hosejockey2002
Gold Member
His GCRW is probably that low because he has the 5.4 V8 engine. If he had the V10 or 7.3 diesel it would be much higher.
Towing Capacity
- Thread starter MarkV
- Start date
DK35vince
Super Member
gerard,
Stopping with a trailer on shouldn't be an issue if your trailer brakes are working..
I would highly recommend not pulling 7500# without your trailer brakes working properly!
Stopping with a trailer on shouldn't be an issue if your trailer brakes are working..
I would highly recommend not pulling 7500# without your trailer brakes working properly!
gerard
Veteran Member
Gotta disagree with you wolbert. The trailer brakes HELP with the stopping but most of the stopping still comes from the motor vehicle. (Same concept as with a car. 80% of the braking comes from the front brakes). It's pretty easy to lock up trailer brakes. (I've seen many a loaded tractor trailer lock up the trailer brakes. They just drag along......) I stand by my statement - you can pull a lot more than the rating indicates, stopping it is another matter entirely. (Think about the Strong men that pull buses. They can get them going but they'd have a pretty hard time stopping one after it got some momentum!!
Egon
Epic Contributor
Just some thoughts from North of The Border.
Any bumper pull trailer over 5000# requires a load equalizer hitch and brakes.
The combined gross vehicle weight is set by the manufacturer and is on a sticker somewhere on the truck, usually the drivers door.
A load equalizer bumperpull hitch for the 2500's will allow up to 10,000# trailer or less according to the manufacturer.
A fith wheel hitch will increase the the trailer weight to manufactures specs.
What the manufacturer specs is what you are legally allowed.
You also have a load rating on both the front and rear axles which must be met.
The manufactures specs vary from year to year and also depending on options.
Egon
Any bumper pull trailer over 5000# requires a load equalizer hitch and brakes.
The combined gross vehicle weight is set by the manufacturer and is on a sticker somewhere on the truck, usually the drivers door.
A load equalizer bumperpull hitch for the 2500's will allow up to 10,000# trailer or less according to the manufacturer.
A fith wheel hitch will increase the the trailer weight to manufactures specs.
What the manufacturer specs is what you are legally allowed.
You also have a load rating on both the front and rear axles which must be met.
The manufactures specs vary from year to year and also depending on options.
Egon
dkane
New member
An excellent source for vehicle tow ratings is provided by Trailer Life magazine. Web site is trailerlife.com. They provide ratings back several years.
OP
MarkV
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2000
- Messages
- 5,670
- Location
- Cedartown, Ga and N. Ga mountains
- Tractor
- 1998 Kubota B21, 2005 Kubota L39
I sure do appreciate all of the input and excellent advice. Phred, I was also surprised the GCWR was so much lower than the numbers I was hearing for the F-250’s. I guess the van does have a lot of metal where the pickup has a bed. Hoesjockey has a good point about the engine size as well. What is interesting is that no where in the option list I used to make the order (including towing packages) does it list towing capacities.
Another interesting point to me is that the trailer towing table, in the owners manual, shows the following.
E-150 5.4L 3.55 Gear 12,000 GCWR
E-250 5.4L 3.73 Gear 13,000 GCWR
E-350 5.4L 4.10 Gear 13,000 GCWR
E-350 6.8L 3.73 Gear 15,000 GCWR
E-350 7.3 Diesel 3.55 Gear 16,000 GCWR
E-350 7.3 Diesel 4.10 Gear 20,000 GCWR
I would have expected larger changes in GCWR between engine and gear sizes than there are. Looks like the moral of the story is, if you want to tow, buy a pickup.
MarkV
Another interesting point to me is that the trailer towing table, in the owners manual, shows the following.
E-150 5.4L 3.55 Gear 12,000 GCWR
E-250 5.4L 3.73 Gear 13,000 GCWR
E-350 5.4L 4.10 Gear 13,000 GCWR
E-350 6.8L 3.73 Gear 15,000 GCWR
E-350 7.3 Diesel 3.55 Gear 16,000 GCWR
E-350 7.3 Diesel 4.10 Gear 20,000 GCWR
I would have expected larger changes in GCWR between engine and gear sizes than there are. Looks like the moral of the story is, if you want to tow, buy a pickup.
MarkV
Soundguy
Old Timer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2002
- Messages
- 52,238
- Location
- Central florida
- Tractor
- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
I think he must be reading his weight chart wrong,.. could it be a rear axle weight..? Seems like that vehicle should have more capacity than that...
My dodge truck with a towing package and the gooseneck will do 10k legally....
Unfortunately I see people overloading their bumpers all the time... Unless they have a bumper system that is rated for weight.. they need to spend the 200 bucks and get a hitch...
Big safety issues here..
Soundguy
"If he gets a load distributing clas IV hitch, he may be able to get to the 10K# stuff.
I don't see how legally.
Remeber that the combination of the van and trailer must be less than the GCWR. In this case its only 13000 lbs. Thats why he can only tow ~7000 lbs because the van itself is probably 6000-7000lbs."
I am suprised that the GCWR is that low. The F250 pickup I own has a GCWR of ~20,000 lbs. Thats why I can legally tow a 10,000 lb trailer.
With that said I see guys all the time towing very heavy trailers with a F150......
Ever see a bumper with a 2" trailer ball bolted on that is bent down?
My dodge truck with a towing package and the gooseneck will do 10k legally....
Unfortunately I see people overloading their bumpers all the time... Unless they have a bumper system that is rated for weight.. they need to spend the 200 bucks and get a hitch...
Big safety issues here..
Soundguy
"If he gets a load distributing clas IV hitch, he may be able to get to the 10K# stuff.
I don't see how legally.
Remeber that the combination of the van and trailer must be less than the GCWR. In this case its only 13000 lbs. Thats why he can only tow ~7000 lbs because the van itself is probably 6000-7000lbs."
I am suprised that the GCWR is that low. The F250 pickup I own has a GCWR of ~20,000 lbs. Thats why I can legally tow a 10,000 lb trailer.
With that said I see guys all the time towing very heavy trailers with a F150......
Ever see a bumper with a 2" trailer ball bolted on that is bent down?
Soundguy
Old Timer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2002
- Messages
- 52,238
- Location
- Central florida
- Tractor
- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
Air brakes are an entirely different story than electric drum style trailer brakes.
And I disagree, from experience about stopping power of trailer brakes. I haul horses alot... we set our brakes, upon recomendation of the trailer manufacturer, to let the trailer drag the vehicle to a stop.... much easier on the horses.
Soundguy
"pretty easy to lock up trailer brakes. (I've seen many a loaded tractor trailer lock up the trailer brakes. They just drag along......) I stand by my statement - you can pull a lot more than the rating indicates, stopping it is"
And I disagree, from experience about stopping power of trailer brakes. I haul horses alot... we set our brakes, upon recomendation of the trailer manufacturer, to let the trailer drag the vehicle to a stop.... much easier on the horses.
Soundguy
"pretty easy to lock up trailer brakes. (I've seen many a loaded tractor trailer lock up the trailer brakes. They just drag along......) I stand by my statement - you can pull a lot more than the rating indicates, stopping it is"
Soundguy
Old Timer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2002
- Messages
- 52,238
- Location
- Central florida
- Tractor
- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
Another thing I noticed that changed recently.. at least here in florida, trailers w/ brakes now have to have a breakaway brake activator installed, so that the trailer brakes engage if the trailer comes loose from the towing vehicle. Found this out on the new 16' flatbed I got a few weeks ago... This must be a recent change, as our 2000 horse trailer didn't have this feature.
Soundguy
"The manufactures specs vary from year to year and also depending on options.
Egon "
Soundguy
"The manufactures specs vary from year to year and also depending on options.
Egon "
Soundguy
Old Timer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2002
- Messages
- 52,238
- Location
- Central florida
- Tractor
- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
Rear end suspension is also a big factor. For vans.. their load is mainly designed to be distributed over their rear axle...
But yeah.. it looks like pickups are the way to go. I used to have a ford pickup, and the wife had a ford van.. both had the same engine.. the pickup had a higher gcvr and tow rating...
Soundguy
"I would have expected larger changes in GCWR between engine and gear sizes than there are. Looks like the moral of the story is, if you want to tow, buy a pickup."
But yeah.. it looks like pickups are the way to go. I used to have a ford pickup, and the wife had a ford van.. both had the same engine.. the pickup had a higher gcvr and tow rating...
Soundguy
"I would have expected larger changes in GCWR between engine and gear sizes than there are. Looks like the moral of the story is, if you want to tow, buy a pickup."