Question About My F350 towing

david.coakley · Apr 10, 2013

I have 2012 F350 6.7 diesel SRW with 3.55 gears towing a road warrior 415 its about 18,500 lbs. When I bought the trailer they told me the truck was fine to tow it, But i am having my doubts. Can anyone help clarify if i am safe to tow this??

jimtoo · Apr 10, 2013

HI David,

Welcome to the Heartland Owens Forum and Family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

I would think you should be OK with your Ford.. but here is link to a good calculator. You will need the weight figures for your vehicle also. I'm sure some others will jump in also with their thoughts.

Jim M

BouseBill · Apr 10, 2013

David, First welcome...Second...NEVER ever believe anything a salesman/women tells you about the capability of a given truck. Start with this link and see what you can come up with.

http://www.ford.com/trucks/superduty/specifications/towing/

Bill

Birchwood · Apr 10, 2013

The RW 415 has a dry weight of 15000 lbs.The Ford you own will safely handle a 16000 lb fifth wheel.

JanAndBill · Apr 10, 2013

BouseBill said:
David, First welcome...Second...NEVER ever believe anything a salesman/women tells you about the capability of a given truck. Start with this link and see what you can come up with.

http://www.ford.com/trucks/superduty/specifications/towing/

Bill

Amen! That applies equally to rv salespeople and truck salespeople.

lwmcguir · Apr 10, 2013

david.coakley said:
I have 2012 F350 6.7 diesel SRW with 3.55 gears towing a road warrior 415 its about 18,500 lbs. When I bought the trailer they told me the truck was fine to tow it, But i am having my doubts. Can anyone help clarify if i am safe to tow this??

We pull our cattle trailers with F550 normally but when we need to take an extra trailer or two then sometimes the F350 gets drafted. It handles a 32 foot stock trailer loaded with 16 cows just fine. We do have very good brakes on the trailers which is a must when towing heavy loads. You may be very close on the rear axle rating. Hope you got the extra GVW option there and you need the 20 inch wheel which you may have. Handling isn't an issue for us with a heavier load than you are going to be handling. Many large coaches out there are still towed by 3/4 ton trucks. The driver and the braking makes a big difference. As far as legal then us Mr. Gray's calculator and find out after you have the weights in hand.

MTPockets · Apr 10, 2013

Your F350 will 'tow' it just fine.... What you need to look into is the total payload capacity of your truck. THere should be a yellow sticker on the driver door post with the maximum payload for your truck. Payload includes passengers, fuel, anything in the bed of your truck, your hitch, and finally the total pin weight of your RW.... When you know your total payload, compare that to the truck payload capacity.

david.coakley · Apr 10, 2013

lwmcguir said:
We pull our cattle trailers with F550 normally but when we need to take an extra trailer or two then sometimes the F350 gets drafted. It handles a 32 foot stock trailer loaded with 16 cows just fine. We do have very good brakes on the trailers which is a must when towing heavy loads. You may be very close on the real axle rating. Hope you got the extra GVW option there and you need the 20 inch wheel which you may have. Handling isn't an issue for us with a heavier load than you are going to be handling. Many large coaches out there are still towed by 3/4 ton trucks. The driver and the braking makes a big difference. As far as legal then us Mr. Grey's calculator and find out after you have the weights in hand.

Yeah i'm not really worried about if it will tow it, I have already went from ca to va and back, I just wanna make sure im legal. I also want to ensure that i dont abuse the truck and i get many years of use out of it. Does anybody know of any good upgrades that help with towing such a heavy load. I already have airbags and am thinking of a tuner possibly better shocks...Any suggestions?? Also Im not sure how to use the calculator and am not familiar with alot of the terms used. Thanks for the help!!!

DW_Gray · Apr 10, 2013

david.coakley said:
Also Im not sure how to use the calculator and am not familiar with alot of the terms used. Thanks for the help!!!

That's reason you need to select and print the worksheet in Step 1. All you need to know is right there. If you're going to CAT Scale view the video at Step 2&3. After completing your worksheet, fill in the information in Step 4.

Any questions? Don't hesitate to ask.

porthole · Apr 11, 2013

david.coakley said:
Does anybody know of any good upgrades that help with towing such a heavy load. I already have airbags and am thinking of a tuner possibly better shocks...

You have bags, that will level it. Consider getting rid of the shocks, forget rancho. If you bother with shocks go right to the Bilsteins.
Personally, i would pass on any tuners. Little gain, much to lose.

Unless you are out of warranty and want to all kinds of work. But, still little gain for the $$$ invested.

Consider carrying spare fuel filters. Besides the filters I also carrry a complete filter housing with the drain plug and "water in fuel" sensor. Simplifies on the road changes. You need a big socket to remove that housing.

TPMS - tire pressure monitor system, if you do nothing else, start there.

lwmcguir · Apr 11, 2013

porthole said:
You have bags, that will level it. Consider getting rid of the shocks, forget rancho. If you bother with shocks go right to the Bilsteins.
Personally, i would pass on any tuners. Little gain, much to lose.

Unless you are out of warranty and want to all kinds of work. But, still little gain for the $$$ invested.

Consider carrying spare fuel filters. Besides the filters I also carrry a complete filter housing with the drain plug and "water in fuel" sensor. Simplifies on the road changes. You need a big socket to remove that housing.

TPMS - tire pressure monitor system, if you do nothing else, start there.

We have towed a lot of different trailers and loads for over 50 years. Porthole is right on. Don't mess with the Ford other than the shocks. Fuel filters are crucial and don't try to save money here.

jnbhobe · Apr 11, 2013

X-3 The only things I have ever changed are exhaust and gearing.

Question About My F350 towing

david.coakley

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jimtoo

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BouseBill

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Birchwood

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MTPockets

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