another towing capacity rant. Ford advertising plays up the 12,500lb towing capacity - ok fine but when you read the fine print on the receiver/hitch it says only rated for 12,500lb if you are using a weight distribution hitch. The receiver is only good for 7000lb if not using the special hitch. Not sure why but that's what it says. So now I have to buy a WDH but wait - the EZ loader manual says not to use a WDH if you have surge brakes on your trailer which I do. . Boat and trailer weigh about 8500/9000lbs so now what in he** do I do. This has really peed me off. I did a lot of research over two months on every ford document I could get my hands on before I decided on the F-350SD. Nowhere did I see anything about special 3rd party hitch requirements. Not a happy camper at the moment. Rant off.

 

Honestly I wouldn't want to tow that much without a WDH and sway control.

Just my .02.

 

It says it on the hitch itself, and in the manual...

1) you don't want surge brakes on a trailer that heavy...
2) you don't want the hitch to carry that much tounge weight.

 

You'll need to replace the hitch with a Class-5. Not that expensive.

Is this a dually? What did you pull it with before?

 

I would not want to tow without WDH with a boat or camper. You can get by with some flatbeds ok.

 

Yeah, but 8k isn't that much. Should be 900-1,000# tongue weight. Too much for the base receiver, but not too much for the dually 15k receiver. That trailer on a dually would be a piece of cake. And with the correct receiver, and possibly air bags, it will be easy on a SRW too.

OP still hasn't answered my questions.

 

I know guys that pulls bodcats on a heavy dump trailer regularly as pretty much everyone around here with no WD or sway control setup. They use a pintle or bulldog setups. Some use the stock hitchs (not my suggestion) but others upgrade to aftermarket class 5 hitch whether 2" or 2 1/2". For an 8-9k lbs boat I would just upgrade the hitch on the truck.

As for the boat trailer brakes I would convert them to electric brakes. My dad converted his boat over to electric brakes 3 years ago and never looked back. The adjustability of the electric brakes is great. You just have to make shure to unplug the system from the truck before launching the boat and keep up on maintenence. Obviously saltwater will be harder on the brakes than freshwater.

 

I tow with sway control on a single enclosed car hauler, and you can even tell the difference when the swaybars are connected with just that much weight. I would not want to pull 12K on a standard receiver with now sway control. It may suck having to buy an additional hookup, but how much is your safety worth to you? Incidentally, the stock Dodge is rated at around 1.5 tons less towing than the SD.

 

no - it's SRW and brand new. I picked it up from the dealer last friday and haven't pulled anything yet. From the comments here ( and I appreciate them) it looks like I have two choices 1/ change the trailer brakes to electric and use a WDH or 2/ upgrade the receiver to a class V from the present III/IV . If I upgrade the receiver to class V does this mean I will not have to use a WDH? Thanks to all for the advice.

Bill

 

If you upgrade the receiver, then your only issue will be how much your truck squats from the tongue weight. I think an F350 will be okay, but if not then air bags or Timbrens can make it okay. You'll have to hitch her up and see. You could do that with your existing receiver, just to evaluate the squat. The receiver from a dually should bolt right up to your truck.

This is not something to get too worked up over. It can be handled.

 

again - thanks for the input. I should also have mentioned that it's got the camper and trailer tow package along with a 10,800lb GVWR and the 6.2 engine. The anti sway is built into the truck computer. Initial impressions (except for the trailer crap) are all very favourable especially when compare to my old 2003 F-350 SD PS6.0 litre. Very quiet and comfortable. A little stiff over bumps but some concrete slabs when not pulling will smooth the ride out. I just called my dealer about a Class V hitch. We'll keep the board posted.

bill

 

The ride will soften as the springs wear, too.

 

Keep in mind that the Class V hitch will make you legal, but...

Without WD set up, you'll still be unloading the front axle. If you have a diesel, not such a big deal as they have way more weight on the front, but I've found the truck still feels less "comfortable" than with WD setup.

You'll still have the high maintenance/sketchy performance of surge brakes.... I don't know of anyone that tried modern electronically controlled electric brakes and would EVER go back to surge. Like drum brakes, they were considered quite adequate at one time, but there are better options today.
Just some of the benefits of electric:
- Can easily adjust TV to trailer braking bias. Surge brakes, by design, require the trailer to be "pushing" the TV while stopping. Not so good when making panic stops, especially in a turn.
- Work in reverse - like when backing down ramps. I had a serious pucker moment when a sailboat pullled our S15 Blazer down a rather steep and mossy ramp. Fortunately, the boat finally floated off and stopped dragging us - right as water started coming in rear hatch and doors....
- Can manually blip the controller to straighten out a swaying trailer
- Don't fight you if you have to back up hill

So if the cost to upgrade the brakes and add a WD setup is bearable, you should seriously consider it.

 

UPDATE - my dealer did some research and found that Reese makes a WDH that works with surge brakes. Reese recommends their use with large boat trailers - Reese Part Number #66155. Thanks guys I'm feeling much better now

 

My personal favorite, the Equal-I-Zer, says it also works well with most surge brakes. Reese is also good stuff, so you should be happy either way. If you look carefully, you'll notice the Reese 66155 is pretty much a copy of the Equal-I-Zer concept....

Equal-i-zer Hitch - Support - Frequently Asked Questions