Ok, fifthwheel towing limit for my truck is 12,400 lbs according to the brochure,
Gooseneck and snorkle lift will be right at 14,000 lbs, should I tow it or no?
Will be towing it no more than 20 miles or so a few times a year, more worried about harming the truck than the legal (DOT) part.

What do you guys think?

My truck is gas (6.2) with 3.73 gears.


Thanks.

 

If you want legal numbers as far as dot is concerned then don't worry about the 12,400 lb rating from ford. That isn't a legal number and exceeding it will not get you a ticket. As long as you are under your gvwr and rawr(those are legal numbers) then you are fine. Ford rated mine to tow somewhere around 8,500 lbs with a fifth wheel. My gvwr is 8,800 lbs and my weight is 5,600 lbs which leaves 3,200 lbs of payload. Using 25% for pin weight that puts me at 12,800 lbs for a fifth wheel before I am over any of my legal weights. I think you will be perfectly fine to pull that load, but it never hurts to weigh your truck so you have exact numbers to work with.

 

I pull a 35ft flatbed with 14 bails of hay weighing up to 30,000lbs total with my 06 v10 50+ miles dozens of times a year, 14,000 lbs won't break any thing unless it's all on the hitch.

 

Not sure what a snorkle lift is
is it a trailer or 5th wheel ?
pull behind on your rear hitch, or a 5th wheel connection in the bed, or something that SITS in the bed?

so hard for me to offer an opinion ...

 

Snorkel is a brand of lift. Like a scissor lift.

 

Id hook up and go provided the trailer brakes are in working order.

 

your truck will handle it just fine. On the farm we have far exceeded the towing limits of trucks without issues. Just make sure you braking system is up to par.

 

Like was said already, Ford's towing rating is just a guideline. The weight limits printed on the stickers on the door jamb are the legal ratings required by the Feds.

 

Just make sure that your tires are up to the load.


Sean

 

need to know your actual weights unloaded. Go over scales and see what you currently roll at.

Then you will know what is left for each axle.

Check your tires as well. Go by the lowest rating, likely the tires. They should be e rated tires. Then Max air as already suggested.

 

I concur with everyone else, as long as you're not over your GAWR for each axle you should be fine. Your gearing isn't optimal for towing heavy, but as long as you allow for extra time starting from a stop and you drive with some common sense you should be fine. Make sure your rear tires are aired up to the maximum pressure and that your trailer brakes are fine.

Here's the most overloaded I've ever pulled. Truck was rated for 10,000 lbs towing capacity and my total trailer weight was nearly 16,000 lbs.

 

I would worry more about the legal DOT part than the hurting the truck part. You're "knowingly" operating your vehicle past the limitations stated by the manufacturer. You're also quite possibly over your axle weight(s) as well.

Even if you do everything right while towing it, all someone has to do is pull out in front of you, run a red light, make a lane change in front of you, or pull into your lane as traffic is coming to a stop and take up your "stopping distance", ...

and you are boned.

That is the kind of scenario that greasy injury lawyers dream about at night.

Even if the other guy gets the ticket, you can still be sued. Don't know where you live, but in larger cities, there's billboards all over the place, radio ads, etc from trial injury lawyers... "free consultations,... you don't pay if we don't win your case,... " etc, etc, pass the barf bag.

I saw a lot of crazy stuff happen as a tow truck operator for 3+years in a major metropolitan area. People these days are "sue-happy".

I mean, it's your call to make, but you should at least consider all the risks involved and make an informed decision before taking the risks.

But for the "hurt the truck" part, no, I don't think you could do anything at 14K to hurt the truck that wouldn't have already hurt it at 12K.

 

Your truck is rated at 12,400lb fifth wheel because of the 3.73 gears. If you had 4.30 gears in the truck the rating would jump to 15,400lbs. This difference is not because of the truck not being able to handle the weight but most likely because of the acceleration time numbers when loaded with the shallower 3.73s.

Allow yourself plenty of room for pulling out and stopping and you will be fine pulling 14k lbs. The steep first gear on the 6R140 will help a lot in this case.

http://www.fleet.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/12FLRVTTgdeMar1.pdf

 

reminds me of when I retired from the ARMY. Towed a 22ft UHAL trailer with 23,000 lbs with my ford windstar 3.8 with class 3 hitch. It seemed to drive just fine as we went down 95 south which has mainly coast line.

a few years later I noticed a slap slap sound in the engine which increased with RPMs by decreased with thicker oil.......eight crank bearings or rod end bearings.

I guess I towed a little to much with that 3.8.