F150 Fx pulling a fifth wheel

[Johntinsley]

Thanks Skip. A lot of great info. I have some work to do in the next few months. You and everyone else have been helpful in helping me understand. And yes I'm very careful and cautious cause I'm not gonna put my family and I in danger and everyone else around me because a dealer says I can pull it.

[Skip426]

I'll follow up with a little of my experience in these matters .
I towed my first 3, 5th wheels with a Dodge Dakota 4X4 5.2 V-8.
1850 lb. payload package . I always kept the axle loading within specs. But with the last 5th I exceeded the GCWR, by 1500lbs. No problems .
UNTIL; Went into Calgary AB. for a wedding in July. Going to Calgary no problems temps in mid 70s. Pull out to go home ,106f, heading straight south into the sun, could not run the A/C without overheating the engine , worst 10 hrs. I've ever spent in a vehicle , and I've driven Death Valley at 117 in a car with no A/C.
Second day at home DW had picked us out a 3/4 ton.
Trailer tow capacity was 4500lbs above what we were towing, fuel mileage towing was better.

[Johntinsley]

Thanks for sharing Skip. I will chat with you soon.

[safari1]

I was very disappointed in my 2011 Silverado 1500 4x4 towing my 5100lb. toy hauler up to the mountains in AZ. Loaded with gear and RZR it weighs 7200lbs. Tow capacity is 9600lbs, could only manage 40-45 up the steep grades and about 6-8mpg's. Without the RZR (1000lbs.) it is ok on most pulls.
I cannot imagine putting a 9000lb. trailer on my truck.
If you can afford it might want to look at 3/4 ton truck. Good Luck.

[BCooke]

Just because you can does not mean you will want to, or like the results. Which is one of the reasons that there are those of us that say there is not to much truck, just one you might not want to drive to get groceries.

[Johntinsley]

Here are my truck specs:

2010 F-150 4x2 Supercrew XLT
145" wheelbase
5.4 FFV V8
3.55 ratio limited split axle
Towing pkge with fail safe cooling system

GVWR 7100#
GCWR 15300#
Max Trailer weight 9800#
Front axle 3450#
Rear axle 3850#

Not that I plan on maxing out my trailer weight and my combined weight it seems that I would be good with a TT or 5er in the weight range of no more 6500# dry. (That # is my comfort zone. Unless a 5er pulls better I would go a little higher) I know that doesn't include cargo, gas and bodies but I'm gonna guess high at no more than 1000# combined. Just my wife and I. So unless I'm missing something I should be ok.

[Cumminsfan]

A 6500lb dry 5'er will weigh 7500lbs loaded. Dry weights are not totally realistic. But since you're speculating then so will I.
7500lbs equates to 1500lbs for the pin. With a 7100lb GVW and being 2wd you may have 1700lbs for payload in the truck. Now how much do you and your wife weigh? Subtract that from the 1700lbs. Now subtract the weight of the 5th hitch. 150lbs. I'm guessing around 450lbs total. Now you have 1250lbs left but the 5'er pin weight is 1500lbs. So you're over the trucks GVW by 250lbs. You will never be able to tow the tow rating of a 1/2 ton truck because 1/2 tons just don't have enough payload capacity. Remember also that most of the storage is in the front of the 5'er so that also contributes to the pin weight. Recommended pin weights are between 15-25%. That comes from most literature about 5h wheel towing. So for speculation purposes just figure 20% of the 5'ers loaded weight.

You really don't have very many options out there for 5'ers. In fact you'll have a much nicer floor plan with more room in a TT. You truck could easily tow a 6-7000lb TT because the tongue weight will only be around 12%. Which on a 7000lb TT will only be 840lbs. That's the reason you hardly see any 1/2 tons towing 5'ers. And the ones you do are probably maxed out.

[SkiSmuggs]

Originally Posted by Johntinsley

Here are my truck specs:

2010 F-150 4x2 Supercrew XLT
145" wheelbase
5.4 FFV V8
3.55 ratio limited split axle
Towing pkge with fail safe cooling system

GVWR 7100#
GCWR 15300#
Max Trailer weight 9800#
Front axle 3450#
Rear axle 3850#

Not that I plan on maxing out my trailer weight and my combined weight it seems that I would be good with a TT or 5er in the weight range of no more 6500# dry. (That # is my comfort zone. Unless a 5er pulls better I would go a little higher) I know that doesn't include cargo, gas and bodies but I'm gonna guess high at no more than 1000# combined. Just my wife and I. So unless I'm missing something I should be ok.

Based on my experience with an 11,000 lb tow rating towing a 9500 lb fiver, I don't think you would want to exceed a gross trailer weight of more than 8500 lbs. So your problem is finding a fiver you like that is that small. The towing experience is superior to a TT, but as was suggested, you may have more room in a medium-large TT than in a small fiver.

[scout4eagles]

I had a similar problem 2 years ago. I had a 2010 Ford F150 like yours but it was a 4 wheel drive. The RV dealer and Ford dealer said that the F150 would pull the Keystone Cougar 285 I was buying with "NO PROBLEM". I made a big mistake listing to them vs my gut. The 5r had a 1040 lb pin weight as stated in the literature which is close to the limit of the truck . After investing ~$1200 in the sliding hitch because it was a 5.5 ft box I picked up the trailer at the RV dealer. On the way home there was a slight headwind of 15-20 mph and the freeway had gently rolling hills. I was barely able to hold 65 on the hills in TOW/HAUL mode. Once I got on the back-roads it got worst. The truck kept searching for a gear. After arriving at home I was thinking what had I done! My gas mileage went from 18 mpg to 7 mpg towing the trailer. Doing a little further investigation I found that my frontal area on the trailer was 60+ sqft which may have been part of the problem. Also, after weighting the trailer loaded with all our gear and water tank filled the pin weight was ~1750lbs and the trailer weight 8700 lbs. So much for relying on specs. To avoid any issues we made the decision to by Ram 2500 crew cab diesel. Best decision I made to resolve a bad situation. The diesel has no problem pulling the trailer even up fairly good size hills in our area. I get about 13-16 mpg while towing and 20-21 regular.

[SkiSmuggs]

Frontal area, another thing to think about! My fiver is what is known as a mid-profile with a height of 12'. A full profile fiver is 13 or 14' With the more aero friendly front cap, I get 9-10 mpg and cap my speed at 62 mph. I am 5'9" and can stand upright in the bedroom so I have no need for a full profile fiver.

[GBS]

Originally Posted by SkiSmuggs

Most of the Jayco Eagle HT line will be too much for your truck. By HT, they mean the F150 with Max Tow and HD Payload options which are usually special order. I went with a Cougar High Country because the pin weight is a couple hundred pound lighter than a Jayco with the same floor plan and I am still 500 lbs over the rear axle GAWR because I don't have the HD payload option. I will PM you a link to a great forum discussion on F150 fifth wheeling.

For your truck, you will need to find a fiver with dry weights under 6500 and pin weight of 1000 or less to even consider it. Loading added 250 lbs to my pin and 1500 lbs to my gross. Figure 100 lbs for a Reese 16K hitch and don't even think about a 300 lb Pullrite Superglide.

Since you have the short box (5.5'?), you will probably need a Reese Sidewinder pin box like I use to prevent any problems with cab contact while turning. Also make sure you get a fiver with the bottom front corners cut away as they are better for short box towing.

I have to echo the above completely. It will be very hard to find a 5th that won't exceed the payload capacity of your truck (which is far different than the towing capacity). I am pulling a short, light, Jayco with my 150, but I made sure to get the Max Payload package (springs, beefier tires, etc.) along with the Max. tow package. And with that, we have to be aware of what we pack. I'm in the safe zone with all my numbers, but there is not much additional capacity for future upgrades, like generators, etc. Yes, I had to go with a Sidewinder, to keep the in-bed weight of the hitch low. You have to do a bunch of homework to gather all the numbers, but this site will let you determine "how big" you think you might be able to go. Fifth Wheel Weight Calculator

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by Johntinsley

Can't I pull a 5er with same total weight?

No. You can "pull" it, but you cannot haul the hitch weight without exceeding the GVWR of your F-150.

Typical TT has tongue weight of 12.5% of gross trailer weight. Typical small 5er has pin weight of 17% of gross trailer weight. That's a substantial difference.

Your limiter is the GVWR of 7,100 pounds, so hitch weight is the cause of overloading.

With a wet and loaded TT that grosses 8,000 pounds, your hitch weight will probably be about 1,000 pounds. That will probably overload your F-150.

With a wet and loaded 5er that grosses 8,000 pounds, your hitch weight will probably be about 1,360 pounds. That extra 360 pounds of hitch weight is a back breaker.

My F-150 also has GVWR of 7,100 pounds. When towing my TT that grosses only 4,870 pounds, I'm overloaded over the GVWR of my F-150 by 100 pounds. I recently had to go get my 5er that has a wet and loaded weight of about 8,000 pounds. I made it home to Midland County from Austin thru the Hill Country, but my poor F-150 was severely overloaded. My GVW was 7,980 compared to my GVWR of 7,100, or overloaded by 880 pounds. My rear axle had 4,680 pounds on it compared to my rGAWR of 3,850, or overloaded by 830 pounds.

I could safely tow that 5er with an F-150 only if the F-150 has the heavy duty payload package with GVWR of 8,200 pounds. But my F-150 doesn't have that package. And neither does yours.

I can confidently predict that you'll also be severely overloaded with a 5er that has grosses 8,000 pounds. And with a 5er that can gross up to 9,800 pounds, you'd have to be missing a few brain cells to even consider towing that monster with your F-150.

If you want to tow an RV trailer with your F-150, then figure out how to do it without exceeding any of Ford's weight ratings. GVWR is probably the first weight rating you'll encounter. Only the smallest, lightest-weight 5ers can be towed by your F-150 without being overloaded. So forget about 5ers and concentrate on TTs that have GVWR less than about 7,000 pounds. Even with a 7,000-pound TT, you'll probably be overloaded unless you are extremely conscious of the weight you haul in the F-150 and TT.

[Johntinsley]

So your saying no more than 7000# GVWR of the TT?

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by Johntinsley

So your saying no more than 7000# GVWR of the TT?

That's an educated WAG, and is probably too much weight to tow without exceeding the GVWR of your truck.

Here's how to tell for sure:

1] Load the truck with everyone and everything that will be in it when towing. Including the WD hitch. Drive to a truckstop that has a CAT scale, fill up with gas, then weigh the wet and loaded truck.

2] Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded truck from the GVWR of the truck and the answer is the max hitch weight you can have without being overloaded.

3] Divide that max hitch weight by 0.125 (12.5%) and the answer is the maximum GVWR of any TT you want to consider. Wet and loaded TT hitch weight varies from about 12% to 15%, but 12.5% is average. If you use 12.5% you'll be in the ballpark. If you divide by 0.15 (15%) instead of 12.5 then limit the GVWR of any TT you consider to the resulting max weight, then only the rare exception of a TT will overload your tow vehicle.

Divide that max hitch weight by 0.17 and the answer is the max fifth wheel RV trailer you want to consider. Small 5er wet and loaded hitch weight varies from about 16% to 18%, with 17 percent being the average. If you divide by 0.18 and then limit the GVWR of any 5er to the resulting max GVWR, then you probably won't be overloaded in the middle of your third RV trip.

Larger and more luxurious 5ers have pin weight over 20% of gross trailer weight. But hopefully you won't be considering any of those unless you first upgrade your tow vehicle.