F150 SCrew w/Ecoboost towing a 37' tt?

[TrueloveTravels]

Hello! We are now proud owners of our FIRST travel trailer. We bought a Grey Wolf 29TE. We take delivery this Saturday! YAY! With all of the excitement, I am getting many people that say our trailer is too long! Yikes.

So, I obsessively researched towing capacities and such. We are within our numbers. I am completely confident with that. What concerns me is the length.
I cannot seem to find anything about length other than I should not have exceeded 30ft, it will be a big sail, and the tail will wag the dog. So cliches aside, is it actually possible that we safely pull this thing?

We do have a WDH, intend on only camping close-by for now, and drive slow and steady. We must pay off this camper before upgrading our truck.

I'm hoping to not cancel this sell, because I truly love this tt. Thank you.

[Touch racing]

You are about to find out that there can be a large margin between tows safe and tows comfortably.

[5picker]

You have opened the proverbial can of worms on an R/V forum.
Welcome, by the way! I see it is your 1st post.

The very FIRST thing we need to know are weights and ratings of BOTH the truck AND the R/V.

YOU say you are within your limits but we don't know that without numbers.
And... published numbers on brochures mean nothing. Real world numbers are the ONLY way to know for sure and you mentioned you haven't taken delivery yet so how do you know real world numbers?

Owning a R/V is to be fun and enjoyable but the tail wagging the dog is a dangerous situation not only for you but others as well.

Give us some information and we can better help you.

[Rover Podder]

What's the wheelbase of you truck?

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-muc...can-I-tow.aspx

[tomkatb]

I would go buy the best hitch available. Pro pride etc.

Your Ford towing guide does not apply to this rv. It clearly states likely your rv frontal area must be under 64 sq ft I would guess. Notes at the bottom of the page.

Tail wagging the dog will occur.

Might be ok. Might be scary. Make sure tongue weight is good.

[D W]

With an empty truck and an empty TT you're probably right at the edge of the envelope, but once you load 'em up that's another story.

[Ken-m]

This is just a guess, you bought a 37 ft travel trailer because you have a few kids maybe dogs? Your truck might have 17-1800 lb payload. You're over weight , by how much who knows we don't have any numbers. But I'm guessing not quite a bit.

[Rhumblefish]

Completely confident of being within your numbers?While towing specs are a sea of numbers and calculations, the two biggest factors are (1) how much your TV can DRAG, and (2) how much your TV can CARRY (or Payload). If you looked into all of them, then you're all good.

IF NOT, maybe take a second and recheck your math:

You'll need to be off to check the infamous sticker in your driver's side door opening, looking for payload data for YOUR specific truck (which starts at the factory engineered number, and then is adjusted for the options added as it was built).

Likewise, you'll need exact weight of your trailer, loaded as you will be camping (including all your gear/stuffs, water, propane, etc). This usually means taking a trip to a CAT scale, and/or measuring tongue weight in some fashion (like using a tongue weight scale). For what it's worth, FR products are now coming with actual unit weights on stickers AS MANUFACTURED (with all the factory equipment in place), but this doesn't reflect anything added after manufacturing (eg, batteries and propane, water you put aboard, etc).

If you don't have your trailer weight (or access to it) and want to be safe, you can use the MAX weight of the trailer when loaded safely, or GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating). The GVWR is the maximum permissible weight of the unit when fully loaded. It includes all weights, inclusive of all fluids, cargo, optional equipment and accessories. (For safety and product performance do NOT exceed the GVWR.) For your Grey Wolf, your GVWR is 7,837 lb (that's your UVW - 6,428 lb. - plus the cargo carrying capacity - 1,409 lbs).

The published hitch weight of 837 lbs is FICTIONAL, and doesn't reflect how you will be using the camper (eg, including batteries and propane on the front triangle). 15% of total weight is a good safe number to use, though 12% is fine. Approach 10% (or lower) and you start to increase a tow-heavy condition likely to be more susceptible to pendulum/sway.

The Ford marketing department is famous (infamous) for posting ABSOLUTE TOP END of capacities (eg "This Ford can tow 18,000 lbs!"), except that's only one of the two important aspects. That Ford might be able to DRAG 18,000lbs, but maybe it can only CARRY 1,500 lbs.

Then you've got to factor in what you're going to put in the truck, (you, the wife+kids, dog, car gear, stuff like that).

lastly, you can use this calculator to do some rough calculations to determine what your hitch weight will be:

https://www.ford.com/trucks/towing-g...cta-towingCalc

Without doing ANY of the above calculations, I suggest that you could be at the upper limits of the payload of your F150 Screw, and likely will be fatigued by towing. If you can weigh-in with your truck's payload, we can take a look at some numbers for you.

THAT BEING SAID, the sail effect of a longer trailer is magnified by towing at the limit. Generally, there's more lever arm on the trailer, the further back from the pivot point any force is (side wind, bow wave from semis, etc), which can translate into more tail wagging the dog. If you're going with a lighter tongue weight in order to stay inside your payload, you're going to be more vulnerable to sway.

I'd suggest we look at your towing numbers to see how much the length will come into play. I'd also look into a premium load leveling hitch with anti-sway baked in (not a friction based device.)

Hope this helps, just my .02.

[PhilFromMaine]

Originally Posted by TrueloveTravels

Hello! We are now proud owners of our FIRST travel trailer. We bought a Grey Wolf 29TE. We take delivery this Saturday! YAY! With all of the excitement, I am getting many people that say our trailer is too long! Yikes.

So, I obsessively researched towing capacities and such. We are within our numbers. I am completely confident with that. What concerns me is the length.
I cannot seem to find anything about length other than I should not have exceeded 30ft, it will be a big sail, and the tail will wag the dog. So cliches aside, is it actually possible that we safely pull this thing?

We do have a WDH, intend on only camping close-by for now, and drive slow and steady. We must pay off this camper before upgrading our truck.

I'm hoping to not cancel this sell, because I truly love this tt. Thank you.

I tow a 27 foot 5500 trailer (empty) with a a 5.3l Silveraldo and have no issues. The towing spec on the truck is 9200lbs. IMO, safety is more a function of the driver's ability and speed. I have zero sway issues. However, I do avoid steep mountain grades.

[Should_Have]

A lot of good advice above to go over. I hope you have some RV Towing experience to know if your vehicle can handle your short trip you mentioned. Different two vehicle, RAM1500, I recently towed 38ft TT for my son one way. Would I do it again. Only if it was to relocate, otherwise I would look for a bigger truck if you plan to tow regularly to different locations.

[bikendan]

I own a F150 3.5 Ecoboost with the Max Tow package and I wouldn't tow that long of a TT with mine.


Sent from my SM-G781U using Forest River Forums mobile app

[Ken-m]

Originally Posted by PhilFromMaine

I tow a 27 foot 5500 trailer (empty) with a a 5.3l Silveraldo and have no issues. The towing spec on the truck is 9200lbs. IMO, safety is more a function of the driver's ability and speed. I have zero sway issues. However, I do avoid steep mountain grades.

His trailer is 10 ft longer

[MT_Camper]

I have a buddy that towed his 37" TT with his Silverado 1500 for a few years before jumping into a diesel. I think the farthest camping trip we took was about 100 miles each way. He never had issues with it swaying but his truck was underpowered pulling it so he couldn't drive that fast anyways.

[Mike134]

Originally Posted by tomkatb

I would go buy the best hitch available. Pro pride etc.

Your Ford towing guide does not apply to this rv. It clearly states likely your rv frontal area must be under 64 sq ft I would guess. Notes at the bottom of the page.

Tail wagging the dog will occur.

Might be ok. Might be scary. Make sure tongue weight is good.

Why do people bring up this nonsense without mentioning that a F450 diesel Dually also has the same 64 sq ft notice!!! GEEEZZZ!!!

[Palinduff]

Originally Posted by Rhumblefish

Completely confident of being within your numbers?While towing specs are a sea of numbers and calculations, the two biggest factors are (1) how much your TV can DRAG, and (2) how much your TV can CARRY (or Payload). If you looked into all of them, then you're all good.

IF NOT, maybe take a second and recheck your math:

You'll need to be off to check the infamous sticker in your driver's side door opening, looking for payload data for YOUR specific truck (which starts at the factory engineered number, and then is adjusted for the options added as it was built).

Likewise, you'll need exact weight of your trailer, loaded as you will be camping (including all your gear/stuffs, water, propane, etc). This usually means taking a trip to a CAT scale, and/or measuring tongue weight in some fashion (like using a tongue weight scale). For what it's worth, FR products are now coming with actual unit weights on stickers AS MANUFACTURED (with all the factory equipment in place), but this doesn't reflect anything added after manufacturing (eg, batteries and propane, water you put aboard, etc).

If you don't have your trailer weight (or access to it) and want to be safe, you can use the MAX weight of the trailer when loaded safely, or GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating). The GVWR is the maximum permissible weight of the unit when fully loaded. It includes all weights, inclusive of all fluids, cargo, optional equipment and accessories. (For safety and product performance do NOT exceed the GVWR.) For your Grey Wolf, your GVWR is 7,837 lb (that's your UVW - 6,428 lb. - plus the cargo carrying capacity - 1,409 lbs).

The published hitch weight of 837 lbs is FICTIONAL, and doesn't reflect how you will be using the camper (eg, including batteries and propane on the front triangle). 15% of total weight is a good safe number to use, though 12% is fine. Approach 10% (or lower) and you start to increase a tow-heavy condition likely to be more susceptible to pendulum/sway.

The Ford marketing department is famous (infamous) for posting ABSOLUTE TOP END of capacities (eg "This Ford can tow 18,000 lbs!"), except that's only one of the two important aspects. That Ford might be able to DRAG 18,000lbs, but maybe it can only CARRY 1,500 lbs.

Then you've got to factor in what you're going to put in the truck, (you, the wife+kids, dog, car gear, stuff like that).

lastly, you can use this calculator to do some rough calculations to determine what your hitch weight will be:

https://www.ford.com/trucks/towing-g...cta-towingCalc

Without doing ANY of the above calculations, I suggest that you could be at the upper limits of the payload of your F150 Screw, and likely will be fatigued by towing. If you can weigh-in with your truck's payload, we can take a look at some numbers for you.

THAT BEING SAID, the sail effect of a longer trailer is magnified by towing at the limit. Generally, there's more lever arm on the trailer, the further back from the pivot point any force is (side wind, bow wave from semis, etc), which can translate into more tail wagging the dog. If you're going with a lighter tongue weight in order to stay inside your payload, you're going to be more vulnerable to sway.

I'd suggest we look at your towing numbers to see how much the length will come into play. I'd also look into a premium load leveling hitch with anti-sway baked in (not a friction based device.)

Hope this helps, just my .02.

I’ve never seen Ford claiming anywhere that an F150 can tow 18,000 lbs. I think around 13k is the most. That being said, that’s a long trailer lengthwise but it really isn’t that heavy. Without knowing your payload etc it’s hard to say. Some F150s have 1100 lb payloads and some, like mine have 2440 lbs, or more even if you get the right unit.

[Mike134]

welcome to the forum.

Just an FYI the advice given here is no better or worse than what you can receive at the campground bar. I myself think the saloon advice can be better because you can put eyes on the person giving advice.

Safe travels and remember:

"I'm no expert but I play one on the internet"

[Ken-m]

Originally Posted by Mike134

Why do people bring up this nonsense without mentioning that a F450 diesel Dually also has the same 64 sq ft notice!!! GEEEZZZ!!!

What can't you get your brain around ? The heavier truck helps against getting pushed around .geeezzz. From what I've seen in camp grounds especially if they had a bar I certainly wouldn't be going there for towing advise or health advise either .

[Mike134]

Originally Posted by Ken-m

What can't you get your brain around ? The heavier truck helps against getting pushed around .geeezzz. From what I've seen in camp grounds especially if they had a bar I certainly wouldn't be going there for towing advise or health advise either .

What bugs me is these armchair know-it-alls that spout off about a suggested limit of 64 sq ft in the ford towing guide like it's going to cause you issues.

They put that recommendation on all F150,F250, F350 and F450 so I guess the tow police need to get all those 1 ton trucks off the highway pulling over 64 sq ft frontal area cause the book says....

[Capacitor]

Well golly, from the last few posts it sounds like yo are good to go. You maybe in boost mode a lot, you’ll figure it out.

[fipntdot]

Our trailer is 28 ft. Does ok with the truck. I read all these forums about length so I have become more observant. I did see quite a few F-150's pulling much longer trailers that the one we have. Perhaps they are all having a miserable experience?

Stay in your capacities as listed on the truck. Drive at a smart and controllable speed.