I was hoping that someone could help me with a towing question. Or if this is answered elsewhere in this forum please point me to the location.

I have a 97 F150 XL 4x4 with 4.6 and manual trans. I am looking at purchasing a 5th wheel that is 4100 dry.

According to the dealer, it falls within the weight I can tow. But reading the owners manual it says that the GCWR is 6,500 or 7,800 with a max trailor weight of 1,700 or 3,000. Someone also told me that the 1,700 or 3,000 was the max tounge weight.

I have never looked at towing so I'm not sure who, or what, to believe. Do I fall within the limits that I can tow safely?

thank you

 

The 1700 refers to Kilograms and the 3000 refers to pounds.

So according to your manual the maximum trailer weight is 3000 lbs.

Tongue weight should never exceed 20% of the total load including the trailer. So with your limitations, a 600 lb. tongue weight is achieved with a full load. Ford recommends 10-15% taking it down to 300-450 lbs. This includes a bumber pull, 5th wheel or goose neck trailer. With those limitations the only reason to go in-bed with the hitch is to make it more compact. It will be cheaper by not having to install an in-bed hitch with a trailer in that weight range. 5th wheel or goose neck hitches range from $500 and up installed. Any stock bumber can handle 200-500lbs of tongue weight.

Remember also that it says in your manual..."Exceeding the maximum GCWR could result in extensive damage to your vehicle and personal injury"

One last note: Over 1500 lbs trailer/load combo....get trailer brakes.

EDIT: sorry I was re-reading the post and my reply.
In my '03 manual it says heaviest 4x4 manual trans with 4.6 is
max GCWR 3538kg 7800lbs
max trailer 1406kg 3100lbs

So that puts the max trailer at 3100lbs, or 3000 in your case.
Remember also that it says in your manual..."Exceeding the maximum GCWR could result in extensive damage to your vehicle and personal injury"

Remember also that you should also try not to get to 75% of that rating on a regular basis if longevity is required.

 

I am sure someone should chime in soon, but it sounds like you are going to need a bigger truck, especially since you will be hauling a fifth wheel. You also have to consider what you will be hauling and how much that is because that will have a great effect as well. If you are not going to haul that often, you may be OK, but if you are going to do a lot of towing, I would recomend a 250 or 350 and with a diesel just as many people probably will recommend. Good luck.

 

Here is my $.02.

If I were going to pull a 5th wheel, I would go with nothing less than a 3/4 ton. I would also shoot for a diesel.

i had a 98 4.6 4x4 that was lucky to maintain 50 with a 18ft boat on IH35 between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. My truck would pull the load, but the little hills that I hit really took their toll. The last time I made that trip with a 2000 3/4 ton 4x4 Powerstroke....damn near got a ticket in those hills.

If you are going to spend any significant time pulling a trailer, i would suggest using a truck that can do the job without question.

This is probably not what you wanted to hear.

 

Thanks for the replies. I kinda was expecting that it wouldn't. But being new to the whole idea of towing I was hoping that I was reading the info wrong.

Here is the kicker. Believing the sales person when they said that it would tow up to 6,700 I had the hitch and the brake assist installed.

(It's true when they say a sucker is born every minute, I have this minute)

As of right now I am out about $900.00 and I have backed out of the sale but I'm not quite sure what to do.

Should I go back to the dealer and see if I can get a refund (ok, quit laughing). Or, can a different, larger clutch be put in to increase the towing limit?

Big picture is I want to be safe, and not have to buy (at this time anyway) a different truck. And if I have to eat the cost of the hitch I will, not very happy about it though.

thanks again

 

97's have weak springs, just ask Mitch. Putting a 400 pound hitch in the bed, plus the 700 pounds of hitch weight from the trailer will be a problem. And you don't even have people/cargo yet. The manual tranny/clutch is also weak, thus the 3000ish pound tow rating.

I'd show the RV dealer your owners manual and demand a refund and removal of the $900 worth of parts.

 

Go over to this site and ask your question in their forums

www.irv2.com

They have helped me with some of my problems.

 

www.rv.net is a good site too.

There's been threads here about the limitations of the manual tranny. Some peopl are towing more than spec. They just don't get in a hurry with it. Search through the towing forum and you'll find the threads on it. My biggest concern would be the weight in the bed. You would probably want to put some sort of overload spring or air bags on.

My dad pulled a 5th about the same size with an 84 f-150 with the straight 6 in it. It would only do 35mph up the mountain grades, but it got there ok.

 

Of course these guys that spent zillion dollars on there noisy smokers are going to tell that. they have to justify themselfs. I have a 05 scab 5.4 it is rated to tow 10,500 lb. I tow a race car trailer(appox.7000lb) all around the states , recently I towed from L.A. to Reno through the sierra's (7000ft plus) and was very happy ,set cruize control to 60mph and had a nice smooth quite ride , got 12 to 14 mpg. I added firestone airbags and electric brake controller otherwise it's all stock. I don't care that it may ware out faster, i don't plan on keeping it the rest of my life, soon as the warranty is up I'll get a new one, repairs of way to costly, and besides I like having a newer model truck, who knows in couple years they may even be better. I'm really not sure about the 4.6 but 4100lb is nothing as far as towing goes.

 

In Colorado on the highways you'll get a ticket for obstruction doing 35mph in a 75mph zone in the mountains. Anything under 20mph under the speed limit is obstruction. If you are under this speed, you will need a chase vehicle and signs, flags and flashing abmer strobes or rotaries to be legal.
If you get pulled over and the State Patrol looks at the GVWR on the truck and the GVWR on the trailer and determines your over weight, not by weighing your set-up, but by the gross on the tags, your trailer will be parked and you will be spending thousands on fines.

But this America, and it is your right.

The laws make it safe for everybody else.

 

Just curious, but then what do they do with the truckers (like heavy dry cement / gravel B-train haulers) on those 8% grades? Or are there exceptions when you're in the climbing lane?

75mph - 20mph = minimum 55mph. Seems a little excessively ****, and I doubt a lot of 1/2 ton gassers with a heavy trailer will maintain 55mph up a 7 or 8% grade... Flat roads of course should be a different story.

 

I bought my first 5th wheel when I had a '96 Chevy w/350 & automatic. I bought a 24' Alumalite 5th wheel, per the dealers assurance. It was just not up to the task. I met a couple who had purchased a 28' 5th wheel and pulled it with a '01 F150 w/4.6 and they only really felt like it had enough power to keep on "flat land" roads. I don't know how much it weighed, but as said above, I'd go with a F250 (at least). You have bigger brakes, motor, and tranny, all of which fall under Safety concerns. Good luck

 

I don't know how it is where you live, but in California there are seperate speed limits for semi trucks. For example, if standard speed limit is 75mph, then speed limit for semis is usually 55. So 55mph - 20mph = 35mph...