Need help with comfortable towing weight and length.

[Gerald1755]

I'm sure this question has been covered multiple times before so please forgive me. I have the following truck and I am trying to decide what would be an appropriate trailer to purchase. I understand that the payload includes all passengers cargo in truck and hitch weight. What I would like to know is what would be a comfortable weight and length trailer to tow. I am thinking somewhere between 25' and 28'. Is that a good range? What about max gvw of trailer? 6,000-7000? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2011 f-150 4x4 super crew 145"wheelbase 
5.0l v8 6spd auto
3.55  gears
7200 gvwr pkg
1560 payload 

[wandering1]

Get the specs from ford, the specs will tell you how heavy a fifth wheel and travel trailer your truck is rated for. Length has nothing to do with the trailer your truck can tow.

[Gerald1755]

Thanks again everyone for all the good info. Filled up the truck today and it took 24 gallons to top off (36 gal tank). Figuring the 24 gallons at 6.10 lbs/gal I get roughly 146 lbs.

5740 actual weight
146 added gasoline weight
5886 Actual Tare/curb weight without any gear or passengers

So it looks like I have about 1,314 lbs for my family of 4, gear, and hitch weight.

Hmmmmm I might need a bigger truck!

[blt2ski]

THen your truck may have come in slightly lighter than std specs. I personally would use the actual wt left after adding in people etc for figuring out max HW, then from there gcwr less tare equal max trailer to gcwr. Then compare the MTW using payload remaining divided by HW, and MTW with gcwr less tare, The lower number is the max total trailer you can tow for that day in time etc per say.

There is not a simple formula that will give you the MTW ALL the time. One needs to compare more than one number derived from more than one source.

Marty

[Gerald1755]

The door says the combined weight of occupants and cargo not to exceed 1383.

[blt2ski]

If what you weighed is including the extras! you have your base tare wt of the truck. Not I am using tare, not curb. Curb to me is what it weighed coming out of the factory, tare is how it sits at that point in time with other goodies, people etc. Tare can be a moving amount if you will. You now know about what you can load into and on the truck before overloaded at gvwr.

The other gvw to worry about, not sure how your state registers truck. My state requires ALL people with a truck to buy tonage to drive down the road. This is sold in 2000 lb increments. I am LEGAL to the amount paid! My 2000 C200 as an example, has an 8K registration. I am legal to 8K, not the 8600 on the door sticker. On the other hand, my 05 dually has a 14K plate, and my 11400 door sticker is not the max I can go to. So while you have door sticker ability, you may or may not from a legal standpoint.

Also, just because like in the case of my dually, you can buy a 12 or 14K plate, you may not want to literally go to the paid for amount! but if you want to go tot he door sticker amount, like in both of my trucks, one has to buy the next ton higher than the door sticker. Which on one hand, means if you do go over the door sticker amount on accident, not a big deal, you will not get an overwt ticket.

Then your MTW you can tow, will also be a moving target. If you have no payload after people etc, while you have gcwr per the manufacture and trailer wt ability, you in reality have NO trailer tow ability, unless you can figure out how to tow a trailer with no hitch wt. If you have 100 lbs of payload, you have a max trailer of 1000 lbs with 10%, and 400 lb with 25% hw. again, the wt you can tow is a moving target. Clear as mud eh!

Marty

[EcoBullet]

Gerald1755 wrote:

5740 lbs
Without myself in the truck
Little more than 1/4 tank of gas
I figure the additional equipment just about makes up for not having a full tank.

Taking the 5740 from the 7200 gvwr I only get 1460 available cargo.
the tag on the drivers door says never to exceed 1383 lbs cargo. The numbers just don't add up.

I don't think it's that far off. Subtract driver weight of 150 from the 1460 = 1310. My guess is that your estimates of added accessories and stuff is about 73 pounds more than the tank full of gas would have been.

[Gerald1755]

Ok sorry it has takene so long to post. Been on Vacation. I finally got to weigh my truck this morning. This is what I got:
5740 lbs
Without myself in the truck
Little more than 1/4 tank of gas
(I will fill up later this morning and add that weight to total) estimating 160 lbs to add

I do have the following added on the truck (estimated weights)
Undercover bed cover. 75 lbs
Bed Rug. 40lbs
2" billet aluminum leveling kit. 8 lbs
1-1/2" rear blocks. 10 lbs
And I only have at most 10 lbs of "stuff" in the truck

So doing the math I figure the additional equipment just about makes up for not having a full tank.
This ii far from the 5577 curb weight advertised.
Also taking the 5740 from the 7200 gvwr I only get 1460 available cargo.
Furthermore, the tag on the drivers door says never to exceed 1383 lbs cargo
So none of it makes sense! The numbers just don't add up.

[rightyouareken]

blt2ski wrote:

To me, the op has a door sticker that says 1560 lbs of payload, his gvwr less 1560 is about what the truck should weigh, sitting there, with nothing in it other than a full tank of fuel!

That's how it is on my truck. GVWR - payload from the door sticker = what my truck weighed with a full tank of fuel on a CAT scale.

[blt2ski]

To me curb wt is what the rig weighs as manufactured!.

I know of three of us on here with 05 dually crew cab diesels. On is a moderate equiped rwd, it weighs 7100 lbs, mine an LS 4wd, weighs 7300 lbs, another a leather pkg 4wd, it weighs 7600 lbs. ALL three wts are curb or tare wts of those rigs. Mine, if I take the 13400 gvwr less the 4087 lbs my door sticker says I get for payload, adds up to the as weighed the day after I bought the truck at 7300 lbs.

To me, the op has a door sticker that says 1560 lbs of payload, his gvwr less 1560 is about what the truck should weigh, sitting there, with nothing in it other than a full tank of fuel!

Marty

[BenK]

Hi Gerald,

Please if you would post back the weights of your TV

Think it's high time to readdress what 'curb' is, as it is a legal term with
the obligatory definitions. Also gotta read those links APT posted,
they are long and will take a bit to digest them

I'll get back to this later (in between meetings now).

Will have to re-find the NHTSA info read decades ago when designing stuff for DOT
(mainly tire test stands using locomotive traction motors) and while working
through college at a high end tire dealership

Back then...you could order that 'curb' vehicle (AKA stripper model), but these
days...the OEMs do not offer that 'curb' vehicle for sale. I only know of two
guys who own a 'curb' vehicle. Uncle Bill and our moderator, Marty)
Am sure there are others out there.

Virtually all ratings of any vehicle is derived from it's 'curb' weight.

Similar discussion here on this forum on the proverbial 150lb driver when first
joined. Must have taken a couple years before that finally became 'knowledge' here

[Gerald1755]

Wow. I logged in this morning and am surprised at all the feedback. Thank you all.
For starters, I have access to a scale here at work and will do as many of you have suggested and load up and weigh it with the family and "stuff".

I do want to keep from being at the upper limits of what the truck can handle. In the back of my mind I have been thinking 25'-28' with a gross weight of about 6k-7k as some have mentioned. I'm thinking I might visit one of the local businesses that rent RV's and try to find one to rent close to what I'm looking for. Hopefully I can get an idea how the truck will perform from there.

I did have a F250 prior to purchasing the F150. problem was, it was an 2006 F250 with the 6.0 diesel. Need I say more... problem after problem

Anyway I guess it's time to revisit other threads to determine what TT mfgs to start looking at.

Thanks again to everyone for all the help!

[blt2ski]

BenK wrote:

rightyouareken wrote:

BenK wrote:

1560 payload

 

This is based on the OEM's 'curb' weight and only has one 150lb driver
and the tow option.

Unless you have that stripper model and only weigh 150lbs, then that
1560 lb payload does NOT apply to your TV

Reference the below diagram to make sense of what I just said

The payload rating doesn't assume a 150 lb driver. The sticker says "The combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed..." so if he's getting this number from his sticker on the door that is amount of weight he can add to the truck as it left the factory with full fuel. Anybody in the truck, cargo, and tongue weight, must be less than that amount.

Hidden in that the payload is determined using the 'curb', which has
one 150lb driver and liquids (some full, some partial)

Ben,

IF that 1500 lb payload available IS what is on the door sticker, said truck has ALL 1500 lbs available! I have had over 5-6 NEW rigs since that sticker has come on trucks, ALL have had a gcwr less this payload equals the tare of that truck with ALL the options that truck has on it as equiped from the manufacture. There is no need to add/subtract 150 lbs for a driver! Now if someone is looking at the camper load sticker int he glove box, and that says say 1050 lbs. And the truck has 3 seat belts, the 3 x150 lbs per seat belt, plus the 1050 camper load should equal the sticker of 1500 lbs on the door jam! Which has also been true of the trucks I have had over the last 10 yrs or so with the payload sticker on the door!

Reality is, said truck will probably have less than 800-900 lbs max of payload after two people are added, and a few other odds and ends, like maps, tour guides, some drinks, food etc in the rig.

Assuming 800 lbs, max trailer would be 8000 at 10%, to as little as 3200 at 25%! so not really a lot of trailer.

Mean while, if this truck was a crew cab with 6 seats, I put my family of 6 in it, and we weigh in the 1200-1300 lbs total, add a few odds and ends, and we are ABOVE gvwr, so my tow capacity would be nothing! ZILCH! NADA! SQUAT! as I already have the springs squatted as much as they would like to be!

The as stated by many, what is comfortable, will depend! Then again, my 96 crew cab had a gcwr of 12500, I had no issues with it running down the road at 16K with family and TT in tow, or my equipment trailer that weighed in at 10K lbs, with some other asst goodies in the bed too! I was usually at 9K-9500 lbs gvwr, the trailer had 6-6500 on the axels.....no issues, in snow, dry, rain etc! YES, I did tow in the snow to local ski area's using the trailer as a weekend ski hut!

Marty

[rightyouareken]

Proteus wrote:

I guess the question is, why haven't domestic car makers caught up? Jeep is putting a similar 3L TDI in the new Grand Cherokee (sourced from Fiat). Both can get 30mpg+ on the highway (I'm getting 28 now in my break-in period). I'm sure it drops in half with a heavy trailer though...

There have been many an article written on why small diesel engines aren't available in the US. My opinion is because the buying public here doesn't want to drive them. Diesels of the 70s and 80s were noisy smoky things and people may be soured on them. Plus, gas is cheap (relative to Europe) so there just hasn't been the demand. A few manifacturers are getting brave and releasing small diesels in passenger cars so well probably see an ever increasing demand over time as public acceptance grows.

[TomG2]

I don't think the OP wants to tow at anything like 100 mph. Of course, I could be wrong.