Well, technically, you're over the actual hitch ratings if you just plunk it on there and go. Double check, but if it's the factory hitch, it's only rated for a 500 tongue and 5000 trailer weight. That's it's straight load ratings (class 3). Add the WD bars (class 4) and that same exact hitch allows up to a 1000 tongue and 10000 trailer....

When Ford or any manufacture give it's "tow rating" for the vehicle, you have to consider other factors too. They are basically taking the curb weight of your particular truck, which is only a stripped down work truck with the only option being the tow package and the same engine/drivetrain combo. If you have any options, weigh more then #150 and carry an extra passenger or two and have some additional payload, you have to subtract pound for pound, all that additional weight from that "tow rating" number..

You see, you still can't go over the trucks GVWR or GCWR either..... That's the catch.

Now, that's just keeping it all to the book.... Your truck just won't buckle up and break if you go over the GVWR by a couple hundred pounds or so. I would be more concerned about going over the actual hitch ratings however. Hitting bumps, stopping, turning all put additional stress on it. Granted it's not going to snap right at 500 or with a 5000 trailer, but it won't help either.

The WD setup is not just for beginner towers. It's for the proper distribution of weight over the entire rig, making it almost as one whole unit. Without it, all the weight is concentrated on the rear axle and the tongue. Then the trailer is just one big lever and it'll tend to whip you around if it has enough weight to it.

I've towed pleanty of overweight combos while using only a bumber hitch to travel from coast to coast in my younger days and I've gotta say, I was just lucky I got to my destinations! When I traveled over the same route with a properly matched rig and hitch setup, the experience was 100% better.

It's still all personal preference. If you are comfortable with the setup you have, then that's all that matters. All that's been said here is only my opinion and based solely off of my own experiences.

Good luck!

 

I was at a local RV dealer last weekend when a retired couple pulled in with their F150 S/C and a MASSIVE 5th wheel attached. The rear leaf springs on the truck were practically upside down. I asked the old guy if he planned to modify the suspension. He looked at me a little puzzled and a little perturbed and said NO!, why should I? We just got back from Alaska, he said.

Amazing!

 

Two camping trips ago we were on our way home on I-75 in N. Florida and I passed some guy in a chevy van who was pulling at least a 30 footer. The back end of his van couldn't have been more than inch or two off of the pavement and the front wheels looked like they were just barely touching the ground. I'd bet money that he was hard on the rear axle. When I got next to him I looked and sure enough! No weight distribution and no sway control at all, just a straight ball hitch. Couldn't wait too get past the guy. Scary stuff!