1/2 ton truck owners

[mobilus]

rmc125mx, that's a nice truck!

 

[vvanders]

I appreciate the replies. FWIW, I'm only hooking up the F-150 to a 16' tandem axle car hauler with a L2800 with brush hog, or a 22' bowrider boat. The truck has upwards of 300k miles on it, but is far from going to the junkyard. I will probably install some Firestone air bags as the ride without a trailer is on point...I just want to level it out when towing. I had them on a 1T dually I owned, and I liked the versatility and ease of installation. I wanted to see if there was a consensus amongst you guys...it seems there are many ways to get the job done.

How many inches of squat are we talking about here and how much tongue weight are you dropping on the hitch? Our horse trailer + horses or 18' trailer + Ford 1500, loader and flail mower don't drop the back of our EcoDiesel more than 1-2" but I'm also picky about not overloading the back end much more than 12-ish%.

Might be worth doing the balance beam test to make sure you're putting the amount of weight you think you are on the hitch.

 

[mobilus]

vvanders, you may be on to the real problem. The trailer is kind of on the short side. I'll look into tongue weight...

 

[TractorGuy]

Sounds like the tongue weight is excessive. What trailer, load, combo are you trying to tow with it?

My 2003 F150, 4.6, with factory tow package has no such issue at 10% tongue weight but probably have less of a load than you.

This is my 3600 lb Mustang on a 1200 lb trailer with 500 lbs tongue weight.

This was my LMSC at 2600 lbs on 1200 lb trailer loaded forward for 700 lbs tongue weight. Spoiler would pull the tongue weight off at 70 MPH and make it tow squirrely so I had to move it forward.

 

[mobilus]

With the tractor pulled far enough forward on the trailer to keep all of the brush hog on the trailer deck, the weight transfer is probably too much. I plan on picking the boat up next week, so there may be a marked difference in the way the truck sit. Bottom line is, the way I see it, is that the 16' trailer doesn't allow me the room to center the weight over the trailer axles...maybe a longer trailer might be in order.

 

[TractorGuy]

With the tractor pulled far enough forward on the trailer to keep all of the brush hog on the trailer deck, the weight transfer is probably too much. I plan on picking the boat up next week, so there may be a marked difference in the way the truck sit. Bottom line is, the way I see it, is that the 16' trailer doesn't allow me the room to center the weight over the trailer axles...maybe a longer trailer might be in order.

You need to weigh and know what your tongue weight is relevant to your load. It also helps to know what your load weighs and make sure you are not trying to tow something the truck is not built for. Not doing this endangers you and everyone on the highway with you.

I have a simple frame built to use a bathroom scale that is vary accurate based on this idea. I actually have 4 of them for corner weighing race cars on a budget.

We had a professor at work that bought a trailer they intended to tow with one of the department's 1/2 ton field vehicles. I took one look at it and knew it wouldn't work. After they loaded their sound proof enclosures and generator in it I took one of my bathroom scales and 4 to 1 thingy in to weigh the tongue weight. It spun the 250 lb scale all the way around and stopped at 25 lbs. My 4 to 1 calculation came out to 1100 lbs tongue weight. Well over what a 1/2 ton truck is normally rated for. We used a truck from the maintenance department to tow it to a certified scale and the tongue weighed in at 1110 lbs. total trailer weight with her load calculated at north of 8000 lbs. The tongue weight was okay for the total weight but weren't no way to pull it anywhere, much less into the mountains, with a 1/2 ton truck. She had started with a base trailer and had the roof raised and structure added for AC and then installed two sound proof rooms. She ended up using another 50 grand of funds for a dedicated dually.

 

[prof fate]

A lot of people use air bags. I hear good things about them.

Having done a lot of towing what many can't seem to fathom is how tow ratings are figured.

The manufacturers want to advertise the highest tow rating possible of course. SO they take GCWR, less the empty truck with 1/2 tank gas, and factor in a 150lb driver. So you get some 9000lb figure.
But then you have to consider reality...

Last truck was a 4 door silverado, tow package equipped. 9600lb they said it could tow. 14,400 GCWR. 7000 GVWR. I put it on the scales - 5750 lbs empty. I'm nearly 250..so only 1000lb of total payload left.

So I have a 6300lb (from scale) 28' travel trailer, wd bars on the hitch, etc. 10-15% of that 6300 is supposed to be on the hitch...see where i'm going? 630-945 lbs..say 800. that leaves ONLY 200 lbs of cargo capacity in the truck...wife, kids, dog, firewood, bicycles...we're overloaded.

Now have an F350..9990 tow rating. But a GVWR of 10,500, GCWR of 15,500 if I recall. HAven't weight it yet, but 6k is a high guess. So I've got 4,500 lbs of payload, less my fat butt, 4250 lbs. TWO TONS!

I've yet to pull the camper with it, but have pulled a car carrier/tractor flatbed, my cargo trailer I've used for years. NO COMPARISON on how it rides, stops, handles compared to the car, i mean, silverado 'truck'.

Wanted a 250 but you take what you can find.

I've found car carriers are much easier to pull than a camper - somewha tlighter usually, or maybe just the weight is much lower.

My neighbor has an early 90s F350 and similar trailer to mine (camper) and he doesn't use WD hitch - no need!

I appreciate the replies. FWIW, I'm only hooking up the F-150 to a 16' tandem axle car hauler with a L2800 with brush hog, or a 22' bowrider boat. The truck has upwards of 300k miles on it, but is far from going to the junkyard. I will probably install some Firestone air bags as the ride without a trailer is on point...I just want to level it out when towing. I had them on a 1T dually I owned, and I liked the versatility and ease of installation. I wanted to see if there was a consensus amongst you guys...it seems there are many ways to get the job done.

 

[mobilus]

JD855guy, thank you! I was wondering how to go about weighing the tongue without going to public scales...awesome!

 

[bcp]

JD855guy, thank you! I was wondering how to go about weighing the tongue without going to public scales...awesome!

Found a diagram:



Bruce

 

[aczlan]

I've found car carriers are much easier to pull than a camper - somewha tlighter usually, or maybe just the weight is much lower.

Also, much less frontal area for the wind to push on.

Aaron Z