Greetings... I have a V10 Excursion I use to tow a 9000 pound boat a couple times per year. I also have an Escalade EXT pickup i use as my daily driver. With the increased rated towing of the newer F150, I am considering sell both of the above and going with a newer F150. That said, I am afraid that the F150 doesn't have the mass and the boat will push the truck around....

Can anyone out there give real world feedback on towing a 9000 pound boat on tandem axle trailer with surge brakes? Thanks in advance.....

 

Your limiting factor on the F150 is tongue weight, not total trailer weight. Most F150's will run out of payload capacity LONG before they hit trailer max weight. The other thing to think of is weight distribution. EVERY F150 WILL NEED A WEIGHT DISTRIBUTING HITCH for 9000 lbs. Most boat trailers don't have those.
Have you run the current setup with the Excursion across the CAT scales to get accurate axle and tongue weights? What were they?

 

Agree with seventyseven250, plus: OP has surge brakes so a WD hitch is not a likely possibility.

 

I wasn't sure how that worked. I've never owned a boat and have only towed for friends a few times.

 

The boat with near empty tanks (fuel, holding and water) is about 8200#... Full fluids would add about a 1000# I would want to tow her empty. It will be going from FL to KY and back a couple times per year. FL she will be in a boat house. When in KY she will be in a shed couple miles from lake and launched 4 or 5 times over the summer. The tongue weight of the near empty boat is 1275# as set up now. That said, I need to redo the trailer setup as she is hanging of the bunks by a few feet. Once I move the winch stand and get her fully on the trailer, I would move the axles to get me closer to 10% of Gross rig weight or maybe just a touch more. Lets say 900#.

So if I look at a 2015 F150 4x4 3.5 eco max trailer is 11,700. payload max is 2010 and GCWR is 17,100. So let assume the truck with accessories and fuel curbs at 5500# add three passengers and gear say 1000# at puts GCWR at 14,700 or about 86% of max. Looking at payload lets say the tongue weight is 900 and you have 1000# of passenger and gear plus full tank in truck (36 gal) 225# it comes to 2125# which is 115# over. That said if you add the max payload option it takes the max to 2640.... so that would work.

On paper all looks good, I towed her home after purchase 1000 miles with no trailer brakes (will be fixed before I tow again) with 2016 F350 diesel long bed and you wouldn't have known the boat was back there. Engine breaking is the cats ***... That said, the Excursion has 196k miles and the Escalade 172k miles. The thought of selling both and getting a truck with 50k miles is very appealing if it will do everything I need and get better MPG. Going to a F250 kills MPG and raises purchase price.......

 

Oh they do make weight distributing hitches for surge brakes, but you gotta make sure to get the correct ones. I also understand that you have to "uncouple" them when backing the boat in. Never had one so I don't know. Did not have WDH when towing home from purchase with the F350 and the rig was rock solid.....

 

That's interesting, I've never looked to hard at this option as I don't own anything with surge brakes. But one way or the other, on an F150, you will need a weight distributing hitch.

 

Comparing a F150 to a F250/F350 with the 6.2l will net about the same MPG.

When I had my 17 f250 6.2l I was averaging around 14mpg. With my 14 f150 3.5l I average around 14.5mpg. According to fuelly the 3.5l has 15-16mpg averages and the f250/f350 is right around 13mpg.

If you go diesel route, the diesel gets better than the gas so you would probably increase your net mpg and the diesel will not drop as much as a gas engine when towing.

Also used prices for the two are about the same. If it was me, I would pick up a used F350 SRW 6.2l 6.5ft bed with nearly 4000lbs of payload (or 3000lbs with the diesel). Then I know it can handle all of my gear, all of the people, and anything else I can throw at it.

When I searched right now I was finding 2015-2016 f350 Lariat SRW diesels under $45,000 with 50,000-70,000miles and 6.2l gas under $40,000

 

On paper it looks great. However that truck doesn't exist!

To find a F150 with max tow requires a 157" wheelbase, 4x2, max tow option and factory 20" wheels. Miss any of those and you are dropping tow capacity. Also take note trucks with heavy payload packages are lower optioned trucks and are rated to tow less but have a higher payload. I don't know where you got the 2010# payload from but most of these trucks are in the 1480-1900# range. Even ordered as per ford with base XL I got 1893# payload.

 

 

Those are definitely unicorn configurations to get the "max" payload and you are not likely to find that used. As others said, you will probably find most in the 1400-1800 payload range. You are going to have to go down to an XL no optioned heavy duty max trailer truck, and someone that ordered that (which is about the only way you are finding it) did so specifically and probably isn't selling it right now. Shoot, it is hard enough to find just one of those options (max tow or HDPP)

 

Here is a link to some ACTUAL payload stickers, not unicorns

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/payload-282287/

 

2010# is the standard payload for a 2015 super crew 156.8 WB.... 2420# heavy payload and 17" Wheels. 2650 heavy payload package and 18" wheels... All figures taken straight from 2015 F150 brochure.

https://www.ford.com/services/assets...stalCode=54017

 

I don't know where you got standard from. The only time payload is mentioned in that brochure is when the word max is in front of it. There is no "standard" in truck payloads. Every option added/removed from the truck changes the payload. There is no "standard" truck to base a "standard" number off of. Even the picture you posted above says Maximum Payload Ratings.

Take that Maximum number, and subtract every option that is added to the truck away from it.
So that maximum will only occur on a super base model XL series truck

 

Well..... one of us can't read the chart that I posted. I guess its me... so your saying if you get a sunroof the weight of that has to be removed from the 2010# listed in the chart?