I am looking at a 2011 F-250 6.7L V8 Diesel, Automatic, 10,000lb GVWR, Tow Haul, Trailer Brake Control, Traction Control, Tow Package, 17" Rim Size tires. Does the weight allowed by towing increase if I put a gooseneck on? I am interested in a ball style after market gooseneck possibly. What would you recommend? I am wanting to build a gooseneck tiny house that will (not counting the gooseneck portion) be about a 24-28 ft tow.

 

Gooseneck or 5th wheel towing limits are increased over a bumper pull or receiver hitch.

Do you have the factory 5th wheel/ gooseneck ball prep on the truck?

 

The Ford towing guide lists a higher gooseneck rating than fifth wheel rating. There was some speculation that the lower fifth wheel rating was due to the fifth wheel hitch you can buy from Ford was only rated for that amount.

 

No, it doesn’t have a current factory gooseneck or 5th wheel. I would have to get an after market install.

 

I would recommend getting the OEM style for your truck from etrailer.com. If you can install it yourself.

Otherwise your local RV dealer can probably install it.

 

I'm curious, how are you going to build a gooseneck house? The reason I ask is while you may tow more gooseneck style, you may get more for the weight with a fiver.

 

I agree that a 5th wheel is a better option for the amount of space

A do it yourself will likely result in a very heavy tt.

 

I agree, every "properly built" tiny house I've seen has been much heavier than a comparably sized fiver. And to me the factory built RVs, even with their sometimes less than perfect as-built delivered condition, offer far better liveability and features AND they have onboard fresh, grey and black water tanks making their use vastly more flexible. My personal take on the whole "tiny home" scene is that is a solution to a problem that has been answered very well with RVs for decades already, but I understand there are plenty of folks with a different view and circumstances that see them as a better option.

 

As stated by others, properly built tiny homes are MUCH heavier than a similarly sized fifth wheel RV. If you do go with a tiny home, you will be way beyond the payload capacity of a 3/4-ton SRW diesel truck.

Rob

 

Your Ford gooseneck rating is 14,400-16,700, depending on axle ratio and cabin. The problem with F-250’s, especially diesels, is they run out of payload long before pulling power. A gooseneck generally puts 20-25% of its weight on the tow vehicle. If you take your truck’s GVWR of 10k, minus actual weight with occupants, what do you get? That number is your payload.

For arguments’ sake, let’s say you have 3k in payload left. That will hold a gooseneck of 12k (25%) to 15k (20%). If you can find a triple axle or a trailer with axles closer to the front of the trailer, you’ll take some of the tongue weight away.

For example, look at your typical RV trailer:
Here’s a quick pull, from the internet, just for example.


See how far forward the axles are? They carry more of the weight in the trailer, relieving tongue weight. However, the typical flatbed used to haul things like a tiny house are set up with axles further back.
No plug for Big Tex, but they have a good website, shows trailer sizes including weights and payload.



Finding flatbeds with axles much further forward than these, even in triples, is hard to find. They are designed for the truck to hold a lot of the weight.

 

Goose vs fifth-wheel actually makes very little difference in what you can tow. GCWR, GVWR and GAWR are what matter. According to the 2011 towing guide (https://www.fleet.ford.ca/resources/...ng%20Guide.pdf) a F-250 diesel has a GCWR of 23,500 lbs.

Since you say you're 'looking at', I assume you don't own that F-250 yet? See if the dealer/seller will let you run it through a set of scales. That would be the best approach. With that, you'll know the weight of the truck (WoT).

Then, you have:

GVWR - WoT = available payload for hitch weight. (AP)
GCWR - WoT = available towing capacity for trailer weight. (ATC)

And, ideally, you want that hitch weight to be between 20-25% of the trailer weight. So take the lesser of AP x 4 and ATC. That'll be closer to your true trailer capacity. It's going to a lot lower than the towing guide states and will probably be a bit of shock.

Here's a worst case example using the numbers in the towing guide itself:

It says a F-250 4x4 CC has a max towing capacity of 14,400 lbs, and a GCWR of 23,500. Subtracting those numbers, gives us an assumed WoT of 9,100 lbs. At 10,000 GVWR, that's only 900 lbs of payload capacity. At a 25% pin weight, that's only a 3,600 lbs fiver it can tow, even though the guide says 14,400 lbs.

Here's a best case example:

F-250 4x2 RegCab - max tow 16,700 and GCWR of 23,500. Subtract those, assumed WoT of 6,800 lbs. at 10,000 lbs GVWR, that's 3,200 lbs payload. At 20% pin, that's 16,000 lbs fiver. Which, you see, is still less than the max tow that's listed, though not as far off as that worst case scenario.

Getting back to your needs, you'll need to get the true weight of the truck you're looking at in order to get your true specs. And then you'll have to be able to built your tiny home within those specs to be within spec.

Based on what I've seen on those Tiny Home shows on HGTV, most of those aren't going to be within spec of an F-250, but that doesn't mean it can't be done, as long as you're aware of your specs and willing to make some concessions to be within those specs.