Hey guys, I'm hoping you can help me out a little bit here and possibly prevent us from making a big mistake.

My dad has a 1995 F-150 XL short bed. It has the 300cu in. inline 6 and the 5-spd manual. This truck has always done everything we've needed it to, but next weekend we're gonna need to pull a trailer for a little while. It's pulled a very light lawnmower trailer before with no problems, but this one's a bit heavier. The trailer in question is going to weigh about 3500 pounds. I know that's not terribly heavy as trailers go, but it's significantly more than we've ever pulled with this truck before.

I feel like the 6-cyl will pull it easily enough, I'm just not so sure about the hitch, basically we don't have one. The truck just has the step bumper, no heavy duty hitch. Will the bumper pull a 3500 pound trailer? Unfortunately we bought the truck used and we don't have the owners manual.

Another question I have is the rear axle. I looked on the door jamb sticker and see axle code 12, which from what I can tell means 2.73 gears. Is this actually serious? I come from Corvette land and the only thing that comes with has 2.73 gears is an automatic trans equiped car. 2.73 just seems like an abysmal gear ratio to put in a truck. If anything follows suit between the brands, 2.73's will actually be a lighter duty gear as well, will the gears handle a 3500 additional load?

If I actually had a hitch rated for the load it honestly sounds like we would be better off using the Vette to tow the load, never mind that the trailer would weigh more than the car

Any information you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

according to the owners manuel my 1994 f150 long bed 4x2 with the I-6, 5 spd and 2.73 gears only suopposed to tow 2100#, i just got this truck last week and have never towed or hauled with it. im not sure on the bumper rating. yes you do have 2.73 gears

 

I have a 93 inline 6 cyl. I used to tow a 1800 lbs boat trailer with no problem, but when I got a 3200 lbs boat and trailer I had to install a trailer hich. I belive the max for a bumber is 2000 lbs. They not hard to install and I think you all ready have the wire harness under your truck. Good luck R J F

 

Thanks guys. I know a hitch isn't really hard to install, I helped a friend do it once on his 95 F-150. The truck does also already have the trailer wiring harness, which is a good thing. A proper hitch would be a good thing, but I'm not sure if he's gonna want to spend the money for what is likely going to be a one time thing. We have an S-10 blazer that says you can tow 3500 pounds off the bumper, worst case we'll use it. I just really didn't want to because it has the 4L60E auto tranny that is about as strong as a wet paper bag. Oh well, I'll let him know. Thanks for the info!

 

The stock step bumper is good for 5000 lbs and 500 lbs tongue weight. You won't be able to take advantage of a hitch with the weenie rear gear you have. The bumper is capable of more than your truck can pull.

 

I towed a 4,000lb trailer behind two different F-150's, both on the bumper. Both bumpers held up fine to the weight, going across the country twice.

The first one got bent in half when I rear-ended a vehicle that pulled out in front of me, but you really can't blame that on the bumper.

 

The bumper can take it, the Mazda 5-speed cant, not with 2.73 gears. 2000lb is about the towing limit for such a combination. IF you are just going to tow accross town, with no grades, I would do it anyway. A long trip with mountains, no way.

Jim

 

Not necessarily true, either. I had a Mazda 5 speed with 3.08 gears, and took 4,000 lbs over the Sierra Nevadas AND the Rockies - I believe we topped out at a little over 11,000 ft.

It seemed a little sluggish at the top, though...

 

I can just imagine what the back of his car looked like after getting rear ended by that much mass.

 

I was all the over to the side of the lane, hoping he would hear the horn, squealing tires, etc. and get out of the way just in time, so it ended up being an off-set collision. He had a little Isuzu pickup, and his rear bumper was touching his rear axle. The front of my truck wasn't much better, though. He was nearly stopped and I was cruising at 60 or so. He pulled right out in front of me.

The bumper was bent pretty good, but the camper tongue, incredibly, was completely intact.

I have pictures that I will put up in my gallery when I get my camera back.

 

yeah, Camper frames/tongues are pretty tough. My parent's have a fifth wheel camper and they got rear ended pretty good. They got off expecting to find the car inside the camper.

The front of the car was all pushed in to where it was not even driveable.

The Camper suffered NO damage. Just a little paint transfer on the bumper.

 

i got a 96 f-150 with 300 i-6 and 3.08 gears...i was in a bind and had to tow a bronco II ..i towed it with a tandem axle trailer from my bumper and the thing held up fine..i actually wasnt sure how it was gonna hold up. i just went for it. i would say you should be allset with that 3500 lb trailer