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Nuclearhowie's avatar
Nuclearhowie
Explorer
Jun 08, 2017

Any one towing 11000 with gas f250

I'm in the process of buying my first fifth wheel that dry is 10550 pounds my truck is rated for 12300 I'm having extra leaf springs added and the truck officially recertified. I have no idea what to expect with my truck getting close to max. Does anyone have insight on that much weight with a gas f250 with 3.7 rearend.

19 Replies

  • Nuclearhowie wrote:
    I'm in the process of buying my first fifth wheel that dry is 10550 pounds my truck is rated for 12300 I'm having extra leaf springs added and the truck officially recertified. I have no idea what to expect with my truck getting close to max. Does anyone have insight on that much weight with a gas f250 with 3.7 rearend.


    Welcome to the forum!! It would seem our trucks are similar, as my 13 gas 250 is rated to tow 12,300 also. I ordered my truck with HD service suspension, so 350 with 250 badge. I still have 10K GVWR, no matter the suspension. Even so, door sticker is 3,232, means mine weighed 6,768, when it left the factory. My truck squats very little with 2K+ on the rear axle.

    While 4.30s would work better, towing 12K in the mountains, my 3.73s would work. If your truck is 2011 or newer, with 6-speed, ratings same as mine, it will do the job.

    Towing 12K in Florida, will be a non-issue.

    Jerry
  • My dry weight on the 5er is 8035# and when loaded down even my duramax works at those really steep winding roads we sometimes run, I'd hate to see the gasoline bill for those trips but as always YRMV.
  • I bet that pin weight will be 3,000+. I was pulling the Montana usually 12,200 loaded with a 2014 F350 diesel SRW. I was over the payload capacity of 3200. By the time you add the hitch, fill the front closet, and some junk in the back of the truck you get heavy quick.
    Exactly the same equipped Ram has 4018 payload. All the diesel Fords I looked at had the lowest payload of the 3. So I assume the gas is about the same spread.
  • rhagfo's avatar
    rhagfo
    Explorer III
    Well at 11,500# dry, you will be at or near 12,000# towing. The killer for your rig is the 3.7 rear gears. If you want to tow more weight need to drop the rear gear to 4.10 or 4.56!
  • DRY weight 10,550# really means 5th wheel is going to be at minimum 12,500# when you put all of your stuff in it...

    That means a pin weight of roughly 2400# PLUS

    You don't mention which F250 (Year/Trim level)
    Look on door jamb, glove box etc for a 'tire load' data ----it should list Cargo Carrying Capacity (payload) of xxxx#
    That is the amount of weight you can ADD to truck....passengers, stuff, hitch and pin weight.
    Bet 2400# is going to eat up majority of that 'payload'

    Then you need to check amount of Max Load Rating rear tires have....will they carry that additional weight PLUS trucks base weight already being supported by tires???


    Mfg. published MAX Tow ratings are 'marketing dept' magical numbers.......one only reachable with a 150# driver and 20# cargo.
    You will exceed RAWR, GVWR and/or payload ratings long before reaching that MAX Tow Rating.

    Course you will get "I've towed for years just fine"
    It is a matter of understanding and using ratings OR justifying
  • How are you going to "officially" re-certify the truck?

    Ford issued the original certification which considers the engine, transmission, brakes and suspension, are they going to redo it for your truck by re-analyzing all of the components as a whole? I didn't know a vehicle could have its weight capacities re-certified?

    Live and learn?

    And to answer your question, I tow a TT that's about 8,500# behind an F250 2005 diesel in a lot of mountains and that's about all I want to do. I did tow an 11,000# track rig on a 1,500# equipment trailer for 50 miles last week. It's more than I'd want to tow on a regular basis. The cooling fan kicked on several times both in traffic and on a couple of short hills. The plan is to move up to an F450 in two years.

    Bill
  • I did....right at the same weights you mentioned. Flat country, ok. Towing uphill on interstates, ok. Blue highways, bogged down. Came down a 7% grade, definitely knew fifth wheel was back there. Down shifted and it was still "back there" depends on your travel dedtinations. I was not overloaded, went through CAT scale.

    Later traded fifth wheel for a lighter one, change was like towing a boat behind.
  • At 11k, you are probably fine but we need more info on your truck. What engine does it have? We are pulling 11k (loaded) with a 2001 V10 and it pulls fine. No it won't do as well as the equivalent truck with a diesel (particularly in the mountains) but we are within ratings and the engine handles it fine.

    BUT, unless you are running with empty tanks and a couple duffle bags as the entire cargo, expect to be well north of 12k when traveling.
  • Nuclearhowie wrote:
    I'm in the process of buying my first fifth wheel that dry is 10550 pounds my truck is rated for 12300 I'm having extra leaf springs added and the truck officially recertified. I have no idea what to expect with my truck getting close to max. Does anyone have insight on that much weight with a gas f250 with 3.7 rearend.


    For shorter hauls, in your relatively flat country, you =could= be OK, but for longer hauls, especially into "not flat" country, I wouldn't be throwing money into a truck that's could be towing upwards of 14,000 lbs, maybe more. At minimum, make sure your =tires= will be running under their max rating. Personally, I'd be looking for a 350 SRW, at minimum, gas or diesel, just because of the weight.

    Lyle