Towing Vehicle

[blacksheep-1]

I tow the Boss with a 2014 F150 Ecoboost (3.5L) SCREW w/ 6.5' bed. It's about 19 feet long and I have an 18 foot open trailer (steel frame with wood deck - 2000 lbs). This combination works great. The longer truck really yields stability in all circumstances. No issues at all with this setup. In the mountains I get 13mpg and on flat land I see 15-16 while towing. The truck is rated for 9900 lbs and I have towed 8000 with it no problem.

I use the truck for truck things and family hauling when not towing. I invested in a hard folding bed cover from Back Industries (Back Flip VP). This turns the bed into a giant lockable trunk. The open trailer is great for loading up just about anything. Renting small pieces of equipment like backhoes and excavators is something I do on occasion so the open trailer is a must.

As stated, whatever choice you go with these is always a compromise.

That's not a bad combo, and I'm pretty sure why Ford built it, drive daily and haul on weekends. IMO if you were to haul full time, I'd still got with a V8, but for weekend warriors, it's perfect.

 

[Mjschneidy]

Sundowner makes an open aluminum trailer with a lockable storage box on the front. Kind of the best of both worlds, open but able to lock up the tools, straps, and other items that can walk away. Deck height is low, Mach with HP splitter goes on with no drama. Tow this with an F150 Tremor that has the 3.5 eco and 3:73 gears.

 

[GJarrett]

That's a sweet setup and beautiful car!

 

[k_z]

I recently got a new F150 hybrid and it no-joke gets 23 mpg daily driving and is listed to have 14,000 lbs towing capacity. I haven't towed with it yet but I plan to go the U-Haul open trailer route.

Check the payload on it - friend has one (Powerboost 501A Lariat) and aside from being problematic and by far truck with best driveability on the market (maybe aside from Lightning) from the very beginning, it has only 1,300lb of payload which is what really limits your towing capacity. You'll never unfortunately be able to get even remotely close to 14k. All half ton trucks are effectively payload limited. Towing a u-haul trailer you'll be more than fine though.

 

[xr7]

Check the payload on it - friend has one (Powerboost 501A Lariat) and aside from being problematic and by far truck with best driveability on the market (maybe aside from Lightning) from the very beginning, it has only 1,300lb of payload which is what really limits your towing capacity. You'll never unfortunately be able to get even remotely close to 14k. All half ton trucks are effectively payload limited. Towing a u-haul trailer you'll be more than fine though.

Ford really blew it with the F150 for towing, you needed the Heavy Duty Payload Package to get a good payload capacity and the idiots effectively blocked it by severely limiting the options you could get with it. Then Ford propped it because of very low take rate. It should have been a required option when you selected the Max Tow option, After all if you really wanted Max Tow capability you needed the payload capacity. My SuperCrew is rated 1700+ pounds, could have used the additional capacity.

 

[Mjschneidy]

Deleted my comments due to prior employment. Payload and Towing numbers can be very sensitive topics to the big 3 capability wars. Google the topics if you might be confusing the two and how they relate. Sorry….

 

[k_z]

A lower Payload doesn’t necessarily mean less towing capacity. Payload being what you put in or on (tongue load) vs what you drag down the road (tow capacity). The highest payload vehicle is often the version with the least options and seating which is then offset by how much you can carry as “payload”. Towing capacity will be driven more by powertrain capability, cooling, and axle.

That power boost hybrid has a high towing capacity because of the powertrain capability but a low payload because of the hybrid motor, battery, and related hybrid bits weight all eat up what it can carry.

Of course it doesn't - directly. I've had a bunch of half ton trucks I towed with, including max tow 3.5 ecoboost with also had some high amount of pound of towing which sounds great in the ads.
But indirectly it absolutely does limit towing capacity by limiting amount of tongue weight after you subtract passengers, gas, hitch and everything you have in the bed. You can never get close to 14k pound without severely exceeding payload. That's it, nothing else. Two people, 4 wheels in the bed (2x200lb, 4x50lb) and you're left with 600lb for your tongue weight - so 6000lb trailer assuming it's tongue weight is 10% which is generally on the lighter side (sure - you can start playing with balancing the trailer but you do want some tongue weight to not end up in the ditch).

That particular Powerboost I mentioned also has 7.2kw generator, panoramic moonroof and bunch of other nice stuff that all adds to the weight.

 

[Mjschneidy]

Yep you got it. Looks like you also got my comments before I had a change of heart and deleted them, oh well….all good.