Is my F150 powerful enough?

[camper766]

So after a few years of camping with a pop up, we recently traded in for a travel trailer. To say it hasn't gone smoothly would be a major understatement! We went to our local dealer and found the perfect camper for us, a Salem 300BH. The dealer asked about what we would be towing it with, which was our 2014 F150 Eco boost. Dealer said "no way, that camper is way to heavy for an F150."

I told him that was total BS, my cousin works for Ford and has told me that the Eco Boost can tow far more than an F250 diesel because of the advanced technology of the turbo charger. Also the transmission has more gears than a diesel. Although the Salem is much heavier than the published towing weights for the F150 (it weighs something like 10-12,000 lbs), my cousin has explained that all the published numbers come from corporate attorneys who are deathly afraid of being sued by the "ambulance chasers," instead of engineers who really understand the truck.

Anyway, since dealer #1 clearly didn't want to sell me a camper, I headed off to dealer #2, answer was the same - you need a bigger truck. Apparently these people just aren't familiar with the Eco Boost, so I had to come up with an alternate plan. My neighbor has an F450 SuperDuty diesel and agreed to drive to the dealership with me so I could take delivery and bring the camper back to my house.

This is where it turns bad. I hitch my truck up to the camper and things just don't look right. The back end of the truck is sagging really bad and the front has raised up like 4". I took it around the block and the handling is just terrible, even at 25mph. The setup looks ridiculous. Funny because the F450 didn't sag at all and had a great ride. I know my truck is just a powerful, but it's like there is something wrong with the suspension. My friend with the F450 said the same thing as the dealer, need a bigger truck, or at the very least some kind of a special weight something or other hitch. I don't know what that is and I really don't want to buy anything else. Anyway, he thinks I'm crazy trying to pull that trailer with my truck and said I'll end up killing myself if I try. At the very least he said I'd destroy my truck and void the warranty.

Personally, I think the problem is that the weight just isn't balanced right and that's why the truck is sagging so bad. The weight should be centered over the trailer's axles, then there would be very little or no weight riding on the truck and it wouldn't sag and should handle like normal. We moved everything we could to the back but that made no difference. How can I balance the trailer? I'm really starting to think I've made a horrible mistake. We leave on a big trip in less than a week and my wife is scared to go with it like it is. Seriously need help!!!

[tatest]

What you can tow is seldom an issue of "powerful enough," particularly if how you tow means carrying part of the weight of what you are towing. Many of the big over the road trucking rigs are pulling 10x the weight per horsepower compared to "tow rating" numbers of light trucks with 300+ peak horsepower ratings. What you can tow is rather about the chassis of the tow vehicle being able to carry the loads and maintain control, not about how quick it can accelerate while towing.

[TomG2]

Do you think Ford, or any manufacture, sells more pickups by advertising "Able to tow 11,500 pounds" or by showing a picture of a family with a 7,000 pound travel trailer and the comment, "This is the maximum that most 1/2 ton pickups should tow"? They catch quite a few of us with the former.

[SilverEscape]

lawrosa wrote:

They do make a torklift 15000/1500 hitch for his truck

super spring helper add on leaf would do wonders too..

I myself thought he would be ok if he did it right....

There is a HD package that he may indeed have.. We dont know..

But IMO I dont think he will be back here to reply...

Sorry, I have no idea what that torklift is. Ford doesn't mention it in their documentation anywhere, so it must not be a Ford thing? I'm just talking about the factory stuff. The max for the 2014 F-150 is 11.300 pounds towing and 1130 pounds max tongue weight with a WDH. Per Ford's 2-14 F-150 towing guide 2014 F-150 Towing Capacities

The sticker on the receiver says it maxes at 11,500 for towing and 1150 for tongue weight with WDH (5000 and 500 without), but my truck is 11,200 max (with Max Tow package, HD package not available for my EcoBoost model) and 1130 max tongue as per Ford's guide. The 1130 appears to apply to all models, even if the max tow capacity varies.

And no matter what the max is, payload is still a limiting factor. Depending on what model you have, you can have as little as 900 pounds payload. I believe that was the lowest I saw on a EcoBoost Limited model. Of course it can be much greater if you have a lower model and don't have a SuperCrew, etc.

I think the poster has replied once, so maybe we'll get lucky and he'll reply again? 🙂

[lawrosa]

SilverEscape wrote:
The max tongue weight you can have on a 2014 F-150 is 1130 pound as per Ford's 2014 towing guide. So with that trailer, you'd be way over. So ya, the back end is going to drop. Not to mention that you need to check your allowed payload on the yellow sticker inside the driver's door.

Glad to hear you can get a new trailer or a new truck. Both our RV salesman and our Ford salesman told us we could tow much more and tried to sell us bigger trailers and trucks without the Max Tow package (which we needed). And we ended up buying a trailer that was 5500# loaded with a 775# tongue weight and we are close to our limits for payload and rear axle weight rating on our truck.

I bet I could do the 11,200 pounds my truck is rated for if all I was doing was using chains to haul a cargo truck out of the ditch. Other than that, my max tow rating is useless to me. 😉

They do make a torklift 15000/1500 hitch for his truck

super spring helper add on leaf would do wonders too..

I myself thought he would be ok if he did it right....

There is a HD package that he may indeed have.. We dont know..

But IMO I dont think he will be back here to reply...

[SilverEscape]

The max tongue weight you can have on a 2014 F-150 is 1130 pound as per Ford's 2014 towing guide. So with that trailer, you'd be way over. So ya, the back end is going to drop. Not to mention that you need to check your allowed payload on the yellow sticker inside the driver's door.

Glad to hear you can get a new trailer or a new truck. Both our RV salesman and our Ford salesman told us we could tow much more and tried to sell us bigger trailers and trucks without the Max Tow package (which we needed). And we ended up buying a trailer that was 5500# loaded with a 775# tongue weight and we are close to our limits for payload and rear axle weight rating on our truck.

I bet I could do the 11,200 pounds my truck is rated for if all I was doing was using chains to haul a cargo truck out of the ditch. Other than that, my max tow rating is useless to me. 😉

[OhioRVMom]

TomG2 wrote:
I apologize if I misjudged the OP, this quote is one more reason I think that he is having fun with us.

"...The RV dealer is willing to work with me and take the camper back, if that's what I want to do."

Have any of you actually seen a dealer reverse a deal because of "Buyer's remorse"? I have never seen one even come close. My last dealer had the manager examine my 2500 pickup to verify that it was good for towing a 6,000 pound travel trailer.

well - he DID say he'd get a smaller, cheaper trailer "without paying extra" that sounds like they'd give him a smaller cheaper trailer but make him pay the amount he paid on the bigger one. That'd be a win-win for the dealer. They get the more expensive trailer back and can re-sell it for list, and get more than the smaller trailer is worth. Doesn't sound like they are losing out on that deal.. IF this is for real.. Either the OP IS telling the truth (as sad as that may be, and I cringe thinking about it, as we just went and bought our bigger truck to get a bigger trailer than our F150 could handle) OR, they're REALLY good at trolling - in which case - kudos to him for being THAT good at it....

OP - it's been suggested you address payload capacity - we were ALMOST in this spot. This is how our story would have paid out, except I didn't believe the first answer I got and dug deeper. we, totally uneducated, read that the F150 could handle (I think it was around 13,500) GVWR. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but 'assumed' it was what we could tow. We went to the Dealer, picked out a 7500 Dry weight trailer (nearly 10k GVWR), and figured we were golden. Put down the deposit, the salesman questioned if we could tow it, we said we thought so. we left the Dealer, I called for service to just confirm, asked if the 13,500 GVWR was what we could tow, OR if it was the combined weight of the truck AND the trailer. They said it was what we could tow. We thought we were FINE. but there was this voice nagging in the back of my head - so I started to read. Called Ford, asked more questions, dug deeper. Was told by MANY of them, that we could do it (Our actual tow rating was 7700 lbs because we have a supercrew and no ecoboost - oh and all the other variables) Our PAYLOAD (and this is the REAL issue) the payload capacity was 1582. I think the trailer we got was like 1200.

Now what I found out that not everyone knows, is that the ford F150 tongue weight is generally 500 without the distribution hitch, BUT, it's really 10%-15% of your payload - so for a 7700 lb payload, the hitch could have been 770lbs so the hitch weight isn't set at 500, but has to take into account other factors.

needless to say, after 2 months of digging and pulling my hair out, we gave in, and bought a bigger truck. initially looked at 250s but landed on a 350 with a 3784 payload. our hitch of about 1200 lbs is nothing for it. that's dry weight- but even loaded it will be fine.

Anyhow - if you are serious, and this is real, I'd upgrade the truck. I'd not go less on the trailer, you'll be miserable and lining the dealers pockets.. get what you want, just upgrade the truck. the 350 we got was 2 years older, with the same payment and we added 2 years - but the payment was a wash and we got the trailer we wanted.

you can do this!

[myredracer]

You and your cousin would do well to research the term "payload capacity" and the difference between "payload" and "towing" capacity. Payload capacity is extremely important to understand and how to work with it.

Sadly, truck manufacturers like to focus on and brag about towing capacity and not on payload. I did see a TV ad the other day bragging about a RAM with 6K+ payload capacity tho.

You also need to research and understand a WDH and how to set one up. Lots of excellent info. on this forum and you can start by reading the sticky in the towing forum.

We also upgraded from an F150 to an F250 and have never looked back. There just ain't no comparison...

camper766 wrote:
Clearly I'm in waaaay over my head here. Spoke to someone over at the Ford dealership today who was really knowledgable. He was able to explain the various weight ratings of the truck and the how and why behind those numbers in a way even I could understand. The only one who's a bigger idiot than my cousin is me for listening to him. I guess I just really wanted to believe my truck could do anything. I thought it was all about power, I understood nothing about payload and axle weight ratings.

No matter what this will cost me big time. The RV dealer is willing to work with me and take the camper back, if that's what I want to do. Still a bad deal though, I'll get a smaller cheaper camper without paying extra. Or I may trade in for a bigger truck. Either way, I clearly have MUCH to learn before I make a decision. I appreciate everyones help.

[TomG2]

old guy wrote:
I used to have a 1/2 ton and bought a 3/4 ton and it is like day and night better towing

I used to have a 1/2 ton, followed by a 3/4 ton, after which a 1/2 ton and then another 3/4 ton. I kept trying to make the 1/2 tons work, or convert them to 3/4 tons, neither of which was successful. The 3/4 ton wins.

[old_guy]

I used to have a 1/2 ton and bought a 3/4 ton and it is like day and night better towing

[downtheroad]

camper766
You are a stand up guy for coming back to this thread....after all the abuse you took.

Good luck to you and I hope it all works out well.

Aside: many, many of us have made a similar mistake when buying a trailer that was too much for the tow vehicle we had at the time.
You are not alone on this one..

[AndyW]

The funny thing is that the trailer actually would be within the towing capacity of a properly optioned F150. But the max payload / max tow combination is rare, and certainly not something you'd end up with without specifically requesting it.

[fla-gypsy]

This has all the haulmarks of a banned poster or brand basher under a phony user name.

[Need-A-Vacation]

SprinklerMan wrote:
Go with the bigger truck , bigger is always better . 3/4 ton

If you decide to go with a bigger truck get a 3500/350 SRW (single rear wheel), about 1k lbs more payload over a 2500/250 for about the same price.

Gas motor with a set of 4.10's would be plenty, BUT.... a diesel would do as well.

A lot of people say you should just buy your 3rd trailer first. To do so, you just need to upgrade (replace) the cabability of your truck. The 150/1500 trucks are great with the right trailer behind them, but as you have found out, your Salem is a little beyond those trucks.

Good luck!

[Gdetrailer]