I have a delima. I have a 2003 F250 CC LB with the 7.3l in it. My truck has a 8" lift sitting on 37" tires. I want to buy a 5th wheel toyhauler and am struggle as to how I can get my truck underneath it. My bedrails sit at 64 inches and most 5th wheel manufactures recommend your bedrails to be around 58 inches. I don't want to lower my truck. I know I can flip the axles on the trailer and possibly put some blocks on it. My question is, does anyone have any other options that i may have over looked as to how I can make this happen.

 

Put a flat bed on your truck, that way you will have the clearance that you need for the trailer.

If you lift the trailer high enough for proper clearance, you run into handling/center of gravity problems and your going to be too high for the drop down rear door to be a any use.

Unless you've regeared your truck for your 37" tires, you will not be able to tow much weight (trailer/cargo) very far or very fast.

Just my opinion after 35 yrs of pulling all kinds of trailers with a variety of trucks.

 

I have a tow behind that weighs around 11000lbs loaded and it tows it ok but its not happy about it. I am going to regear to a 430 gear and most likely drop down to 35" tires to help. This will lower my bedrails a little but probably not enough for a 5th wheel.

 

I have the stock 4" spacer block on mine, it is almost too high for my trailer and I flipped the axles on it. I really don't see any way to solve yours other than the flat bed or some type of customized bed with a low 5th wheel hitch point. But then again, a big lifted truck with a flat bed would definately be different from others for sure Plus you could then really customize the bed for all kinds of options.

 

I don't mind putting blocks on the trailer if its safe. How do you feel about yours with the flipped axles and 4"inch blocks?

 

An F250 is not enough truck for hauling a 5th wheel that weighs more than about 10,000lbs let alone a 5th wheel toy hauler. The pin weight of a 5th wheel is about 25% of the gross, way too much for the rear axle capacity of a F250.

 

just pull the lift off! i mean if you are truely looking to haul you're gonna hate it with a lifted truck. either that or get another. i was thinking about putting a lift on my 96 F350 but that would totally destroy the intended purpose of the truck. i love (and i laugh hard) when i see a truck going down the road with a lift and big tires and the trailer is angled way up b/c the 6" drop hitch isn't enough.

i run 35's and no lift with my setup and like was said earlier thats almost too much. i have to use a 6" drop hitch as it is just to level the trailer with my truck

The Man

 

My truck is stock as far as lifts go, the 4" spacer block in the rear comes with the off road package that is on the truck. I don't mine the axles flipped though, doesn't seem to make much difference as far as sway, but then again, 4" on a barn door isn't much. Like posted earlier, in terms of safety and reality, you either need another truck or drop yours down to about a 3"-4" lift. If you do the leveling kit with a 4" lift it looks pretty good, maybe able to fit 35s but don't know. As far as axle capacity, it is the same as 10.5 sterling axle in the 350 as well. You can add air bags or leafs, but I'd look into getting the lift setup addressed first, or keep your current trailer.

 

i would not pull that much weight with the tires you most likely have on their. Tires that big are usually not load range E. They are soft tires and you will probably have trouble with the tire tread walking on you.

 

You have got to be kidding me, I have to wonder where comments likes originate! If an F250 isn't enough then an F350 isn't enough either since they are the SAME EXACT TRUCK!!! and by the way you'll blow out your rear tires before you break your rear axle even with E-loaded tires! Now if your talking legaly it'll depend on the configuration of the truck. My 03' F250 CC SB 4x4 (the lowest rating on an F250) is rated for 17k GCWR. The 05 and 06s have had an increase so 10k on a F250 is no problem.

 

It's all about stability. An F350 with duallies will be much more stable than any F250. I have no idea how they rate these trucks anymore, but common sense has to play a big role. The last thing you want to have is the trailer driving the truck.

Oh, And the springs on a F350 are better than the F250.

 

No, unless it's a dually they are EXACTLY THE SAME!! Go look in the SuperDuty Forum and look at the sticky at the top!! THe only difference between an F250 and an F350 SuperDuty is the sticker in the door, the badges on the outside, and a 4" block in the rear of the F350 vs. the 2" block that the F250 gets. THESE ARE THE ONLY DIFFERENCES. It is perfectly safe to tow 10k with an F250 Powerstroke Diesel. think about it they rate select F150s at 9900lbs, and yes they are marginal for that weight but we are talking about a truck that has a potential rating of somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12klbs and is built the same as an F350 that may carry a sticker showing up to approx. 15k lb tow rating. E rated tires are somewhere in the nieghbor hood of 3400-3600lbs per tire so that leaves you at a combined total of 7200lbs, and the rear axles are rated higher than this. the a$$ end of these trucks scale around 3000-3500lbs depending on the configuration so that leaves a total of 4000lbs of payload before your even at the upper limits of the tires!! at this point you WILL be overloaded by the door tag but you still haven't exceeded the rear axle rating!!!!!!!!!!! and it'll be plenty stable when you only have 2500lbs on the back as long as your tires are E rated, filled to proper pressure. the addition of a sway bar would help but is not a neccessity.

 

Bigtruck1,

A 2003 F250/350 7.4L CC is rated for a max 5th wheel trailer with a GVW of 12,800 - 13,100 depending on 4x4 or 4x2 with automatic transmission. GCVW of your truck is 20,000. The rear axle of a 2003 F250/F350 has a max GAWR of 6840.

Here is a link to the 2003 FMC Towing Guide:
http://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/r...D_F250_350.pdf

Weigh your truck wet with all your supplies and subtract that number from the GCVW and that will tell you the max GVW allowable for the trailer. Don't forget that you must also figure your pin weight and make sure you don't exceed the rear axle GAWR. Also take into account your trucks GVWR which is 8800 F250 and 9700-9900 F350. You can weigh your rig at any truck stop with a scale for $10-$15. (F250/350 PSD CC scale between 7000-8000lbs; My 04 wet with one person scales at 7880 total, rear axle 3260, front axle 4620)

This is assuming a stock truck, your truck has a substantial lift kit installed which potentially will change the towing capacities of your truck, but the local constabulary only cares about the sticker rating on the B-pillar of your truck.

IMO i don't think you can safely raise your 5th wheel trailer high enough to clear the bed rails of your truck. As others have said you will either need to remove your lift or change your bed to a flat bed.

Hope this helps