What are my vehicle s limits

So as not to have to depend on a sales person telling what my
weight limit is. Hoping some of you could help me.
We have a floor plan that requires opposing slides, is our
major interest

If my Ford truck is big enough

Without knowing anything else I'd say 6,000 lbs loaded.

rickhise wrote:

FINALLY!

After 20+ new posts ON THE SAME SUBJECT and you FINALLY got the RIGHT information..

THIS is the important sticker that gives you the correct information on what your truck can haul/tow.

1604 lbs IS you MAXIMUM ALLOWED CARGO.

You trailer tongue weight when hitched becomes part of your trucks "cargo".

This sticker takes into consideration of ONE person( driver) at 150 lbs AND your fuel tank (full) which also are "cargo" but this sticker has already assumed that and the result is the leftover CARGO your truck can haul.

In a nutshell, manufacturer took your vehicles curb weight (unladen weight or empty weight)+ one 150 lb person + fuel weight then subtracted that from your vehicles GVWR.

NOW, EVERYTHING you put INTO the truck (passengers, gear) MUST be subtracted from this cargo weight on this sticker.

Now, IF it is YOU and YOU alone with NOTHING ELSE added to the cab or bed the max tongue weight would be 1604 lbs, BUT we know that rarely happens.

Assuming you most likely will take at least one passenger and say a couple of bicycles, perhaps a gas grill and propane and perhaps a few other items you can't fit in the trailer we will say about 400 lbs in cargo..

That now gives you 1204 lbs of cargo left.

You will most likely want a Weight Distribution hitch, figure about 100 lbs there.

This leaves you 1104 lbs of cargo left.

Now, we know tongue weight of a bumper pull trailer MUST be 10%-15% of the trailer weight, ideally 13%-15%..

However it is BETTER to error at the top of 15% which may give you a little margin.

So, we now can work back words by using the leftover cargo of 1104 lbs by dividing that by .15 (15%).

The result is 7,360 lbs as your Max trailer weight.

To be extremely clear, this is the maximum LOADED weight of the trailer, not the "dry weight".

You WILL need to select a trailer with a DRY WEIGHT WELL BELOW THIS NUMBER!

If I was a betting person, you WANT COMFORTABLY a dry weight NO MORE THAN 5,000 LBS!


Yeah, I know there will be plenty of folks ready to blast me for this, saying they tow a trailer of 6,500 lbs empty, well that is good for them, but will THEY be willing to help YOU to pick up the pieces and help you when things goes sideways and you damage your truck, your trailer or hurt/kill someone in the process..

1604 payload in a truck isn’t much. My Tahoe SUV is 1595 and newer years have more. Wimpy.

OP wrote:
What are my vehicle s limits

I know your looking for a single number however on a RV forum you will not get a consensus on how much weight your truck can carry or how much weight can it tow safely/legally.

Some want to use the tire placard payload sticker number.....others use a 80 percent of the trucks numbers.....others use a number made from a GCWR....some choose the size trailer they want and mod the truck to make it work/etc.
I'm old school and use the trucks 3850 rawr for a load limit.

I would stay under the trucks 3850 RAWR for how much load the truck can carry.

I also would pull the full tow rating Ford gives for that truck.

Look for a trailer with a dry weight of no more than 5500 lbs.

Thanks to all. I now have an idea of what to listen too
as well as how to evaluate the sales person.
A little knowledge can be

U get the idea

3.55 axle, 6-spd, I'm not sure engine. Either 5.0L or 3.5EB should be good for 6k dry. Enjoy.

I would also say it depends if you live where it's flat and will only be towing locally or will be traveling long distances around the US and/or up mountains a lot. Towing with a truck at or near it's limit is not fun and is hard on the drive train. We burned out the tranny in one truck and destroyed the engine in another. We tow a lot in the mountains in the west. A rule of thumb is 6000 lbs for a 1/2 ton but depends on how it is optioned. Note that payload capacity is what matters with a TT, not "towing" capacity.

I don't trust the payload on the door pillar stickers and would suggest going through a scale to verify the actual payload, esp. if you've added things that are heavy like say a cap.

FWIW, I'd replace the P rated tires with LRE.