Towing with a 2022 Ford 150 3.5 EcoBoost

Reviews I’ve read say good power, bad gasoline mileage when towing.

If you get the right F150 it should tow it great, especially on your side of the country. Personally I like HD trucks better so that's what I'd get, but it certainly wouldn't be necessary for a 7500 lb travel trailer. I just think you get more truck for the money, and it future proofs you if you want to switch up the trailer which isn't uncommon.

Confusing using marketing nomenclature…F150 has over a dozen different ones…so which one ?

Best to use their actual ratings. Like GVWR, FGAWR, RGAWR.

Look at the RGAWR and get the one with the largest rating. There is a reason why the bigger TV’s will have RGAWR’s starting at 6,000 lbs.

IdaD mentioned the F150HD and that one will have the highest RGAWR

As for the trailer’s tongue weight vs your possible TV purchase…look up it’s advertised weight and tongue rating. That is normally an empty trailer and will provide for guesstimating of the actual tongue weight

What you are looking for is the tongue percentage weight.

Then take the trailers GVWR to figure out it’s tongue weight to figure out if that TV will be rated for that

Not a sure fire, as depending on the trailer, some will have their loaded tongue weight something other than the brochure tongue percentage.

If you are stuck on purchasing this TV and trailer, then take the trailer brochure listed weight & tongue, which is an empty trailer with no optional equipment like propane tanks, spare, battery, etc.

Then subtract that from the TV’s GCWR and that is the maximum your TV can weigh and still meet GCWR.

I have no skin in your game and am just providing information for the OP to make a good decision.

I tow with a 2011 F150 with a 3.5 EB and 6 speed tranny. I love the pulling power of the engine. My biggest complaint is that it is still a 3.5 l engine when it comes to motor braking coming down long grades. You will be using your trailer and or truck brakes so know how to do it without burning them up. You should also know how to look at your gauges and learn to shift the truck yourself to keep engine and tranny temps under control I frequently downshift before the truck decides to so that I can keep the tranny cool

As long as you do not encounter a lot of steep grades in your travels I think the 3.5 eco boost is a decent match for a 7500 gvw trailer.
However if you plan to travel in the mountains regularly, the lack of an exhaust brake would be a deal breaker.

I am assuming that the turbo could be used as a grade brake if it were set up properly with custom programming. Has anyone looked into this??

killerbee wrote:
I am assuming that the turbo could be used as a grade brake if it were set up properly with custom programming. Has anyone looked into this??

It’s still a small engine. Even if it had a real exhaust brake it still wouldn’t offer much in the way of engine braking.

Understand that towing anywhere close to 12,300 is unrealistic. The hitch weight will be around 1700lb, so once you load the family, you will be at the payload limit.

But at 7500lb for the trailer you listed, it's probably OK so long as you don't go crazy loading stuff in the truck. The hitch weight is probably going to be up around 1000lb, so throw in a cord of firewood, 20gal gas, generator, etc... and you might run into payload limits. Just keep it reasonable.

The truck should have plenty of power and in the mountains, the turbo will compensate for the thin air, meaning it won't lose power at altitude. It will still provide engine braking just not as much as a bigger engine but no reason to expect it to be a problem.

Fuel economy should be better running empty and when towing, it should be similar to what a bigger V8 will do. It takes fuel to make power, simple as that. It won't be worse than a bigger V8.

If it's a dedicated tow vehicle, I would suggest moving up to a 3/4 ton but assuming you use it for a daily driver, it's perfectly acceptable and should do fine towing.

dodge guy wrote:

killerbee wrote:
I am assuming that the turbo could be used as a grade brake if it were set up properly with custom programming. Has anyone looked into this??

It’s still a small engine. Even if it had a real exhaust brake it still wouldn’t offer much in the way of engine braking.

Have you ever driven one? The engine braking works remarkably well.

For those who cannot read your original post where you spec’d out the truck and trailer very completely and succinctly, and those who are already bemoaning the healthy tow rating (at least you can read unlike the former group), get a life, or at least stop hypothesizing about things that aren’t pertinent to the question.
OP is literally specing out the most robust new 1/2 ton on the market and it WILL pull the aforementioned trailer VERY well with plenty of power and capacity to spare.

The truck will pull as good or better than any of the early 2000s diesels which are still quite capable. No worries OP.