My wife and I decided in Jan. to buy a 05 F150 supercrew lariat with a 5.4 and 3:73 gears. Our intent was to buy a toy hauler this spring, based upon all the bragging made by ford on the high tow capacity (8700#'s max.), so we could try to further our sons' mx racing ability and enjoy some good camping with our friends at the tracks. The trailer we purchased had a dry weight of 6500#. There are 5000 miles on our truck. We live on the Oregon coast and there is some hilly terrain to travel to get to the interstate. Nothing over 800' though and gradual grades.
On the way home from the trailer lot, about a 70 mile trip to my house, I regularily pushed 5200 rpm in 1st-2nd with O/D off at anywhere between 30-40mph and dropping. MPG actually dropped to 6.4. When I got home it was hovering at 6.9mpg. I realized very quickly that I might make it past the 36000 mile warranty before my engine blows or the transmission drops. Ford has been no help at all. Big business has gotten to BIG. The dealership tried to put us into a V10 equipped well enough to suit a logger for $1000 more than the original price of our lariat. Also the rear end has begun to leak and the black crap coming out my tail pipe is pretty bad.
We ended up returning the trailer to the dealership and they graciously took it back. They also happen to be a chevy dealer. I felt a wee bit humiliated. On my return trip I experienced the same towing problems. All of our summer vacations were planned around this and things are a bit uneasy around here. Ford more than likely isn't going to help us out here, but I am going to do my damnest to ding the hell out of them. These companies are trying to make these trucks do something they can't and alot people will end up paying the price by finding it can't be done and being stuck with it or putting a 100,000 miles of use on there rigs in 40-50 thousand miles. Please refer to 3rd comment by dthills for full understanding. Thanks. Check your max. GCWR before you decide to buy into "all" manufactures giant claims of being able to tow huge amounts.

 

The Super Duty was designed from the ground up as a hauler...even more so with the '05's, all the way back to it's inception. For occational hauling a 150 is enough for lighter duty. The 150's are still "light duty." If your intent was to haul a lot a SD is the only way to go. The diesel is meant for this also. Most 150's will never ever see a trailer atatched to them. But they will haul it, didn't it.

Anyway, any 1/2 ton made by any make would be in worse shape than yours hauling. For occational hauling think 250, or for a lot of work think 350. If you got something big...think 450 or 550. It never amazed me how many people install 5th wheel or goose neck's in 150's.

I haul daily...well at least to put trailers in the shop or move them around the lot. If we deliver or pick up any trailer it is alway at least a 1 ton truck.

I have seen way more broken Dodge and Chevy 1/2 tons than I have ever seen Ford's after hauling too much. I've seen Chevy auto trans in 1/2 tons give up all their fluid under 30k miles just hauling a personal water craft regularly. Don't even get me started on Dodge.

The Ford is the only choice. The wrong choice was the 1/2 ton.

 

It sounds to me that the Ford dealership knew what they were up against with the toy hauler, and steered you towards a V10 gasser (presumably an F-250?).

You mentioned 6,500# dry. With a toy hauler, I wouldn't be surprised if the GVWR of the trailer was over 9,000#. Did you have it totally loaded up? How much did it weigh? Most people like to tow within 80% of their towing capacity, and at 6,500 you're almost there already without any clothes, water, food, propane, "stuff", or MX bikes, parts & tools. Keep in mind too that the 8,700# that Ford brags about is based on an XL trim regular cab, 150# driver, a 1/4 tank of gas and no options. A supercrew (esp. lariat trim) will be rated a lot less than that. Unfortunately, all the mfr's play the marketing tow-ratings game that way.

I too think you got yourself too small of a truck for that trailer. Like Osprey says, it should be at least an F-250 Superduty (gas or diesel).

 

I agree, if you are hauling anything more then 4000 lbs on a regular basis then any 1/2 ton is not sufficient. As Colorado Osprey says, it did it but not recommended on a regular basis. I ocasionally tow a 5000 lbs boat and it feels like it will rip my rear end off in the bumps. A dry weight of 6500 lbs sounds very heavy, probably more like 8000 lbs loaded. I do feel for you however, these companies claim some pretty big weights. In Canada we have something called the "sale of goods act" but it would go something like this.

You would have to go into the dealer and ask him to sell you a vehicle that is going to regularly tow something 6500 lbs or greater. If they sold you an F150 based on these needs then they would be liable as long as you can prove that the F150 is not sufficient. They would not be liable if you went in and asked for a certain type of truck without mentioning the weights you are commonly going to carry.

The same goes for the trailer, If you went to the trailer store and showed them your truck and asked them to sell you a trailer based on what your truck can regularly haul then they would be liable for selling you something too heavy although it might be easy for the trailer company to point at your truck's max trailer tow weight and say they did their part.

I don't think there is this law in the U.S. but their might be something similar.

I heard that the Ford super duty's are the best for heavy trailer hauling, and yours is a heavy trailer, especially something to do with the electric trailer brake adjustment.

I am partial to Ford trucks but I don't think any other 1/2 ton is going to tow your trailer any better, probably worse.

 

Sorry to hear about your ordeal.....

Yeah, those 'marketing' tow figures are really over blown if you ask me..... The way the math works and the reason Ford and every other truck manufacturer get away with it is that they base that 'tow rating' off of the trucks curb weight and subtract it from the GCWR. They also have a bunch of 'fine print' disclaimers that state various things like '....not to exceed the GVWR or GAWR....'

Curb weight is a totally stock truck with zero options, other then what's required to tow. So, figure around #5000 or so for the new F150's.... My F150 weighs around #5200 empty!

My truck has a 'tow rating' of #7700, but when I hitch up my #4500 travel trailer with only a #550 tongue weight, it puts my truck just a bit over it's GVWR of #6250...... I'm still #2000 UNDER my trucks GCWR, but since I've maxed out on the trucks GVWR, I'm done! So, what am I, #3200 under my trucks "tow rating"??

Now, my F150 tows my trailer very well and yes it does downshift into second gear on the longer grades, but I don't try to be the first one up the hill and I can maintain around 50 mph and pull around 3500 rpms very easily.

I've got over 144,000 miles on it now and it's still a very strong runner.

My next truck will be a 35 series something, but that's just because I want one..... And besides, by the time I can afford a new truck, I'll be able to afford a little bigger trailer too, so I'll want that bigger truck!

Mitch

 

Dry weight means empty, off the lot. No water, food, gas, bikes, clothes, nothing.You're not leaving yourself much added cargo weight to the gross weight of your trailer and vehicle by buying a trailer that heavy and a tow rig that small. Don't know anybody with a toy hauler that drives less than a 3/4 ton.

I have a 6100# fully loaded gross weight (4750# dry) travel trailer and my 05 150 XLT does just fine. Motor and gears and wheel size/base are "rated" for 9300# tops but I would never hook up anything that heavy. My dealer said this rig will comfortably tow about 7k (I concur).Getting around 10mpg towing in the mountains (made sure I got the 37.5 gal tank on this one).

My 98 150 XLT even did OK rated at 6600# tops but that was pushing it weight-wise with the same trailer but it only had the 4.6 and 3:55 gears (got around 7mpg). Changed the tranny blood a little more often but she ran fine. I knew I needed a little more truck but stayed with the half ton. Both rigs had/have the air/chip/exhaust mods. Couldn't see buying a 3/4 ton for the towing I do. The 150 barely fits through the garage door as it is....




Wish the 150s had the integrated trailer brake controller!

 

All it would have taken is a little research before buying said truck to realize half tons trucks and toy haulers don't mix. Ask here, or at RV.net and you would have bought the right truck for the job up front and had a great summer. I can't say I feel bad for someone who blew $60-70k on a truck/trailer combo w/o doing their research.

Every travel trailer's dry weight is w/o options, and typically are 10-20% higher "dry". Add 500 pounds of water/fuel, passengers, and a couple 500 pound toys and you can easily reach the trailers GVWR. We can go on and on, but I think you've learned your lesson.

BTW, your thread title is misleading. Many people tow <6000 pounds with no problems. F150's can tow, but they have limits.

 

dhills,
Sorry about your ruined summer. I would expect if you weighed your trailer fully loaded, you exceeded the advertised towing capacity of the truck.

Wish you would have come here to the forum BEFORE buying the truck/trailer- toybox combination; you would have received some truthful, useful, and, in some respects, sound financial advice.

IMO, towing 4 tons of trailer requires at least an F250, V10 or PSD, and my money would have been on the PSD.

 

There is lots of blame to go around.

Lack of customer research.

Car dealer who figures he has a better chance of closing a $25K Light Duty truck deal rather than a $35k diesel deal. ("Sure it will tow it...")

Auto manufacturers who have to play 'keep up' with the competition claims.
Can you imagine the field day the truck ads would have with any competitor that posted realistic numbers that were 2-4,000 less than everybody else?

The biggest problem is the RV dealer. Put yourself in his shoes. He has got to move the product, the fact that you may or may not have the right tow vehicle is not going to stand in the way of him feeding his family.

Last weekend I was browsing at RV lot, looking at a 26ft 5th wheel, dry weight 6500lbs. The salesman is telling me that all the standard V8 pickups will pull it. I tell him what I got but, am planning for retirement in a few years and will be getting a diesel. He laughs and says thats overkill. I should be looking at the 34 footers.

Excuse me, I want overkill.
I want to tow without all of the misery, fear, regret, anger, frustration that is expressed in so many of these threads. Why do I have to be at 100% max towing capability? The only thing I can figure is the RV guy figures I have a total budget and the less I spend on the truck, the more I spend on the trailer? Or if I bought a proper truck the overall price for the rig would be so high it would kill the deal? Most likely, he figures I have an overall budget and he wants me maxed out in the 'cheapest' least capable truck while at the same time dragging the biggest thing 'expensive' off his lot that it can possibly move.


Why is me buying a diesel to tow 7-8,000 lbs any different from the many people here who buy a big V8 rather than a V6 for a truck that never tows?

There are some things that just shouldn't be done on the cheap.

 

I agree with Raoul, the dealership and rv dealer didnt help in this matter. You have to be smarter than them. You have to do your research on what the truck you want is going to tow, and what you are going to tow with it. There is nothing wrong with overkill. I see alot of explorers, durangos, trailblazers, etc, towing campers that I tow with my 92. Let me tell you, it isnt a pretty picture. Alot of the have the rear dragging because of not using the right eqipment or they are WAY OVERLOADED. SO dont blame FORD because you didnt check into things yourself. When my parents order my truck they new they were going to tow heavy things and got it the way they wanted it, plus when it got home, dad put an extra leaf in the rear. It pulls great. I went out to Pocono Raceway last year, with my 26 foot Sunline camper, fully loaded, out I80 and got 10 mpg with the old 5.8 in it. I ran about 70 all the way there and didnt struggle up the long grades either.



Brian Michael
92 XLT S/C 4x4

 

If you plan to tow ... BUY AN F150 ...... I have an '04 FX4 5.4 with 3.73s. I tow horses and also tow my Cobra to track events. Approximate weights are 6000#+. On top of that is a full bed of cargo. Racing wheels, tool boxes, pumps, etc .... Saddles, feed, etc. This truck is loaded when I haul.
This truck pulls that weight around like it wasn't even back there ANNNNNNNNDDDDD I am getting 12+ mpg WITH the overdrive off.
Best truck I have ever owned ..... Period.

 

Ford bases their towing capabilities on level ground, no wind, at 55 mph.

I know, Its a bit unrealistic. I dont blame you for buying an over-rated F150. Ford really does need to come back to reality with these towing capabilities. You definantly need to go way over board on this tow rating if your pulling your trailer through Oregon. Isnt that fairly hilly terrain up there?

And just for clarification, You said:

Then you said:


It sounds to me like they are trying to help out???? Why didnt you trade up to the V10?? If Im not mistaken, Isnt that an F250SD? If you price your truck, and then go and price an F250 with just an XL with a tow package, V10 and an automatic transmission it comes out to just a little under what your F150 Lariet is listed at.

I think your Ford dealer is trying to "take back" your F150 and put you into some thing better suited for your needs. But you still have to pay for an F250SD if thats what you want to get. You cant expect him to sell you an F250SD Lariet for the price of an F150 Lariet.


Hes offering you a

6.8L Triton® SOHC SEFI 30-valve V10
415 CID
Horsepower 362@4,750
Torque 457@3,250
with a tow rating of 12500 pounds???

Which is exactly what the doctor ordered in this case. After the inequity for your trade, I doubt your dealer is making any money at all on this deal. Hes just trying to make you a happy customer.

What exactly is it you want him to do???? Make your F150 pull a 4 ton trailer through the hills like a champ??? Thats Impossible!

I think you either need to buy the F250SD XL, or cough up another $4000 and get the F250SD Lariet, or purchase a lighter trailer.

I think continuing to hound your Ford dealer at this point is rediculous. Like I said, " what exactly is it you expect him to do?"

 

We are wasting our time with this poster. Signed up and made 1 post to slam Ford F150. As you can all see from his post, he made the choice and it was a bad one. I doubt that he came here for a resolution...more likely to stir up a ***** storm and cast his blame around, rather than to admit his own culpability in being an IGNORANT CONSUMER.

 

Did it strike anybody that this guy was pushing a BRAND NEW truck too hard? If he had to do 5200RPM to tow he was going WAY too fast with that much weight. If I gotta go over 3500rpm to maintain speed I back off it. It's no wonder his rig was coughing black smoke.

I agree that he shoulda bought the 250+ for what he's doing. I wish we had purchased a 250 or 350, but we got a 150, so we got a trailer we could pull and don't try to do 70mph with it. It runs fine.

 

I figured I'd get rifled on this one, so I'll make it short: To maintain speeds of 35-40mph I had it in drive not O/D. The hills in this area have a very minimal grade (2miles to go roughly 800ft). The truck would go from drive to 2nd to 1st and the speed was still falling off. Thats where the 5200 rpm was coming from. That was all it had and dropping. I would have purchased an F250 but the numbers from Ford said max rating for the F150 was at 8700#. Best of both worlds right? I was towing 2200# below that. Once I hit the interstate which is flat I could pull at 60mph, but that was shifting between drive and 2nd at about 3000-3500rpm. It was to much work for that motor.
Now as for Desperado: I have a job. I work for a living. I don't have time to sit around on my dead *** and wait for a looser such as yourself to slam me. It was researched. Engineers only see #'s. They don't know facts because they don't live in the real world. Look at the #'s. Ford put them out. I have been a ford nut for as long as I can remember and I've never seen performance this bad.
I'm trying make ford take notice. Yes the dealership did do all THEY could do and yes my expectations are high, but where I work I hear the same thing- These new 1/2 tons will pull almost as much as a 3/4 ton. How many other people will spend their hard earned money and come up short and then be stuck with either loosing $1000's on a freshly new truck or have a really nice trailer sit in their driveway. I'm not wealthy by any means and every extra $1000 is another $20 a month. It starts to add up when you try to give your kids a decent life and some experiences that will make them better in life.
I have purchased 3 new fords at this dealership and a few of my friends have also. We spent a month going over all this with the same guy I purchased my last 3 rigs with. We told him what we planned to do. The #'s said it would. I purchased an e-z lift made sure tires were up to pressure. I could feel that truck coming apart. I know it would of ate the life right out of it. I have towed before and this was definitely not right. All we were planning on hauling was a couple of dirt bikes. We figured we would get water when we got there and dump before we left. We knew that we could exceed our limit if we loaded it up but that was not our intention. I now know better, but it still doesn't make it right. But while we're all here squabbling about the should of's and shouldn't of's the CEOs of these companies are counting their millions and letting us pay for their tales. I looked at this from every angle and it seemed right at the time. This wasn't intended to **** anyone off, except for you desperado...
Yes Raoul over kill is the answer and that is my intention, hopefully before the kids get out of the house. The trailer was 5980# without options, it went just over 6500# with options. I climbed all over this looking at all the #'s before any of this ever happened.