I got a 92 F-250 XLT ext. cab 2 WD long bed with 7.5L, 3.55 gears, E4OD trans . The GVWR is 8800 lbs. I would like to tow a 10,000 fifth wheel trailer, is that the max I can tow with this truck according to the specs??? Thank you to all....Wade

 

She'll tow it fine. You can tow much more than what the owners manual says, but that doens't mean you can do it legally.....

Campers are exempt from that so your all good to go!



Just make sure not to follow to close and give extra braking time.

 

You don't say where you're from, but your truck should be rated for 15,000 max CGWR and about 9,600 trailer weight towing.

Weight of truck, loaded/fueled, subtracted from 15,00 equals max towing, up to 9,600 trailer weight.

That trailer might be just over the limit for legal towing.

Here in California, campers are not exempted from these rules. Get caught by the CHP for gross overweight and I can guarantee you will be leaving the trailer on the side of the road for a tow truck to retrieve for you. I have family that work in both law enforcement and towing. For some reason, this is a very common misconception.

 

I'm not surprised about that in California, i've been there this summer and they have way to many rules and alot of silly ones!

I know here in Canada, (and i'm sure most of the U.S) campers are exempt.

 

In the USA, your GCWR from the owner's manual is the limit, coast to coast. I am totally unaware of any law that says just because it's a camper, it's perfectly okay to overload your truck.

You know, I'll throw this out there; If you're not sure how much you can tow, better obtain a copy of your owner's manual to find out. Might also be good to have something to show the kind LEO when you get pulled over for what might appear to be an overload.

Canada might be different, but I can assure you, the US doesn't follow that line of thought on campers. When I moved a Prowler travel trailer for a friend, I took it to a local scale just to be safe. It was light at 5,600 lbs but I wasn't entertaining the idea that I might be getting a ticket if I didn't check first.

 

I have the owners manual and I don't understand the darn thing. GVWR= 8800 lbs., GAW front= 3765 lbs., GAW rear = 6084 lbs. Trailer is 10,000 lbs. or less. The GCWR for the max. is 15,000 lbs. for 7.5L EFI with E4OD and 3.55 gears. Trailer weight 3,500---10,000 lbs. So what is the weight of the trailer that I can tow legally??????????? Thank you everyone very much..........

 

Okay, here goes . . .

CGWR is the max that truck and trailer combined can weigh.

GVWR is the maximum that your truck can weigh by itself loaded/fueled.

So, if we just do a little math after driving said truck across a scale to get the weight,

The truck's actual loaded/fueled weight deducted from 15,000 will give you the maximum weight trailer you can tow legally. Now, an empty truck weight would say you could tow right at the max of 10,000 or a bit more but in all reality you have to account for the truck's weight loaded and fueled.

As far as the GAW frt & rear are concerned, that's just the maximum load that Ford thought those axles would be good for. If you add both numbers together, you'll find they equal more than 8,800 lbs.

Just remember; the truck loaded/fueled can't weigh more than 8,800 and the whole truck/trailer combo can't weigh over 15,000 and to add to that, the load on the rear axle (fifth wheel load) can't exceed 6084 lbs.

I hope I didn't confuse you.

Ray

 

fact of the matter is your taking a gamble with a 10,000 [ound trailer because it puts you right at your maximum

 

I actually think the truck will weigh about 6,000 empty but fueled so the trailer will be limited to about 9,000 max weight. Actually, if the trailer is a travel trailer that has a tag that says 'Dry weight 10,000', it wouldn't be legal to even attempt to move it. I wonder if this is a trailer that the max capacity of the trailer is 10K. Wade, care to chime in on that?

What this means to walbert52 is the trailer, even if it has a much higher capacity, can't weigh over that amount, loaded like he wants to use it.

I ran into that same situation once with a three-axle car trailer. It was rated at 12,500 GVW and weighed 4,100 empty. Since my truck only had a class 3 hitch, I was limited as to how much I could load it. I moved two cars with it but a third vehicle, a 1973 IHC 1-ton crew cab, had to be moved by a tow company. It weighed too much to trailer legally. Even though the trailer could carry the weight, my hitch is only rated to 10,000 capacity, 1,000 tongue weight. I actually need a class 4 hitch when I have the cash to do it.

I didn't feel unsafe towing at those weights, since I've been through the brakes on my truck and it has the towing package on it. I will agree though, you should be careful when towing at the limit with any old iron. Not a bad idea to go through the steering/suspension/brakes if you're going to make heavy towing a common thing.

Good point.

 

Thank you everyone for the help. That cleared up alot for me, most of the trailers will be in dry weight, and most of them will be below 10,000 lbs. I just want to know if the truck was ok with that amount of weight now and then. I will go to a truck stop and get the weight of my truck loaded and full of fuel, Thanks again for the help and great group of folks........