What I saw at the campground.

[falconbrother]

Every Christmas we take two weeks to visit family at the coast and travel down the coast. This year we spent a few days in Myrtle Beach. We were cruzing around the campground and I saw at least two people pulling what I consider to be big fifth wheels with F-150s. Not being critical but, it did cause me to wonder. Most people were pulling the same sized fivers with diesel trucks. What's reasonable and what's overkill?

[ppine]

For flat country like the Coastal Plain, occasional towing with an F-150 might be okay. In the West you will burn up your transmission and then your brakes. You will be under powered and over loaded. There are many good reasons people tow 5whls with diesels.

[mkirsch]

Hey you anti-weight-police types... I see most if not all of you are driving 2500 or 3500 class trucks... Put your money where your mouth is and get yourself a half ton.

[IdaD]

JIMNLIN wrote:
These 1/2 ton truck " look what I saw " threads are a hoot especially when a F150 is involved.

F150 GVWR run from 6xxx gvwr up to 8200 gvwr.
And 3xxx rawr on up to 4800 rawr.
And gvwr based payloads into the low 3xxx lb range.

We need a special forum for "look what I saw" threads that offers no weight numbers other than "must be" or a "good size" or its gotta' be overloaded just because.....with Marty as the mod.

Come on now. The weight police are a vital part of keeping America's highways free of carnage. :R

[JIMNLIN]

These 1/2 ton truck " look what I saw " threads are a hoot especially when a F150 is involved.

F150 GVWR run from 6xxx gvwr up to 8200 gvwr.
And 3xxx rawr on up to 4800 rawr.
And gvwr based payloads into the low 3xxx lb range.

We need a special forum for "look what I saw" threads that offers no weight numbers other than "must be" or a "good size" or its gotta' be overloaded just because.....with Marty as the mod.

[transamz9]

2012Coleman wrote:

someone wrote:
Today, 1/2 tons are rated to tow things that a 3/4 ton would have been rated for a decade ago, and what a 1 ton was rated for a decade before that. In fact, all of the truck classes have progressed.

yea - tow capacity certainly has improved due to advances in engine technology, but payload is more important. And that has not changed - unless somehow the forces of gravity have diminished over the years as well....

I've seen this also - there is someone on the forum that tows a fifth wheel with a Tundra or a F150. Picture in his signature. Maybe it can be configured to wing it, but at the expense of a nice towing experience.

Maybe someone that actually does it will chime in. I'd be curious to hear about it.

I don't see how you could say someone is towing at the expense of a nice towing experience if you haven't experienced what they are experiencing.

I think you need to change you siggy to......"judging something without experience is not good judgment its a guess judgment".....or....."experience is worthless without good judgement but you can't have good judgement without experience" 😉

[ShinerBock]

2012Coleman wrote:
yea - tow capacity certainly has improved due to advances in engine technology, but payload is more important. And that has not changed - unless somehow the forces of gravity have diminished over the years as well....

What rock have you been living under? Half ton payloads have increased over the past decades as well. The common crew cab F150 3.5L Ecoboost is rated at around 1,500 lbs (3/4 of a ton) give or a take a few depending on trim level, the tow package which beefs up the springs is around 2,000 (1 ton), and the HD paylaod package which beefs up springs and axle is around 2,500 (1 1/4 ton).

[2012Coleman]

someone wrote:
Today, 1/2 tons are rated to tow things that a 3/4 ton would have been rated for a decade ago, and what a 1 ton was rated for a decade before that. In fact, all of the truck classes have progressed.

yea - tow capacity certainly has improved due to advances in engine technology, but payload is more important. And that has not changed - unless somehow the forces of gravity have diminished over the years as well....

I've seen this also - there is someone on the forum that tows a fifth wheel with a Tundra or a F150. Picture in his signature. Maybe it can be configured to wing it, but at the expense of a nice towing experience.

Maybe someone that actually does it will chime in. I'd be curious to hear about it.

[2001400ex]

1320Fastback wrote:
A f150 ecoboost is LEGAL for 10,700 pounds and 1,400 pounds of capacity.

Not that I'd want to pull anywhere near those ratings with that truck.

The issue isn't the 10,700, it's the pin weight. Put a 220 pound dude, 130 pound wife and 2 100 pound kids and you are at 850 pounds of payload before counting gear and the hitch. Not many fifth wheels fit into that pin weight.

My 3/4 ton is at 7,700 pounds with family and gear. I've been between 9,700 and 10,000 total weight with rock in the bed (gvw is 9,200). This is like 5 miles to my house on side roads. I would've want to go very far with a 2,300 pound pin weight fifth wheel attached.

[ShinerBock]

I would rather have a 3.5L Ecoboost F150 10-speed with the heavy duty payload package to tow a 10k fiver over any of the current HD/SD gasers. If it was heavier than 10k then I would just skip right over the gaser HD/SD's and get a diesel like I have now.

[Camper_G]

On my last camping trip last year, at Gifford Pinchot State Park, I saw a guy roll in with a large 5th wheel being pulled by a 15+ F150, SuperCrew (Crew cab) with his family of 5 in the truck. I even remarked to my wife that the truck had to be overloaded. That big 5th wheel really dwarfed that little F150. It seemed to pull it fine around the campground loops, but my mind started thinking about that rig on the open highway, at highway speeds and a big wind gust would hit that large 5ver. I could see that turning ugly pretty quick.

Can it pull it? Maybe. Safely? I can't say without seeing all the weights and specs.

As others have said, to each their own. So long as your within all your limits. However, just because you can do it (F150 & 5ver) doesn't mean you should. I also wonder what one of those "heavy" F150s would cost in relation to a basic 2500 series truck? I'd still rather have my 2500 series than a beefed up F150, but that's just me.

Just my .02

[3oaks]

SouthpawHD wrote:
I've said this many time before, go visit the Ford EcoBoost forums. There are MANY folks pulling some VERY big TT and 5ers with their 150s and they don't complain about it all. Should it be done? Not my place to say.

😉

Your got it! To each their own. :@

[Jebby14]

my aunt and uncle have a 28 foot saber that they tow with their 2010 f150 with the 5.4. they were matched for each other and purchased at the same time. they have no issues.

[SouthpawHD]

I've said this many time before, go visit the Ford EcoBoost forums. There are MANY folks pulling some VERY big TT and 5ers with their 150s and they don't complain about it all. Should it be done? Not my place to say.

[ShinerBock]

Funny that this is being brought up. My FIL and I were discussing this just the other day and how every truck class has evolved over the years after he noticed that my 2014 2500 had a higher GVWR of 10,000 lbs than his 2003 F350 which was at 9,900 lbs.

Today, 1/2 tons are rated to tow things that a 3/4 ton would have been rated for a decade ago, and what a 1 ton was rated for a decade before that. In fact, all of the truck classes have progressed. The DRW 1 tons today are towing weight that would have been considered for a medium duty truck a decade ago, and SRW 1 tons are towing things that would be considered for a DRW a decade ago. And as the difference between my FIL's 1 ton and my truck, 3/4 tons are rated at or even more than what a 1 ton was rated for a decade ago. That is what happens when each truck make is in a proverbial pissing match to "one up" each other over the decades.

We concluded that what you think can tow what is very depended on your age. A young 30 year old may believe that a 1/2 ton is fine to tow 10k lbs because that is what they could do in his time, an older 40 year old might think that a 3/4 ton is needed because that is what was needed to tow 10k in his time, and an even older 50 year old might think a DRW 1 ton is needed to tow 10k because that was what was needed to tow 10k in his time. In other words, you are showing your age.

Funny thing though. Some people have a problem with a 1/2 ton towing 10k, but think that a 1 ton is perfectly fine to tow 30k. Go figure.. :h

[lanerd]

Keep in mind that Ford does offer a heavy duty version of their F150 that increases the payload to 3300 lbs for the V8 and 2900 for the eco V6.

Ron