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Pacnwguy's avatar
Pacnwguy
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015

1999 F150 towing 6500# 26' travel trailer question

I have a 1999 F-150 4x4 short bed 5.4 Triton A/T with towing package, voyager brake control, oil cooler and 130,000 miles. Axel is 3.55 LS with light duty brake option. I am buying a dual axel 26' TT that will end up weighing 6500# including a distribution hitch and sway bar. The manual says I should be able to pull 7700#. ???

After reading some threads on pulling with a 1/2 ton truck with a 5.4 Triton, I couldn't find any that would address a 99 with over 100k miles.

I will be traveling from Portland OR the coast pretty often and we have some hills to climb. I am a little concerned as to how the truck will handle the job?

Thanks for your comments.
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  • APT's avatar
    APT
    Explorer
    Aug 11, 2015
    I had a 99 F-150 Supercab and then a 2003 Supercrew, both 5.4L/3.73. Loved those trucks! We towed our current TT at 6500-7000 pounds loaded with the Supercrew for 2 seasons. With a properly adjusted WDH, it was great. Performance was ok at best, but it was never unsafely slow. You have two acceleration gears and one cruising gear. 4.10 axle would have been a better match for that engine as it liked cruising at 70mph/2800rpm more than 62mph/2300rpm. So 6500-ish pounds assuming your dry weight is more like 5500 or less should be good. Change all the fluids, probably shocks, and get a WDH with integrated sway control.
  • Greentreena's avatar
    Greentreena
    Explorer
    Aug 11, 2015
    our friend's has a very similar truck and trailer and its fine. They travel with the fresh water tank near empty and dump the holding tanks before they leave the campground (when available). They travel at about 90 km/h on the freeways and take it easy on the hills and they get about 10 mpg. They've been camping all over western North America with this set up.
  • jerem0621's avatar
    jerem0621
    Explorer II
    Aug 11, 2015
    Had a 97 F150, 5.4, 3.55 ls, supercab... towing a 7000 ish lb 32 ft TT... Approx 900 lb tongue weight.

    The WD hitch was dialed in and I used dual friction sway control bars.

    Did great on the interstate, rolling hills on back roads, pulled some pretty steep grades at 40 ish mph...

    Towed with OD off, geared down as needed.

    Just let the 5.4 rev... I pulled 5,000 RPM's on one grade... don't let the RPM's scare you... the 5.4 needs to rev to make power. Just mention that because the motor sounds different when its working.

    Its okay.. just let it rev.

    Thanks!

    Jeremiah
  • blt2ski's avatar
    blt2ski
    Moderator
    Aug 11, 2015
    Being as those hills are lower than 1500' or so for the most part, elevation will not kill the OP that much if at all in reality.

    Only real issue I see, is how much payload the truck may or may not have. That will be the biggest issue I see. It will be slower on the 4-6% grades than many like, but it should get up the hill, fetch a pail of water and make it down in one piece. Chassis size is not first choice with a family. I had a SW 9200 gvwr 35 series at gvwr with over 2600 lbs of payload. A 26' fleetwood 24C trailer, usually around 6500 on axels, and 650-750 of hw.

    Marty
  • cekkk's avatar
    cekkk
    Explorer
    Aug 11, 2015
    I've owned four of those engines, although in Expeditions. One was a '97 and another was a 2000. If, if your engine has had regular routine maintenance, transmission serviced a couple times and you are not experiencing any problems, you should be alright. There's not a lot of safety margin there for go power and whoa power, so I would not go over 60. But that's just me. I'm not familiar with the geography but you can expect to lose roughly 7% horsepower per thousand feet of elevation.
  • Pacnwguy's avatar
    Pacnwguy
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2015
    IdaD wrote:
    Is 6500 lbs the dry weight or is that GVWR?

    It would also be helpful to know your truck's GVWR, front and rear GAWR and curb weight, and what sort of people and cargo load you are intending to have along with you. And how patient you are.

    There are hills to climb between Portland and the coast but the elevations are low so that's in your favor.


    Front GVWR 3680 and rear is 3550. I think the curb weight is 4800#
    Will be adding 700lb in people, dogs and junk in the bed.
    The trailer:
    Axel weight 5350 plus 650 hitch weight for 5980 UVW
    GVWR = 9000

    thanks
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Aug 10, 2015
    Not the best, but probably OK. Take it easy climbing the hills toward the coast or over the Cascades.
  • IdaD's avatar
    IdaD
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2015
    Is 6500 lbs the dry weight or is that GVWR?

    It would also be helpful to know your truck's GVWR, front and rear GAWR and curb weight, and what sort of people and cargo load you are intending to have along with you. And how patient you are.

    There are hills to climb between Portland and the coast but the elevations are low so that's in your favor.

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