First i would like to say hello and what a great forum this is.

I have a question i have a 2008 F-150 with 5.4l and 3.55 gears and what would be the biggest enclosed trailer do yall think that i could pull.I have been thinking about a 8.5x18 or 20 but i found a great deal on a 8.5x24 but im not sure if my truck will handle that big of a trailer.I will be pulling a trailer quit abit this year and i just dont want to over work my truck.Any info would be nice.

Thanks Toby

 

First of all, this IS a great forum with lots of good advice. There are guys like Osprey and Mitch and others who know towing and have lots of time in front of and underneath a substantial trailer and others who I suspect have more time keyboarding on this forum than they do towing. Take it all with a grain of salt.

There are a LOT of things that determine what you can tow.

First of all, what do you expect and what are your driving habits.
Do you try to win every stop light gran prix
Do you expect to routinely tow 75 + mph on the staightaways
Do you go through a set of brakes every 20,000 miles
Do you have oversize tires and wheels
Do you get upset if you can't immediately pass someone going 2 mph slower than you
Do you think 10 mpg towing is very bad
If you answered yes to any of the above, you will probably be unhappy towing a 24 ft enclosed trailer

Where do you tow:
Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado is over 11,000 feet above sea level, "39 miles of heck" according to C W McCall
I-40 from Amarillo to Albuquerque has high winds and wall to wall 18 wheelers - a white knuckle combination when towing
Plowed fields, turn rows, and bad roads are hard on trailers and trucks
Will you have to tow even if the weather is bad, very hot, or very cold
Will you be towing on the interstate or lots of stop and go

What is your equipment:
Will your trailer be near the max weight ratings of your truck
WHAT DOES YOUR TRAILER WEIGH, WHAT DOES YOUR TOTAL RIG WEIGH
WHAT IS YOUR (trailer) TONGUE WEIGHT
Does your trailer have a Vee nose
Does your trailer have stiff sidewall tires
Does your truck have stiff sidewall tires
Do you have a premium hitch
Do you have a premium electric brake controller
Do you have premium shocks and plenty trans cooling
Does your truck have the tow package
Experience:
Have you towed a lot
Do you know how to properly set up your hitch and brake controller and load your trailer to get the proper tongue weight

Although some of the above are extreme examples, everything is a factor in what you can tow. If you tow in near ideal conditions and know what you are doing, you can safely approach your truck's ratings. If conditions are not ideal, then you must err on the side of safety. It goes without saying that your truck and trailer must be in tiptop mechanical condition. Pulling a 24 ft trailer will increase stress and shorten the life of your truck to some degree. Good maintenance practices and conservative driving habits will minimize the extra wear and tear.

Back to your original question: "Will I damage my truck pulling a 24 ft enclosed trailer"

How the heck should I know?

 

An empty 24' is not that big of a deal. Any idea how much it weighs empty? How about GVWR of it? What do you plan to put in it?

 

What are you putting in it?

 

Toby... welcome

Empty 24's are about 3400#'s curb weight, 20's are 3000 and 18's are about 2800.

That means that if you only get 3500# axles you will only have about 3500-4200#'s of trailer load capacity. This means in a 24' you will have lots of room but not much weight capacity.

With an empty trailer that means you will have a minimum tongue weight starting at 280#'s. This will sag the truck about 2-3" empty.

All of these rigs you should consider WD bars and Sway control bars necessary equipment on anything less than a 1 ton.

Will it pull it, yes... but these are BIG trailers for a 1/2 ton.

Thanks for the positive comments Model A

EDIT:
One more thing to ponder. Larger than 24' usually goes into triple axle trailers with 7k axles putting you into CDL territory at 21,000 GVWR. That is too big for any 1/2 ton; so 24' is BIG.

 

I pull a 24' flat front enclosed,loaded to within 500# of the GVW of the trailer. And I agree with "model A". I know what I have on the back and use torsion bars, sway control and brake control. I have stock size tires, pulled my share of hills on hot days. If I know I will be stopping turn off the O/D and let the engine knock off some speed. I have driven my share of miles pulling 53' trailers. Common sense plays a huge part of pulling a trailer. And like what was said earlier, "just my two cents"

 

I also pull a 24 ft enclosed with a 2001 5.4 Screw. The best thing I did was put a WD hitch on it. Second best thing I did was put 4.11 gears in it. It was a ***DOG*** with the 3.55's in it. It made a bit better gas mileage, but would take all the truck had to give to get it going on the highway. It still will win no races, but it is much more pleasant to drive. I have not weighed it with my race car and tools in it yet, but I am thinking about 9500 to 10,500 lb total weight.

Until I installed the WD hitch I would have not driven it more than 20 or 30 miles from home, now that it is installed I have no qualms about driving it anywhere. Might not drive it across the Rockies, but I believe it would make it. Just would not drive over 60 to 65 on the Interstate.

One thing, I would not go over 24 foot unless it was an very light trailer. My trailer has about a 550 to 600 lb tongue weight. Thats a little heavy for a 1/2 ton truck. I park the car back in the trailer to keep some of the weight off the front. (Have a parking marker on the floor of the trailer).

One more thing. Get some towing mirrors. They will save your life.

 

Check out this link, like fs ar above, these people actually use thier 1/2 tons....now in a perfect world we would all have F-350's when pulling an enclosed trailer.

http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/sh...closed+trailer

 

Thanks for the info about pulling that big of a trailer but i decided to go ahead and buy a new 8.5x16 enclosed so that i want have to worry about killing my truck.I will be pulling this trailer at least once a month with 1 ATV and 1 Side by Side in it.Ill be pulling from Ga to Texas and from Ga to Indina.So it should be good with that size trailer.

 

I had a 16' enclosed single axle for moving my sandrail, now have the 24 tandem. The 24 pulls easier than the single. And the single had a V nose with springs. The 24 is flat with rubber torison.