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Since I apparently opened up a can of worms I had not given enough thought about in a previous post I thought I better ask for some more assistance on the subject of towing. I have a 1973 F100 with a 390. The previous owner had finished restoring the engine, drivetrain and suspension just before I bought the truck. Almost everything is restored to original specifications from what I can tell. My question is how much can I tow on a flat trailer and what improvements/upgrades could I make to the truck and/or trailer to improve towing performance. One thing I was already looking at was a weight distribution hitch. Thanks for any suggestions and recommendations.
In your other post you mentioned being in the wood business. You can get a lot of weight in no time when loading up with wood especially if its wet.
Tow capacity is probably 5000lb or under unless the truck had a factory tow package
Presume 2WD?
What tranny?
What gear ratio in axle? Check code on door tag if not sure and someone can decode it
What is the GVWR on the door tag?
Estimated gross weight (trailer weight and load) of what you want to tow?
Kinda go's without saying but trailer brakes on all 4 wheels is imperative.
Factory towing specs tend to be a bit on the conservative side and depending on other variations like driver towing experience, expected speeds, hills or flat terrain, tongue weight, etc can sway the specification either way a bit.
Due to liability reasons and inability for someone to see all the towing conditions most answers on a forum will be not to exceed the factory towing specification.
Trailer does have at least have one axle with elec brakes and you have a quality brake controller in the truck? Not a hydraulic surge brake set up and you can adjust the sensitivity (gain) of the controller versus load weight amount and or manually control them. Both axles with elec brakes even better. Bottom line, follow your state regs. If you have an automatic transmission, I would make sure to have a transmission cooler installed. Tow specs are...
Trailers between 3,000–10,000 lbs. need not have brakes on all wheels, provided that the trailer has 2 or more axles, is equipped with brakes acting on all wheels of at least 1 of the axles, and the combination of vehicles is capable of complying with braking performance requirements.
Brakes can be installed on only one axle of a tandem axle trailer, however you should first check your state laws to see how many brakes are required for the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of your tandem axle trailer. Some states require a specific number of brakes based on the maximum weight capacity of a trailer.
A lot of variables there. summer or winter or both? 15" tires on rear might be not so good for heavy load durability. Cooling package? It can pull a lot if equipped. 2 Brothers got in a fight one day... One had a 1989 7.3 diesel f350 and the other had a 1979 f150. The f350 puked going over a 9000' Colorado pass about 1/3 from the top. The brother brought his 79 up there. Was told that that little truckcould not get that truck, trailer, and case backhoe up the hill to the top, go home and get the bigger truck to do it. The 79 hooks a chain to the f350, and up it goes. lockthe hubs in and lock it into 1 on the c6 and the story goes it took 1/2 of one tank o fuel to drag that 20,000+ to the top of the hill. everything was fine. That truck had a 400 and a 4 row camper special radiator, and no tongue weight. Good luck. they can tow well if properly loaded and equipped.
I think we need a sticky for *realistic* towing setups. Those charts would be a great start, Rich. It would also be cool to track people's mods for towing different weight classes, including axles, springs, transmission upgrades and so on.
Your axle I’d tag shows a 3.25 gear ratio. Not bad but I’d like a little more gear depending on tire size and the amount of weight you are pulling.
Does the truck have a transmission cooler? What size radiator? Take a few pics of that area if your not sure and the guys on here can help you out on that as well.
My truck is a 4wd, 3.50 gears and the super duty cooling package and a transmission cooler. When I do pull the ATV trailer and with a full load I’m pulling right around a 2500 pound load depending on what’s all on it. I’ll pull that load for up to 3 1/2 hours one way (except stopping for gas one time on the way...as a 19 gallon tank at 9mpg doesn’t’ get you far) to our place up North with no issues.
Yeah it's time people put more horse power in their search engine before they think about more ponies in their truck. BTW I want to take the time to thank you brother for all the time and energy you've put in that thread. I can't tell you how many times I've used that info to answer a question.
search engine.....what is that? Nice to have you back around FTE redroad.Oh SEARCH ENGINE....Do you see the blue line with User CP, Albums, FAQ? See the SEARCH on that line?It has a drop down search menu arrow, go to the "Advanced Search" option, top left side (search block) type in there what you are looking for and then go to the lower right column and highlight 73-79 forum. Select it and then you will have a detailed search just in the 73-79 forums.
BTW I want to take the time to thank you brother for all the time and energy you've put in that thread. 
I can't tell you how many times I've used that info to answer a question.
Nice to have you back around FTE redroad.Oh SEARCH ENGINE....Do you see the blue line with User CP, Albums, FAQ? See the SEARCH on that line?It has a drop down search menu arrow, go to the "Advanced Search" option, top left side (search block) type in there what you are looking for and then go to the lower right column and highlight 73-79 forum. Select it and then you will have a detailed search just in the 73-79 forums.
