TV vs TT

[71jkae]

Hi, I just purchased a 2009 sprinter 27rls TT. Dry weight is 6600# Hitch is 655. Dealer installed a Reese dual cam HP sway control 800# trunnion with weight dist. hitch.I figure another 1200# of gear. My TV is a 2004 F-150 Crew Cab 5.4L 3.73 with tow package. My wife myself and dog with gear in truck bed 1000#. Is this to much TT for TV? Thanks for the help. PS Trailer was delivered, so I have not towed yet.

[rclarke]

Ford rates that truck with a 9200lb 4x4 and 9500lb 4x2 tow rating. Dry weight of the trailer is meaningless since the trailer will never be at dry weight. If the gross weight of the trailer plus added weight to the truck is within the 9200 or 9500 rating you should be fine.

[CD]

71jkae
We have a TT about the same lenth as yours with a listed dry weight of 6300lbs. BUT it's GVWR is 10400. The real world weight when traveling is about 9000. I have towed it with a 3/4T and now the dully. I would never consider towing it with a 1/2T. The 3/4T was pushed around by trucks at times. The dully is not. Like was mentoned above you need some actual weights. I think that much length is a bit much for a 1/2T. Here's wishing you good luck.

[TXiceman]

Hi and welcome to iRV2

Just a quick look and you can probably pull the trailer, I don't know if you are within ratings or not. you need to weight the truck and trailer and see where you stand weight wise.

It will not be a comfortable tow, as you will be towing in 3rd and lower gears in the hills with an engine that is screaming in the upper RPM range. Expect to get 7 to 8 mpg at 60 to 65 mph.

I am not a big fan of the 5.4L for towing. The later models with a bit more power do a bit better. They do not seen to have much power and really like to visit the gas stations.

Personally, I think you are pushing into the 3/4 ton truck range to have a comfortable trip towing.

The Reese Dual Cam HP is a great hitch and once set correctly for a loaded truck and trailer will perform well. Read the Reese installation manual and follow through the hitch set up and learn how to set the hitch properly.

Ken

[NLOVNIT]

First, welcome to iRV2 , 71jkae. Glad to have you here. There's a wealth of information here & everyone is happy to help answer questions.

IMO, a 9455 GVW rated TT that's nearly 30ft long will be too much for your 1/2 ton truck to handle. The only way to know for sure, is to load it up with all your gear, put you/wife/dog/gear & full tank of gas in the truck & go get the whole set up weighed as Ken states. You'll be suprised at how quickly the pounds add up. For example, you'll always be hauling around water in your hot water heater, even if all the rest of your tanks are empty. That's 50 pounds minimum, if your hwhtr is 6 gallons, right there.

Good luck!

Lori-

[Steve Rankin]

The way I figure it is that you might be under the tow capacity of your F150, but you'll probably be over it's TW rating as well as it's GVWR.

The max tow weight rating for a truck is the max allowed assuming the truck is empty except for the proverbial 150# driver. As you said, you, the wife, dog and stuff will be 1000#, so right away we subtract 850#.

The other important fact is that dry weights and empty tongue weights are quite meaningless. While your dry weight is 6600#, your TT's GVWR is 9455# and it's loaded tongue weight will be in the 1100-1400# range. That puts you up over 2,000# of load on the F150 which is clearly overloaded.

[71jkae]

Thanks for all the advise. Tuesday a am picking up a f-250 crew cab 6.0L with all the factory installed tow ing system.