Hi all,

I am brand new to this forum, but figure I better get used to being in here nwo that my wife and I own a 2001 Ford F150. Here are the specs for it.

Has the 7700# tow package
5.4L V-8
Cap on the bed
Came with brake controls
3.73 gear ratio
139" wheel base
Supercab
4x2

Based on the research I have done, I believe we can tow the following:

8,600 pounds maximum

80% of towing capacity is 6,880 pounds. From my understanding this should be the absolute max we try to tow with everything extra (people, pets, gas, water, stuff, etc) loaded into the trailer and truck.

I figure 1,500 pounds of stuff (myself and wife, 2 medium dogs and all the other possible things) This is probably a bit high, but trying to be on the safer side.

This leaves a travel trailer at 5,380 pounds empty being safe to tow.

I also know that length factors in and with a 139" wheel base, I believe the maximum length we can tow safely would be 29.75 feet. This is based on 110" wheel base being able to tow 20 feet and getting an extra foot for every four inches of wheel base.

PLEASE CORRECT ME IF THESE CALCULATIONS ARE WRONG!!!!

We haven't bought a TT yet and we are trying to figure out what will be safe and also work for us. Most of what we have looked at falls between 21 feet and 25 feet with a dry weight between 3,200 and 4,700 pounds.

The things I don't understand how to calculate and the reason for my post are tongue weight (not sure what this should be or how to figure it out) and whether the cap on the bed will make any difference other than the weight it adds.

We will be getting sway bars and a weight distribution hitch regardless of the trailer we choose. I could also use recommendations for brands of these that work great for this kind of truck, but are not super expensive. We are on a bit of a tight budget, but not so tight we have to go bargain basement with anything.

Thank you for all your help!

Benjamin

 

I have a 98 f150 std cab 4x4 with the 5.4 and 4r100. It only has 3.55 gears and heavy tow package. and I pull my car trailer about 2k with another f150 on it. Was around 7500lbs total weight. It was very hard on the truck and it was scary over 45mph. If you want to carry that much and be comfortable id recommend a F250 SD or bigger. If you only plan on pulling a couple times a year then you will most likely be fine. I recently switched up to a 99SD with the 5.4 and just stopping and driving feels much safer. Also feels like the truck isn't working hard at all like the f150. If I only towed a few times a year I would have kept the f150. But with how much I tow I needed a bigger truck. And if u do get the f150 and plan to tow. Run an inline trans cooler and trans gauge. U would be surprised how hot they get even with a light load.

 

We are not, by any means, trying to pull 7,500 pounds. We are looking at 4,700 pound trailers without anything in them. Even with adding our stuff and ourselves to the equation, I don't think we will be more than about 6,200 pounds with the heaviest trailers we are considering.

Many of the trailers we are looking at are even lighter than this.

 

Your way of figuring can lead to incorrect weights.
Look in your owner manual and the equipage you have from the charts.
Look at the Gross Combines Weight Rating in pounds. GCWR.
Subtract the trucks 'loaded' weight from this figure and you have the max loaded trailer weight.
Don't do it any other way.
Only difference there may be is if the tires have been replaced or are P rated instead of LT rated tires.
P rated have a reduced rating for towing of 10%.
Also there is a difference between 16 and 17" tires for towing, in the specs.
Good luck.

 

Thank you.

 

7700 series should have D or E load range tires, IIRC 245/75R16.

John

 

I have a 2000 5.4, 3:73 gear F150 with the factory tow package but it's NOT a 7,700. I really don't think the 7700 package gives you much advantage outside of tounge weight capacity which won't help you anyway with the trailer weight your looking at. I tow a boat weighing in at 4,000lbs not counting what is usually about another 1,000 lbs in people/gear.

I'm very comfortable driving it. The truck feels solid and in control of the load at all speeds. So much so, that I didn't know my trailers surge brakes were not working at all until the end of the summer. I had a feeling they were not working 100% because I needed more pedal effort to stop the whole rig but it wasn't a whole lot more. Come to find out they were not doing a thing.

The 5.4 works hard to get it rolling but it's not dangerously slow like the 4.6L can be. Half throttle at a stop light and I'm matching the average driver in any car's acceleration beside me. My brother had the same truck and towed a 20ft travel trailer with it. He commented that the wind resistance was a factor at highway speeds that I don't seem to feel towing a streamlined boat so you may run into the same challenge. That said, he towed it all over the place and it got the job done.

 

Thank you for the real-world experience and advice. From my understanding, the 7700# tow package is what they used to put on the lower level F250 in the late 1990s. It's supposed to set the truck up as a better option when it comes to the brakes and other parts of the truck.

I think our biggest concern is towing through mountains or any type of grade. We have thought about just avoiding this on our travels, if possible, but not sure how possible that will be or how much that would limit us. We did some traveling last year in a Class A 1999 Fleetwood Flair, so we are a bit familiar with what the mountains look like, at least on the eastern side of the country.

Any advice on mountain towing is much appreciated or on routes both east and west that are easier than others. I will probably post in an RV forum about this once we have a better idea of the Travel Trailer we plan to get, as well.

Our goal is to move about every 21 days, as that is what our camping membership allows. However, we never plan to drive more than about 150 miles in one day and won't be doing multiple overnight stays in between, either. It will be more of staying at one campground for 21 days and if we have a significant distance between the first campground and our next one within our membership, we may do one overnight, but most stays will be at least 2 days in between.

Again, thank you for your response.

 

Well I live in NH so in order to get to a lake your pulling through some decent hills or mountains. It really doesn't put up much of a fight maintaining highway speed so long as it's not in OD. The 5.4 makes peak torque at 3,000 rpm so at highway speed in 3rd gear it's turning 2,600 (give or take). So it's pretty much in the sweet spot for pulling a trailer up grade and since it's putting out about 330ft lbs will move some weight.

My last trip of the season was an 85 degree, 200 mile trip with the boat in tow loaded with gear, 600lbs of fuel, coolers in the bed, 4 adults in the cab with the AC cranking and I had to climb through the lower part of the white mountains. No problem!

 

I would just like to point out that the 7700 is not a tow package, it is an optional payload group.

The "7700" refers to the GVWR of 7700 pounds for this option. Its claim to fame is increased payload capability of (roughly speaking) 1500 pounds or so over the regular 6000-6000+ GVWR F-150.

Take a look at this doc on the 2001. See pages 9 & 10 which is your 2WD SC SB configuration. The 7700 Payload Group is Payload Package 2 for this chart. And see footnote (1) for additional equipment that 2-Opt. also adds.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas...001/f150cd.pdf

 

A lot of information on the link^^. My take away is , with the larger "7700" payload , you get heavier springs and higher load rated tires w/hd tow pkg. but sill a F-150. If I read it correctly, the f-250ld has a larger trans and brakes along with the "7700" tow pkg. Is this correct ?

 

..........

 

From what I have been able to figure out, the F250 LD and the F150 7700 are the same truck.

The designation change occurred around the time of the introduction of the SuperDuty and the end of production of the F250 HD. The F250 HD was on the F series chassis / body design first used in 1992.

John

 

i understand.
Thank you,
Mickey

 

Very helpful. Thank you. While I now pulling a trailer is different than a boat because of the wind resistance, it's nice to hear a real world experience with towing in the mountains.