Any of you guys tow a trailer?

[cdurbin]

Tow this and have no issues. 28 ft Palomino Puma. Haven't purchased an equalizer hitch yet. Drove from Dallas to Ft Hood doing 75 mph with no issues.

 

[Troublemaker]

There seems to be a lot of debate in this thread, which is leading to great information. We are looking into purchasing a travel trailer and need a tow vehicle. The vehicle will probably only tow about 200 miles a year as the camping resort is close and the camper will park there 99% of the time.

As we were looking at trucks for my wife, she fell in love with a Crew Cab Raptor. The complete trailer will be about 7000lbs so even with occupants and luggage we should still fall barely under the Maximum tow weight. The truck will tow less than 1% of its life, but still needs to be able to do so. She doesn't want to live with a 3/4 or 1 ton day to day so it isn't an option.

What exactly leads to the lower tow rating on the Raptors compared to other F150s? The running gear looks to be identical as well as the brakes, which leads me to think it's purely in the rear spring rate. That's easily taken car of, but is there anything else that still makes the tow rating that much lower?

 

[t_j]

There seems to be a lot of debate in this thread, which is leading to great information. We are looking into purchasing a travel trailer and need a tow vehicle. The vehicle will probably only tow about 200 miles a year as the camping resort is close and the camper will park there 99% of the time.

As we were looking at trucks for my wife, she fell in love with a Crew Cab Raptor. The complete trailer will be about 7000lbs so even with occupants and luggage we should still fall barely under the Maximum tow weight. The truck will tow less than 1% of its life, but still needs to be able to do so. She doesn't want to live with a 3/4 or 1 ton day to day so it isn't an option.

What exactly leads to the lower tow rating on the Raptors compared to other F150s? The running gear looks to be identical as well as the brakes, which leads me to think it's purely in the rear spring rate. That's easily taken car of, but is there anything else that still makes the tow rating that much lower?

You have 2 issues to consider:

* Max payload - ~1000lbs
* Max trailer weight - 8000lbs for a 12+ SCREW.

Do not forget that trailer tonge weight must be subtracted from payload as well as people and gear etc etc.

 

[Troublemaker]

You have 2 issues to consider:

* Max payload - ~1000lbs
* Max trailer weight - 8000lbs for a 12+ SCREW.

Do not forget that trailer tonge weight must be subtracted from payload as well as people and gear etc etc.

Thanks, the trailer is 6200, and I think going by one of earlier posts I ran the calculations correctly. The occupants of the truck will be less than 500 pounds total should.

 

[t_j]

Thanks, the trailer is 6200, and I think going by one of earlier posts I ran the calculations correctly. The occupants of the truck will be less than 500 pounds total should.

Normally tongue weight is 10% of trailer weight, I would get a scale and measure the weight so you can spec the bars for your WD hitch correctly. There is a cheap solution on etrailer on how to make one using a bathroom scale. If the tongue is too light you will get lots of trailer sway, same will be caused if you WD bars are for too heavy a weight compared to actual weight. But at 6200 convention puts you at 620 lbs, I would still get a scale and check however.

 

[2014RubyRed]

I tow a 7500 lb skidloader around occasionally. Just take it slow and anticipate stops. The truck does just fine with a balanced load and patience. I know that's not the politically correct advice to give, but common sense goes a long way to successful towing of any kind of load. If your only going a short distance once or twice a year, I'd go for it!!!

 

[LITTLEELVISDAN]

I think we all pretty much agreed its a great towing vehicle and can be loaded WAY past max capacity. Towing over capacity by15,000 lbs is legal in all states.

 

[t_j]

I think we all pretty much agreed its a great towing vehicle and can be loaded WAY past max capacity. Towing over capacity by15,000 lbs is legal in all states.

It may be "legal" but you will always be found at fault by your insurance agency and if it goes to court you will always be found guilty of negligence.

 

[LITTLEELVISDAN]

It may be "legal" but you will always be found at fault by your insurance agency and if it goes to court you will always be found guilty of negligence.

My post was a grenade. I dropped it and ran. 15,000 over capacity? That would a weight of 25,000 lbs. I cought the wrong fish.

 

[t_j]

My post was a grenade. I dropped it and ran. 15,000 over capacity? That would a weight of 25,000 lbs. I cought the wrong fish.

Ha nice, guess I jumped on it! These threads **** me off!