I will try not to make this too long.

I currently have a 2017 f150 lariat, supercrew, 4wd and 6.5' bed. I have a gooseneck hitch in it and have towed my 4 horse trailer for a lot of miles in the mountains of Colorado with no problems at all. I have 151,000 miles and am the original owner. The truck runs perfectly and I have not had any issues. I have religiously maintained it and would do the same with a new one.

Due to the impending tariffs and Ford's response to lowering the prices I am looking at getting a new truck. I was hoping for the power boost with the 7.2 Kw package. I would like a Lariat or Platinum trim and it has been very difficult to find anything larger than a 5.5' bed. I was surprised to find out that the Power boost has a much lower towing capacity than the 3.5L by itself even though it has more horsepower and more torque. The best we could find put the gooseneck weight at a maximum of 7100#. That is with the max tow package and the 7400# axles. But what really doesn't make sense to me is the fact that the rating lists the bumper pull at 10,800 and the gooseneck at 7100. I have always been under the impression that you can tow more with a gooseneck due to the weight being on the pin over the axle. Can someone help me make sense of this. I am very tempted to roll the dice and do it anyway considering my current truck with less hp and torque doesn't have any problem with it. I also would have assumed tha the shorter bed would tow more because it is less weight and a shorter "lever". I know there are some people on here that really know their stuff when it comes to this. I was hoping to put the hitch in and if necessary do an offset ball to help keep the trailer from hitting the cab. Am I off my rocker on this? Any insight or suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, trailer weight empty is 5400# and loaded would max out at 10,500 at the extreme.

Thank you,

Brian

 

The towing capacity for a GN is lower because of the payload rating on the truck.

Conventional hitch assumes 10% tongue weight and GN assumes 20% pin weight.

payload is the limiting factor for the GN. Adding insult to injury is the added dead weight of the powerboost equipment. All of that weight takes away from available payload which limits the trailer weight that can be towed (based on the 10% and 20% assumed to be carried by the truck)

horsepower is not the limiting factor. Payload capacity on the truck is the limiting factor in all instances for the f150.

also be aware that the listed towing capabilities advertised by ford are for an XL truck with no option, a full load of fuel, a 150 lbs driver, and no passengers.

those are the rules the weight police use to tell you that you need a 1 ton truck for anything bigger than a pop up camper.

 

As already noted payload is the limiting factor in most cases, not power. That goes for F250 & F350 as well. Tow capacities from dealers are often well crafted lies that don't figure in 10-15% of the hitch weight for a bumper pull or the 20-25% for goose/5th pull. RV dealers lie way harder on towing or weights. Truck dealers just mislead a bit. But the OEMs put out docs like https://www.ford.com/cmslibs/content...Info_Dec16.pdf that give you all the technical towing limits. As long as you can get accurate trailer & tongue/pin weights you can figure things out.

If you don't know or don't trust your trailer weights, run across a scale with & without your trailer. A Cat scale is about $20 & gives you weights for every axle. Your local gravel yard will probably let you roll across for free if you are nice. They will only have your total weight, so you may have to park creatively to get axle weights.

Power boost is a hybrid. That means it's lighting around an extra electric motor, battery & probably a heavier more complex transmission. That eats into payload capacity. I'm sure Regen braking on a hybrid or electric eats an exhaust brake for lunch on hills. Better job slowing you down & charging your battery sounds nice.

 

Thanks for the input. I am actually very good friends with the owner of our local gravel pit so I will go over there and get my weights. I could go after hours and even disconnect and get a very accurate trailer weight with tack and saddles in it. Interestingly, the dealer has a pretty slick kiosk that allows you to put in the VIN and it will give you all the details which is how we figured out it wouldn't work. The computer uses a 10% bumper and 15% for gooseneck. It's also my understanding that airbags won't add payload value to the truck? It is so frustrating that the truck I have is rated to tow it, and an 8 year newer truck won't. I guess I will have to forget the idea of the powerboost and stick with the 3.5L again. I really liked the idea of the hybrid.

 

Weigh the trucks rear axle and subtract that from the RAWR, that is the max tongue weight you can put on the truck. DOT doesn't care what Ford says. I've seen goosenecks from 12-25+% on the tongue, my camper is 19%.

 

Airbags would increase the capacity of the springs. The question becomes are the springs the weak link? The axle? The frame? The tires? The brakes? Personally I don't go down that road for a road vehicle. To much risk, I'm not a good enough engineer or that insurance or lawyers make things worse if things go bad.

 

take your current rig across a 3 axle scale. I’d bet you a frosty beverage that you are over limit on something. If not RAWR, GCWR or GVWR. It’s almost impossible to be under all three with anything close to what ford says you are supposed to be able to tow.

once you have the actual vehicle weights and anything in the vehicle, like passengers or a cooler, it adds up really fast.

 

I agree with you. I am sure it is over on something. We put my VIN into computer at the dealership and it came up as being within the limits. All the trucks I was looking at have the tow package and the 7400# axles. I would be fine putting E rated tires and airbags if that made the difference. I don't haul the 4 horse GN that often and mostly around town these days but want to have the ability. The rest of the time we pull a 3 horse BP. We are well within the limits for that. Unfortunately, we are taking a camping trip to Moab to ride horses in the desert for 3 days in a couple of weeks and that is a long enough drive I don't want to risk it if the combination won't work.

 

The pin weight on my trailer is over 1000# but under 1500# depending on what is in it.

 

It will work, it will just be over on GVW.

now that you’ve done the homework, you have to decide if it bothers you or not.

 

The springs are the weak link by a long shot on any half ton truck made this century.

Goosenecks and 5ths respond to being tongue light far more favorably than bumper pull trailers do.

Buy the half ton, throw an air bag kit at it and you will have a very good combination.