New F-150 with 13,200 lb tow rating!

[KC10Chief]

I just purchased a brand new 2018 F-150 Lariat with the 3.5L Ecoboost motor a couple nights ago. It has the max tow package and the 3.55 gears giving it a tow rating of 13,200 pounds! I used to have a 2002 F-250 with the 7.3L diesel and I don't think the tow rating was much more than that. That truck had a lot more torque though.

So anyways, I realize that I'd have to be insane to try and tow 13,200 with my new truck. I'm no stranger to towing. We want a travel trailer. It's me, my wife and our 12 year old daughter. I didn't want to spring for a 3/4 ton or more right now since I'll be using this truck on my commute and I need it to fit in my garage. HA! The 1/2 ton made the most sense. When we had a travel trailer ten years ago, we used it all the time. I suspect we will be in it at least every other weekend. Probably camping within 100 miles of home which is Oklahoma City. It's fairly flat around here but there are some hills.

I've always kind of told people who don't know anything about towing, to never exceed 80% of your vehicles tow rating with a gas motor. For my truck though, that's over 10,500 pounds! That just seems excessive to me for a 1/2 ton truck. These newer trucks with smaller turbo gas motors are different. It has 470 ft pounds of torque and is currently the most powerful half ton you can buy right now including the diesel trucks. The Raptor has a little more torque but a much lower tow rating. I realize a lot of the tow rating is based on the frame, brakes, etc.

(TLDR) What I'm looking for, is a realistic number to stay under for my truck and the GVWR of the trailer. We are already trailer shopping. Most camping will be around here in Oklahoma but maybe a couple of longer trips of 1,000 miles or more every year.

[KC10Chief]

Sorry for the late response! I've been busy the past couple of days with the holidays coming up and driving my new truck around and what not! I have read all of this. Just so we are clear, I bought the truck knowing full well that I'd never be able to tow anywhere close to Ford's 13,200 tow rating. HA! I was also aware that my Lariat package reduced my payload capacity. I considered an F250 diesel but it's just not real practical for us right now. I have a long commute. We want a camper though and I knew that the F150 could tow one that meets our wants. This thread has been very helpful. If I had it to do all over again, I'd still get the F-150. I just wanted to hear some real world experiences towing with this kind of truck. Thanks!

[VernDiesel]

fwiw I transport for Airstream Forrest River & Gulfstream 500k miles in 1/2 ton pickup in the last 4.5 years. 13,200 applies better to a flatbed trailer on flatland. Not so much a windsail TT and if you take a trip to a mountain region. I did tow a 36.5' ball to bumper 3 slide 9,100 TT a 1,000 plus miles over 6% percent grades with safety & no issues. But it was well set up; 12ish% percent tongue weight, replaced steer weight, drive axle only slightly over max ratings, plus a WDH with built in sway control, axle to frame bags, engine brake, load tires. That said a TT that size is better suited for an HD.

Best to pick a TT that is 7k or less dry so that wet normally doesn't exceed 8k. With a well set up load a half ton suspension brakes etc can still handle this comfortably. But IMO thats about the practical limit before you would be better served by an HD. So since you already have the truck stick to a TT with a dry weight of 7k or less then its just a matter of setting it up right which can be done concretely by using CAT scale results.

Also fwiw 8k times 12.5% makes a tongue weight of 1,000 as seen on the CAT scale. Point being even without much heavy stuff in the bed it generally gets you close to the GVWR. The bigger concern for stability and safety is the axle weights and tongue weight percentage but you want everything in spec.

OP you might let us know if this thread has been helpful.

[Walaby]

OP hasn't returned.

Y'all might have burst his bubble.

Mike

[KM_Rolling]

shelbyfv wrote:
Kevin, thanks for posting your door stickers. That HDPP gives you probably close to 1000lbs above the average F150, well worth a search! It's encouraging to see that they are actually available other than special order. Also interesting to see what Ford recommends for pressure with the E rated tires. Some of us have upgraded to E from the OEM P rated and there is discussion about what pressure to run. 55 is about what I decided on using the tire mfg load tables, so good to have some confirmation.

Your welcome 🙂

Yes, we wanted to a TV that was not stressing when pulling our TH. We also know that we may get a bit larger TH at some point.

At the same time the TV is my wife's daily driver. So we wanted to stay with a F150.

I had about given up and was going to start looking at F250's. Then we discovered the HDPP. It is more like a 250 than a 150 in specs...heavier frame, bigger brakes, bigger radiator and trans cooler, etc. But it still has the EB for daily driving.

btw, we run the tires at 35 psi when not towing, that is per the tire manufacturer chart, and makes for a more comfortable unloaded ride.

[MikeRP]

Two years ago. I was at Old Man’s Cave Campground and in comes two identical F-150’s towing Open Range fifth wheels. It was a brother/sister duo with their spouses. I really thought I was seeing double as they were about 50 seconds apart. I thought the fifth wheels were huge for those trucks.

So I chased them down and they had towed many miles with the combo with no issues. At the time. My bother and I had Ram EcoDiesels which is a wonderful truck. I guess my point is all late mo del trucks are much more capable than like my Dads cream puff 2002 heavy half ton Chevy extended cab pickup.

So with that Ford, I’d tow anything as kind as I was below the rear tire ratings. My brother and I traded in those Eco’s for 3500 Rams, identical except I have the diesel and he has the gasser.

Interestingly enough his payload is over 4000 lbs but his max tow with .373’s is supposed to be 12600 lbs. The gasser with the .410’s is 15600 lbs.

The eco was squirrelly with his trailer at 9000 lbs and 30 feel length. So the Ford F-150 can tow 600 lbs more than a 2018 Ram 3500 CC SB pickup? Kind of crazy! Point is the F150 and the max tow Ram 1500’s are way more capable than 10 years ago and so are the HD’s.

But I’d still be careful of pushing the limits. I wonder if you could buy a F250 gasser for about the same price as the F150 max tow?

[rhagfo]

ScottG wrote:
That's within 500# of my Dodge (13,700).

Well it is 1,200# more than my 2001 is rated at stock, and about 900# more than I tow at. That is a huge number when you consider Ram recommend an exhaust if towing over 10,000# in 2001.

[Lwiddis]

1464 payload? That stinks. My Tahoe has 1595 and newer models have even more.

[Me_Again]

The 29BHSWE has a shipping weight of 6900 lb and a dry hitch weight of 820 lbs. CC is 1900 lbs. Dry hitch weight is 11.88 percent of the 6900. Fully loaded if we carry this pin weight percent over to the 8800 lbs GVWR then hitch weight is over 1000 lbs. Don't forget to include the weight of an equalizer hitch and sway control into you math(like 100lbs).

It appears you will overload the truck easily, and maybe even the RGAWR.

BTW 8800 is really light for a 34'1" TT. Our 2019 Laredo 225MK 26'11" has 8K GVWR and is 725 dry hitch weight and 5780 dry weight.

You might have been better off with a 250/2500 class TV.

[KD4UPL]

I know this is an RV forum but so many forget that there are a lot of other trailers out there besides RVs. Take a flatbed trailer loaded with bricks or lumber, position the load right for about 9 or 10% tongue weight and it would probably be fine.
Or, hook up a boat, which is very aerodynamic, with a tongue weight around 5 to 10% and I don't see that weight being a big deal.
But yes, I agree, if we're talking the huge frontal area of a TT with a non-adjustable 15% tongue weight than you won't be able to hit that number.

[shelbyfv]

Kevin, thanks for posting your door stickers. That HDPP gives you probably close to 1000lbs above the average F150, well worth a search! It's encouraging to see that they are actually available other than special order. Also interesting to see what Ford recommends for pressure with the E rated tires. Some of us have upgraded to E from the OEM P rated and there is discussion about what pressure to run. 55 is about what I decided on using the tire mfg load tables, so good to have some confirmation.

[KM_Rolling]

Going with the Super Crew & Lariat package really reduces the payload.

We recently purchased a 2018, but because we wanted a bigger payload, and a longer wheelbase for better stability towing, we got a Super Cab with the HDPP package.

There were not a lot of them out there. But 30 minutes on the truck locator at the local Ford Dealership yielded 24 of them in the Exact configuration I wanted. (XLT, SCAB, 164 WB, HDPP, 40/20/40 front, Reverse Sensing System, 101A Group)


We now have over 13,000 miles on it since July. Best truck we've ever owned. (we've had other F150's, a Dodge 2500 Diesel, a F250 Diesel, a few Toyota's, a Nissan, oh, and one Chevy 1500)

Approximately 7,000 of those miles have been towing our trailer. Most relaxed towing I've ever done. Our trailer, loaded, is only 6000 lbs. We have another 800 lbs in the truck (beside the tongue weight).

So we are no where near the payload max of 2600 lbs, nor anywhere near the towing max of 11,800 lbs.

Daily driving ranges between 20-22 MPG on regular.

Towing ranges between 10-12 MPG on regular.

At some point we may get a larger trailer, at that time we'll see how she does with a 9000 lbs loaded trailer, which will still be around the 80% target you want...the payload, braking and RAWR on your truck are your limiting factors that will probably keep you down around a 5-6K fully loaded trailer.

[MitchF150]

My 13 F150 has #1920 payload on the sticker. I tow a #5000 GVWR 22' TT with it.

Sure, it can tow a lot more and I'd go to around a #7500 GVWR TT if I were to get a new one, but not really needing anything that big anyway..

Anyway, that "tow rating" is not really meant for a TT.. Usually a boat or flat bed car hauler where you can adjust the tongue weight.

TT's will have a lot more tongue weight in general and your hitch is probably only rated for so much too.

But, with only #1450 or whatever it was in payload on your truck, I would be only looking at trailers with no more than #7500 GVWR.

Good luck!

Mitch

[ppine]

I like your post. If it were me I would stay under 7,500 pounds.

[tragusa3]

In the real world, you'll never get close to that limit or 80% of it.

I have a 2013 model of a similar truck. My payload is 1800 pounds. With 2 adults and 2 kids, 6500 pounds of trailer (from scale), I was just over weight on the rear axle rating. I was at about 60% of the rating.

I'm a fan-boy of the Ecoboost. The engine is incredible. You'll never have a problem. However, braking was marginal on long, steep downhills. It did it, but engine braking was almost non-existent.

My recommendations based on braking is to not go over 7k pounds. You'll probably hit your payload numbers at that point anyway.

[bikendan]

KC10Chief wrote:
Sorry! I forgot to include the payload. The payload on my truck's door jamb says 1,464.

YIKES! That's a terrible payload for a aluminum framed Ecoboost with Max Tow package.
You must have a lot of bling in the truck.
So you can forget that 13,200lbs towing capacity. Your max tow capacity will be limited by the low payload capacity. I'd bet that based on your truck's specs and GVWR, the towing capacity number is much lower than 13,200lbs.
Unfortunately you made the mistake of focusing on the towing capacity number and not the payload capacity or GVWR number.