2016 F150 Questions about Towing and Travel Trailer

I have an older F150 that has similar weight ratings.. I pull a Jayflight TT, that has 24 ft box, but a total length of 28ft. It has a gross max weight of 7000 and a dry weight of 5200.. I can tell the trailer is there and revs go up a bit on long or very steep hills, but not dangerously so. I do have a couple of suggestions as you look.

Be sure you look at the actual stickers on any trailers you like. I found sometimes there is a BIG difference between the published dry weight in sales brochure and what the trailer actually weighs delivered to dealer. That published dry weight often doesn't include any accessories or options.

The other thing is my truck has the P series tires mentioned previously and they do feel a little soft and squishy when towing. After much research, I learned to add about 5-10 pounds to rear tires when towing. (this is above the door sticker recommended rate - but below max on tire). This helped so much, that when I bought new tires, I chose to go back with the same tire. I use my truck as a daily driver and so for the many more days I make that commute to work, I prefer the softer ride. This decision was made after discussion with several tire companies and truck service companies.

rbpru wrote:
Wow, I am impressed, the Max cargo on my 2011 E-boost F-150 4x4 is 1411 lbs.

I tow a 25 ft. Dutchmen with slide, 5004 lbs. dry weight, 6400 lbs. across the scales when loaded for the road. That puts 750 lbs. on the tongue. With two adults, a large dog, and some camping gear it puts me near my max cargo limit.

Yes there are others that exceed their truck capacity but all you are doing is increasing the wear and tear. If you tow a few hundred miles a year it does not make much difference. If you tow several thousand miles a year it will.

Good Luck

Some of the biggest consumers of payload are 4 X 4, crew cab and the shell. Add in the WD hitch and 13 per cent of your trailer weight on the tongue and available payload quickly disappears. Most folks run out of payload thousands of pounds prior to reaching the so called "Towing Capacity" but that never stops the salespeople from quoting it like the gospel.

:C

Wow, I am impressed, the Max cargo on my 2011 E-boost F-150 4x4 is 1411 lbs.

I tow a 25 ft. Dutchmen with slide, 5004 lbs. dry weight, 6400 lbs. across the scales when loaded for the road. That puts 750 lbs. on the tongue. With two adults, a large dog, and some camping gear it puts me near my max cargo limit.

Yes there are others that exceed their truck capacity but all you are doing is increasing the wear and tear. If you tow a few hundred miles a year it does not make much difference. If you tow several thousand miles a year it will.

Good Luck

7k dry should be no problem for you with a quality WDH that is well adjusted. Lock out 6th gear. Use tow haul mode.

The 5.0 is equipped with a 6 speed auto, so the 3.31 gearing will be fine.

That weight trailer will be perfect behind the 5.0.

My trailer comes in at 1,500 over dry weight between options on the trailer, propane, and gear with no fresh water and maybe a few gallons in the black tank.

Using this as an example lets say you have a dry weight of 5,000 lbs. Add the 1500 and you are now at 6,500 loaded with empty tanks.

Your rear axle going to be carrying most of your load with a travel trailer so lets do the math.

Rear axle is rated at 3800
Per the scale you are at 2180
That leaves you with 1620 of room on your rear axle.

To be conservative we will put 15 percent of the total trailer weight on the hitch (I run at about 12 percent ).
6500 * 0.15 = 975
Add the weight distribution hitch: 975 + 100 = 1075.

With 1075 on the hitch so you still have 545 lbs for additional gear and / or water in the tanks. This again is a little conservative because anything you haul in the cab or in the bed forward of the rear wheels will put some of the weight on the front axles.

Looks to me like you are just fine. As stated with prior post I would go with LT tires for greater stability and get a good weight distribution hitch.

Is your trailer controller an add on or is in the Ford integrated brake controller? The integrated brake controller is great if you can get it. Do you have a transmission cooler? You will want that.

The 5.0L is a good engine. MikeUp on this forum pulls a 6k loaded trailer and it does well. You can expect to rev it up it won't hurt a thing and you need higher rpms to make power heading up a good hill.

Looks to me like you are good with your numbers and will be fine.

Good luck,
Stu

Hitch up and go. Plenty of truck.

I tow a 28 footer, what's 6450 pounds ready to camp, I have 3.21 gears, and the hemi. She tows good, you're well within your limits. Get the trailer!

Ford has an online "Trailer Tow Selector" It list by Engine, Axel Ratio, Cab and wheel base. This gives GCWR for the truck.