I will have to tow another truck soon and all I have is the bumper hitch on my 1989 F-150. The trailer I will be using is a tandem axle flatbed trailer (with a suspension) that has a unloaded weight of 1,800 pounds and a max weight of 7,000 pounds. The F-250 which will be on the trailer is a 1994 4x4 zf 5 speed 7.3 diesel single cab 8ft flat bed with a big metal salt spreader. I've towed this flatbed trailer empty before with the bumper and it seemed fine, it does worry me a bit though having such a heavy truck loaded on the back of it. My f150 is an extended cab long bed 5.0 efi 4x4 but I bet the f250 weighs more. How much have people towed with their bumper hitches before? What were these things rated at? I looked to see how they are mounted up and I must say it's pretty thick steel and looks very solid. The thing that scares me is that this will involve driving quite a distance on a major interstate, I'm not sure if the bumper can take the up and down stress from going over bumps at a high speed. I have to make this tow rather soon and don't have the time to modify the hitches I have laying around to fit my truck, but if this sounds extremely unsafe, I might have no choice...

Thanks

Any input/experience is appreciated.

 

I would use a receiver hitch if I were you. I don`t think a bumper will handle it...I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

 

That truck is heavy...plus the weight of the trailer. I'm not even sure I would try it with a F150 5.0 WITH a receiver hitch...unless it was a short distance. It sounds pretty dangerous. Not only because of the bumper, but because of the braking capacity of the truck. Does your truck have a trailer brake controller in it? Stock rear springs?

The trailer weights of the bumpers vary...but I don't think they are intended for much more than small open trailers, small boats, and things like that. You need a truck like the one on your trailer to move that load safely

 

Don't make that trip, man. Find a buddy with a bigger truck. That's way dangerous. Nothing pisses me off more than somebody towing a 40ft toyhauler with a 1/2 ton truck that definitely has no brake controller. There should never be a situation that forces you to do something you feel is unsafe. Trust your gut. It's right on this one.

 

Mine is an F250 with a welded drop bumper and brake controller.

 

You had me saying, "well it'll be okay," until I hit this line: The rest of the motoring public deserve the same chance for a smooth trip, and that means you need a bigger, heavier truck than the one you're pulling.

I'm not a stickler for a receiver hitch. Yes, I think they are great, as long as you're using a properly set up load equalizing hitch. HOWEVER, most folks don't take the time or effort to hook up their load distributing hitch, or if they do, they don't set it up correctly. Apples to apples, an improperly set up load distributing hitch compared to a properly set up bumper hitch, the bumper hitch will work just as effectively.

When it comes right down to it, if its big enough that you need a weight distributing hitch, you ought to be pulling it on either a 5th wheel or a gooseneck trailer.

 

BS. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he is ok to pull that with his bumper. But, I would do it with my receiver hitch any day. But I have a proper setup pickup including brake controller. By your logic, if a tractor trailer(semi) is going to pull a 80,000 pound piece of equipment, the tractor has to be 80,001 pounds or more. That's just nuts. Now back to the situation at hand. Is it a stock bumper? Do you have a brake controller? Does the trailer have brakes? If its a aftermarket drop bumper,it could be a heavy enough bumper. If you don't have working trailer brakes,, don't do it. I have pulled a mini track hoe with my half ton, the hoe was 13,000 pounds. I could stop on a dime due to properly setup load, and brakes. In this case, I would say the tow rig in question is not suitable.

 

the rule of thumb of pulling a trailer on the bumper was if you can move it by hand you can pull it with the bumper. I wouldn't atempt pulling anything that heavy with a f150, my f350 ways 6500 pounds with a 351W in it, a diesel ways a good 500 to 1000 pounds more. So your going to be pulling like 9,300 on a bumper hitch. I pull a 1800 pound 4 ton construction trailer with my truck, with a 6500 pound skid steer on it. Now you know that its there and the truck is just staring to hit the helper springs, I have trailer brakes as well and wouldn't pull with out it. I put on a brand new 2 inch reese receiver thats rated at 7000 pounds trailer weight and it does fine. So I wouldn't even think about pulling that truck with yours its way unsafe.

 

You really need a trailer with a better rating too. The F250 is going to be pushing 6000lbs plus, which is overloading the trailer by 1000 or so.

As the others have said, unless you have a high dollar aftermarket bumper with a Class 4 rating (like a ranch hand or such) forget about it on the bumper. At best it's only a class 2, rated for 350lbs tongue/3500lbs tow. You are going to need a receiver hitch, properly mounted to handle a load like that for any kind of a distance tow. Also with that kind of weight, you need auxillary braking of some sort. Either electric brakes with a controller, or at least surge brakes on the trailer. As for the truck you are towing with, while you will definately know that its back there, with a proper hitch, and the F250 loaded correctly on a dual axle trailer, it's capable of making the tow, just make sure you lock the OD out, and downshift manually on the hills to ease things on the motor. Also keep your speed down to 55 max to allow for extra stopping distance if needed (even with trailer brakes)

<table border="1" height="404" width="613"><tbody><tr><td height="31" width="171"></td> <td rowspan="2" height="26" width="75"> Compact Cars

</td> <td rowspan="2" height="26" width="94"> Mid-Size Cars

</td> <td rowspan="2" height="26" width="108"> Full-Size Cars
Mini-Trucks & Vans

</td> <td rowspan="2" height="26" width="131"> Full-Size Trucks,
Vans & SUV's

</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="26" width="171">Hitch Class Rating </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="54" width="171">Class I
WC GTW - Up to 2,000 lbs.
WC TW - Up to 200 lbs</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="75">Light Duty</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="94">Light Duty</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="108">Light Duty</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="131">Light Duty
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="54" width="171">Class II
WC GTW - Up to 3,500 lbs.
WC TW - Up to 350 lbs</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="75">
</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="94">Medium Duty</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="108">Medium Duty</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="131">Medium Duty</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="54" width="171">Class III
WC GTW - Up to 5,000 lbs.
WC TW - Up to 500 lbs</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="75">
</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="94">
</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="108">Heavy Duty</td> <td align="center" height="54" width="131">Heavy Duty</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="90" width="171">Class IV
WC GTW - Up to 7,500 lbs.
WC TW - Up to 750 lbs
WD GTW - Up to 12,000 lbs.
WD TW - Up to 1,200 lbs</td> <td align="center" height="90" width="75">
</td> <td align="center" height="90" width="94">
</td> <td align="center" height="90" width="108">Heavy Duty</td> <td align="center" height="90" width="131">Heavy Duty</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="90" width="171">Class V
WC GTW - Up to 12,000 lbs.
WC TW - Up to 1,200 lbs
WD GTW - Up to 14,000 lbs.
WD TW - Up to 1,400 lbs</td> <td height="90" width="75">
</td> <td height="90" width="94">
</td> <td height="90" width="108">
</td> <td align="center" height="90" width="131">Extra Heavy Duty
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

I wouldn't do it. Towing using the ball mount on the bumper puts the entire tongue weight on the very back of the truck, where a frame mount receiver is mounted at least 24'' or so closer to the axle. As mentioned, that is a heavy truck, plus the added weight of the trailer. I wouldn't tow the truck on a trailer without brakes, or without a weight distributing hitch. I recently towed the 92 F350 4x4 Dump that I bought back home using my son's 04 F250 Super Duty w/a 12,000 lb rated frame mounted hitch. We used a trailer that had both brakes and a weight distributing hitch, we had no problems. It was quite a load, since the dump also had a 900 lb, 8.5' Meyer Plow in the bed along with a under tailgate hydraulic salter that had to be close to 800 lbs. Nothing worse that towing that much weight and being unable to do so safely.

 

Minor point - a frame mounted receiver itself does not move the ball (pivot point) closer to the axle. Without a WD setup, a receiver mounted ball puts the weight in the same place a bumper mounted ball does, and sometimes further away from the axle. Regardless where the receiver is mounted, the pivot point is still the ball itself.

 

I have towed heavy loads using improper equipment. If everything goes perfectly it is (probably) doable.
BUT the odds are there will be some emergency situation that you can not respond to and you will go down in flames and possibly taking others with you.
If you really want to do it yourself, go to HERTZ and rent what you need.

 

OP - Where are you located? Where are you trailering the F250 to? Maybe someone on here is nearby and would be willing to assist with a better setup?

 

I tow regulary with my properly equipped F250. This question raises the hair on my head.

My 94 F250 supercab 4x4 gasser longbed weighs at least 7800#s with full tank and fiberglass shell, verified on public scales. Your diesel probably weighs in the same ballpark.

My bumper hitch is rated at 5,000#. I think that is as high as a normal bumper hitch goes.

Your F150 was not rated for anything above about 5,000# IF PROPERLY EQUIPPED. Ford Truck Bible said properly equipped F150s before mid 90s were not rated for more than 5,000# and not recommended for long hauls. Most were rated more around 2,000-3,000.

So 3 strikes you're out. 1)You have too heavy a load even for my tow rated F250 with bumper hitch. 2) Your 150 is NOT rated for that load. 3) Most bumper hitches are not rated for much over 5,000#, you need at least a 10,000 rating. And extra point, 4)You must have brakes for any trailer over 2,000# in most if not all states.

Unless you are towing it just down the block, this is an accident waiting to happen. If you do have an accident, the offended party's lawyer will jump for joy on looking over the specs for your rig.

Probably nothing will go wrong but if it does, you will be in the news. Better to rent or borrow a proper rig. If you ignore our advice, please post your route and dates so we can avoid the area.

You can tow just about anything with just about anything. The problem is whether it is safe and legal or even comfortable to do.
Jim Henderson

 

I just read all the post....and the consensus is....dont do it. Tell us where you are, where your going, and maybe one of us can help you out