F150 - Over GVWR

[AndrewM]

Wife keeps wanting to buy a travel trailer and I keep telling her we have to get a small one. Like oil and water. So like so many other threads, here's my situation:

2011 F150 AWD
6.2L v8
3.73 axle
tow package with receiver, integrated brake controller, trans cooler (not max tow or HD payload)
22" wheels
Michelin Premier LTX tires 285/45R22 (2601 lb load rating)
GVWR: 7350 lbs
F&R GAWR: 3850 lbs
GCWR: 13500 lbs

Scaled weights with full tank of fuel, wife, and misc stuff in the bed. Pretty close to what it would weight ready to camp, minus the WD hitch.

Steer axle: 3780 lbs
Drive axle: 3100 lbs
Gross weight: 6880 lbs

That only leaves me 470 lbs available payload for tongue weight and hitch. Other than a tiny TT or popup, no way I'm going to stay under that. But I am 750 lbs under the RGAWR. If I aim to say under my axle ratings, my options open up some. Thoughts on exceeding my GVWR by ~300 lbs but not exceeding any other ratings?? It will just be the wife and I. Kids are grown. And this will be a temporary solution because she wants a MUCH bigger trailer. Dually territory big.

[AndrewM]

It is low. Only 1148 to start with (yellow sticker). It's a heavily optioned truck. Plus a hard tonneau cover, sprayed in bed liner, sub box, ...

[SouthpawHD]

How do only have 470 pounds of available payload? Seems low to me. What is the payload per the yellow sticker?

Also, verify your owner's manual about a full tank of fuel, I know some manufacturers say that is already included before calculating what is available (per the sticker).

Also, maybe you could take some stuff out of the bed of your truck to give you some more capacity. The 6.2L motor is quite capable to tow, now you just need to give your suspension a chance to tow it.

[Old-Biscuit]

Sum of F/R axles never equals GVWR ---- GVWR is lower then sum
I have never found a formula that explains how GVWR is figured.

So.......
I go by axle ratings OR rear tire MAX Load Ratings

[nohurry]

Grit dog wrote:
Are you kidding me?
6.2. 6 speed, 3.73 gears?
Sounds like the F250 y'all brag about how well it pulls xx,xxx over hill n dale, even mountains!
Throw some springs under it, lose the brodozer tires, or not, lol and have a very well equipped truck to pull reasonable size TTs. I wouldn't think twice about a 7-8000lb trailer.

This. You'll be fine until you get the bigger truck. Especially if your trips aren't long, and/or over mountain passes. I towed our current TT (7K+ lbs) with my 2003 F150 5.4, 3:55's no problem. The equal-i-zer hitch helped a lot.

[Grit_dog]

6.2. 6 speed, 3.73 gears?
Sounds like the F250. Sweet truck and will tow well.
Throw some springs under it, lose the brodozer tires, or not, lol and have a very well equipped truck to pull reasonable size TTs. I wouldn't think twice about a 7-8000lb trailer.

[AndrewM]

WNYBob wrote:
What are the weights marked on the hitch it self?

Typical F150 non-max tow hitch:

500/5000 non-WD
1050/10500 WD

[WNYBob]

What are the weights marked on the hitch it self?

[TurnThePage]

On top of that, remember that a weight distributing hitch will shift some weight away from the rear axle. Since we're empty nesters now, we don't need nearly as much stuff in the bed of the truck either. Additionally, you can try loading as much of that stuff as practical into the trailer instead.

[Thomas_NH]

Sounds like you're trying to talk yourself out towing... I've been towing with F150s (4 of them) for years: Keystone sprinter 31 w/3 slides 9K miles, Cougar 321RLS w/3 slides 39K miles, Reflection 313RTS w/3 slides 5K miles. I have upgraded to F250 since the tongue weight of the 313RTS exceeded the F150 rating with the W/D in it. I've regretted the upgrade as the F150 was a much better truck and towed so good. All my trucks were the Lariat model with tow, HD and snowplow package. Don't sell the F150 short, they are a very capable trucks.

[MFL]

Well Andrew, we all know it is best to stay under all ratings. Many tow over their GVWR by a little. You should not tow over RAWR, or tire rating. IMO, you could tow a TT with a loaded to camp weight of around 5K. This would be a tongue wt of about 650, plus another 100 lbs for the WDH.

You are wise to hit the scales, and are right, in figuring your actual limits.

Good luck, hope you find a nice TT.

Jerry

[wildtoad]

Sounds like you have permission to get a bigger truck!

[APT]

Buy the dually now and save for that fancy 5er.