A Fool-Proof Method for Judging your Tow Vehicle

[bwinkle]

Originally Posted by tapex

Freedom is what drives American's to pick and choose what they sole desire to tow right! A no brainier! Great conversation post by the way!

how much weight are you pulling with a Tacoma ?

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

Zowie, I would of sold the truck

X 2. Trucks are easy to find. A trailer with the perfect floor plan that has been upgraded/personalized is harder to replace.

[Too Tall]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

X 2. Trucks are easy to find. A trailer with the perfect floor plan that has been upgraded/personalized is harder to replace.

agree, expecially one that's not made of fake wood

[Tapex]

Originally Posted by bwinkle

how much weight are you pulling with a Tacoma ?

Just enough to get me a ticket probably!

[2Evil4U]

Man. I saw something on line last week and didn't think to screenshot it. Possibly the ultimate dealer saying your truck can tow anything.

It was a Recreation by Design 50FW which is a 55' fifth wheel with six slides and a dry weight North of 21k.

Quote from the description: "3/4 ton towable"

😲

[GrayghostUSA]

Originally Posted by BigDTx

Great Post. Here is a link to the Ford F150 towing guides.
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...ng/default.asp

The URL has changed. The current one is RV & Trailer Towing Guides | fleet.ford.com It is no longer F-150 specific.

[GAGator]

Originally Posted by red.jimbo

I strongly suggest you only expect a reliable answer to that question from this one member. That member is you.

Great article and I appreciate it since I am current going through the growing pains of an RV newbie.

I downloaded the towing guide for my 2006 F150 4X4 with 5.4 Triton, and learned it has a max trailer weight of 9,300 lbs. and my 2000 Wildwood travel trailer is listed at 4,820 lbs.

I want to believe this data, but will opt to weigh it myself to be certain. My question is when I go to a CAT scale to weigh it, will they allow me to drop the rig on the scale or is there something special I need to do to determine the weight of only the rig while connected to my truck?

[dbledan]

Originally Posted by GAGator

Great article and I appreciate it since I am current going through the growing pains of an RV newbie.

I downloaded the towing guide for my 2006 F150 4X4 with 5.4 Triton, and learned it has a max trailer weight of 9,300 lbs. and my 2000 Wildwood travel trailer is listed at 4,820 lbs.

I want to believe this data, but will opt to weigh it myself to be certain. My question is when I go to a CAT scale to weigh it, will they allow me to drop the rig on the scale or is there something special I need to do to determine the weight of only the rig while connected to my truck?

You will run out of payload first before you hit that tow number.

To weigh watch the video...steer tires on one. Rear on two. TT axles on 3. If not busy you can reweigh and ask if they will let you drop the trailer. I have never tried that.

The better way would be to weigh the truck without the trailer and do some math. If you have WDH do with, with out WDH, and then just the truck worst case.

https://catscale.com/how-to-weigh/

I suspect with the trailer you have you will be fine on both payload and pull weights but weighing is a good idea anyway.

Best of luck!

[dannyabear]

Weigh the entire rig as called out above, the pull to the side and disconnect trailer for truck weight/Cat scales usually charges $10 for the first weight and the only $1 for each additional

[mawilson]

Originally Posted by BigDTx

Great Post. Here is a link to the Ford F150 towing guides.
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...ng/default.asp

The page you're looking for can't be found or has moved.

[llevesque]

I just purchased a Ram 3500 and had the same question. Determined that some dealerships have this awesome software that I think they subscribe to (non-RAM . . . expensive and many dealerships don't subscribe because of the expense . . . I found the larger commercial dealerships do). Not sure if GM, Ford, etc. subscribe either. In any event, they first input the actual Vin of the truck you're about to buy then your trailer GVWR, tongue weight, your estimates of weights of folks, dogs, and contents. And the software returns a whole pile of stats including how much you have to spare on the infamous 26,001 GCWR. Awesome stuff and accurate to the very vehicle you're buying. I don't know how far back you can go, if buying used.

[H-Allen]

Just want to thank eveybody for all the information. I have learned a lot even though I have pulled tt's for a few yrs. I have a 2017 F150 6 cyl. Eco Boost that I have been pulling a 24ft (with tongue) tt 4,000 dry. I can't say I didn't know it was back there but it was easy. I'm looking at getting the Wildwood 27 RKSS or something similar. I need a recliner. Hitch wgt is 720 lbs. My cc is 1944 lbs. I believe I can stay within this limit loaded. I am 78 yrs old and am not going to go down the road wide open. I'll wait until I'm 90 then I'll go down I-75 weaving side to side at about 90 mph. yelling get out of my way you idiots!

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by H-Allen

Just want to thank eveybody for all the information. I have learned a lot even though I have pulled tt's for a few yrs. I have a 2017 F150 6 cyl. Eco Boost that I have been pulling a 24ft (with tongue) tt 4,000 dry. I can't say I didn't know it was back there but it was easy. I'm looking at getting the Wildwood 27 RKSS or something similar. I need a recliner. Hitch wgt is 720 lbs. My cc is 1944 lbs. I believe I can stay within this limit loaded. I am 78 yrs old and am not going to go down the road wide open. I'll wait until I'm 90 then I'll go down I-75 weaving side to side at about 90 mph. yelling get out of my way you idiots!

You haven't quite learned everything yet, apparently. You're still using dry weights. Scrub the word "dry" from your vocabulary.

And that 720 lb hitch weight you quote I suspect is "dry" (I assume you got it off the manufacturers specs, which can only give you "dry" hitch weight.) It will never weigh that. Guaranteed.

And don't forget to add the weight of the WDH.

[CA2FL]

I strongly agree with you, great write-up. It's as simple as obtaining the tow vehicle's max towing and the trailer's weight and not going over about 80% of the tow vehicle's maximums.

We have a 2017 Ram 2500 with the 6.7 cummins and it says it has a 17,250 lb towing capacity, 2632lb payload capacity. I know from previous experience that having a trailer or fifth-wheel that is at those maximums is not a good thing, those are marketing numbers. I'd stay at or below 75% of those numbers.

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by H-Allen

Just want to thank eveybody for all the information. I have learned a lot even though I have pulled tt's for a few yrs. I have a 2017 F150 6 cyl. Eco Boost that I have been pulling a 24ft (with tongue) tt 4,000 dry. I can't say I didn't know it was back there but it was easy. I'm looking at getting the Wildwood 27 RKSS or something similar. I need a recliner. Hitch wgt is 720 lbs. My cc is 1944 lbs. I believe I can stay within this limit loaded. I am 78 yrs old and am not going to go down the road wide open. I'll wait until I'm 90 then I'll go down I-75 weaving side to side at about 90 mph. yelling get out of my way you idiots!

Please give me advance warning on when you're going to make that drive. I want to be somewhere else, like Iowa or Kansas.

[Carolem]

my husband and I purchased a 6.5’ bed 2018 F150 5.0 V8 with the towing package. Then we went shopping for our TT. While shopping an RV show, talking to lots of dealers EVERYONE said the truck would pull any of the TT’s we might want. We ended up with a 2018 Flagstaff Micro-lite 25bh which we absolutely love. The TT is lightweight (not sure what the weight is fully loaded) but we tried to stay around 5000 lbs dry. We did get sway bars added because he could feel the “push” from semi’s when they come up beside us. We do well with it now but still feel some bouncing and the push. I have found and done some studying of the attached brochure https://www.fleet.ford.com/resources...e_r8_May15.pdf
from Ford regarding towing capacity. While this states that we could have gone much heavier I’m glad we didn’t listen to all of the “experts” telling us to go bigger. We got what works best for us - plenty of space, we’ll equipped, and not too heavy!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Carolem

my husband and I purchased a 6.5’ bed 2018 F150 5.0 V8 with the towing package. Then we went shopping for our TT. While shopping an RV show, talking to lots of dealers EVERYONE said the truck would pull any of the TT’s we might want. We ended up with a 2018 Flagstaff Micro-lite 25bh which we absolutely love. The TT is lightweight (not sure what the weight is fully loaded) but we tried to stay around 5000 lbs dry. We did get sway bars added because he could feel the “push” from semi’s when they come up beside us. We do well with it now but still feel some bouncing and the push. I have found and done some studying of the attached brochure https://www.fleet.ford.com/resources...e_r8_May15.pdf
from Ford regarding towing capacity. While this states that we could have gone much heavier I’m glad we didn’t listen to all of the “experts” telling us to go bigger. We got what works best for us - plenty of space, we’ll equipped, and not too heavy!

Carolem, when you say "sway bars", do you mean a WDH or just the friction sway bars?
Because you NEED a WDH and sway control, not just sway bars.Probably a big reason you're still having issues.
Also towing capacity numbers aren't the only number that'simportant for towing.
PAYLOAD capacity is just as important, if not more since you'll always run out of payload capacity before towing capacity.

[mzodarg]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Carolem, when you say "sway bars", do you mean a WDH or just the friction sway bars?
Because you NEED a WDH and sway control, not just sway bars.Probably a big reason you're still having issues.
Also towing capacity numbers aren't the only number that'simportant for towing.
PAYLOAD capacity is just as important, if not more since you'll always run out of payload capacity before towing capacity.

Well said!

[flashcom]

like so many previous notes, we were told "yeah, you can pull that". Ridgeline could actually pull the first one, Just not well. so F150 3.5 ecoboost do the job - very well.

Then next trailer (still a TT) and we were told: "yeah it will work". It did - just not well.
Bad enough to the point that during one mid range trip the stress caused me to get a shingles outbreak (even though I got the shot 4 years earlier)
As soon as we got back i went truck shopping.
Now we have an F350 diesel.
Plus i am seriously considering a 5th wheel. Will it work? (he says slyly)
They are actually advertising some of the 5th wheels as 1/2 ton pull-able.
I was very suspicious of that claim, but my 1 ton - i am not worried (yet)

[SailorSam20500]

This rig pulled in next to us two days ago while we were out sight seeing. They were gone early the next morning and I didn't get a chance to talk to them. F-150 Lariat, looked like it might have the HDPP on it. Poor picture cuz it was getting dark.