Looking at buying a toy hauler soon but im worried my truck cant handle it. But I do see alot of people pulling travel trailers on here. Im looking at one thats 6500# empty prolly 8500# loaded and one thats about 5000# empty 7000# loaded. Do you guys have any problems pulling this kind of weight? My truck is an 06 Screw 5.4 with the 3.55 LS rear end. No lift stock tires with K&N intake and Magnaflow single exhuast. Before I get into the purchase I wanna make sure the truck can take it, I know it wont win any races pulling it, but is it gonna ruin it?? Thanks for any help.

 

You need to go by the GVW of the trailer, not what you think it will be loaded. Look at those numbers to determine what you need to tow it with.

 

Those are the GVW on both, 6500# and 5000#. I just want to know if its to heavy for my truck. I occasionally tow a trailer weighing about 4800# the truck pulls it fine but doesnt feel like it could go much more than that sometimes? I plan on keeping my truck for years to come but dont wanna ruin it before hand.

 

If 6500 is the GVW, that is the max it will be if properly loaded, not 8500. 6500 is well within your trucks capacity, although lower gears would help. Do you have the tow package? If so you have a decent trannie cooler, and the 7pin hook up. You will need trailer brakes and a wd hitch for those weights.

PS - links to the trailers might help.

 

Are you sure what you have is the GVW? As stated the GVW is NOT the trailers unladen weight. The dealer probably just gave you the unladen weight. The unladen weight is how much the trailer weighs just sitting there unloaded. The GVW as stated is what the trailer + load can weigh.


To figure out if your truck can handle it you need to look at the GCWR for the truck. Take the weight of your truck + the trailers GVW and they have to be less than the GCWR.

 

What are you going to put in there? Mine pulls like a dream empty, but fill it with quads and water and she gets a little heavy.

 

Yes I will be pulling quads with it 2-4 at a time. The numbers im saying EMPTY is what the trailer weighs just sitting there. Loaded is my best guess with my gear and quads plus water and food ect. I do have the factory tow package and a brake controller as well. On Fords website it states "Maximum Towing Capabilities" is 8300# for my truck. GCWR if im reading corectly is 14000# im not sure what the truck itself weighs? 06 4x4 crew cab 5.5 bed?

http://www.holmanrv.com/inventory/42...ator-25RR.aspx
http://keystone-passport.com/?page=compare
These are the links to what im looking at right now.

 

On the Keystone website im comparing the "23FK" and the "25FQ" models.

 

Nice trailer BigDad how much does yours weigh loaded and empty?

 

Your truck should be roughly 5600lbs, but estimation doesn't mean jack. Since you are looking at trailers that can and will max out the truck you need to be very careful. Ideally you should try to limit your load to within 5-10% of your GCWR. What you need to do it take your truck to a truckstop or somewhere with a CAT scale and pay the money for a weigh ticket. You need to do this with you in the vehicle and with a full tank of gas. This will give you a fully laden base vehicle weight. The mfg weights are typically only a guess and change on options installed. My door tag on the 250 says I weigh 8600 lbs, but I'm closer to 7k in real life.

It looks as if you're guessing or trying to compute the GCWR for your truck. You can't do that. If you look on your sticker in the door jamb it will list your GVWR and GCWR for your truck. Take your weight you figured out on your truck and subtract that from the GCWR. Then do the same thing for the dry weight of your toy hauler (I saw the shipping weights listed on the websites). As long as those don't send you to a negative number you're fine. Just make sure that you take into account all the passengers, luggage, supplies, etc. All that stuff adds up and can put you overweight.

For example 2.5 years ago I was in Houston, TX with one of our F550s and a 36' flex draper and trailer. Our 550s are registered for 26,000 GCWR. When I crossed the scales to check my load I was over 27k. I had to unload all my spare parts and scrap steel at the dealership and send it on the semi. After all that I still scaled at 26k even. That was without a full tank of fuel, or me, or my suitcase in the truck. By the time you add me, my stuff, and 80gal of diesel I'd have been 500+lbs overweight. Thats a hefty ticket, so I left the head at the dealership for sale and drove back to PA with an empty trailer.

 

Looking at the Keystone, both are 7600+lbs GVW. You will probably be over your GCWR with people, fuel, etc. Same is true with the 2000 25RR model, only worse as it is not an ultra-light. You would be far better off with a 250 or larger with those.

As for door tags, they show GVW, not curb weight.

 

I figured as uch thanks guys, just checking before i made any moves. I have been thinking of buying a 250 latley but i would only go diesel. with the price being around $4.60 a gallon around here, wouldnt leave much play money for me these days. so im trying to think sensible as well as have fun too. I have an enclosed trailer now it does fine but the camper along with it would have been nice on those rides, guess ill just stick to what i have for the time being. It wieghs in about 4800# loaded and does just fine.

 

Thanks man, they say 4900 empty and with 100gal of water, 3 quads, 15 gal of fuel, fire wood, tools, toys and all the crap my wife takes I know I'm right at or over my trucks 7700 pounds towing.

I can pull 70mph on the freeway in OD all day long, but any little hill or head wind and I am down in 3rd. And I can pull a 6% grand in 2nd at 45mph at 3100rpm. But my truck has got the old 5.4 @ 260 hp....

 

Very nice thats exactly what im looking for, plus yours is lifted as well. So that takes some power away as well. I think my truck would do it, I really wouldnt pull it more more that 2-300 miles at a time maybe 6-8 times a year maybe more, but I was just checking responses on it.