the same GVWR. My axles are just overkill for the trailer. But anyways, I am up close to the GCWR(with the boat/trailer combo) and probably over on the GVWR of the truck. It tows fine, no white knuckle driving for me. I can go 70 mph down the interstate no problem, no sway. I only tow the whole combo 2-3 times a summer. Towing the trailer or boat/trailer combo gas milleage sucks, 8-9 mpg tops. One time I got 7 mpg going in to a headwind.

Sounds like a F150 is what you really need instead of the big diesel truck. Good luck in your decision!

 

How about a 16' boat?
Smoke, I was/am in the same boat as you. Driving unloaded 90% of the time (even more so now in the winter), yet still loving how it tows loaded, plus just the stupid power. I'm keeping my F-250 for the time being, as long as diesel stays cheap. And the 5" exhaust I just ordered wont' fit too well on an F-150