Hello. I've not pulled anything other then a 2 place snowmobile trailer with 2 sleds and 1 in the bed. Recently my wife has gotten the itch to purchase a camper. What started out as an older, less expense unit has now turned into looking at newer, bigger units. What is a rough estimate of size of camper that this vehicle could adequately pull without doing damage to transmission or other components? We've looked at a couple of local units in which one was a 29.5 ft - 5th wheel and the other a 30 ft trailer. I know the trailer is at around 8,200 lbs. I'm pretty confident that my p/u cannot pull these size of rigs! Just don't know what I should be looking for in size. Suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

 

My 1998 F150 with 4.6L, Auto Trans, factory tow pkg, and 3.55LS was rated for 7K #. This is unloded truck with a 160# driver and less than a full tank.
You than deduct additional passengers and cargo in the truck from your towing limit.
Personally, I would not exceed 6K on this truck. I would also avoid pulling a 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton of any maker.
Just my opinion.
Good luck

 

Howdy skidoo,

Just went through this whole deal myself this summer-- travel trailer shopping, figuring out what my truck can tow, buying a trailer, towing it, and learning from it.

You are correct that the trailers you mentioned are too heavy for your truck. Do you have an automatic or manual trans? 4x4? Which rear? (Check your door sticker for the code. H9 possibly?)

I will get the UVW from my trailer and post back here with some specifics . . .

~Ed

 

Super Duty territory. I wouldn't even pull those with a F-150 with a 5.4.

6k fully loaded bumper pull is a good call. Brake controller and weight distribution hitch will be necessary at 500# tongue weight.

 

Spec on your truck would help, trans and axle ratio.

Generally, find an RV with GVWR (not UVW) of under 6000 pounds and you should be happy. Best value are hybrids, hard shell with tend end beds. Check out the Rockwood Roo 21SS for example. Specs are not quite correct. They are the full 8' wide now and have higher GVWR, like 6500 pounds.

 

Thanks for the responses! F150NJ - I'm not sure about the rear axle?? - I didn't see H9 could it possibly be an I9? I route down from the sticker Axle and then thought it was 19 but the 1 maybe an I and just didn't realize it. Otherwise I wrote down the VIN number, does that indicate the axle? It is a 4 X 4 with automatic transmission. I was thinking that a trailer with the maximum weight of around 6000 lbs would probably be what I'd need to look for. My wife is thinking that might be too small of trailer for that weight.

Thanks!

 

Axle code 19 = 3.55 open diff. 3.55 is the best you could get in 97, I believe.

What does "My wife is thinking that might be too small of trailer for that weight" mean?

From Wiki:The .pdf specs of the Roo 21SS are probably right for weight, but still show 90" wide when owners @ rv.net forums say they are now 96" wide. Of course, you are buying 2009 models now, not 2008 models.

 

She liked the room in the 30' unit as well as the 5th wheel with slides. I just mean't that we'd probably be in the 25' range for weight?? I've not looked at any of the units as you'd indicated with the slide out similar to a popup camper.

Thanks!

 

Hi,

Okay, first things first: I'm new to towing so, when in doubt, go with the advice of the others who are helping out here. I don't claim any expertise, I'm just giving you my recent experience as a point of reference because our trucks are similar. (I have a 2000 4.6L 4x4 Supercab auto trans with 3.55 rear.)

Checking here http://www.fordf150.net/howto/decode.php I see an axle code of "19" indicates a 3.55 Non-LS axle. I have an H9 which is a 3.55 LS axle. Same gear ratio and that's what we needed to know.

My travel trailer is 24'. Its GVWR is 5,810 and its UVW is 4,805. If I recall correctly, my truck is rated for towing 6,600 lbs. Having towed my trailer almost 2,000 miles over the last month, much of it through the hilly terrain of the northeast, I'm glad I didn't buy anything heavier. I would not want to work this truck any harder than it's working to pull this load. My experience matches APT's recommendation that you should be looking at trailers with a GVWR under 6,000 lbs.

If you haven't seen them already, Trail Craft and Pilgrim Int'l make some lightweight TT models under 6,000GVWR with nice floorplans, some with slide-outs.

Before towing, I installed the Troyer/Derale "active" trans cooler. If you don't have a trans cooler, I strongly recommend adding one. I think that without it I would have fried my trans by now.

Another accessory I have found extremely useful is a ScangaugeII. This lets me keep an eye on trans temp, coolant temp, torque convertor lock/unlock, and much more. Monitoring it while towing has taught me how to best operate the truck without breaking anything.

I would like to see an improvement in cooling capacity for climbing on a hot day, so over the winter I'm planning to replace my original one-row radiator with a new two-row. (Having already changed the thermostat, flushed the system, etc.)

I hope this info is helpful. I spent hours searching and reading this site and others before, during, and after buying my TT and towing it, and I really feel like I'm at the limits of this truck.

-Ed

 

My trailer is 22' from bumper to coupler and has a GVWR of #5000. It weighs every bit of that GVWR and maybe even a little more!! It has a queen bed up front and a full width bath in the back. It's a cozy trailer, that's for sure! It's fine for the two of us, and we have had 4 eat at the table before, but you couldn't sleep that many.

Sure, we would have liked to have a slide and a bit more floor space, but all in all, I'm glad we have a simple trailer and one that I feel I can take anyplace at anytime. We don't spend a whole lotta time in the trailer anyway, as we just open the awning and spend any lazy time in the camp site sitting out under it.

My 97 with the 5.4 does very well with it and it's got almost 190,000 miles on the ticker now. I've been towing this trailer with this truck for 6 years now and have kept the trans fluid fresh as well as the others over the years and it's been great so far.

Your 4.6 will probably have the smaller 4r70 trans and the smaller 8.8" rear end. Towing performance is pretty subjective between individuals, but for the most part, you would be best to stick with around a #5000 TT once it's all loaded up and ready to camp in (my tt said it weighed #3500 empty! Didn't take me long to stuff it full of crap, but we do use it all and that does include a full tank of fresh water for every trip, 30 gallons)

Sure, you can tow more trailer, but you just have to deal with the pros and cons of doing such a thing and give and take as well... Each 'take' means you will have to 'give' something back!

Good luck!

Mitch

 

I'll save you a lot of time. No 5th wheel RV's with 1/2 ton. If you can live with tent end beds, you can get a huge floorplan in slide out hybrids at about half to 2/3 of the weight. If you can not deal with tent end beds, you'll be looking at smaller interiors and probalby no slideouts. THere are a few, though like Rockwood Ultralights 2501SS, 260xS, etc.