Diamondpilot
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2007
- Messages
- 16,316
- Location
- Daleville, IN
- Tractor
- Jinma 254/284 Ford 861 Powermaster at work
Well since you mentioned it, I will relate an incident whereby a fellow worker was looking to buy a truck to pull his 35 foot camper trailer. He showed me the GVW and towing capacities of a 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton. I am not a trailer guy or towing novice much less an expert, but his figures made sense. THe 3/4 ton was slightly heavier than the 1/2 ton but the towing capacities were listed the same (1998 Ford) According to him, the combined extra weight of the truck made the 3/4 ton actually able to pull less than the 1/2 ton. We are talking legally here not cabability. He ended up getting one of the big 1.5 ton International rigs that are specially made for towing large campers with air ride suspension and a sleeper on the back. I think it had something like a 8.5 liter engine that had 850 pound feet of torque with a 6 speed Allison transmission. His info didnt allow even the 1 ton trucks to pull his large camper which if I recall was about 15K pounds.
Back in those days the trucks were limited by the brakes and chassis more than anything. Today a properly equipped F-350 can tow around 17,000#. If that is not enough just step up to the F-450 and you can tow 24,500#.
Chris