True.. it was a 150hp boat anchor, my father had one of those in a '78 E150.

So from '86 on they were right up to what the later EFI trucks were rated at. Was '86 the first year for the 351HO? Maybe the motor is the difference.

 

But the 6.9L IDI non-turbo couldn't have had much more power than the 2 bbl 351. In '85 with a manual trans it was rated for 9000 (3.08) / 13,000 (3.55) / 14,000 (4.10). And with an auto those ratings change to 10,500 / 12,000 / 14,000. So overall a lot higher than the 351, about the same manual or auto, and no rhyme or reason to whether the manual gives higher or lower ratings than an auto. It just seems like they were determining tow ratings with a dart board.

The '85 owners manual lists tow ratings for a 5.8L-2V and a 5.8L4V H.O. with an automatic, but only the 2V with a manual. The 2V auto has ratings of 10,000 (3.55) / 11,000 (3.73) / 11,000 (4.10). The HO has 10,000 (3.00) / 11,500 (3.55) / 12,500 (4.10). For what that's worth.

 

The 6.9 was 170hp and 338tq

but the 5.8 HO was 190hp and 285tq

 

I just stumbled onto this thread. So you guys are telling me a 94 F150 can only tow 2 or 3 thousand pounds?? That just seems ridiculously low to me. But my wife's SUV can tow 8500lbs. Something doesn't add up here.

 

For the pickup, it depends on the engine, trans and axle ratio. Some will be significantly higher than that, but small engine, manual trans and tall gears, sure, that'll be about the limit.

For the SUV, what does your wife have? 8500 lbs seems pretty high for most, but maybe not out of the question for a newer full size (and probably even low for something like an Excursion).

And by the way, tow ratings are rarely simple. Older vehicles rated GCWR, total weight of the truck and trailer. So the more weight you had on the truck it was obvious that you had to have that much less on the trailer. Newer vehicles often give a max trailer weight, which seems simpler. But often there's fine print. I know my dad's Honda minivan was rated to tow a 5000 lb trailer... if the van was empty with just the driver in it. Yes, the owner's manual said that. But a casual glance made it seem like it simply was rated to tow 5000 lbs.

 

Ford still rates them on GCWR. They publish a big matrix of tow ratings that takes the engine, axle ratio, GCWR, wheelbase, transmission, and driveline configuration (4x2 vs 4x4) into consideration.

Here's the table for the '13 F-150:
https://www.ford.com/resources/ford/...rv&tt_f150.pdf

 

She drives a Yukon. Just double checked it and it's good for 8100lbs. Anyway just kinda shocked that a truck would be that much lower.

 

The same formulas still apply, the difference is all these newer "1/2 ton" trucks are roughly equivalent to an F250 from this generation. The engines are at least twice as powerful, transmissions are much more durable, and brakes and axles are bigger compared to these old 1/2 tons.

 

So Ford considered the manual trans the weak link then as they always have.

 

The weak link is the loose nut behind the wheel. The manual trans requires user input. Around and around we go.

Ever see someone try to speed shift while towing at GCW?

 

Don't know if it is still true but for a while the DOT or NTSB or whatever alphabet soup bureaucrats were imposing their will on the people were using the rule that as long as you didn't overload any one component you were ok. Don't overload a tire or a spring or a hitch, etc.

You try to find GCWR for an old truck and it's hard to understand. Fifth wheel hitches, goosenecks and duallys really confuse the issue.

 

I Googled Yukon tow rating and got a GMC site that does list 8,500 lbs (don't know what year). But the fine print does say "When determining the total weight of trailer and cargo, include the weight of any additional passengers and optional equipment (driver weight and base equipment are already included)." So if you put an additional 500 lbs of people, and 1000 lbs of cargo in the vehicle it will reduce the tow rating. So like I said, tow ratings aren't simple. Lots of people get confused by GCWR, but as long as you know your truck's weight it's still the most straightforward rating system.

And in fact, the F-250 from this generation is now actually called an F-150. The "standard duty" F-250 that got the new body style in '97 was rebadged as an F-150 in '98 or '99 when Ford realized that having 2 different F-250s that shared nothing in common except the name was not a Better Idea.

But unfortunately, Ford's idea of what the weak link is ultimately is the only thing that matters. They put a lower tow rating on a manual trans and it has a lower tow rating. It doesn't matter if you or I can shift a trans better than that (although it is odd that they thought that diesel pickup drivers could shift well back in '85)

I disagree. It's a big table, but it's a lot easier to understand than a lot of the newer charts that say the maximum trailer weight rating is 8,500 lbs and then says in the fine print that you need to include the weight of passengers and cargo in your trailer weight.

 

guess we all need to sell our ford trucks and buy yukon suv to haul anything now

 

You must not have seen the owner's manual for 1991.

I'll try to post a picture if I remember long enough.

 

i decided im just going to purchase a older used semi truck to haul larger loads with since these pickups cant handle 20k