Not everyone towing with a half ton has that experience.

put your cargo in the camper and you don’t have to worry about being over on payload. Load it right and use a good hitch and you won’t have to worry about stability.

towing with a half ton isn’t a death sentence. And it’s not “severely compromised experience” for everyone. Do the leg work to set it up right, and you can drive it with one hand.

 

I think you are both right really. it can be a bad experience, or it can be a good one, and the difference is how much work you put into adjusting and loading. Certainly there's less to fuss with when the truck is larger and heavier.

Daily driving a heavier larger truck can also be a "severely compromised experience" depending where you live. Life is about trade-offs.

 

agree with all of this 100%

That was the exact point I was trying convey.

 

Couldn't agree more, put that engine in an F250 and it's much easier to exceed the cargo capacity towing, especially with a fifth wheel. The cost to upgrade to an F350 is very small and the cargo capacity will usually manage most any trailer.

 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​I agree as well.

Sorry, my language should probably have been a little more inclusive, but doing that often makes for a convoluted answer. At the time, I inferred from @XGP's original post that (1) they don't have a truck at all now, (2) they are open to go F-150 or F-250, and (3) their estimates of trailer weights (therefore sizes) are very loose estimates. This leads me to believe they may not have much experience towing, therefore also not much experience balancing cargo properly and GVRWs and GAWRs etc., therefore they'd probably be better off with a little extra margin. I also do not know if they are towing in the Rocky Mountains or the plains of Kansas, or somewhere in-between. Then I framed my answer as a response to the direct challenge:

. . . that was preceded by:

​​​​​​​
I agree that not all have a bad experience towing 9k with an F-150, but many do. Often, the bad experiences are traced back to not enough truck for the job/too much trailer for the truck, lack of experience, and badly-balanced loads. Since OP seems to be starting from square one, didn't mention any prior experience, and mentioned towing more than 13,000 pounds with an F-150, I went the safe route. Since they are looking to keep the truck for a while and are planning an upgrade to the trailer, it seemed the wise way to go.

I haven't come across anyone yet that towed a 13,000 pound travel trailer with an F-150 and came back to tell us how great it was and I believed them.

Maybe they meant towing a 9k trailer above 13,000' altitude? In which case I'd still recommend an F-250 or bigger.

As it is, @XGP hasn't been back since the day of the post, so who knows if they've even seen any of this, or if they are one and done like so many.

 

A DRW 1 ton eliminates all the weaknesses of the 1/2 and 3/4 ton for pulling.

 

Well, Unless you live in a state where there's registration differences, there's basically no point ever buying an F250 over an F350. Now SRW vs DRW and Gas Vs Diesel can get a little crazy, so I won't wade into that mess.

 

I forget about registration because it’s a nonissue for me.

My state sticks it to us yearly on value. So I have to play other games. My DRW is valued less than many 1500s.

 

I'm up in Canuck-land. My province doesn't care about that stuff. The one near me has a reputation for pulling RV truck and trailer combos over and taking axle weights to determine if you are over. Apparently it's easy to do in a F250 with some fifth wheels. I don't know, I've never seen it happen, and I am not over my ratings. Might be an old wives tale, but it would ruin your day though.

 

I am just not sure why so many people wanting to pull medium to heavy campers shy away from the Super Duties. The Super Duties have a much more stable platform.

I pulled a light weight 28 1/2 footer for 8 years with my 2006 F150 XLT SC 4x4 with 6/5' bed and the 5.4L engine. I didn't know better then. It pulled decent, but I was at the GVWR of the truck with just that camper tongue weight and some camping supplies in the truck, along with my wife an 80 lb dog, and me in the cab. I got the truck to ride level with the WDH, which it seemed I was constantly adjusting.

A new 5th wheel demanded that I get a heavier truck. We ordered a 2017 F350 Lariat CCSB 4x4 with the 6.7L engine. No trouble pulling our Grand Design 5th wheel through 36 states and 23,000 miles.

We recently downsized to an Imagine 26' bumper pull trailer. I would not want to pull this trailer with a 1/2 ton pickup. The tongue weight is going to be upwards of 800 lbs. My 2017 F350 is a bit of overkill for this trailer, but we plan on keeping this truck until I can no longer drive.

I did a comparison of F150s and Super Duties in 2019, so some of the figures may be off now, but should be close.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post20128463

 

It's mostly ones that have never towed with a SD/HD truck. Going from a half ton to 3/4 or larger is a night and day difference that some don't realize until they make the change. Once you switch to a SD/HD truck you'll never go back to towing with a half ton. It's the same with any tool, there's always something better to use and you don't know what you're missing until you upgrade. I am in the same boat as you, I'll never go back to a half ton while we have a camper, the SD is the right tool for the job in my opinion, others have their own opinion here too and that's ok.

 

For me it’s because I don’t want to drive a 3/4 or 1 ton truck everywhere when it’s not needed. I hate the idea of driving one of those every day. I’ve ridden in them, and towed with them, and I think they flat out suck. Great for towing heavy stuff, but everything else is a compromise.

I’ve towed my camper with both and I prefer the way the expedition tows over the super duty at that level of trailer. The half ton moves around some but it’s stable. The super duty flat wore me out. I felt like I was sawing at the wheel the whole time and my ribs hurt from the crappy ride.

mine is 7500 lbs and 1200 lbs on the tongue. And I much prefer the expedition for that level of trailer. Anything more and I’ll use the super duty. But anything less than 8,000 lbs I’m using the expedition.

 

I have been pulling different flavors of campers for over a decade. I started pulling pop-ups with a Nissan Pathfinder, and graduated to pulling it with an F-150 3.5 EcoBoost with the Max Tow option. We moved from the pop-up to travel trailers, going from our first Forest River 21FBRS, and then to a 2205S, to our current Keystone Cougar 26RBS. All pulled well by the 150. But with the Cougar, I knew I was over my 1600-ish payload limit. That’s when I decided to order my current ride, a 2022 F-350 Platinum 6.7 CCSB with the 3.31 rear end. I ordered a 350 because it was only about $1,000 more than a 250 so that choice was a no-brainer. I LOVE this truck! Unloaded it rides great, and it pulls our rolling house without any issues. I continue to use the same Andersen WDH that I got when we bought our first travel trailer and have NEVER had any sway. With the S&B 60 gallon tank, we can fuel when and where we want, often at Krogers where we use our fuel points to get $1 off per gallon.

 

What wore you out with the super duty? Just the harsher ride? You are the first person I've came across that's stated their half (or expy in your case) pulls better than a SD truck while towing. Now empty that's a whole different story and fully agree your expy rides better than a SD. I'm not saying a smaller vehicle can't tow, just curious how it was a better ride overall towing because that's not the experience I had.

 

You must not have been in any Super Duty made in the last 7 years. Since 2017 I've found they ride very comparable to the F-150's. I've owned both and my current Super Duty is smooth and very comfortable. I agree - everything is a compromise. Towing heavy with a 1/2 ton you compromise your safety, your sanity, your vehicle lifespan, etc. If your "ribs hurt" from riding in a modern Super Duty there was something wrong with it or you had recently been in a brawl with someone like Mike Tyson. :-)

Your advice on using a 1/2 ton truck to tow heavier trailers misses one GIGANTIC point - TRAILER CONTROL. If and when some idiot pulls out in front of you, a large item bounces out of, or rolls out from under, a truck in front of you, etc. and you are traveling above 35 MPH, your ability to control the trailer when you slam on the brakes and swerve to try and avoid the collision will be severely compromised in a 1/2 ton truck. I speak from experience with this scenario. Get 8,000+ lbs. of trailer off-axis behind your 1/2 ton and watch what happens as it follows the laws of physics and continues in a straight line. Since the trailer weighs much more than your truck, it will more easily push the rear of the truck off-axis to where you are trying to go. A Super Duty will have a HUGE advantage in this scenario.

Now throw in towing a giant sail through a thunderstorm with winds, a windy place in general, getting passed in tight quarters by fast moving semi trucks, etc. and the Super Duty will again demonstrate why it is the proper tool for the job at hand. Climb or descend a few mountains / big hills / etc. and yet another example of why a 1/2 ton is not the best tool for the job will be presented to the driver. I can't believe you compare towing between a 1/2 ton and a Super Duty with so many people on this forum alone posting about their positive experiences when getting the larger truck.

My Super Duty has a unloaded curb weight of 8,640 lbs. With me, my wife, generator, tools, water and other typical gear we take, it weighs over 9,200 lbs. My payload is 3,381 lbs. How much payload is left on a F-150 towing 8,000 or more lbs.? My TT weighs just under 9,700 lbs. as it sits, ready to travel. How much does an EcoBoost or Coyote F-150 weigh? I guarantee the delta between the two truck / RV scenarios is large.

Finally, if a collision does occur - which truck would you rather be in?

OP - If you are serious about buying a larger RV in the future, just buy the Super Duty now. You will enjoy how easily it tows your current trailer and, when you do buy a larger RV, the truck will be one less thing to worry about or spend money on. Buy a Blue Ox WDH and when you get a larger RV you can just buy the higher weight spring bars for it. Finally, you said to convince you that you don't need a F-250. I agree - you should get a F-350 !!! Future proof yourself against almost any RV you may end up wanting, minus a big 5'er. But I'm biased... :-)