Hello good Ford Truck People! I am looking to upgrade my F150 to an F250. Found a used one for a price I'm willing to pay with my trade. It's a 2014 King Ranch edition, 4X2, 6.7L diesel. My hope is this will be my truck until it's wheels fall off. Part of the reason for the upgrade is for better towing of our camper, but I also want the possibility to upgrade to a 5th wheel down the road. So this is where I need help understanding the numbers. When I go to Ford's website to look at payload capacity, I get that it has a 2813 lb payload capacity. When I looked at the sticker on the door jamb, it said there "the weight of the passengers and the cargo should not exceed 1980 lbs." Which one of these is correct? If only 1980, then there is no way I could tow a 5th wheel camper as many of them are 1500+ lbs on the hitch. Then add the weight of my family and you are up at 2000 lbs. What are your thoughts on this? Am I understanding the numbers wrong? Is there a difference between "payload capacity" and "cargo weight"? Thank you for helping this novice out at understanding the numbers.

 

You are on track. Ford's website lists is for a bare bones XL model. More options = more weight, which subtracts from what you can carry.


Here is the good news, your proposed F250 is really a F350 in disguised. Yup, same truck, Same parts (except an overload leaf).


So what I would do is go borrow the truck, take the family along and everyone go to the scales. You are trying to get as close as you would be when towing.


See what you get.


When considering a 5th wheel, keep axle ratings (RAWR) and max tire load @ 80 psi in mind. Don't exceed the lesser of the two and drive on.


You should be just fine with a 5th wheel around 14-15K GVW. That would be around 3K for the king pin wt, which becomes payload.

 

as Mr. Senix said.

diesel reduces carry load
4x4 reduces carry load.
fancy package reduces carry load.

but yes 250/350 same truck..
and IF the 250 has camper slide-in package, same spring package as 350... and a rear anti-sway bar...

my 250, "XL" 2 wheel drive, Gas 6.2L with slide in camper package can carry 3,600 pounds

 

Thank you for the words of wisdom. If I understand this stuff correctly, I also noticed the RAWR was 6100lbs on this 250. So let's just say for argument sake, the unloaded weight of the truck on the rear axel is around 3000 lbs. Would that essentially mean that I have 3100 lbs of payload I can put on that rear axel? Not that I would do something like that, but I could look at 5vers with pin weights around 2200 or so (taking into account the additional weight that stuff in the camper like propane tanks, etc, would add to that weight bearing down on the rear axel. Does that sound reasonable, or am I really missing the mark here? Thanks for your patience in helping this newbie navigate this stuff. I just know that when I go to campgrounds, there are TONS of people pulling 5vers with 250s, so I want to make sure I'm doing this right. I don't mind starting to search for a 350 as there isn't a huge difference in cost, but I imagine the added capabilities of a 350 means you are going to get a much stiffer ride. This truck would be my everyday truck to and from work. And then we get about 30 days of camping per year, so I'd rather have the better ride of the 250 if it'll handle the payload I would eventually want to have.

 

5th wheels and goose necks will put you in dually land. A large slide in will put you in dually land.

 

Yes you are correct do not exceed your rear axle rating and also your tire rating,you can find your tire weight rating on the sidewall of your tires.

As far as the ride goes I went from a 14 F-250 with the 6.2 gas to a 16 F-350 with the 6.7 powerstroke. My F-350 rides alot better than my 250 did,my wife even commented on it the first time she rode in it.

 

This was with my F250. I have since upgraded to a DRW, not because I had to but it was a better ride for the wife's back.

You are on track. Your rear probably comes in at 3150 or so.


Take the GVW of the proposed trailer and figure 20% for king pin wt.


And yes it can work out fine with a F250

 

First of all, I disagree with several of the posts here about the F250 and F350 being the same truck....excepting the leaf springs. Axle spline sizes are different and ring/pinion size (thickness) is different. The bottom line is the payload sticker (normally a white sticker with yellow printing/highlighted areas on it) is the number that you need to go by....and 1980 lbs of payload is NOT enough for any 5ver except a very small one. There are lots of folks that will tell you the opposite of what I have just said, but you really should not exceed ANY of the weight capacities of the truck....GVWR, GCWR, Payload, Axle ratings (front and/or rear), and the tire ratings. The end decision is up to you, but you came here asking for advice and my advice is to never exceed any of them.....and on your truck, the 1980 lbs of payload ain't very much. I had a 2011 F250 diesel crew cab 4x4 XLT and the payload was only 2148 lbs on it....so they are not the best choice for towing 5vers...unless your 5ver is pretty small.

Personally, I would look at something in the F350 range....SRW or DRW...depending on whether you are thinking about a really big 5ver of something that might be putting 2600-3000 lbs of pin weight on the truck.

 

The axle shaft spine count was debunked several years ago. They are the same.


Disclamier: Model year 2017 and up there are many changes between models of F250/F350.

 

You may be correct, but if you check the Ford spec sheet for say the 2015 model trucks (I just picked 2015 randomly....but purposely NOT the 2017 model year), you will see that there IS a difference between the F250 and the F350 models are far as spline size....

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas...SB_Updates.pdf

The point though, is that the F250 CCC is way under the CCC of the F350 and as I stated earlier, it's never a good idea to exceed ANY of the truck's weight ratings.

 

I have seen that for a number of years. I have been searching for the thread where the engineers admitted it was a typo and they are both the same. If I find it I will post it.

 

Fair enough!

 

Sure, my F250 will pull that trailer. Hehehe...






















My truck pulls it just fine.

 

2010 HD Brake Tests - PickupTrucks.com Special Reports


Brake Tests

 

[quote]

I just know that when I go to campgrounds, there are TONS of people pulling 5vers with 250s, so I want to make sure I'm doing this right

[quote]

check them closer

odds are they added F-350 leaf spring blocks, f-350 over leaf springs, and rear anti sway bars.


or air bags or other gizmo’s to prevent the tail gate from scraping the ground.