Towing with F150
#31
10-10-2008, 09:25 PM
A 9000# 5er will put your truck WAY over weight. If you have to pull hills, which, I see you live in Vermont so you will, you will not like the truck and trailer combo. 9000# is too heavy for the F-150 with hills. Think of 6000 loaded ready to go. My Trail Bay is a straight trailer. It has a #1000 tongue weight and ready to camp, it is right at 8500#. I have relatively flat land here in NC. I lived in MA for 21 years. VT is loaded with steep grades. You WILL cook your transmission and you will be on the side of the mountain broken down. It might be OK for a short time but you will break the truck. As far as the other posters.... Sway is induced by an improperly loaded trailer. If you don't have enough tongue weight, your trailer will sway. 12-15% is normal tongue weight for a travel trailer. Load it correctly, and double check yourself. Add in a good weight distribution hitch such as the Equ-a-lizer or Reese Dual Cam and stay within the trucks limits. A good rule of thumb is to not exceed 80% of tow capacity. I am right at my limits when hooked up. THe truck is at max GVWR, and the combo is 400# under CGVWR. It performs great for the terrain that I drive in most of the time. I do venture into the NC mountains and I have gone up 9% grades with this combo. Keep in mind, this was 25 MPH with the RPM's way up. 1st and 2nd gear all the way to the top....about 14 miles. No breaks, no flats, no kidding, just straight up. Coming down was a breeze.... lock it in 2nd and let it go. It maintained 35 all the way down with the RPM's up around 3500. This is not an opinion, it is hard facts. If you tow once in a while, on flat ground, you can get away with a heavy unit.
and then the voice of reason shows itself.
#34
01-17-2009, 07:32 AM
manofberry1956
i have a 2004cc f150 with 3.73 rear.trailer i pull is 7000 dry. liven in south louisiana had to run from the storms this summer had both trailer and truck load down. my guess it was way over the tow rate .going up we went thew the hills north west part of louisiana . it no rockes . but it has steep up hill down hill tight turns all in a 1/4 mile.over and over . and to my surprise the truck did it .about 8 mpg.this is with no over drive. now i let the truck gain speed down hill and not hammer down up the hills.i thought truck did great. now on the way back took i49 back . no over drive speed at 60 .less hills got about 10 too 11 mpg.
#36
01-17-2009, 05:59 PM
#37
01-17-2009, 08:58 PM
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My 2007 F150 has the 6.5 foot box, supercrew cab,4x4, 5.4 motor, 3.73 gears, and it would easily tow your trailer.
I tow heavier than that with mine.
I live in BC, ever hear of the Rocky mountains, guess where i live near.
Sure it does not pass sports cars while towing up an 9% grade, but it pulls good enough.
I have an edge tuner, and am not scared to let my truck rev a little.
Its sweet spot seems to be from 3700 to about 4200 rpm, it will sit up in that rev range and pull a hill a nasty hill still doing 55 to 60 MPH.
I tow heavier than that with mine.
I live in BC, ever hear of the Rocky mountains, guess where i live near.
Sure it does not pass sports cars while towing up an 9% grade, but it pulls good enough.
I have an edge tuner, and am not scared to let my truck rev a little.
Its sweet spot seems to be from 3700 to about 4200 rpm, it will sit up in that rev range and pull a hill a nasty hill still doing 55 to 60 MPH.
#38
01-17-2009, 09:27 PM
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I tow a trailer like this.
2002 Travel Trailer Fleetwood Terry 27H-TT
Full of water, food, dishes, etc.
4 people in the trucks cab, a heavy quad in the box, alongside which is my generator, extra gas, 40 hp yamaha outboard, a 15 foot achilles inflatable boat, and assorted camping stuff.
I regualrly go up to the Lac des roche area which the locals all say has a bad hill to climb up on the way there.
Yet strangely enough i often pass several vehicles on the way up that bad hill with my F150 and 5.4 motor.
Simply put it just keeps pulling.
It just pulls hard at 4,000 rpm, not 2,000 like a diesel does.
Will it pull as hard as a diesel, NO, but its sure not lacking pull like some people claim.
If you still need more, then put a whipple supercharger on it.
Had one on my 2004 F150 and it really pulled hard.
I would say it would pull right alongside my 2 friends diesels, one was a ford, the other a chevy.
The ford diesel guy bought my 2004 with SC and sold his diesel.
He pulls his 30 foot travel trailer with it now and says its as fast or faster than his diesel towed it.
2002 Travel Trailer Fleetwood Terry 27H-TT
Full of water, food, dishes, etc.
4 people in the trucks cab, a heavy quad in the box, alongside which is my generator, extra gas, 40 hp yamaha outboard, a 15 foot achilles inflatable boat, and assorted camping stuff.
I regualrly go up to the Lac des roche area which the locals all say has a bad hill to climb up on the way there.
Yet strangely enough i often pass several vehicles on the way up that bad hill with my F150 and 5.4 motor.
Simply put it just keeps pulling.
It just pulls hard at 4,000 rpm, not 2,000 like a diesel does.
Will it pull as hard as a diesel, NO, but its sure not lacking pull like some people claim.
If you still need more, then put a whipple supercharger on it.
Had one on my 2004 F150 and it really pulled hard.
I would say it would pull right alongside my 2 friends diesels, one was a ford, the other a chevy.
The ford diesel guy bought my 2004 with SC and sold his diesel.
He pulls his 30 foot travel trailer with it now and says its as fast or faster than his diesel towed it.
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