F-250 to new F-150 for GN trailer?

[LadyBug]

We currently haul our 21 foot GN 2-horse (~8,000# loaded) with a 2010 F250 Crew Cab 6.4L diesel.

Considering trading it in for a 2015 F-150 3.5 Ecoboost with standard tow package. The truck is rated for 10,700# towing. It only has a 5.5’ bed but the front of the trailer is angled on the sides.

Has anyone gone from a 250 diesel to the new F-150, and are you happy with it? We only use the truck to tow maybe 12 times a year, so getting a F150 Platinum would be something we would get more use out of when not towing.

Thanks

[goodhors]

I believe going all the way down to a F-150 will be too small for the trailer. Truck weight is much reduced for better mileage with plastic parts. This is NOT the F-150 of 10 or even 5 years ago in weight to control towed weight of a horse trailer You are also shortening truck length, which will reduce control. Even on flat land, no hills, you have to be able to control your load in rain, wind, be able to STOP fast when needed. Weight is not the total picture with horse trailers. You have tall, MOVING loads inside that add to the equation in control, stopping, weather conditions. Adding in any other factors like hills, mountains, fat horses, loaded with supplies for overnight shows, your F-150 is not the truck for the job.

Engine power is also much reduced going from diesel to gas. Diesel engine weight alone, is a lot heavier than a gas engine. Engine weight added to truck control of trailer when using the F250 truck.

Smaller truck is probably fine with a 2h trailer, even one with a dressing room. Just not SAFELY suitable for 21ft gooseneck and weight of that load.

[cutter99]

You need to remember that towing weight rates include things like passengers, fuel, all your horse equipment. My bet would be you will be much further over your 10,700 lbs. than you even realize. Personally, it is not something I would do.

[ryansgirl]

NO. Absolutely not. People tend to forget the weight that a GN puts on the rear axles of the truck. Half tons are not built the same as a 3/4 ton. Sure tow numbers may work but don’t forget how much you are putting on the rear end of that truck. No way in hell I’d tow a GN with a half-ton.

(but don’t worry…I’m sure you’ll get a ton of replies saying it’s perfectly safe and that they do it all the time…:sigh:)…

[Miss_Motivation]

I have a 2014 F-150 for a daily driver… numbers said it should be ok to pull my simple/lightweight 2 horse slant.

No way!!

I went around the block and directly back back to the barn to get my ‘real’ truck, an F-350 diesel dually.

The newer F-150’s are a glorified sedan (great to haul my kids around and drive to work with reasonable mileage) but a safe tow vehicle? No way.

i even used the F-150 to tow an empty 500 gallon water trailer a few miles for service, but used the big truck to pick it up a few days later.

Just sold the F-350 and huge living quarters trailer it pulled so I’ll have to see if an F-250 is the right thing to tow the 2 horse slant.

[Gainer]

While I love my F-150 (that has a towing package), I would never pull a trailer with it. Ever.

[LSMarnell]

21’ gooseneck on a short bed F-150 sounds like an accident waiting to happen, sorry.

[LadyBug]

Wow, thank you for all of the responses! Guess I have my answer. We will look at a newer F-250 diesel and forget the 150s.

[ChocoMare]

Wise decision. Once you’ve been under-trucked, you’ll never want that feeling again. Oy!

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

Your Ford dealer should have the printed chart showing just what each truck and its engine can pull. Two years ago I thought about the then new F150 with the auto trailer parking. The truck mechanics and the Ford dealer said no way would that engine work well with my horses and trailer. I bought another F350 and it is as good as my old one.

Several years ago my farrier downsized his truck from an F250 to a Chevy 1500. On vacation in the Tennessee Mtns with his wife, pulling a small camper, his engine blew. Under warranty but a real pain as he had to leave his truck there and return a week later to pick up after repairs. Note that what might be OK on flat land can be a nightmare in the mountains as well as the weight pulling issue.

[Minxitbabe]

I wouldn’t do it. I own a F350, a F250, and 2 F150 all gas. These are work trucks and while I pull a smaller work trailer with one of the 150s I wouldn’t haul a horse trailer bigger than a 2 horse with one horse in it. Even then if it’s over an hour drive I would use the 250. The 150s were bought for lighter duty mostly driving around doing repair work that doesn’t require a trailer. Fuel wise it’s been nice but it has also been a pain when having a third heavier duty truck would have made things less complicated. Get a bigger truck and be able to rest easy knowing that it won’t be a pain to haul a trailer with.

[Horseman15]

I’m glad you’re going to get a 3/4 ton or bigger truck. Another point no one has touched on yet is the stopping capacity. The brakes of the half ton trucks are a lot smaller than what’s on the 3/4 ton trucks. When you’re on hills with your trailer your trailer drums get hot and you rely on the truck brakes a lot more. Even with disc brakes you’ll start to experience brake fade fairly early on. Tire size is another factor. As a rule the lighter the truck the narrower the tire, meaning less rubber touching the road. Also, the lighter the truck the thinner the sidewalls are, so you’ll get more roll in the tire and less overall stability. Towing capacity numbers are under certain conditions, there’s other things to consider to keep it safe under all conditions.

[Badger]

The new Fords have a ton of new innovations so be sure you are getting advice from people who are current. FYI there is a very negligible price difference between F250s and F350s currently, but a notable increase in towing capacity, so look at them both before you decide which is the best buy for you.

[Dutchmare433]

FWIW I have one of the 6.7L F250s and really like it, it hauls like nothing’s behind it (large 2H gooseneck), and it saved my neck when I was cut off–badly–on the highway. I moved up from an older gas 3/4 ton and I’d never go back.

[SuckerForHorses]

@LadyBug

We currently haul our 21 foot GN 2-horse (~8,000# loaded) with a 2010 F250 Crew Cab 6.4L diesel.

Considering trading it in for a 2015 F-150 3.5 Ecoboost with standard tow package. The truck is rated for 10,700# towing. It only has a 5.5’ bed but the front of the trailer is angled on the sides.
…

Nope nope nope…hell to the nope.

[AKB]

My 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 does a great job pulling my 2h bumper pull. The Chevrolet salesman and the trailer salesman both emphatically told me not to pull my daughter’s 2h aluminum gooseneck with it. The towing capacity was fine but they were oncerned about too much weight on the rear of the truck. She bought a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and is happy with it.

[RPM]

@LadyBug

Wow, thank you for all of the responses! Guess I have my answer. We will look at a newer F-250 diesel and forget the 150s.

Yay! Good decision, LadyBug. Scrolling through the thread I was glad to see this post!

[BasqueMom]

Yep, I’ve had both and nothing like the diesel and bigger truck. Love my F150 but it will only be used to tow in an emergency…sick horse, other truck not here or won’t start.

[oddoda]

Towing capacity is one number to know. However, how much you can put in the back of the truck bed is another. Combined weight is yet another. There are a lot of people out there who have 3/4 ton trucks pulling large gooseneck living quarter trailers that are still technically overweight. How? They are fine in towing capacity and total combined weight (loaded trailer + weight of truck) but the weight on the hitch (how much to put on the truck bed) - they are over it.

Furthermore, it is very difficult to find numbers from manufacturers like Ford about what is technically your weight limit on the hitch. They also differ between bumper pull and gooseneck. Usually, about 10% of the total loaded trailer weight will rest on the bumper pull hitch and 25-30% on the gooseneck hitch.

For example, let’s say you have a 2H bumper pull trainer that weighs 3200lbs empty (your trailer decal should tell you this). Two horses x 1100lbs each, 6 bales of hay at 60 lbs, tack etc. and your trailer now weighs about 3200+2200+360+100 = 5860 lbs. On the ball of the bumper pull hitch, this trailer would weigh about 580 lbs. To be safe, you would want to bump up to the next hitch class (only use weight distributing bumper pull hitches with sway control!), which would be 800 lbs.

Now, the same trailer may weigh 30% of the weight on the gooseneck ball (on your rear axle) - that would be anywhere between 1500 and 1800 lbs! To find the answer to your question of how much you can put on your rear axles, you can call Ford directly - they also publish a towing guide each year that lists all these numbers.

The best way to find out is to take your truck to the scales and weigh it with you and all other passengers and a full tank. You will get two numbers as a result - weight of your front axles (where the engine is) and weight of your rear axles (where you gooseneck hitch is). The front number will be much higher than the back number because of the weight of the engine.

Now, hook up the fully loaded trailer to it and go back to the scales (with your horses in it). Get both numbers again and compare the rear axle numbers before and after. The difference will be the weight of your trailer fully loaded on the rear axles of your truck. THIS will be the weight capacity your truck needs to satisfy to be safe on the rear axles.
This is my example: we have a 2015 3H 8ft LQ Exiss trailer. It weighs 12,500 lbs fully loaded with horses, generator, extra diesel and gas, hay for 10 days for two horses and all our camping gear. When I took it to the scales, it turned out it weighed 2600 lbs on the gooseneck hitch!!! We had a 2016 F-250 Powerstroke diesel at the time. It squatted that truck like it was nothing. The truck was at the border of its legal capacity of what can be put onto the rear axles (actually over it by a few hundred pounds). It needed a set of “super springs” in the back to level out the truck and stop it from squatting. Since there is only my wife and I riding in the truck (and Ford calculates 5 passengers in their weight calculations at 150 lbs each an my wife and I weigh combined 260 lbs), we “gained back” some load capacity by not having the three people in the back. However, technically we are overweight and should be moving into the dually category (which is the plan).

The 2016 F-250 diesel (I think) is rated to pull up to 14,500 lbs in the configuration we have (4x4, diesel, crew cab - all these add weight to the truck and take away from the towing capacity since 4x4 is heavy, diesel engine is much heavier that the gasser and crew cab weighs more than the basic two door cab). My trailer is within total towing capacity but NOT within what can go on the rear axles.

Most people would wave me off by saying that the 2016 F-250 diesel is more than capable of towing my trailer. And it is, in terms of diesel power (the F-350 dually has the same engine), braking capacity etc. etc. However, there is no knowing what long term consequences on the back axles and the frame are when towing extensively in this setup. I decided not to find out and just simply upgrade to the 2017 dually

Hope the above helps!