12,500 lb tow rating but everyone's towing 20K lbs!!

[Ride Everything]

The tow rating for an '04 F-250 crew diesel 4x4 is 12,500 lbs, yet I hear everyone saying they're towing around 20K lbs with these things. What gives? What am I missing?

What mods can be done to this truck to increase the tow rating? I've found a couple of '04 models at smokin' prices, but eventually I'll need more than 12,500 lbs of tow capacity. Fifth-wheel is only rated at 2 hundred more pounds??

I know the '05 can pull about 2500 more lbs of fifth wheel, but damn I'm finding cheap '04's.

Any insight?

Thanks!

[Jake]

What they are "rated" for and what they can actually haul are 2 totally different things.

[pwrstroke6john]

Throw some under there and you can tow about anything for a while, until parts start to fail. As long as youre not pulling outragous amounts everyday you should be fine.

[TNACUSTOM]

I towed 18,000 lbs with my 06 stock with googeneck trailer it towed like a dream and that was over a mountian pass. These trucks pull almost pull anything.

[elibenson]

To do it legally, all you must do is re-register your truck with a higher weight rating. To do it safely, you will probably need some air bags or load springs.

Now that I have said that, I will tell you what I actually towed with my '03 cc daully 4x4 6.0 with 4.10 gears. I used to deliver hay to a feed store for sale on a 35' trailer. I weighed in their grain scale before and after I unloaded. Loaded I was pushing 40,000 lbs. Actually it was 38,900 or something. But hay bales vary from bale to bale, so I am sure I have been over 40K before. Empty weight of truck and trailer was 17,xxx. So that means about 1,100lbs/bale x 20 bales = 21900 of cargo.

I also did this about 3 times a week, and the trip was about 100 miles one way.The route I took was somewhat hilly.

I never re-registered my truck for more weight. I had farm tags on it and the trailer, so you are unlikely to be stopped in Texas for that. The width of the trailer (120" loaded) isn't a problem either. Texas law allows for "trailers carrying cylindrical rolls of hay to be no more than 120" wide". That works out perfectly to 2 5' bales wide.

[tech10002]

It should be rated higher than 12500 pounds on a 5th wheel. Mine is something like 15700. Are you sure you're not looking at what it's rated to tow off the bumper?

[Ride Everything]

Originally Posted by tech10002

It should be rated higher than 12500 pounds on a 5th wheel. Mine is something like 15700. Are you sure you're not looking at what it's rated to tow off the bumper?

Yours is 15,700 because it's a 2006. In '05 the fifth wheel rating jumped up 2,500 lbs from 2004. The pull trailer weight is still about the same at 12,500 lbs.

Do Air Bags increase the tow rating at all, or just reduce sag?

[Baddestt]

with a change in gearing you can tow more than that ....As long as you dont make it an everyday habit, these trucks can actually tow an awful lot of weight...I've got 4.30 gears and towed 21,000lbs with relative ease, and even up hills....

[elibenson]

Originally Posted by Ride Everything

Yours is 15,700 because it's a 2006. In '05 the fifth wheel rating jumped up 2,500 lbs from 2004. The pull trailer weight is still about the same at 12,500 lbs.

Do Air Bags increase the tow rating at all, or just reduce sag?

Nothing you will do to the truck (including changing gears) will change what Ford tells you you can tow with it. What Ford says is just a guideline, and means absolutely nothing to the DOT. The only way to *legally* change your tow rating is to re-register it with a higher weight rating.

To do this safely though, you will need to have some heavier suspension and probably better brakes. I never did when I was hauling 40K combined. But I made sure to plan ahead, and I was doing that with farm tags, which gives you a lot of leeway on the weight part of it with the DOT.

I was towing a 35' gooseneck with 20 roundbales in a pyramid (12' from ground to top, 10' wide) stack with a 1 ton truck. That looks ridiculous. You towing a 5th wheel with a SRW truck should look just fine. If it *looks* like something you shouldn't be towing then you might draw attention to your self.

I wouldn't have even thought of looking at tow rating and such for a regular RV. It's a truck, and it will handle it. Especially after some of the abuse that I've put my trucks through.

[thomas5853]

I was thinking of getting a 40' toy hauler someday but it has a GVWR or 18000 lbs. According to the manual (2003), my max tow weighting is 13,100 lbs.If I go thru with this, I was thinking of the following imporvements, since it will be cheaper then getting a new truck.

EGR Delete
Intercooler
Rear Load air bags
Change rear gear to 4.10
Head Studs

Any suggestions?