Has anyone looked at what's written on your factory hitch as far as weight and towing capacity? I've got the factory class III package and I've been towing an 18" enclosed trailer with a max weight of 7000#'s.

I was looking at the side of the receiver on my hitch today and I noticed the rating without the weight distribution setup is 500/5000#'s which is significantly lower than the towing capacity of the truck.

Is this something I should be concerned with?

Thanks,
Tim

2000 F150 XLT Supercab
5.4L
3.73 Gears LS
Super/Flip Chip

 

In general, you are limited to 5000 lbs on your truck unless you use a load equalizing hitch, in which case the max hitch load (NOT talking about tow weight based upon truck model) goes up to 7500 lbs. When you insert an equalizing hitch into the receiver, it will handle the higher capacity. The hitch has ***** for the torsion bars.

 

I thought the class III with a WDH can be up to 1000/10000. At least that's what mine says....... Just a straight trailer (no WDH) would be limited to the 500/5000 limit.

With a 7000 # trailer, you should have the WDH anyway. Even if you have a 1 ton truck, you should use the WDH, IMO.

I've seen trucks on the highway (3/4 and 1 ton) towing huge trailers and heavy ones too, that were NOT using a WDH. I actually could watch the hitch flexing and moving around! I've seen this on more then one truck out there too. So, it's just not a matter of that particular hitch was not attached correctly. The damn thing was being "torqued" on. These rigs did have a 2-3" drop receiver, so that just adds to the leverage action on the hitch itself.... It was actually scary to watch.

 

Wow, thanks for the advice. I'll look into a weight distributing hitch right away.

Tim

 

I agree on the WDH for that trailer and weight.

I've never seen a Class III that would go to 1000/10000 with WDH, only 800/8000. I have however seen Class IV do that. On the 2002 Expy and most F150's I think they've started using a Class IV.

 

I just checked the sticker on the hitch which came with the factory towing package. It says 500/5000 and 870/8700 with WD.