i have a 2008 ford f150 short short bed. 5.4l triton v8. wheel base 143.5. 3.55. i have the opportunity to receive a fifth wheel 5614 dry weight with a pin weight of 1440. it has an extended king pen allowing more turning room. there has ben alot of discussion on the matter of 150s pulling fifth wheels. any discussions on adding the air bag suspension kits to help out the rear end axle weight from the fifth wheel???

 

I would not recommend you pull a 5th wheel of any size with that truck. It's the wrong tool for the job.

 

Your pin weight (empty) puts you right at your max payload. Add the weight of the hitch and anything in the trailer and you are over regardless of suspension upgrades.
One point I haven't heard yet is the rear axle weight limitations....with a short bed the pin weight is entirely over the rear axle and will most likely exceed the axle rating.

 

I get such a big kick reading this can I tow this
WELL people GIJoe said it best YOU can open a can of beans with a hamer (and get a meal) but that dont make it right. Do you eat with a tothpick. just my 2 cents

 

Yes you can get a hitch for any f 150 to haul a 5th wheel. As far as your gross weight, you can get a different license plate to make yourself legal to haul a heavier load to keep you out of getting in trouble if you do get in an accident. I have add a leafs and airbags to hall heavier loads with my 1/2 ton. which i do maybe twenty times a year, is it fun, no. The pickup doesn't have the power that a diesel does. but it works just fine. I also have a duramax that i haul loads from 20 to 28k lbs, and guess what thats over its gvwr. and it pulls it just fine. Don't expect you can tow a 10k lbs load without any suspension up grades thou, that can lead you to an accident. i have done transmission, power, and suspension upgrades to make it safe with my vehicle. The most i've towed was about 16k (cat bobcat with tracks, on a 30' 5th wheel flatbed) did 70 on the free way, got about 8 miles to the gallon, but it towed just fine.

my hitch i built, i took a 6" x 1" plate slid it between my bed welded some brackets on the sides and bolted it down. it cost me about 80 bucks and 4 hours to install. i don't see spending 300 to 2500 dollars on a overpriced hitch.

 

I have read all posts involving towing with a 5.5' bed on the new crew cabs. First I just purchased a 2010 crew cab that has a tow capacity of 9600#. The payload capacity is at 1970lbs.

I currently own a 28' Spree 5th wheel with 2 slides that came with a factory installed kingpin extension. Dry weight 5900lbs max GVW 7700lbs. I also have a Reese slider hitch. The reason that Ford does not recommend towing with the small box is that most people don't have the required equipment to tow. Most people only tow with the slider hitch and do not install or have installed professionally a kingpin extension, which adds upwards of 8".

I had been towing this same 5th with a 2007 Ram 1500 quad short bed Hemi. I did not have to use the slider once and had plenty of room. The new Crew cab is about 5" shorter but I will still have room under normal conditions. I got much better mileage towing this 5th wheel than when I had a pull behind at the same weight. 10-11mpg towing in the Virginia mountains.

Keep in mind when talking about the weight capacity, every time you add weight only a small portion is added to the hitch. Some of the info in blogs said that once you add food, clothes ect.. that is added to the hitch weight, which is not correct, only a portion is added. If your RV has a GVW of 7700 and a dry weight of 5700 you can add 2000lbs. Not all of that 2000lbs is directly added to the hitch. Where you position that weight is important.

I have been towing rv's for several years and have had a 5th now for 6 months and used it several times. I have no issues towing this with a small box truck. Again, you must make sure you stay below the total GVW, which in my case is 15,500lbs and you will be just fine.
Look at Fords page on towing and it does show a newer crew cab towing a 5th.

What is most important is how careful you are when towing. I have seen so many times people towing 5th wheels or even travel trailers well over 75mph. What makes it safe is not all the vehicle, but the person driving!

 

Do I need a slider hitch? I read one guy said he got away without having one. I cant really afford to buy a different hitch and want to know if I will be able to use the draw tite 16k hitch i already have. Anyone else have this set up?

 

I am not using a slider in my truck but you just have to be careful of your turns when you get into to tight spaces other wise you will be visiting the body shop.

 

I came here looking for info on an F150 5.5 box and frankly I'm surprised that so many posts say don't pull a 5th wheel with an F150.

I have a 27' Dutchman 5th wheel (single slider) and have pulled it with NO problems with a 2005 F150 EXT 6.5 foot box and a 2007 F150 Crew 6.5 foot box, I also usually had a 14 foot fishing boat or my 4 wheelers behind it. I ended up adding airbags, but only due to Michigan roads, both rigs were fine without them.

I'd certainly agree that a Super Duty would be better, but for 4 or 5 trips a year? No Thanks ... Super Dutys ride ... well like a Truck! Why have that problem the 'rest' of the year. I will say the 3.73 gear noticably outperforms the 3.55 (had both) my hitch is a Reese 16K manual slider that's locked over the axle when towing. BTW Reese sells the 'easy-install' kit made just for the F150 6.5 foot box.

With a good electronic brake controller I never had any issues stopping and the 5.4 out performed my 2003 Silverado 1500 that had a 5.3 (yeah I pulled it with that 1/2 ton rig too ... I'm evidently quite a menace to society)

Prior to my owning this trailer my Dad had a 1996 GMC 1500 that probably logged 20,000 miles pulling it from Michigan to Florida and back. A 5.7 liter, 3.73 axle 4x4-1/2 ton that again had NO issues.

I'm not sure how all the 'math' washes out and granted Michigans pretty flat, but based upon my experience the F150 worked fine.

Does anyone have any 'practical' info on attempting the 'above' with an F150 and only a 5.5 foot box? I have a line on a very nice used one, but have cab clearance concerns with the hitch in 'tow' mode.

Thanks ... Rob

 

Rob its not that it wont pull it but you will be over your GCWR with your combo. No body is trying to be negative but we are just stating the facts. I had a 04 F150 FX4 Super Cab and I just could not make the numbers work out with out buying a brand new light weight trailer and that was just not in the cards. The other thing is that the pin weight on fifth wheels can be close to 25% compared to a bumper tow that is 10%-15%.

Edit: My F350 does not ride to much different than my F150 did on our wonderful Michigan roads.

 

Rob where in Michigan are you located I am in the U.P.?

 

People have been moving more weight with less power for decades. The problem you list of a rough riding truck unloaded is a trade off vs. the problem of using your truck beyond it's design limits. Some times things wear/break gradually, other times they just snap. Your truck is probably 1000 pounds over GVWR of 7200 pounds.

 

Dave,

I haven't validated this yet, but another post on this site lists the following -
***
F150 vs. F250 GCWR for Trailer Towing
I just got off the Ford site dealing with the Gross Combined Weight Ratings for F150's and F250's and have discovered that with the 5.4 L engine that I don't really need to get a F250 truck for towing.

The max allowed on the F150 is 15,000 GCWR with 9500 lbs trailer tow capacity with a 3.73 axle.

The max allowed on the F250/F350 is 15,000 GCWR with only 8700 lbs trailer tow capacity with the 4.10 axle, or 13500 GCWR with the same 8700 lbs. trailer tow capacity on the 3.73 axle.
***

I do get the concept of GCWR as a 'rating' but based on practical experience, the way I drive and probably just as importantly the way maintain my equipment, I've had no issues. Additionally, I will likely buy another F150 for my 5th wheel towing platform. I'm sure your rig is very nice, it sounds like it is in your post and if I towed 'more' miles than I drive to back and forth to work, I'd have one just like it. I'd also venture that when I am towing my 5th wheel I'd LOVE an F250/350 diesel platform, but for now, I'd prefer to invest the additional 20K elsewhere.

I'd also like to live in the UP, so it looks like you win twice in this post!

Best Regards ... Rob from Brownstown.

 

Rob, there's more than GCWR. There's the truck GVWR. You are going to run way over that before you hit the max trailer weight or the max GCWR. People just don't tow with an empty truck with no passengers, 2 gallons of gas in the tank, and a 150 pound driver.

I think those numbers you quote for the F-250/350 are with a 5.4. What are the V-10 and diesel numbers?

 

Rob,

GCWV can just about be ignored. I have yet to see any family vehicles hit that limit first. Power not an issue. Normal braking is not either. Emergency braking, emergency lane changes, cross winds, etc. combined with Michigan's crappy roads means you should have spare capability, not over the design limits.

GVWR is the maximum allowable total mass of a road vehicle or trailer when loaded - i.e including the weight of the vehicle itself plus fuel, passengers, cargo, and trailer tongue weight.. OEMs determine each vehicle's GWV as that is what every component is designed for. If your 2007 Scew is a 4x4, its GVWR is 7200 pounds and your truck weighs about 6000 pounds with a full tank of fuel before anyone sits in it or you put anything in the bed. Add a 200 pound slider hitch and only you driving, and you can only have maybe 800 pounds of pin weight left. At a recommended and typical 25% pin weigh for 5th wheel trailers means you can only tow a 4000 pound trailer to stay within GVWR. Add a wife, couple kids and you could be down another 300 pounds of payload, so you can only pull a 2500 pound 5th wheel.

Next time you are hitched up, run over a CAT scale just so you know where you stand with respect to GVWR, GCWR, axle weights, etc.