What is the fifth wheel tow capacity of my shortbox 98 Ford f150 ?

Question

This pickup has a 4.6 engine in it. I am wanting to tow a 5th wheel camper and am not sure what size I can tow safe. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

Those trucks are not made for a 5th wheel.   That's first and foremost:  If you need to tow a 5th wheel trailer, you need a bigger truck.

That said, I'll help you figure out what you want to know:

Tow rating depends on what axle ratio you have.

You REALLY need to get an owner's manual, this will tell you all the capacities of your truck that I'm going to show you in this post.

Pretty much no truck, particularly 1/2 tons and small SUV's, can realistically two their rated capacity.

Why?  Because it's based on a vehicle that doesn't exist in the real world.

They use the absolute BASE model, 5 gallons of gas in the tank, a 150lb driver, no cargo, no passengers, and again, NO options on the vehicle that aren't standard.

Who drives that truck?   How about "Nobody".  

So, here's how to figure what you can tow and be within the limits, and it's going to take a bit of work on your part to figure it out:

Weigh the truck.   Do it with a full tank, all your gear/coolers/fishing poles/etc, that you would take with you on a trip with the trailer.  

Get the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of your truck.    It's on the sticker in the driver's door jamb.   Either on the door or on the post.  

Subtract the actual weight you got from the GVWR.

That'll tell you how much extra payload capacity your truck has left.  

(I'm betting you won't have enough left to take the load that trailer is going to add to the truck. )

Now, subtract the weight of any passengers you will take.   What's left is, again, your remaining payload capacity.

Now you'll see why you need to know this:

Weigh the trailer.   Fully loaded to go on vacation, all the stuff you'll take inside it.  

Weigh the truck and trailer, the trailer alone, and just the truck with the trailer attached, to get the GVWR of the truck with the trailer attached.

How much extra load that trailer adds to your truck counts towards your truck's max. payload.  

(and obviously weigh all this on the same trip, a truck stop might be a good place)

Now you have the info you need.  Let's figure it out:

You have several figures that come into play, none of which you can exceed:

GVWR (already covered)  Max the truck itself is allowed to weigh with a full load.

GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating) How much the factory says the truck AND a trailer are allowed to weigh together.   Note that this is NOT the GVWR and Max Trailer Towing Capacity added together.  

What did the fully loaded truck and trailer weigh together?   Did it exceed your GCVWR?

Trailer Towing Capacity:  The max the trailer is allowed to weigh.    Note that loading the truck itself down takes away from this number.  

All these numbers have to be under their maximum rating, PLUS you have to have trailer brakes to tow over something like 1000-1500lbs.  

The easy answer, since I've been in the car business my whole life and at a Ford dealership for 17 of those years is, no 1/2 ton truck can legitimately tow a gooseneck trailer, not if you do the math like I've outlined here.  

Go either online somewhere or to a Ford dealer and get an owner's manual.   Also look around at trailerboats.com.   They have lots of good info about towing there.  

Sorry for the epic post here, but the life I help you save on the road might be mine or my family's.