I now own a 1973 f250 4x4 with a 390ci.
I am looking at getting a trailer, and was wondering if anyone knows what the towing capacity of these old trucks are.
I know they are super heavy, so the capacity may be less
but the old trucks are noticeably more stout, so the capacity may be more.
im sure what ford says, differs some from what people have done.

does anyone have numbers?

 

well when my grandpa owned my 78 f250 supercab 4x4 with a 400 he used to pull tractor trailers/semis at this trucking company he worked at. my dad now works at that company and everytime i go down there the old-timers tell me about all the things he used to pull with that truck. one told me he once pulled a fully loaded dump truck up a pretty decent sized hill they have there.

the truck is a 78 f250 with a 400 in it paired with a c6 and np203. truck also had 4.10s in it.

 

If you happen to have the manual, it should give you those specs. If not, the sticker on the door frame may give you the GCVW rating. The GCVW rating is the weight of the truck and trailer combined. Find out what your truck weighs and substract that figure from the GCVW figure. Just remember that towing isn't just about how much you can pull. Pulling something is the easy part. It's the stopping that can get tricky.

 

^^Very good point. From my experience, I've run out of brakes before I've run out of power or maxed the springs and axle out. Back when I was running the 360 I'd pull 7-8k lbs around regularly. A little harder to stop but no problems. Now it's 10k with trailer brakes.
Also I don't think the GCVWR is on the door tag. I think it only lists the GVWR. Hopefully someone has got a manual or something and can set us straight with the factory ratings for the 3 different GVW ratings available to the F250 4x4.