People who make these blanket statements about private vehicles not stopping at weigh stations just haven't gotten around enough. There are many places where private vehicles have to stop and get weighed. I get weighed on a regular basis.

To the OP, you bought the wrong truck or you are buying the wrong trailer, but good for you for stopping the process to get educated. If you tow a fifth wheel with a short bed truck, get a slider hitch. You put it in the rear position for backing up so you have less chance of hitting the rear window with the trailer on a sharp turn.

Brian

 

First of all. nice truck. second of all, none of what I am about to say is listed in any manual. This is sheer experience.

I have been towing for going on 30 years now. Everything from 8' utility trailers to 43' behemoth toy haulers designed for race cars. I always towed with a SRW truck and stayed relatively within the weight characteristics. There were times with larger trailers on windy days that I had to seriously take stock in what I was doing, who was around me and how much "wiggle" room I needed. There were times when I realized that towing with a short wheel base vehicle is, shall we say, slightly less than entertaining. I have gone as far as to town a 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis (Full size) on a car dolly behind a 1983 Ford Ranger from Washington DC to Worcester MA. Trust me that will keep you busy.

With that being said. My last truck purchase was an 04 350 Crew Cab 4x4 DRW 8' bed. I have had everything with the exception of 5ers on the back of this truck (Only because I dont have a hitch for it) and I have to tell you the difference in towing large trailers with a DRW is absolutely night and day. The control over the trailer, and the lack of the trailer controlling the vehicle is noteworthy of epic proportions.

Either way. If the truck is not pre-equipped. get a GOOD break controller. keep a real close eye on those tire pressures on the trailer. They will fluctuate radically some days. and for god sake. CHECK YOUR BEARINGS!!!! I have been in the habit for the past 10 years or so of doing the bearings on ALL of my trailers every year. I set aside a weekend. Normally in the spring and just go to town. pull em apart, clean em up, inspect them closely and re-pack with fresh grease. This is not only good for the trailer, it causes less stress on the truck.

So.. in short. Check your weight limit. Whatever the combined weight and actual towing weight are. I suggest you stay away from it by a couple thousand pounds. Keep the max weight in the bed a little under max. Load the trailer 60% ahead of the axles and 40 behind. and above all. you are not driving a race car when you have the trailer on. keep it slow and reasonable. Just because the truck will pull it along down the highway at 95 and not feel stressed out does not mean that the laws of physics no longer apply. you do still have to stop that road train.


Just my .02. sorry for slipping the subject.

 

X2. I would recommend a much smaller trailer too. While the gcwr from the factory doesn't mean anything legally, that amount of pin weight is going to put you over your gvwr and is too much weight for a 250.

 

The Op is in the US (Texas). US laws when it comes to private are probably different then where you are (Canada).

I have no idea about Canadian laws.

I have traveled all across the US to include Hawaii and Europe though.

 

Scott, I'm not sure where I was at when I saw it(thinking northeast though), but I have been by a few scales that said all vehicles over 10,000 lbs must weigh and specified that pick ups and rvs were included. I've been to 44 states and have only seen that type of sign in a couple of places, so it's not something I would worry too much about.

 

I see the OP has already acknowledged not having enough truck for the anticipated load. My general rule of thumb is that "250" or "2500" and "fifth wheel toy hauler" are pretty much mutually exclusive terms.

While I pull with a DRW, an F350 SRW would be adequate as well. If it's only weekend warrior duties, a DRW would probably be overkill in most situations. As a full-timer, though, I'd much rather have four tires underneath my kingpin and not have to mess with things like airbags, additional springs, etc.

 

You do realize there's nothing major different between an F250 and a SRW F350 other than the numbers printed on the VIN tag next to GVWR and RGAWR, right?

 

But unfortunately in all the situations that actually matter, that's the only thing that matters. I.E getting pulled over or in an accident. Yes they are exactly the same vehicle minus a sticker. But in the laws mind that sticker is more important then common sense.

Sent from my Galaxy using IB AutoGroup

 

You're assuming that plating requirements are the same across the US. In Texas he can register the truck for whatever he feels like paying for, it just get's more expensive when he goes past 10K. That's why F250s are everywhere in Texas, you can plate them at the lower of their GVWR or a higher number, but being under 10k cuts the registration in half. If the State puts a legal number on the truck, then in Texas that's the legal number, not what the manufacturer's sticker says.

From another website:

 

Huh.. consider me educated. I don't think that's possible in nj where I live because I was not given that option when I registered my truck. But that could be because I did not ask.

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It's the same way here in MN. My GVWR is 10,600 but I'm registered for 12,000, so legally I can be up to 12,000 lbs.

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Maryland is the same way. My 2008 F250 I had registered for 12K to cover me. My DRW is at 14K

 

Mostly. The springs in the back of the 350 are beefier.

 

My understanding was that it was nothing more than 4" spring blocks vs 2: spring blocks on the 250 (assuming the helper spring on the F250).

Drivetrain, frame, axles, wheels / tires are all the same, of course. The higher rear height gives a little more 'squat' room, but you could easily modify an F-250 to "be" an F-350.

As for GVWR, in NH they register based upon the door sticker, but a GVWR of 10k means more reg. money than one of the optional 9900 GVWR. Unfortunately I'm at 10k.

 

Registering to pull the correct amount of weight and being able to pull the registered weight are two different things.

Overloaded is overloaded. Paying to get a slip of paper that says you can, doesn't mean you can (safely). Now, I am sure that the weight cap that Ford puts on the sticker is "under rated", but trust me when I tell you that you get into a serious injury to fatal accident, in addition to that sheet of paper, the vehicle itself is going to get looked at to make sure you were towing withing the rating capabilties of the truck.

Getting a registration that says I can bumper pull 20k pounds in a F150 - doesn't mean I should. I shouldn't even do that in a SRW 350 or 250 either.