Towing a boat with a brand new Raptor?

[GEOSURVEY]

Thanks for the input everyone.
I have decided that I will leave the raptor at home.
There has to be a reason for the "no tow for the first thousand miles" warning in the owners manual. The more I think about it, if I have the Raptor with me I will be looking for every excuse to drive it somewhere and that wouldn't go over well with the family. I plan on relaxing, doing some fishing, boating and enjoying some time with the family. The raptor will be there in the garage when I get home. I leaving now to go pick it up, probably put a few miles on it this morning.

 

[SilentShooter]

That line is in the Manual because its the F150 manual. Remember a non raptor can be setup to tow a 10k lbs load and at long distances. They do not want you to do that before the gears in the axel break in.

 

[wstxraptor]

Just FYI the day after I purchased the Raptor I hooked up to my 24' pontoon and towed it 350 miles to the lake. I was easy on it and I'm sure it hurt nothing. I didn't know about the "no tow" for break in, but even if I did I probably would have still pulled it...

 

[Supercup]

I towed my 25' howard (about 7,000 lb package) with 1,800 miles - no issues, towed very nice. There is a lot of droop in rear suspension - I had measured hitch height vs my wife's sequoia it was 2" higher so I brought a drop 4" (I use a drop 2" on hers). Sequoia equializes some with air suspenion. Raport does not so it was too low in front of trailer. I will use a drop 2" or a level hitch next time.

Anyone put airbags on their Raptor for towing loads?

 

[t_j]

I towed my 25' howard (about 7,000 lb package) with 1,800 miles - no issues, towed very nice. There is a lot of droop in rear suspension - I had measured hitch height vs my wife's sequoia it was 2" higher so I brought a drop 4" (I use a drop 2" on hers). Sequoia equializes some with air suspenion. Raport does not so it was too low in front of trailer. I will use a drop 2" or a level hitch next time.

Anyone put airbags on their Raptor for towing loads?

Get a properly setup weight distribution hitch. Weight you trailers nose weight and buy the correct torsion bars and you truck will sit flat while towing. Makes for much better experience but does have a little more work when you hook up.

 

[Supercup]

Get a properly setup weight distribution hitch. Weight you trailers nose weight and buy the correct torsion bars and you truck will sit flat while towing. Makes for much better experience but does have a little more work when you hook up.

Thx for the feedback. I have a number of weight dist. hitch's and various torsion bars for toy box and race car trailer. Have not needed one in the past for the boat, as while it weighs 7,000 lbs +/- it does not have much tongue weight, with most of the weight in the back, behind the dual axels.

Probably need lighter torsion bars than for those trailers as the trailer only has 400-500 lbs of tongue weight. Did not even move the bumper of my diesel truck and on the Sequoia it moves down about an inch, then is pumped back to level with stock rear air load leveling suspension. So seems like with air bags I can lift it to level and let the suspension do its thing.


Will do some testing and see what works best.

 

[SilentShooter]

There are a couple guys with air bags on the raptor. There is a setup that you can leave the airbags installed and still have full travel of the rear. I forgot who has it but there were pics posted on Facebook of it and it did look good.

With the raptors softer suspension you would probably want to at least get HD springs if you plan on towing with it a lot or the airbags.

 

[fl1by]

Tow it and don't worry

It will tow it just fine. If it "breaks" for some reason, doubtful though, be glad you found the flaw as soon as you can. You will be fine though

 

[t_j]

Thx for the feedback. I have a number of weight dist. hitch's and various torsion bars for toy box and race car trailer. Have not needed one in the past for the boat, as while it weighs 7,000 lbs +/- it does not have much tongue weight, with most of the weight in the back, behind the dual axels.

Probably need lighter torsion bars than for those trailers as the trailer only has 400-500 lbs of tongue weight.

That seems really low for a 7000lbs load guess it's different for boats but I'm used to the 10% rule.

 

[rptr]

It's different for boats due to the pole tounge. When my 30 ft boston whaler sits even on the triple axle boat trailer my tounge weight isn't huge. All the weight is on the axles and in the rear due to the outboards.


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