Powerboost Overheated while Towing

[jcaspar]

Who would have thought a 3/4 ton truck could tow more than a 1/2 ton or that towing a boat at max capacity on a regular basis would not be a good idea?!?!? The great things I learn on this site!

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[Rod507]

The power of marketing... wonder how many people see the ford commercials stating F150 tows 14k pounds and people flock to the dealers to trade their HD truck for one... in part I blame the ads, but reading the asterisk at the bottom of the commercial, reading the sticker in the door jam and common sense has to come to terms eventually

 

[Jaylars]

Can't wait for all the Lightning guys to start complaining about their faux max tow numbers and battery life when towing. Should be fun reading.

Cheers!

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Folks, I knew what I was getting into and that I was asking a half-ton to do a Supeduty's job. I have owned many F-150's and Superduties and still have a diesel '17 F-250 on my Virginia farm. The issue is that my Florida house is in a gated HOA community that disallows any truck over half ton, and my boat spends half the year there. Ford claimed the Powerboost as a game-changer, with Superduty capacities, and advertised it with pics towing tractors and boats as big as mine, and specs to match. I hoped they were correct, with skepticism, so added air bags, better truck tires. It still didn't meet their sales pitch, that's all. And failed miserably on the efficiency scale, going from top-of-the list when empty, to worst when put to the towing test, less than. half as efficient as a diesel Superduty. TFL found the same in their towing test. Just thought folks would find it interesting.

 

[imnuts]

I must have missed the commercial where they had a 10,000 lb boat being towed by a truck at its max load. They have plenty of towing commercials, but the fine print in them, as well as the brochure and website all state only certain configurations will be able to do what is advertised. You seem to have ignored that point, yet keep posting everywhere about your terrible experience so far despite having the wrong truck for the job. If you wanted a Powerboost to tow your boat, you should have been less option happy when buying and you'd likely have a better experience.

 

[Niterider]

When calculating tow ratings, you should never expect to pull right up to the limits. Ideally, you want a little headroom for NORMAL conditions.

Now, I live on a farm. I tow things that are well over the ratings of my half ton truck at least a few times every year.

10,000lb Bobcat skid steer? No problem.
2000 gallon liquid nitrogen tanks? No problem.

The difference with me is, I’m not trying to pull the guts out of my 14’ Ecoboost that is rated to tow around 9800lbs. TFL took a half ton turn and loaded it to its limit and pulled its guts out till it started giving up. Take that three quarter ton truck and load it to its limit and pull its guts out and it’s likely to do the same thing.

I don’t expect my Powerboost truck (if it ever shows up) to pull these things that much better. I just expect maybe a little bit better performance while doing it. I know full well that by pulling these things that are at or above the limits of this truck, that I have to expect to take it easy on it.

 

[Polo08816]

Sheesh. That looked so bad. He mentioned the Cat scales, he should have posted the weight slip. He posted pictures of everything else. Sounds like a poor decision was made on purchasing the F150. Time to sell ASAP.

I will be pulling a 7500 lbs boat for a 5 hour trip in a week. I am not looking forward to the MPG but the truck will be me and my son. Wife and daughter will be in the trailing Explorer. After seeing his trip report, I will be sure to pack most of the stuff in the Explorer.

We also buy food and supplies at the destination. No need to bring that much with us.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about the extra 100lbs or so especially during a wreck.

That stuff is going to be scattered and littered all over the highway during a wreck. No one is going to recover it all to weigh everything collectively to find out you exceeded the door stamp by 100lbs.

 

[UGADawg96]

They did a follow up after Ford responded.

 

[don.mullins]

Did they derate by 2% for every 1000 feet of elevation like the manual states? My guess is they were over the limit at that altitude with a 10k pound trailer.

Ford actually responded to that effect. And, they noted that all truck tow ratings are based on an SAE specification that specifies 45MPH as a towing speed.

Ford’s response was basically “you exceeded the truck’s ratings by not considering altitude, speed and temperature, but it properly went into a reduced power protection mode and completed the run. And it still was within 20 seconds of a 3/4 diesel for the same run, so there‘s that”

 

[Roady]

In the second video he stated that the truck does not have max tow package. (said it isn't available) Doesn't that drop his tow rating to 7000 by default? Can you achieve a 11,000LB tow rating without that package?

 

[Timsvtgen1]

In the second video he stated that the truck does not have max tow package. (said it isn't available) Doesn't that drop his tow rating to 7000 by default? Can you achieve a 11,000LB tow rating without that package?

From what Ford says, No. I think besides the upgraded rear bumper, it also includes an aux. trans cooler which his truck didn't have, as well.

 

[currybob]

I think the truck did very well with the high elevation, exceeded speed limits, exceeded weight limits and a steady 9 mile steep climb. I would say even with all the exceeded issues, you would be just fine towing that much weight with normal roads and elevation more commonly found .

 

[imnuts]

In the second video he stated that the truck does not have max tow package. (said it isn't available) Doesn't that drop his tow rating to 7000 by default? Can you achieve a 11,000LB tow rating without that package?

If it has the trailer tow package, the towing rating is higher. Tow Tech package or lower is "limited" to 7000 lbs. Max Tow is an option, but I don't think it really adds much to the trailer limit and actually reduces payload.

 

[UGADawg96]

In this video, he states it is rated for 11k

 

[mwf5888]

I think the big takeaway here is the 2021 F150 automatically reduced power vs. overheating and possibly causing damage. It also shows a notification on the dash. So even thought they were outside the limits of the truck it protected the owner from possible damage and cost.

I take it!

And I don't have any mountains like that I will be regularly towing up or down.

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