F150 V8 towing Imagine 2400BH

[luke79]

We're in the process of purchasing a 2400BH. Our tow vehicle is a 2016 F150 5L V8 with payload of 1884lbs and tow capacity of 8900. Gear ratio is 3.31; FX4 package. GVWR of 7000lbs. I did review various online calculators including Ford's interactive PDF and the numbers checkout. I was wondering if anyone on here had a similar setup. Any issues with sway and sagging in the back? We do plan on traveling out west through Colorado and Arizona, which I'm hoping is something that the truck should handle.

I still have passenger tires, however I'm willing to upgrade to LT tires.

[MidwestCamper]

We're in the process of purchasing a 2400BH. Our tow vehicle is a 2016 F150 5L V8 with payload of 1884lbs and tow capacity of 8900. Gear ratio is 3.31; FX4 package. GVWR of 7000lbs. I did review various online calculators including Ford's interactive PDF and the numbers checkout. I was wondering if anyone on here had a similar setup. Any issues with sway and sagging in the back? We do plan on traveling out west through Colorado and Arizona, which I'm hoping is something that the truck should handle.

I still have passenger tires, however I'm willing to upgrade to LT tires.

luke79,

I do not own this truck but I tow a 2600RB with a half ton truck. With a properly set up weight distribution hitch, you will have no issues.

Jim

[jw^2 family]

Any issues with sway and sagging in the back?

Your F150 should be fine with that trailer. You'll definitely need a weight distributing hitch with sway control. It seems like a lot of RV dealers try to sell folks on 1,000/10,000 hitches (rated for maximum 1,000-lbs. tongue weight and 10,000-lbs. trailer weight) for this size trailer. The Imagine 2400BH has a gross weight rating of 7,500-lbs. and tongue weight for conventional towing should be between 10% to 15% of the trailer's gross weight. 7,500-lbs. X 15% = 1,125-lbs. so it's possible to load an 2400BH in such a way as to exceed the rating of a 1,000/10,000 hitch. We use a 1,200/12,000 Equal-i-zer hitch for our Imagine 2800BH.

[Country Campers]

Welcome to the forum. Great input already and I would add the upgrade to LT tires may be worth it.

Brian

[Second Chance]

Welcome to the forum. Great input already and I would add the upgrade to LT tires may be worth it.

Brian

I'll see your "may be worth it" and raise you a "will probably be necessary." P tires on a truck get squirrely towing something the size of the trailer you're getting. The LT tires have much different sidewalls and perform much better under towing loads.

Rob

[sande005]

Pay attention to the two most restrictive capacities of your truck:
1. Hitch rating for tongue weight - usually a sticker on the bottom of the hitch of the F-150. Use the one for the Weight Distributing Hitch. Likely will be OK, but it can be surprising how easy it is to bump up against that limit.
2. Payload capacity, which you noted as 1884. Est. 1,100 max for tongue weight, add in your WDH weight, add in everything added to truck since it came off the line (bed liner, running boards, topper, new tires, etc., etc.). Payload includes a 150lb driver, and full fuel. Add in any excess for you, family, dogs, etc.
The guess on tongue weight is the max. you are likely ever to get to. By loading the trailer lightly, you may be able to shave 100-200 lbs off of that.
Learning to use a truck scale after you buy will be a necessary endeavour.

[Cate&Rob]

Hi luke79,

You are getting good advice . . . from every post on this thread!

If you do experience rear sag, there are a couple of easy fixes. The 3 leaf springs from the HDPP F150 should be a direct replacement for your standard 2 leaf rear springs. The OE HDPP shocks are tuned to match these springs and might be another good addition. Airlift makes a great airbag kit for the F150. Get their WirelessOne controller and on-board compressor and you can adjust rear ride height on-the-fly with the touch of a button. (I have an HDPP F150 with this airbag system). And yes . . . LT tires would be the first upgrade . . . these are standard on the HDPP F150.

(another) Rob

[Russ Olin]

Nice truck, and a great motor for towing. As others have said LT tires will help you. but if you are going to be pulling in the mtns of Colorado & Arizona and a lot of hilly areas I think that you will find your rear end gear ratio a tad high. You will be in a lower gear most of the time. A 373 gear would be much better for the mountains & hills with that big of a trailer. Just my 2 cents worth. Hope that you enjoy your new RV.

[Chiefblueman]

hmm... new tires, springs, shocks, gearing for 2 diffs, air bag system.....that's a lot of coin. With 1882 lbs of payload you should be ok unless you'll load a ton of stuff into the truck. It were me, I'd start with the tires and a good WD hitch like Blue Ox or Equalizer and see how she goes. You probably have a Cl IV hitch on the truck, make sure it's rated for your load. I suspect the V8 will struggle a bit on grades with the 3.34s and need to shift down and run near 4k rpm to be near its torque peak. This won't hurt the engine a bit, heck your HP peak is at 5750 rpm. You could probably run at 5k all day and not hurt it. My 1/2 ton Chevy had 4.10s and 385 lb/ft and needed 4k rpm+ to tackle 5-6% grades towing ~ 6500lbs. Keep an eye on transmission temps.

[fishnub]

my 2006 Silverado (5.7l) 1500 tows our 2400bh no problem. That being said, pulling a grade you can tell it is back there.