Too many numbers, too little brain. Any input is appreciated.

After searching for just the right travel trailer to start the family trips, I found it, but can I tow it?

I have a 2003 Expedtion EB 5.4L, 3.73, tow package. I understand the towing specs to be 8900lbs and 890 on the hitch (w/ dist). The trailer specs: 31', Shipped: 7304 Hitch (dry): 665 Carrying Capacity: 1696. What do you think?

Would get a very good weight dist/anti sway. Would like to tow up to the local mountains from time to time. Towed a 5400 lb trailer last year without breaking a sweat. Wanted to get the opinion of more experienced tow'ers.

Thanks!

 

Welcome over from our discussion on Edmunds. I think you'll find the advice here much better. My advice is the same as it was over there, but there are lots more people here and a lot more depth.

 

Hey, hey, hey now, internet stalking is illegal...quit following the guy around.

 

I heard you guys run in packs. :-) Thanks for the advice. Trying to find something that will work for us, while maintaining safety. Tryng to get as much advice as possible. Thanks for yours, Alwaysford41!

 

A Guy? He's a guy? I thought it was a 25 year old lingere model who just wanted to tow a travel trailer.

 

OK. I will probably start a fight here, but that has never stopped me before.

Let's do a little math. I will assume that your truck is a 4x2, that gives you the biggest numbers.

GCVWR (truck + trailer) for that rig is 14,500 lbs.

The truck weighs 5600 lbs. dry.

The trailer weighs 7300 lbs. dry.

Total is 12,900 lbs. dry. That leaves you 1600 lbs. if you want to stay within factory limits. Of course, if you do not care, then this is a pointless excercise (which is where the arguments generally start).

Gas is 6.25 lbs/gal. x 30 gallons = 188 lbs.

Roughly 1400 lbs. left.

I will assume 4 people, 2 adults, 2 kids.

2 adults = 350 lbs. (apologies to your wife). 2 kids = 200 lbs. 550 lbs. total.

850 lbs. left.

You have to tell me how much junk you take along and if you are going to fill any of the trailer water tanks before leaving. But my guess is that you will be at or over GCVWR.

Let's look at it another way.

GVWR (truck only) is 6750 lbs. The truck weighs 5600 lbs. empty, leaving about 1300 lbs. capacity on the truck.

You should have 10%-15% of the trailer weight on the hitch. 7300 lbs. empty means rough 900 lbs.- 1000 lbs. on the hitch. Let's call it 900 lbs. that leaves 400 lbs.

Fuel is 188 lbs. That leaves 212 lbs.

You planning on going alone or taking anyone with you? If someone else is going along, you will exceed your GVWR.

Bottom line:

1. You will be at or possibly over you GCVWR (max. weight for truck + trailer).

2. You will be over your GVWR (truck only), likely by a large margin.

3. The 5.4L in 2003 only had 260 HP. Pretty weak.

Can you do it? Yes.

Will the truck do it well? No.

Should you do it? Not me. I have towed under powered and over weight and over powered and under weight. Over powered and under weight is much more fun.

What you do is up to you. No one elected me your momma.

 

Acutually, jschira, there was a vote taken and you were elected to be "my momma". Maybe noone sent you the memo. :-)

Thanks for the awesome detail (my wife only cried for a little while). Your detail helped me determine that I'm just not in the right neighborhood in trailer size and need to rethink our needs. This time I will work backwards with the numbers to determine how much weight I am comfortable carrying, then look for the trailers that with that.

You ballparked things pretty well in regards to expedition weight. What loaded trailer weight would you be comfortable carrying?


Thanks again....will post back if I find anything I would like an opinion on.

 

Honestly? The older 5.4l and especially the 4.6l are not much for towing (Oh Boy!, Am I going to be in trouble for that).

With the high profile of a TT, and with you wanting to tow in the mountains, 5000 lbs. - 6000 lbs. is all that your rig will pull without struggling.

Disclaimer: Yes I know that his truck can pull more. But can and should are two different questions. Just because you can do something does not mean that you should.

PS - I have pulled with a '97 4.6, an '06 4.6, an '07 5.4 3v and an '01 5.4 32v.

I have also pulled my 7500 lbs. enclosed car trailer through the mountains with my diesel and was waaaaay glad to be driving the diesel.

 

Many, many people post on this board, bragging about how heavy they tow. Most generally know that they are over the limits, but could care less. They figure that they have never had a problem, so it must be OK.

I am not one of those. I pay pretty strict attention to the published limits (I also do not brag about running 85 mph with 15,000 lbs. in tow ).

So I am not your conscience. You do what you want. And if something happens, just hope and pray that I am not on the jury in the lawsuit against you.

 

Lol what happend to this post.

 

See my sig. I tow a TT very similar to yours in weight and I do fine at 60-62 MPH. I keep the OD off and the RPMs hang around 2500 (where all the torque is in this vehicle. I also have the 4r100 transmission, the same one bolted-up to the PSD F-250/F-350. Something that is not of my signature is the Diablo Sport tune I have installed, I know have to run 93 oct gas, but it seems to have much more torque. There was a certain hill on I-65 that my Expe used to down-shift on but after the retune she pulls the hill at 2500 RPM pretty steady with no down-shift. I am religious about the maintenance on my vehicle; just ask my wife and my checkbook. The tire pressure is checked often, lug-nuts checked often, all fluids checked/changed often, all work done at the Ford dealer, I do NOT compromise when it come to maintenance on my tow vehicle or the TT. Camping/RVing is fun but expensive if done right. Do not skimp on the maintenance.<O</O
<O></O>
Bottom Line, my Expe tows our TT just fine.<O></O>

 

HP is not really important in towing, torque is king here and the 5.4L 2v makes plenty of it at 2500 RPM. With a good set of headers and a proper tune 400 ft/lbs of torque is not problem.

BTW, great job breaking down the GCVWR math! That is very helpful to me!!

 

Sorry, but look at your mods to get your rig to tow well. Stock, the 5.4 is weak.

And HP is important in getting the load moving and if you get slowed down going up a hill. Good luck getting your speed back.

Thanks. The math really is not that difficult, but I do not think that many bother to work it out.

 

Your trailer is 7000 lbs loaded.

His is 7300 lbs. empty.

So he is pulling at least 300 lbs. more than you, and probably closer to 500 lbs. - 750 lbs. more.

BTW - I have a 17 HP Cub Cadet diesel tractor that will pull 4000 lbs. - 5000 lbs. just fine, so long as you do not want to go more than 2 mph - 3 mph.

In other words, just going real slow does not offset overloading the truck.

 

I only have two engine mods, and some heavy-duty rear srpings. These three things cost me $1500. Add that to the $5500 I paid for the truck and I got myself a great TV for a few $$. The 5.4 2v creates 350 ft/lbs of torque stock, that is not weak. Now, I am not saying that it compares to a PSD, I am just saying that 350 is 350 and 350 is plenty of torque to tow his TT. The other mods in my sig are for the TT and they are necessary no matter what the TV is.