Hello from South Alabama,

New to heavy towing and need your input. I only really tow my boat usually. 2006 F150 4.6L gas. From what I can figure after looking at the manual and research online the towing capacity is 5000# with 500# tongue weight. To be honest I thought it would be more. I would be towing with a receiver hitch and not from the actual bumper itself. Ball and receiver are rated for 6000#.

I have to pull a 6200# wood load on a 1800# trailer, not mine, and from what I figure that is overloaded for my truck and equipment. I wanted folks that tow more than I do to verify my information. My local dealership has been 0 help in this math.

1) Can my truck/equipment tow this load safely?
2) If I have a two axle trailer that has 3200# axles does that total the rating capacity for the trailer as 6400#?
3) Tires, x4, are brand new and have a Load Range D, Max load single 2150 @ 65psi or dual 1870 @ 65psi, can those stand the load?

Thanks in advance for the insight.

 

How far are you towing it?

Once, out of the water and home--take it easy, you'll be ok. You do not appear to be overloading by any great amount but you appear to be at the max--for the most part.

Regular long distance and freeway towing? Do you feel lucky?

 

Keep the tongue weight less than 500# by moving the load (boat) backward or forward as needed. Leave plenty distance between your vehicle and the one in front, slow down when approaching a traffic light.
I'm sure your truck will do just fine.

 

You will be quite a bit over (8200#, right?) and it’s going to hurt a bit more if you don’t have the transmission cooler already, which I doubt you would with that hitch/hitch rating. At a certain point, the cooling system won’t shed heat no matter how fast or slow you go. Take two trips if possible?





https://rvsafety.com/images/pdf/FordTG2006.pdf

 

I've cracked 8k behind much smaller vehicles than your F150 and it was a non-event. I assume this is local only since you're hauling wood. You'll be fine. Load it a little lighter than recommended on the tongue so that you're less likely to hurt anything and just don't go so fast that it wiggles. It's a shame you don't have some spare axle capacity in the trailer.

 

I am driving from Baton Rouge, LA to Mobile, AL about 230 miles total with wood.

 

Your truck will do it but you won't win any races doing so. It should pull your boat just fine but you'll know the 8k load is back there and will likely be overloaded.

 

I towed heavy with a 5.4 gas a bit. Ended up adding too much stress on an already high mileage engine and developed a knock. Think about engine and transmission life in addition to safely here. Also, with an 8000# load, you need 800-1200# of tongue weight. Send like you're over your hitch limit to me.

 

If you can stand driving 230 miles at 45-55 mph, your truck will get you there.

im assuming a normally equipped super cab with 3.55 gears. So your tow rating is in the mid 6,000 lbs range with the towing package. You will be well above that.

You will be at the physical limit for the truck. Meaning, it won’t be happy but it will comply.

Expect 2nd gear up most hills at or near wide open. Expect 50-55 mph on the flat at 3/4 throttle.

Your biggest risk is to the transmission from overheating. The 4r75 is tough and can do a lot of work, but heavy loads create heat. that is your biggest enemy to the trans. The engine won’t care. It doesn’t make enough power to hurt itself.


If at all possible, install an auxiliary trans cooler in the cooler return line Before the trip.

The truck will do it. But just know that there is an uneasiness and sense of stress that comes with using a vehicle at its physical limit. Most people aren’t used to that kind of drive.

to your other questions:
1) your truck is safe(ish) for this load. You are beyond your rated capacity and beyond your hitch rated capacity. I’ve committed worse crimes. It’s not ideal but I don’t think you are at any real risk from any real failure

2) those are odd axle ratings. 3200 lbs is very uncommon. More common is 3500 lbs. you will be well beyond those ratings with the load you propose. They will be overloaded. I would not do that to my trailer. The axles may bend and the bearings will not be happy. I would remove a ton Of wood to get closer to the axle ratings if it were mine.

3) you can add the tire ratings to get the total load. Roughly speaking it looks like the tires are good to 8,000 lbs (+). I would be fine with that load on those tires if aired up properly for the load (65psi). But not on 3500 lbs axles. At least not on my trailer.

 

A lot of this depends on what condition your vehicle is in. The 4.6 will do it, but not quickly. I'd aim to keep the revs under 4,000RPM as much as possible, but on hills it might need more.

The load you're talking about on the trailer will be overweight on all of the critical parts besides the tires. I suggest you do not do that.

 

That's a you problem.

The 5.4 loves abuse as long as you do some semblance of regular oil changes (and fix the phasers, assuming it's a 3v pickup engine).

Not if he's not trying to go 60-80mph he doesn't.

In my experience since it's not a camper or some other stupid sail of a load dragging in the wind cruising at some low speed on relatively flat ground will likely involve about the same amount of throttle than keeping up with highway traffic does normally. Sure he'll put more heat into it on the hills but I think it'll be fine. What he's gonna do won't be worse for anything from a heat perspective than driving hard in DC or LA traffic.

The only thing that bothers me is the axle tubes. Lower end (so like under 10k) axles generally ****in suck and have little margin for overloading and this is compounded by the fact that your average trailer has like 2" of suspension travel before the frame and axles are smashing together.

 

Don't stress, make 2 trips, also, didn't see any mention of trailer brakes .
op, how do you know the weight of the wood?

 

May I suggest you post a picture of your door jamb sticker? That way we could decode the axle, diff, and other information to give better advice on the truck.

There should also be a data plate on the trailer. Find that and it will answer a lot of your questions.

Typically double axle trailers are rated for 7000 or 10000 pounds GVWR. They usually have a seven pin round connector and electric brakes.

If you have the towing package on your F150, that will help. I assume you have a seven-pin on your truck as well - if not, add about $120 for the cable. And a trailer brake controller - about the same with the adapter cable.

And if you do tow this load, get yourself weighed with load, total and each axle.

Good luck - but get more information before you do this.

 

I'd stay off of I-12 and I-10 with that load. You'll probably be safer taking back roads at 50-55 mph when loaded. Too many crazies on the interstates!!

 

Bottom line, no - it's not "safe". You are breaking too many rules at once, and over a moderately long distance. You can usually, safely, break one rule at a time, as long as it's not too far off base. But you are smashing a few of them over what will be an all-day trip. BTW, I wouldn't do it even for a 10 mile trip, for something that short I'd definitely do it in 2 - the trailer axle rating is the worst part of the equation and you could literally break the thing before you put it in D.

That said, I have seen/heard/done(!) a few "un-safe" things before, with no failures. A lot of it comes down to what your risk:benefit/reward ratio is comfortable with. Personally I would resign myself to making 2 trips. Yes, it may mean 1 extra day behind the wheel, but that is better than a month in the hospital, or pushing up daisies before your expected time.