I have a short bed and tow a 34' 5th wheel. I have the B&W hitch and there is enough adjustment in the hitch so it will clear the cab. I did a lot of cross country trips till it all hit the fan. Mine weighs a max load of about 13,000# but I never tow that heavy. I just pack what I need for the trip. I don't let my wife pack a bunch of cloths that we will never use. Shoes that's something else. I only pack 2 pairs. If you just go to the lake or some camping trip in state then you may tow a little more stuff. I am going a little bigger with a Grand design Solitude.310 GK tghat will max out my truck. Getting disk brakes on the trailer is a must.

 

You do know that Grand design has an UVW pin weight of 19.5% right? Does your F250 have more than 3000 pounds payload? You will need it for that trailer. That is more trailer than I would tow with my F350 SRW, it maxes out at 12,600 with a 20% pin weight, and I have 3440 payload. As it sits my 13,500 GVWR 5th wheel is 100 over GVWR of the truck and it is nearly 1000 pounds under its gross. That grand design is 1500 pounds higher GVWR and UVW is nearly 2000 more than mine.

That trailer road ready will be near 13,600 no matter how careful you load it. You can easily add 1500 pound of stuff and not know it, and the pin weight will be at least 2700 pounds. That is not a 3/4 ton trailer. It barely falls into SRW weight for that model year truck, which is no different than my 2012.

 

The hitch weight is 2.350 so I am over for the yellow sticker but for the axles I'm still ok My truck according to the towing guide can tow a 15,900 trailer. Check out page 16 of the towing guide. https://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/ If you go by the yellow sticker you couldn't tow a empty outhouse. This isn't my first rodeo' I have over 30,000 miles towing around this country. I have been in almost every situation you can think of. I have done my research and done the math. I have weighed my truck and camper. and I am well under my numbers foe the Soiltude I want. It's only a foot longer than the one I have now.

 

Thats 15,900 @ 15% pin weight, or 2350 pounds. Know your numbers, that trailer is too heavy for that truck. The trailer you are looking at is 20% pin weight empty! There is a reason the GAWR is higher than the GVWR. Exceeding GVWR by 100 pounds is fine, 500 over and you are stressing components. But whatever, you seem to know better than someone who knows the numbers and has been driving heavy equipment since the 1980's.

 

the tow guides are also max weight possible for a base model truck. thats why there are tons of disclaimers like this
Select column with transmission, cab design and drive system (4x2 or 4x4) you prefer. Read down column to find the trailer weight that can be towed with engine/axle ratio combinations listed at left. GCWR column shows maximum allowable combined weight of vehicle, trailer and cargo (including passengers) for each engine/axle ratio combination. Maximum Loaded Trailer Weight assumes a towing vehicle with any mandatory options, no cargo, tongue load of 10–15% (conventional trailer) or king pin weight of 15–25% (5th-wheel trailer) and driver only (150 pounds). Weight of additional options, passengers, cargo and hitch must be deducted from this weight.

 

Akley88 I said all that in a earlier post. Max towing if for all trucks not just for XL trucks. Every truck can tow the weight listed in the guide unless it was stipulated. All trucks don't all weight the same TRUE. but the truck weight is for the load carrying capacity along with the tires and axles. Never overload your axles thats the load limit of your truck. If you look at the chart it shows that you can only tow a 14,000 trailer but a 5th wheel you can tow 15,900 trailer. If you have a regular cab you can tow 16,300. I have done a lot of math on theis and talked to the guys that enforce this stuff. You need to look at your truck and do your own math becase your payload will be different.

 

Max trailer weight, based on J2807 is at the lowest weight on the truck. 10% for conventional, 15% for 5th wheel/goose. Max trailer weight goes down as pin or tongue ratio comes up. Can the truck tow 15900? Sure provided pin weight is no more than 15%. Can the F150 rated at 13,500 tow a 13,500 pound trailer? Sure, provided it is only 10%, anything above that exceeds the receiver rating.

The LIMIT to towing anything is Payload. Not Axle ratings, Payload. Go over payload and you go over GVWR. There is also the GCVWR that should never be exceeded, GCVWR on the 2015 is 23,500. The difference between F250 and F350 is 600 pounds for max trailer weight, both have same GCVWR, but the F350 has more payload due to the higher GVWR, 11,500 vs 10,000, so 1500 pound more capacity. Even with that, I would not go more than a 13K GVWR trailer because that is the limit on an RV.

Mine is 100 over GVWR when loaded, 11,600. another 10K on the axles, for a GCVWR of 21740. It's under GCVWR but over GVWR. That same trailer on an F250 would put it 1600 pounds OVER its GVWR. That's not a little, thats a LOT! Drive that rig through Nebraska and you will get pulled over, saw it happen right in front of me. A GMC 2500 pulling a huge Montana, and not a carrier, but a private setup, got pulled over at the scales. They were right behind me as I passed the in road weigh scales, and there is a sign telling which trucks to enter or not, his was flagged as I got to the sign.

 

edited ...

 

Question for all the guys that know the WHY;
WHY do two identical trucks, say F350 SRW CCLB, 6.7L PSD, all the same axles, brakes tires, transmissions, etc……EXCEPT gear ratio in the differentials. Why do the 4.30 geared trucks have a higher GCWR than one with say 3.31 gears? It can’t be a stopping factor…..they have the same brakes, they have the same weight carrying capacity so it can’t be hitch weight. I am all ears.

 

These guys just dont get it. They think that payload isn't limited by the axle or the tires.It's some stupid yellow sticker for DMV It's pointless to even have a conversation with them as they know everything. yet they absolutely know nothing. You would think the engineers at Ford would know how to engineer a truck to tow the weights listed in the tow guide. I guess all those engineering degrees mean nothing.
At least you get it Don.

 

Thanks. I often wonder if many folks have taken the time to actually read and try to understand what SAE J2807 rating consists of. And another thing is how much weight they are actually licensed for.