Advice on dinghy towing a truck please

We tow a 4x4 Chevy Silverado crew cab (4 doors). you need a 4x4 that allows the
transfer case to be placed in neutral. Chevy and ram have had that capability for a number of years. Ford, as I understand is only recently capable of being toad without a kit. Need to check the book that came with the specific vehicle.

I often wonder how many people answer a post but never read it. The OP wants to know what pickup he can tow 4 down and he gets answers about trailers and cars and whatever a they call a flex. Almost every post has an answer that has nothing to do with the question.

I think the Ford Flex can tow 5,000 pounds. How heavy is the trailer? It will offer a lighter weight towed vehicle, while still being able to tow the boat, if under 5,000 pounds.

I have a Ford Edge, and it has a tow package and 3,500 pound weight rating. The car is about 4,200 pounds and has a 265 HP V6. Plenty of power for such a small trailer, heck the 30' Bounder that I tow it with has a 97 460" V8 with a 225 factory HP rating.

The FWD Edge can be put on the dolly, or towed 4 wheels down with the automatic, with only modification being install a hitch to the front. I installed my own hitch, have 4 wheel drive and it worked great so far. You can not tow any of the Ford all wheel drive SUV's with a tow dolly.

Check the towing guide, and see what can be towed. http://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/ Check page 11 of the 2014 guide for the 4 wheel down towing guide.

Fred.

We tow a Chevrolet 1500 with the NHT max tow package. A very simple system to tow, hook up the tow bar, put the transmission in park, the transfer case in N, lock the doors and put your keys in your pocket. This truck will legally & safely tow 10K, plus makes a very comfortable toad.

No 4x2 F150 is towable without major modifications and NO 4x4 F-150 with electronic transfer case was flat towable period, until the 2013 model and then that was limited to certain models only. You can find the owners manual for whatever model you want online and check under the "recreational" towing section.

From the 2013 F-150 owners manual

Recreational Towing
Note: Put your climate control system in recirculated air mode to
prevent exhaust fumes from entering your vehicle. Refer to the Climate
Controls chapter.
Follow these guidelines if you need to tow your vehicle behind another
vehicle, such as a motorhome. We designed these guidelines to prevent
damage to your vehicle and its transmission after it is hooked-up to the
recreational vehicle or tow dolly.
You cannot tow a two-wheel drive vehicle with any wheels on the ground
as vehicle or transmission damage may occur. You must tow your vehicle
with all four wheels off the ground, such as when using a car-hauling
trailer.
You can only tow a four-wheel drive vehicle with all wheels on the
ground by placing the transfer case in its neutral position and engaging
the four-wheel-down towing feature. Perform the steps outlined in the
Four-wheel-down towing section after positioning your vehicle behind
the tow vehicle and properly securing them together

EydieG wrote:
We have a 1999 Dutchstar DP. We have only owned it for about 2 years and so far we have towed our Ford Taurus on a dolly. We now plan to buy a truck and are getting so much conflicting advice on this we decided to turn to the experts :) We need a truck comparable in size to the Ford F150 because we will at times be towing a boat with it. Other times we will want to tow it behind our coach. We had one Ford dealer tell us that all new vehicles could be towed four down. After some research, we found this isn't true at all. (If buying new we will purchase a Ford, used could be other makes.) The truck will have to be automatic but other than that we are kind of confused on what we need. 2Wd or 4Wd New, used, what years.. etc? I have read several owner's manuals and looked at the towing guide for several years, but I would like to hear from folks who actually tow or have in the past towed a truck. Thank you so much for any advice!!!

trucks can be quite a bit heavier than autos but in any case it's important for you to know how much weight you can safely tow before you select a vehicle.

step 1: determine what your Dutch Star weighs as it is typically loaded for travel. that would include full fuel and LP tanks, as much water as you usually carry, food, clothing, pets, supplies, people and other stuff. load 'er up and take it to a certified scale and get actual weights on each axle. that's important...don't just get a total weight, get individual weights for each axle.

step 2: compare the actual axle weights to the GAWR for each axle. you're in good shape if the actual weight is less than or equal to the GAWR for that axle. if not then you'll need to unload weight from that axle. the sum of the actual weights should be less than or equal to the GVWR.

step 3: in general, the maximum amount of weight you can safely tow will be the lesser of the following:

* the GCWR of the MH minus the actual weight of the MH as determined in the above steps.

* the weight rating of your tow bar

* the weight rating of your hitch

if you're planning to tow the pickup on the dolly then the weight of the dolly has to be added to the weight of the truck. once you know how much weight you can tow you can start shopping for a truck.

good luck.