Huge discrepancies

jerem0621 wrote:

Bingo!!!!

My next truck will likely be a half ton SUV like a Suburban or and Expedition or Sequoia

Next trailer will likely be an Ultralight bunkhouse with 700-900 lbs of tongue weight. I've got tons of experience towing and loading heavy... No worries there. I will exceed the silly payload stickers recommendation of 36 PSI and air my tires up to the MAX PSI on the sidewall of the tire... I'll then look at the tire max load capacity at full psi and multiply times 4....that will give me the load my tires can physically handle...then I will look at my axle ratings... These will probably sum to 1000 or more lbs less than my tire capacity. That's okay... Time to load up the family and gas up the SUV and hit the scale... Boom. How much weight am I under the sum of the axles? How about the FAWR and the RAWR?

That's the numbers I want to know...that's my real payload... Not the payload at a low grocery getting PSI in my tires.

Now, I will concentrate on my trailer selection, tongue weight, weight distribution... Etc... Then if I am not satisfied with how MY RIG handles I'll look at other cheap mods (Timbrens, air bags, etc etc) to improve handling if I have too, but I really doubt I will.

on a side note....

Margaret, have you invested in a tongue weight scale? It's a with while investment. I think it's called a Sherline scale....super easy to use and you can check your tongue weight before every trip to make sure you are 10 plus % on your tongue weight..

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Good post! The Sequoia is a capable vehicle. The low psi numbers on the sticker are not good when towing; tires should be aired up to the max printed on their sidewalls for such a task as this. (Not that you can get a tire shop in CA to cooperate with this, thanks to the statutory situation.)

Wow.. There is a very large presence of "Weight Police" chiming in with radar on full, so watch yourself and be careful out there..

:) :) :)

Mitch

MargaretB wrote:
It's hard to say - we think the gas gauge is wonky. But with the tires inflated as indicated for regular driving, we were getting 11-13 in town, not towing. When we inflated them to towing range, we get about 16.

The gas gauge doesn't tell you anything about fuel mileage. You need to fill your tank up, reset your trip odometer and drive until you need gas again. Then fill up again and divide your total miles driven by the amount of fuel you used. That is your gas mileage.

My 4WD Tundra with the 5.7 and heavy E-rated tires gets about 15 around town and 18 highway.

I'm guessing you get better economy than you think.

MargaretB wrote:

coolbreeze01 wrote:
I'm curious what you get for mileage with the Sequoia?

It's hard to say - we think the gas gauge is wonky. But with the tires inflated as indicated for regular driving, we were getting 11-13 in town, not towing. When we inflated them to towing range, we get about 16.

That does not seem like very good mileage.

My current F250 4x2 super cab 6,2 gas with 3.73 axle gets me 15.1-15.4 empty highway and 15.0 city stop and go driving empty.

F250 also has a very nice 39 gallon tank along with my 15 gallon in bed fuel tank I have about 500 miles of driving while towing without needing to find gas stations every 200-250 miles any more..

Towing my TT which is about 6K loaded and a bed loaded with gen, 15 gallons of gas bicycles, tools and other camping items plus myself and three passengers..gets me a low of 10.1 to a high of 10.5 mpg.

As far as ride goes, my coworker likes it better than his Honda (and I would agree that my truck rides smoother than his car).. Our 2013 also has extremely comfortable seats..

As I mentioned before, the only way to find out is to test drive them.

Great advice on here, all with their own merit. I really do not think in real world results the F150 would vary much from the f250 in all areas including price and mpg.

Back to your original question, why the differance from the website and the dealer lots. The websites list what I call the farmers package. No air, no power anything, no carpet no options what so ever. The math your not able to do is calculations how much the AC compressor weighs, how much all the carpet, buttons, speakers, tow hooks, skid plates, 5th wheel prep packages and so on weighs. That sticker everyone is pointing you to does that, takes what the truck was built for, if it is 3000pds and starts taking away the weight of all these options.

When you are looking the items that will set these f150s with higher payload from the others on the lot, tow mirrors, crew cab or 8ft boxes. Truck would need to have those as I understand it to give you the higher payload ratings.

If I am looking at the right trailer it is 5k dry and 3k cargo, say 6500 to 7000pds on the road. Give or take 1k hitch weight and 400pds for those in the rig, see why you want more then 1350 but the trucks listed with 2k payload are plenty. Lot of the dodges age 1500pd payloads with 40mpg in the Eco diesel and the chevs have some of the best in the business right now in the 1500 line.

Thank you! My point exactly! Many insist that a monster truck is needed for a smaller, lighter weight trailer. Our '03 hasn't given us a minute's trouble or worry about safety.

I fully understand the OPs reluctance to go over what's needed. I was beginning to think we were the only ones on the planet that felt a 150 does a great job....properly equipped, which ours is.

I would love to have a tongue scale, but at about $135 it doesn't seem cost effective when the CAT is just around the corner at Love's. But sure would be handy. If our camping buddies hadn't turned into boaters, we could split the cost and we'd all be happy. Oh, well.

Now I can go back to football.

MargaretB wrote:
A tongue-weight scale? Never heard of it! We go to the commercial scale here in town. This is getting complicateder and complicateder.

Its really not. Its just a scale that you can keep in your toolbox and you can measure your tongue weight with it easily in your drive way instead of going to the scale.

Here is a Link

A lot of us use these just to 'know' that our tongue weight is okay every time. A lot of us do not... which is okay too.

Not trying to confuse or make it more complicated...its just another available tool.

thanks!

Jeremiah

A tongue-weight scale? Never heard of it! We go to the commercial scale here in town. This is getting complicateder and complicateder.

coolbreeze01 wrote:
I'm curious what you get for mileage with the Sequoia?

It's hard to say - we think the gas gauge is wonky. But with the tires inflated as indicated for regular driving, we were getting 11-13 in town, not towing. When we inflated them to towing range, we get about 16.

spoon059 wrote:

dadmomh wrote:
Can you explain to the OP and myself why an F-150 properly equipped is not plenty sufficient?

No, nobody can. The reason that they cannot is because you DON'T NEED that large of a truck for so small of a trailer.

Lots of people here like to cover up poor driving skills or poorly set up tow vehicles by simply throwing money at the problem and buying a heavier truck to mask the symptoms and make them feel better.

A properly equipped truck, be it a half ton or a 1 ton, can safely and effectively tow up to its tow limits. Will a half ton truck hold up over the long term towing at its max weights as a dedicated tow vehicle pulling 12K miles per year? Probably not. The OP isn't trying to do that. The OP is a typical weekend warrior. They are towing less then 300 miles per trip, likely less than 10 times per year. That's 3,000 miles per year towing or less.

For people that have the money or the NEED for a heavier truck, buy a heavier truck. However, for people that don't have the money nor the need than the half ton trucks are great options.

Bingo!!!!

My next truck will likely be a half ton SUV like a Suburban or and Expedition or Sequoia

Next trailer will likely be an Ultralight bunkhouse with 700-900 lbs of tongue weight. I've got tons of experience towing and loading heavy... No worries there. I will exceed the silly payload stickers recommendation of 36 PSI and air my tires up to the MAX PSI on the sidewall of the tire... I'll then look at the tire max load capacity at full psi and multiply times 4....that will give me the load my tires can physically handle...then I will look at my axle ratings... These will probably sum to 1000 or more lbs less than my tire capacity. That's okay... Time to load up the family and gas up the SUV and hit the scale... Boom. How much weight am I under the sum of the axles? How about the FAWR and the RAWR?

That's the numbers I want to know...that's my real payload... Not the payload at a low grocery getting PSI in my tires.

Now, I will concentrate on my trailer selection, tongue weight, weight distribution... Etc... Then if I am not satisfied with how MY RIG handles I'll look at other cheap mods (Timbrens, air bags, etc etc) to improve handling if I have too, but I really doubt I will.

on a side note....

Margaret, have you invested in a tongue weight scale? It's a with while investment. I think it's called a Sherline scale....super easy to use and you can check your tongue weight before every trip to make sure you are 10 plus % on your tongue weight..

Thanks!

Jeremiah