I've been looking all over the web for how much weight I can pull with this truck. Can anyone help? It is a 4X4 with the third door, 5.4L engine. I'd like to purchase a new (used, ho!) horse trailer to hold two 1000# horses, small living quarters, gear, and a 50 gal water tank. Do I need to trade my truck in a F250 HD?

 

What the 'tow ratings' say you can tow compared to what your specific truck can tow will be two different things.....

In your case, your truck will have a 'tow rating' of somewhere around #8000.... Your truck will have a GVWR of #7700, front and rear GAWR in the #4000 range and a GCWR of around #13000 or so.....

Not really a whole lot more then my 1997 F150. It's got the same engine. Your #7700 will have 3.73 gears and more physical payload then my truck can handle, but #6000 is #6000 and your 5.4 will feel it no matter what the chassis comprises of....

The main thing to remember about those 'tow ratings' is that once you reach just one of your other GVW ratings, your'e done... No matter how much under you are fromt that magic 'tow rating'...

In my case, I've got a 'tow rating' of #7700.... I tow a #4500 travel trailer, but it puts my truck at it's max GVWR of #6250.... So I'm done... I can't really add anymore tongue weight (ie; heavier trailer) because I would be that much more over weight on my GVW.... Doing the math, that puts me about #3200 under my 'tow rating', but I've maxed out on GVWR....

Weigh your truck. Now you know what your physical payload is. Use that to determine what other stuff you will add to the bed + the tongue weight of the intended trailer. Stay at or under your trucks GVWR and you should have a very nice tow. Try to match your trailer to the 'tow rating' and then ignore your other ratings will produce a not so nice tow......

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Thanks, Mitch! I will weigh the truck. However 4500# isn't going to cut it. Working it backwords, what kind of Ford will it take to pull a loaded up to 12000 pounds goose? And, what do you call my F250 light duty when looking up its value in the blue book? a F150? or an F250?

 

Well, you could handle more then #4500 because of your higher GVWR then mine, but again, it's still 'only' a 5.4 under the hood.... Even F250/F350 Super Duties with the 5.4 in them are not rated very much higher the the F150's..... Well, other then the new 2005's.... Even the 5.4 equipped ones get a pretty decent rating now (with the 4.10 gears)....

Now that you are talking about a #12,000 goose neck, you have a better idea of what you need..... Forget the '98 F250 LD........ That goose neck is gonna have around a #2400 pin weight and your '98 5.4 is not gonna like #12,000 hitched to it's rear....

You are talking diesel no matter what IMO. A V10 will get the job done too, but it'll be working harder.... I'd only be looking at 1 tons. You'll get around #9900 GVWR on them and you'll need it because a diesel engine adds a lot of weight and eats into that GVWR a lot..... (The '05's are even higher GVWR now too)

As far as blue book, I think you just plug in "F150" and in the option check sheet, look for a "payload option" or something like that....... But, IMO, it's not going to be much higher then a standard F150 anyway. Couple hundred bucks IMO....

Mitch

 

Look it up under F-250, the heavy duty is the F-250 Super Duty

 

Thanks guys!

 

also back in 97-98 alot of f250 LD had the 4.6 and not the more powerful 5.4

 

If you're possibly going to be pulling a 12,000# gooseneck then you're probably gonna need a F350 v10 or deisel. A f250SD might do it. If it's only going to be occasionally that heavy you should be able to get away with singles on the rear. If you're gonna be pulling that much all the time with a lot of weight in the bed then you might want to consider a dually.

12,000# is WAY over what you have with the vehicle in question.

Re-looking at your originall post: two horses water and living quarters should be ok with a 250SD. A diesel would pull that nicely and a V10 would work ok. I wouldn't use a 250 with a 5.4 for that, but it would do it. My .02

 

I'm thinking the 98 F250 LD will have a GVWR around 8200 - 8600 lbs (I know it's the same truck as the later F150 7700 package). The sticker on your door jam should tell you all the info you need (GVWR, etc..)

If you decide to upgrade, F250 and F350s are the same truck with different tires. V10 or diesel will pull it without problems - you just have to decide how much you want to invest in the beggining ($500 vs $5000).

Your truck would be listed as a F250 LD in the 'blue book'

 

I had a 250ld and horses... The 250 lt in some ways did better than a 250sd. It didnt sag as bad and pulled better. And there is alot of difference between it and a 150, frame, brakes, diff, etc. But with the trailer your talking about you would need a 350 powerstroke, and i would would get a dully as well.

 

if your going to be towing a lot of weight, i would go with a powerstroke, i have a 99 f250 crew cab powerstroke and i tow my 12000 pound trailer at 70 mph and get 15mpg. pretty good if i say so myself