My son's truck, of which currently is my main drive, until he gets his license, is a 1967 Mercury M100 (same as an F100). It has a 3-sp standard and a 240 6-cyl (3.9l) engine.

What is the tow rating of this truck? I ask this as I'm about to purchase an old Case Model D tractor. The tractor weighs in at around 4500 lbs. I would suspect that a trailer strong enough to carry this would be another 1000 lbs?

Can I safely tow this amount?

 

The truck probably can if the driver can. I am adding a photo of my truck at work. That tow weighted in at 10,520lbs at a local feed mill, the truck just under 4,000lb. I took a tape measure with me, loaded the trailer keeping the rear bumper drop to 2 in. making the trailer handle the weight.

The 240 isn't much of a puller, so if your area is pretty level give it a try.






John

 

Thanks muchly for the reply. I've a few hills to deal with but for the most part, the terrain's pretty flat. It's of course understood that I won't be racing around, with that full load. The trailer likely won't have any brakes so the transport will be interesting.

 

Stay alert drive 500 ft. ahead, plan your moves you should do just fine.

BTW, My truck did all the stopping with that tow. Trailer had brakes but no connection.



John

 

John and anyone else watching this. Had you loaded the truck backwards you would have had more of the weight on the trailer. If you still wanted your 2" drop you could have moved it farther forward on the trailer.

 

Say What??? I had all the weight on the trailer.

Loading backwards would make it tail heavy raising the rear of the truck.

No, I disagree it is loaded correctly for good handling.



John

 

Ok. Well as I see it the nose is sitting in front of the axles which is where the weight is. It is not all the way forward on the trailer. Turning the truck around would have allowed for placing the weight of the truck (engine) above the axles and the truck itself would sit farther forward on the trailer. That would provide better handling.

 

You don't think pulling the load forward on the trailer until the bumper drops a couple inches is good balance making for great handling, allowing the trailer to be pulled to speeds of 80-85 mph?




John

 

I have no problem with that just saying with the engine positioned above the axles you would be getting closer to 0 tongue weight. Moving the truck slightly back & you could achieve 0 tongue weight either positive or negative. Loading a vehicle the way you loaded it while maybe working just fine in this case what about a long bed? You would have been forced to position the truck farther forward (engine farther forward) due to the length of the truck and trailer making for more tongue weight than desired. Flipped around and the weight distribution could be better balanced.

Sorry loaded trailers with far more weight and much longer for a bit

 

If you are comparing loading a trailer like mine to a tractor trailer, you are way off base. They do not compare.




John

 

im lost here but my f250 will pull whatever i want and then some i have hauled 4k lbs in the bed as well, but theres a good and bad weight transfer. so yea

 

Load in relation to tongue and axle position remains the same regardless of trailer or tow unit. Do what you want I am just trying to show you how to achieve as close to 0 tongue weight as possible with your setup. 0 tongue weight is why they started putting torsion bars on RV trailers. Concept is concept regardless of the variables involved. The formula always works.

 

Zero tongue weight with a heavy load is asking for trouble. The torsion bars on RV hitches are not to achieve zero tongue wieght, but rather to transfer the weight to both axles of the tow vehicle, rather than having it all on the rear axle. The same principal used in 5th wheel hitches.

As for loading the truck backwards, yes, it *can* help with getting the load centered better under certain conditions, but kills the aerodynamics.

FWIW, the industry standard recommendation for safe towing, is to have 10% max tongue weight with the standard bumper hitch. For every 100lbs added to the trailer, no more than 10lbs should be felt at the tongue.
Higher than 10% tongue weight makes the trailer want to push the tow vehicle around.
Lower than 5% can start getting a bit squirrely under certain conditions.
Zero tongue weight can lead to times where the trailer starts to lift the rear of the tow vehicle, and can lead to loss of control.
Negative tongue weight, or tail heavy, is an accident just waiting for a chance to happen.

Now, to address the question of whether a 6 cyl can pull the load. Below is a pic of my 80 F150 towing a 74 F100. I'd venture to say that 74 comes pretty close to equalling the weight of the tractor.
The 80 is powered by a 300 I6, C6 auto, and 2.75 rear gear ratio, turning 31" rear tires. 55 MPH was no problem, could have gone faster if I wanted to. Being as the truck on the trailer is rather priceless to me, getting it here was all that mattered, not when.

 

I wasn't saying you want 0 tongue weight. I was saying you have a better chance of achieving 0 tongue weight. If you have a better chance of achieving it you stand a better chance of balancing what you are doing. There ar emany factors. Single/tandem/tri axle. Length of trailer (bed area). Length of tongue. The location of the bed area in relation to the axle/s. The balance between the forward and rear section fo the trailer unloaded. As to torsion bars. How would you distribute the weight evenly between the two axles of the tow vehicle without lessening the weight on the rear?

 

On the torsion bar question, think about this for a minute.
You have a trailer that weighs, lets say, 8500 LBS, and the tongue weight is 850 LBS.
Hitch it up to a tow vehicle, and the rear drops, while the front raises. Weight is added to the rear, while taken away from the front. Vehicle stability is seriously compromised.
Add the torsion bars, and the rear starts to raise, while the front starts to lower as the tension is added. The tongue still weighs 850 LBS....... The tow vehicle is still carrying that 850 LBS, but it's better distributed, so the stability returns.