Newer F150 vs. older F350 Towing

this.

 

I tried it with my 17 F150 3.5. (loved that truck)

Tow? yes
Stop? not so much

Went back to a 3/4 ton

 

I pull 10k monthly with my 2015 F-150. It is rated to 11.2. It is a 2015 3.5 Ecoboost Crew Cab Lariat with 4WD - definitely not stripped down. You do need a WD hitch (5k limit otherwise), and there is absolutely no question that the trailer is attached, and you're slow, but the truck has no problem starting, stopping or steering the load.

Some of y'all maybe need to remember that 50mph is plenty fast Don't forget, aero drag goes up with the cube of speed: It takes twice as much power (fuel) to go 60mph than it does 50mph, and nearly twice again to go 70mph.

@Alex_V, for your described use case, there is no reason to get a different truck.

 

You'll certainly be overloaded, with that kinda weight I'd expect tires would be your biggest liability. Get some LT tires at the least, stick to surface roads and roll. Just give yourself plenty of stopping distance. Towing once a year a few miles for evacuation purposes would almost never warrant a bigger truck in my eyes.

 

I've been going down this rabbit hole for awhile now and I am stuck at a crossroads of what to do.

I'm trying to balance my desire for having a single vehicle do it all (daily driver and towing) and not having something too big. Ideally a 1/2 ton, I really do not want a 3/4 ton if I can avoid it.

So far I have settled on some toy haulers that are around 7,000 Lbs loaded, with a ~800 Lb tongue weight.

All of that is so I can hopefully buy something like a used 23' GMC Sierra 1500 Diesel w/ tow package. It checks my boxes of not being too big, fuel efficient, can tow plenty, and has the modern comfort/features I'm looking for out of a DD.

All of the calculators say I can do that with plenty of payload overhead (700 Lbs overhead after me, my girlfriend, dog, trailer tongue weight, misc, etc), but the math vs the reality of the situation is something I am frankly in the dark on.

In your opinion, am I biting off more than I can chew with this and is it a fools errand?

 

the big question is how far and how often. 7k will be absolutely no problem, capability-wise - that black trailer i bring to chuckwalla is 7k loaded, and the 10yo F150 is happy as a clam pulling it, both across I-10 in the heat and up+down Shasta going to/from Seattle.

the main thing you'll run into is convenience headaches: pulling hard is harder on your machine. when i was pulling that trailer primarily with the f-150 (SEA -> CVMA -> SEA sometimes monthly), i changed oil every 1000 mi and ended up flushing tranny fluid at least annually, sometimes twice. tires get 30k instead of 50k miles of life. i've replaced my brake pads probably four or five times and rotors twice, in only ten years. with a heavier base vehicle, the components themselves are beefier, so the extra work is less "extra". that's really the difference.

 

Makes sense, I'd definitely be towing less often and less distance than you are. Sounds like I can get away with my rough plan and avoid a 3/4 ton for the time being. Thanks for confirming!

 

Just get a Cybertruck and be done with it. It can pull A FREAKING Porsche 0-60 in 1.9 seconds.

 

Are you smoking crack or are you talking about the time it edged a 911 in the quarter mile while towing another 911?

 

No way in the world I’d buy a modern diesel for a daily driver. The DPF issues you’re going to have will absolutely break you. You’ll be a lot better off with one of the gas engines and buying a module to disable the cylinder deactivation. Keep things simple.

 

Depends what you're doing. If you're bumping to a 2500 get a Ram.

Get the Cummins I6. That's a 20yr old platform.

You can put 200k on it and still sell it for 20k+.

Resale on the gas 2500s is shit.

Mine are dead nuts reliable

Something else I'd like to add. Those 1500 turbo motors get really hot. If you own it long enough you'll absolutely change a turbo

A lot of the new stuff is body off the frame for a turbo swap. The cummins you can do through passenger front wheel well.

 

Have you dragged it across a scale?
Im going to take a stab at guessing the payload rating on the door of your truck.... ~2000ish lbs?? I couldn't verify the payload max for that year but the MY2020 had max payloads of 3230lbs for the 3.5 eco & 3270 for the 5.0. The 3.5 was rated to tow 13,500 while the 5.0 was 11,500. Obviously a higher trim model, 4wd, sunroof, etc impact the payload figure.
Usually the HD tow package trucks have the 36 gallon tank, 3.73s, the 9.75 axle, & slightly higher load rated tires.
I wasnt making comments on driving characteristics... but the shocks ford puts on the HD tow pkg trucks are less than adequate when loaded near max (on all truck lines)... especially on rougher roads. That seems to be directly related the "nervous" behavior folks describe when towing near max capacity.
I know CA has a 55mph speed limit for trailer towing... its to save the kids!!

 

the trailer gets loaded by weight, so yeah it's pretty spot on the money at 10k. (3x 3500# axles)

the truck has actually only 1696lb payload... the 4wd and extended cab really bite you. i toe this pretty tightly with a full tank (36gal), to be fair: i'm 200lb, 36gal * 6.5lb/gal = 234lb, and the tongue weight on that trailer is around 1200-1300lb when loaded properly.

front gawr 3600, rear 3800 - a properly set load balancer hitch is critical, for sure. still, as long as you've got the weights and distribution hitch tuned correctly, and take your time driving, it ain't bad. i'm sure af not bombing around at 70 pulling that bitch, so if that's the goal then yeah level up

 

agree... most folks I see on the highway with a 1/2 ton bumper pull camper have the hitch too low, the tongue pitched toward the road, and the truck basically Carolina squatted. Id venture to say they aren't at max towing capacity but definitely payload maxed.