Can anyone tell me what the unbraked towing capacity of a 74 F100 with a 360 and c4 box is?

Cheers!

Paul

 

Now are you really telling me that no one knows the answer to this?!

Paul

 

It has been a week since you posted, I will move this to the Towing forum.

 

Depends...

While your pickup is almost certainly rated to pull at least 5000 pounds, your state regs may specify a lower max towing weight without brakes. For instance, in Arizona one may not tow anything exceeding 3500 pounds unbraked, regardless of the vehicle's rated capacity.

 

Most magazines say you won't feel comfortable towing anything over say 2,000 without brakes.

I accidentally towed about that much in a utility trailer with no brakes. In my 94 F250 with 460 etc, it was a bit squirly. I would not have wanted to do a panic stop without trailer brakes on it.

Just my opinion.

Jim Henderson

 

Well, the book for your truck will tell you exactly what you can haul. The Ford manual lists all the specs for each truck, including specifics like bed size, cab configuration, and whether its 4 wheel drive, because each of these different. ie a supercab has a heavier GTW than a regular cab.
Although, the law states that a pickup should not haul over 10,000 lb trailers, because if you haul anything heavier, you have to apply for a combination license and your truck essentially becomes a commercial vehicle. Now as far as brake and unbraked trailers, I don't really see a difference. I have hauled 9000+lb loads with a F250 with NO trailer brakes with minimal problems (but thats just me).

 

Colossus:

Can you say JACKKNIFE while reaching for your nonexistent brake controller connected to your missing brakes?

Take your rig out to a big empty parking lot in the rain. Progressively go faster and then do panic stops. Please report back to us at what speed you loose the trailer and the load.

I know there are a lot of people on these boards who pull PROPERLY EQUIPPED trailers that are over weight for their trucks, but your statement followed by a cool dude smiley face is just irresponsible to yourself and everyone around you when you're towing.

 

First of all, the original question asked what the unbraked towing capacity of an F100 was. Now the only manual I have is a 79, and according to that the ratings rate depending on engine size (6 or 8 cylinders) and the type of tow package (Listings are for Classes I – III depending on options). Type of hitch (weight carrying as against weight distributing) and there are a few other details, so find out what your truck is on the specs (wheelbase, engine, tranny, LD or HD trailer package) before you haul a trailer because the ratings are all over the place in the book. Now, towing with an F100, I have no experience so I can’t help you there.

Now as far as that last remark about being irresponsible.

1. I appreciate your honest opinion about my driving abilities (even though we have never met).
2. I have operated 2 trailers over the last 3 years, one a 1100lb 12ft flatbed, the other a 1400lb 16ft flatbed trailer (empty weight of course). I am a landscaper and a farmer, so I use the small trailer every week about 6 months out of the year. The other trailer I use for hay and other equipment moving work.
3. I have hauled both of these trailers behind both my dad’s 78 F250 and my 79 F350.
4. In your reference to jack knifing a trailer and going to a parking lot, I did these tests with these 2 trucks just over 6 months ago. I conducted them on wet ground (for max sliding) and never did I jack knife the trailer. I will admit, you have to know what you are doing to do this. Trailer brakes or not, my father, nor I, have ever lost a load due to braking problems (that includes 9000lb hay trailers). The whole trick is to not go as fast, brake sooner and a little harder, downshift (in an automatic) if necessary, and keep a good eye on your load.
5. Yes, I now have trailer brakes, but for 2 years I had to deal with what I had, the F250 had trailer brakes, but they didn’t plug into the seven flat. Even with a 9000lb hay trailer, I didn’t have too many problems stopping or slowing down, even going downhill.
6. I will note, these trips were short, not being over ten or twenty miles, and I always take the back roads and haul preferably at night when doing hay. However, if you plan to haul over long distances and in traffic, I would recommend trailer brakes.
7. Now as far as properly equipped heavy loads, I would like to state this. I went through the regulations for my home state (WA) originally to check for max mirror sizes, and the law states that any truck hauling a trailer over 10,000lb must be registered as a Class B rig and must be subject to all Class B laws, regulations, and insured ($$$). I don’t necessarily agree with it, but apparently it’s the law.

 

I forgot to mentoin this earlier...

My 79 Ford F350 was a fire engine. It was used to pull a 25' rescue boat for the fire department for 9 years. It never came with a brake controller. Also, most flatbed trailer dealerships and rental firms here do not have trailer brakes on their trailers, only brake-away units. Also, you have to remember, most trailers use a 4-way hookup, no blue trailer brake wire here either.
And about overloaded trucks, I have two stories:
First, my grandpa has a 15,000lb 5th wheel trailer, he pulls it with a 3/4ton 454, he said it is stupid to use that truck because the trailer is way too big for it. Also, there used to be a backhoe operator who hauled a 15,000+lb backhoe with his 3/4ton 454 also. After 150,000 miles, the truck was so shot he ended up selling it for parts. I am not trying to start or maintain an argument here, but all I am trying to say is that trailer brakes are not necesary for some operations. Now, your signature says you have a Jayco, a camp trailer I assume. Well, in that scenario, trailer brakes and sway-bars are a necesity, I agree. But they are not necesary for some applications in the utility world, although they are nice to have. I am sorry if we got off on the wrong footing.

 

Colossus:

I take my towing very seriously. My 2000 Excersion has close to 70k miles on it , and I've driven my F350 over 35K mile in the last 1.5 years (bought used in 11/01). Of those miles, 30-35% have been towing a 7000lb - 9000lb trailer. In addition to the trailers on my signature, I also have a 16' flat bed on which I tow a Ford 1720 4wd diesel tractor with bush hog front end loader and various 3pt attachments. I tow my son's HS Band 24' enclosed cargo trailer whenever the band is going to away football games, parades and marching competitions. I also used to be a manager at a trucking company with brown trucks, you may have seen some of them making deliveries in your town.

To see the difference in stopping ability of your trailer with brakes, go back to the parking lot and test the brakes with the controller properly adjusted and then with it turned all the way down/off. Divide your increased stoppong distance by 20 (approximate average length of a car and distance to the next vehicle stopped at a light) and your answer will be the numer of cars that you would rear end in a slick panic stop situation.

I didn't attack your driving abilities, I attacked your driving habits and practices. There's a difference. NASCAR drivers have great abilities but if they don't change their habits when they drive on public highways, they are going to cause an accident because of their habits and practices.

Your statement in the last half of comment #5 confirms my point that knowingly towing 9k without trailer brakes is irresponsible. You state "I didn’t have too many problems stopping or slowing down, even going downhill. " What if while you were having one of those "not too many problems" a kid rode his bike out of a neighbors driveway without looking because he was past his curfew at night or someone else failed to stop at a 4way stop while you were sliding through the intersection.

In your second reply you mentin several people that grossly overloaded their 3/4 ton trucks and the trucks wore out. They are paying for the consequences for their actions. If the 5th wheels had brakes, they were much safer than your setup without brakes.

Are you sure that the 25' boat trailer didn't have a surge actuator on the tongue which was applying the boat trailers brakes? Many boat dealers will skimp on the trailer in the mid 3k to low 4k pound boat and trailer combo and sell the trailer without brakes. Any boat trailer for a 25' boat without brakes (surge or electrically or hydraulically actuated) is in serious violation of the law. If and when the fire department gets in an accident with that trailer, the plaintiff is going to own your town.

Since you've admitted that you now have trailer brakes, lets go back to being FTE Freinds and be as safe as we can be when we're towing anything below, at or above the limits of our trucks. Having working brakes on any trailer when they are legally required just makes sense.

 

I wasn't trying to prove what I did was right. I am just trying to say that a light trailer doesn't really need trailer brakes (I just towed my little one yesterday and its brakes fine). I know it was dangerous, by I am only a 19 year old kid, and not a mechanic. I had been driving that truck since mid-2000, and sure it was difficult, but not impossible. When I did tow those 9,000lb loads, both the driver and passenger were fully alert of all surroundings, watching the load, and since it was hay, we didn't dare go over 40mph, actually we usually did about 30 and kept it in second gear. I live in a rural area and most of it we did at night too, just too hot in the daytime. Now if I was hauling that kind in an unfamiliar area ie a city or highway, yeah, trailer brakes are the best way to go. After I got the trailer brakes working last November, I did tests and found they worked too well (they were hydraulic) and were just not adjusted for that light load of an empty trailer, so I replaced them with an electric unit. I have to admit, buying my own truck last October did help my mechanical skills. I was not impressed with the fire department workmanship, they really messed my 1-ton up, even re-rigged it so that the trailer wiring would not work properly, and they ran it that way for 9 years (lol). Yeah, its a new experience for me, and my original message wasn't to misinform the guy or anything, the smiley should have been put behind the first part and not the end of the message.
Well, I am not going to get into any more details and I was glad that we could settle this like Ford truck men. I hope to see you on here for a long time.

 

Here is a story on trailer brakes: January of 2002 going to the hunting club, My uncle had a 5x8 tilt trailer with a 300lb+ 4-wheeler on it. The trailer being so small had no trailer brakes on it, but on this day he had to make a panic stop because a car pulled out in front of him, the truck was a 78 LWB chevy 4x4 that only had 32,000 miles on it, when he had to make the stop the little trailer was not stopping at the same speed as the truck, when he took to the shoulder of the road the small trailer made the back end of the truck change ends and ended up in a ditch and hitting the car, he said that he had plenty of room to stop but the trailer caused him to run off the road. He uses a chain for the front tie down and a ratchet tie down for the back, the back strap broke and the fast stop caused the back of the 4-wheeler to end up in the back of the truck and in the end it ended up back on the trailer, as soon as he got the trailer home he installed brakes on the trailer, may not need them all the time but it is nice if you ever really need them, no trailer brakes cost him a $20,000+ show truck. 78 silverado LWB 4x4 with a 400cid 400 turbo trans with about $3,000 worth of hand painted pin stripes and only 32,000 miles.

 

Ouch! I have never heard anything like that before! A 5 by 8 tilt bed did that?! Now you did say that your uncle hit the shoulder of the road - was it gravel? I can see that is a hazardous situation, even without a trailer. I tested my trailer (1100+lb) with my riding mower (500lb) and my other equipment (approx 110lb) no trailer brakes, behind my truck, and I did some panic stops and all that, and I never once even remotely came close to losing control, having the load shift, or the trailer jack knife. Although under some circumstances accidents cannot be prevented.
I am reminded of an ongoing incident. A man was towing a Dodge Dakota behind his RV, he was going downhill, and the Dakota became detached, went into the oncoming lane and hit a car head on. Killed the father of the family in the car, and now the guy is getting put up on manslaughter. They are however seeing if the hitch itself failed, or was improperly used. Sure, I have done some stupid things, I learned the hard way on a lot of things and I am now much more conscious now than I was even a few months ago. The lesson here is to just be careful and act accordingly.