F150 V8 and the Reflection 285BHTS - Can it work?! Help!

[jmbopp]

No, no, and hell no.

Real world tongue weight will be 1000 - 1100#. Your 3800# rear axle rating and 3.31 gears are the limiting factor.
There's a decal on the drivers door pillar that lists the actual payload for YOUR vehicle, and I'm guessing it'll be in the 1700# range.
So, you'll be overweight on your gross weight and rear axle rating and that's before you add passengers and gear.
I was 200# over on my F150 towing an Imagine 2650, and it's just my wife and I. The F150 was a 3.5 Ecoboost with 3.55 gears. I could have spec's a new F150 that would have been adequate but under the skin it's still a 1/2-ton. The new ride is a F250, 10,000# GVW, 6000# axle, and 3400# payload.

[audreypmcg]

Need more information on your F150, including the year. These are definitely not your truck’s actual numbers, but rather #s you googled. The 3.31 axle ratio 5.0 of any year has not been rated to tow more than 9200lbs. Your payload isn’t anywhere near that unless you have a regular cab truck, or a max payload package (which comes with 3.73 rear end). Actual numbers are in your manual, or in Ford’s towing guide for your year.

Ford publishes absolute max numbers achievable on a very specific configuration truck. Any options you have different change those numbers, to include cab size, engine, bed length, interior options, etc. You end up with a huge range of numbers up to the max ones you posted. These are reflected in Ford’s towing guide, although payload is specific to your truck. (Subtract your truck’s actual weight from its GVWR. As weighed at the factory is on a yellow sticker in the driver’s door). If you want to read a great guide, google your year Ford towing guide. It’ll show up as a PDF document.

For us to help, we need a photo of both stickers in your drivers door frame. Plus year and 2wd or 4wd. Then I could look up your actual numbers to help. Unless your truck is better set up to tow than implied here, the towing capacity is not even high enough for that trailer, much less payload.

Wow - what a great community of resources. You guys are amazing. I have been in the Ford guide constantly but all of this new language is like Chinese to us, and as mentioned, the slightest deviation changes the numbers completely so I just want to make sure we know for certain what we are dealing with. I called Ford, I knew more than the employee did, lol, which isn't saying much. I have called a few GD dealers to get their opinions, they all differ. Definitely a learning curve but we are soaking it all up. I snapped these pictures of our door stickers.

[Jerryr]

Wow - what a great community of resources. You guys are amazing. I have been in the Ford guide constantly but all of this new language is like Chinese to us, and as mentioned, the slightest deviation changes the numbers completely so I just want to make sure we know for certain what we are dealing with. I called Ford, I knew more than the employee did, lol, which isn't saying much. I have called a few GD dealers to get their opinions, they all differ. Definitely a learning curve but we are soaking it all up. I snapped these pictures of our door stickers.

Post a picture of your Yellow Door post “Tire and Loading decal”. The never exceed loading pounds is YOUR payload for YOUR truck as it left the factory. It will likely be less than 1900 lbs.

[audreypmcg]

Need more information on your F150, including the year. These are definitely not your truck’s actual numbers, but rather #s you googled. The 3.31 axle ratio 5.0 of any year has not been rated to tow more than 9200lbs. Your payload isn’t anywhere near that unless you have a regular cab truck, or a max payload package (which comes with 3.73 rear end). Actual numbers are in your manual, or in Ford’s towing guide for your year.

Ford publishes absolute max numbers achievable on a very specific configuration truck. Any options you have different change those numbers, to include cab size, engine, bed length, interior options, etc. You end up with a huge range of numbers up to the max ones you posted. These are reflected in Ford’s towing guide, although payload is specific to your truck. (Subtract your truck’s actual weight from its GVWR. As weighed at the factory is on a yellow sticker in the driver’s door). If you want to read a great guide, google your year Ford towing guide. It’ll show up as a PDF document.

For us to help, we need a photo of both stickers in your drivers door frame. Plus year and 2wd or 4wd. Then I could look up your actual numbers to help. Unless your truck is better set up to tow than implied here, the towing capacity is not even high enough for that trailer, much less payload.

It is a 2018 F150 Lariat V8 5.0L. It is a supercrew (4 regular doors) and 4x4. The 3.31 axle ratio is what the Ford employee told me yesterday when I called and had them run the VIN # so that could be untrue, I suppose (I couldn't seem to find actual verification of the axle ratio anywhere but I also seemed to know more about this than the Ford employee, and that is not saying a lot, haha). Bed size is standard, not a long bed but not the short one either. I have been scouring the towing guide for 2018 and it is all just so confusing. I want to make certain we know what we are working but all of this research is leading me to think we bit off more than we can chew and we aren't ready to upgrade vehicles so....

[Jerryr]

Ok. Here’s the yellow sticker from a 2020 F-150 w/5.0L, Crew Cab, 5.5’ bed, 4WD, Lariat.

PayLoad is only 1,646 lbs. what does your door sticker state?

That weight is max allowed to include hitch, Tongue weight, stuff in the truck cabin and bed, driver and passenger weights.

[audreypmcg]

Had to get my husband to send it to me from work.

[Stealth13777]

It is a 2018 F150 Lariat V8 5.0L. It is a supercrew (4 regular doors) and 4x4. The 3.31 axle ratio is what the Ford employee told me yesterday when I called and had them run the VIN # so that could be untrue, I suppose (I couldn't seem to find actual verification of the axle ratio anywhere but I also seemed to know more about this than the Ford employee, and that is not saying a lot, haha). Bed size is standard, not a long bed but not the short one either. I have been scouring the towing guide for 2018 and it is all just so confusing. I want to make certain we know what we are working but all of this research is leading me to think we bit off more than we can chew and we aren't ready to upgrade vehicles so....

The axle code 27 indicates you have a 3.31 rear end. The photo you posted of your trailer hitch has the max numbers for that hitch as installed. So if it was the weakest link, those would be your maxes. It usually isn’t the weakest link. Good to see you have the 7000 GVWR. I do as well on my 17 and my payload picture states 1807lbs.

As for your max towing #, it is 9000lbs with a 14,300lb gross combined weight rating (GCWR). In 2018 Ford included upgraded cooling with all trailer tow packages (there are three), so depending on which package you have, there is only one difference - upgraded front stabilizer bar. If you have pro trailer backup assist (knob on the dash), you have the higher level package. I do suspect you’ll hit the payload number before max weight with a travel trailer.

Relevant pages from 2018 towing guide below. Link to the whole guide also below.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/content/d...VTTowGuide.pdf




Edit: here is a photo of my payload sticker from my driver door. It does not include anything you have added/put into the truck.

[Jerryr]

By the way. Back 3 years ago I had a 2016 F-150 Crew Bad 2WD 3.5L with max tow package and a 2017 2800BH. The F-150 had a payload of 1,967 lbs. It was not comfortable to tow especially I cross winds and when being passed by 18 wheelers. It always felt like the trailer was in charge.

After 3 months I traded in the truck and trailer for a F350 diesel and a Reflection 337RLS. That combo tows with finger tips on the steering wheel no matter what the winds are or what is passing us.

I only towed the 2800Bh one time with the F350 when taking it to the dealer to trade it in. The F-350 towed the 2800BH great. No sway, no sucked in when being passed and no issue with cross winds. So I assume if I had a 3/4 ton or 1 ton truck I would still have kept the 2800bh.

[Stealth13777]

Had to get my husband to send it to me from work.

You have all the info you need now.

Max GCWR: 14,300lbs
Max GVWR: 7,000lbs
Max Tow: 9,000lbs
Payload: 1899lbs empty (And your trailer hitch says max trailer tongue 1160lbs)
Front Axle GAWR: 3535lbs
Rear Axle GAWR: 3800lbs

I would base your calculations on the GVWR of the trailer, not the empty weight. Which indicates you’re over some capacities to be legal if the trailer is fully loaded. But it doesn’t have to be fully loaded. It’s a lot of trailer for an F150 but with your payload where it is, and the benefit of the 10spd trans with that 5.0, it’s doable if just barely. I defer to others on comfort.

[audreypmcg]

So you're saying there's a chance.....lol

I think we will give it a shot just to get our camping experience started and if we love camping and find the towing to be difficult/uncomfortable, we upgrade the truck when we can. We are in Florida (bonus for it being flat) and have young kids so don't plan to be doing long trips - we are blessed to be in the middle of the state with loads of great campsites 1-2 hours in all directions. We will just have to be intentional to take the scenic route and avoid interstates until we have more experience under our belt. I can't thank you all enough for your insight, experience and opinions. We have already been told what a great group of folks we will meet camping and this has been no different

I will post pictures when we get it in hand next week! <3