is it safe?

jaycocreek wrote:
I find these 1/2 ton threads quite funny. Had the guy pulled in with the same fifth wheel in an older 3/4 ton, nothing would have been thought about it not realizing,the older 3/4 tons had a GVWR of 7200 lbs if they were lucky, some had less and the older 1 tons had tow capacities of 9,000 lbs.

These newer so called 1/2 tons equipped correctly exceed both.

Would I do it, no but I did tow a 35ft Jayco fifth wheel with a 1976 ford F-250 that I beefed up. Remember in the old days there wasn't tow packages/WD hitches and heavy duty trucks were light duty by today's standards leaving the beefing up for pulling to the owner.

It's a1/2 ton, get ' em even though the payload "could be"over 3k.:B

How older are you referring to? We had a 79 F250 Club Cab Long bed with a GVWR of 8,300#. I can't remember what the tow rating was as we carried a drop in camper. the 7.5 L (AKA 460) did well.

I see it all the time around here we live 5 miles from lakes on both sides of us and lots of people drag out campers way to big for the TV I dont see a problem with it its your Truck. Most only tow 5 or less miles and on county roads and dont get over 55mph. Our first TT was 24' and I tandem towed a 18' bass boat. I really didnt see the need to but a new truck for 5 miles one way for the summer. Now I have a 3/4 ton and a 36' 5th wheel and Im sure thats maxxed out! I guess my next truck with be a dually but it has worked for 7 years so far.

DJsFolly wrote:

My question is where does the rear axle rating, pin load, TV weight, TT weight come together to determine a safe combination?

At a SRW 350/3500! Chris

After reading the posts, I read the drivers door stickers. My 2011 EcoBoost has HD towing and payload, 8200# GVWR packages. Max 11200 towing according to Ford specs. As mentioned rear axle rated for 4800 lbs., load range E tires. Max occupants and cargo is 2393 lbs. The Jayco GVW I 9950 lbs., if loaded properly pin weight could be 1990 lbs. This means I have 403 lbs. for occupants and cargo.
My question is where does the rear axle rating, pin load, TV weight, TT weight come together to determine a safe combination?
Weighed F150, 6260 lbs. if the TT max is 9950 total is 16210. If advertised tow is 11200 then max weight is 17460 lbs. and pin could be 2240 lbs. Occupants and cargo could only weigh 153 lbs. (Wife drives the truck and I follow on bicycle).

spud1957 wrote:
Again, everybody comes to conclusions without even knowing the specs of the truck. Only concern could be his axle rating. Good possibility, if he has the 4800lb axles he may be over that. Aside from the axle rating, with the 8200lb GVWR option, he would probably have as much of a truck under him than most mid 90s 3/4 tons pulling that or more.

“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves.”

Does it have E rated tires?

Some here must not be old enough to understand the difference of carrying weight on an axle vs a full floating axle rear end. Or weight carrying axles are built a lot better now than their grandfather's 1/2 ton truck.

Chris

SLE wrote:
"I thought you said this only weighed 10-11k, not 16K!

You are lucky that it did not rip the hitch off the frame! Chris

I find these 1/2 ton threads quite funny. Had the guy pulled in with the same fifth wheel in an older 3/4 ton, nothing would have been thought about it not realizing,the older 3/4 tons had a GVWR of 7200 lbs if they were lucky, some had less and the older 1 tons had tow capacities of 9,000 lbs.

These newer so called 1/2 tons equipped correctly exceed both.

Would I do it, no but I did tow a 35ft Jayco fifth wheel with a 1976 ford F-250 that I beefed up. Remember in the old days there wasn't tow packages/WD hitches and heavy duty trucks were light duty by today's standards leaving the beefing up for pulling to the owner.

It's a1/2 ton, get ' em even though the payload "could be"over 3k.:B

As an owner of an F250 V10 4.56 geared truck and also an Ecoboost F150, I can honestly say that the harder I push the F150 the more it impresses me.

I have no idea if the truck the OP mentioned is within it's rating or not as does anybody else since we don't know the details. What I can say is very recently I ended up hooked up my F150 to a heavy frame trailer with a T770 Bobcat, a Harley rake, and a set of pallet forks sitting atop. Naive to the weight, I drug it around for the weekend noticing the only issue being that the trailer brakes seemed a bit lacking and the trailer wanting to push the truck a bit when stopping. Normally, I would have used the F250 for this as it's my dedicated tow rig however I also was planning on picking up an S220 on a much smaller trailer which I expect to weight south of 10k. At the end of the weekend as I was hauling it back to a buddies place and talking to him about how well the F150 handled it, our curiosity got the best of us and we headed across the scale. If I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. 21,700 lbs! The truck itself weighs 6k on the nose, I've weighed it numerous times. Holy good god, get this thing unhooked from me! Heck, the ol F250 isn't rated for that kind of weight either! We unhitched about 15 minutes later with me looking at him saying "I thought you said this only weighed 10-11k, not 16K!

Long story short, considering the situation and the amount of weight I was dragging around, outside of the 7.8 mpg indicated on the information screen, the truck handled it surprisingly well. It drove down the road nice, didn't jerk and bounce all over the place, pulled it in 5th without so much of a hiccup, even being grossly overloaded! I'm by no means recommending anyone do this nor would I probably do it again knowing what I know now. Considering the fact that I've towed trailers 10s of thousand of miles and have hooked up to everything from small utility trailers, to 40' fifth wheels, to double towing, and so on; and being in some harry situations between bad weather, to blown tires, it honestly handled it unbelievably well, far beyond anything I would have imagined.

With that said, seeing 150s pulling trailers such as the OP has noted and something I always noticed and commented on when going to the lake with my F250, I have a little more respect for those setups and for how well they likely drive! They probably aren't as unsafe as one might think. Again, I know I will be condemned for the above, but I am in no way recommending that anyone hook a 15k lb 40ft fither to their 1/2 ton. I simply want to point out that these new trucks are more capable and safer than any of their predecessors have ever been and condemning someone that is suspected to be within + or - 1k lbs or so of their rating is probably unjust (assuming no overweight of axles or tires!). Had I drove a little ways and felt it handled horribly, was unstable, or otherwise; it would have been hooked to my F250 or my fathers F350 dually the second I got home as both sit sided by side in my shop at my house. This is what blows my mind, it simply handled far better than I would have ever guessed!

I've never towed a high profile trailer with the F150 and I'm sure that would have some additional effect on the comfort level. This is just some food for thought when second guessing others. If you see some unsuspecting person towing a T770 on a large trailer with their F150, feel free to warn them of the weight!

Feel free to condemn away (I was WAY over weight), I just wanted to maybe shed some light for those that have never towed with any of the newer generation 1/2 tons. For me it was eye opening. As they say, ignorance is bliss (I'm talking about myself in this case), ha ha.

Again, everybody comes to conclusions without even knowing the specs of the truck. Only concern could be his axle rating. Good possibility, if he has the 4800lb axles he may be over that. Aside from the axle rating, with the 8200lb GVWR option, he would probably have as much of a truck under him than most mid 90s 3/4 tons pulling that or more.

“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves.”