Max Tongue Weight

[SpaceEVDriver]

Oh that's awesome, that is what I was looking for. I wonder if the truck could handle my boat without a weight distribution hitch.

Without the weight distributing hitch, you're limited to 5,000 pounds towing and 500 pounds tongue weight.
See the table in my first comment above.

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[MM in SouthTX]

Hi All, I am looking at buying an Extended Range Lariat (don't have one specifically in mind, just judging the feasibility before searching for one). I have a boat that I tow about 10 miles to the lake a few times a month throughout the summer. It weights in the neighborhood of 9000 pounds, trailer and all. I know that the rating of 10,000 for towing is with a weight distribution hitch, but what is the max tongue weight? I have found other posts that state the hitch on the Lightnings leave a lot to be desired as far as strength goes. It is a fairly tongue heavy boat/trailer but I do not have the exact weight. My concern is that the truck does not have enough payload capacity along with the hitch not being robust enough to support the tongue weight. If I had to guess, the tongue weight would be around the 1000 pound mark based on taking it over a scale when attached to a previous SUV of mine but I did not know the current curb weight of the SUV. So I am looking for some input here. The Lightning would not be towing this boat across the country, 99% of the time it will not have a trailer at all and just be my daily driver.

See if you can find a weigh station near you. There's commonly one at truck stops. Get a weight with it on the hitch, then with it on the jack (fully on the weigh station pad). The difference is your tongue weight.

I had a similar size boat in the past that I bought without a trailer. I used this method to see where the boat should sit on the trailer that I bought for it. If you do this you won't have to guess what your tongue weight is.

 

[RickLightning]

There's some misinformation here.

Yes, each vehicle has a payload limit. That's from the factory. Subtract from that anything you added to the truck (tonneau cover, liner, mats) plus people.

HOWEVER, the HITCH has it's own limits. With a WDH, it can take a max of 1,000 pounds. Without a WDH, it can take a max of 500 pounds. You cannot tow that boat safely. Sticker from my Lightning below.

 

[MM in SouthTX]

What Rick says is true, but I did not know this and felt very safe pulling my boat up to 20 miles and 65 mph with my Expedition. If it tows well (no sway or "light" steering) it can be done. Not recommended at all for people without much towing experience who can't tell by feel what's safe and what isn't.

Going without the WDH is worse for your rear suspension. Probably not ideal for evasive maneuvers. Definitely would not feel good about getting in an accident and hurting someone. Trial lawyer would have a field day with it. But it can be done for occasional towing close to home without ruining your truck. Be careful.

 

[CJWisinski]

There's some misinformation here.

Yes, each vehicle has a payload limit. That's from the factory. Subtract from that anything you added to the truck (tonneau cover, liner, mats) plus people.

HOWEVER, the HITCH has it's own limits. With a WDH, it can take a max of 1,000 pounds. Without a WDH, it can take a max of 500 pounds. You cannot tow that boat safely. Sticker from my Lightning below.

I am well aware of all of that. However, see here is the confusion though. That hitch is rated for 10k with WD as you said. However, WD hitches don’t take any force off of the hitch. It’s rated for tongue weight of 1k and trailer weight of 10k. Regardless of WDH or not, the receiver will feel 1k pounds of tongue weight and 10k pounds of trailer weight. Meaning that without WD, the hitch can still handle 1k of tongue weight and 10k of trailer weight. Now if you had a 10k trailer but 1500 pounds was tongue weight, the hitch wouldn’t be safe for that. But if you installed a WDH, you could get that tongue weight down to 1k pounds.

 

[CJWisinski]

What Rick says is true, but I did not know this and felt very safe pulling my boat up to 20 miles and 65 mph with my Expedition. If it tows well (no sway or "light" steering) it can be done. Not recommended at all for people without much towing experience who can't tell by feel what's safe and what isn't.

Going without the WDH is worse for your rear suspension. Probably not ideal for evasive maneuvers. Definitely would not feel good about getting in an accident and hurting someone. Trial lawyer would have a field day with it. But it can be done for occasional towing close to home without ruining your truck. Be careful.

I am very experienced with towing, but I have always had heavy duty trucks. A F150 will be the lightest truck I have ever had. The truck being rated for 10k is plenty, it’s strictly the tongue weight and payload I was concerned with because tongue weight being a bit high on my trailer, I would have to get it to be less than 1k to be within spec. But if it’s say 1100, it would suck to have to hook up a WDH to just move it a few miles.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I am well aware of all of that. However, see here is the confusion though. That hitch is rated for 10k with WD as you said. However, WD hitches don’t take any force off of the hitch. It’s rated for tongue weight of 1k and trailer weight of 10k. Regardless of WDH or not, the receiver will feel 1k pounds of tongue weight and 10k pounds of trailer weight. Meaning that without WD, the hitch can still handle 1k of tongue weight and 10k of trailer weight. Now if you had a 10k trailer but 1500 pounds was tongue weight, the hitch wouldn’t be safe for that. But if you installed a WDH, you could get that tongue weight down to 1k pounds.

It's not about what the hitch can safely pull or carry. The hitch itself can handle much, much more than 10,000 pounds.

It's about the distribution of the weight over the front and rear axles of the tow vehicle. By shifting some of the weight away from the ball and farther back on the trailer tongue toward the trailer's rear axle, a WDH shifts about 20% to 30% of the tongue weight from the rear axle of the tow vehicle to the rear axle of the trailer (and thus geometrically also to the front axle of the tow vehicle). This helps the tow vehicle maintain its factory-designed rake while towing, which helps maintain the proper braking and steering control of the tow vehicle.

Occasional towing with a bit higher tongue weight is fine if you're staying away from other people. You won't break anything on the vehicle if you're moderately over capacity (unless your tires aren't able to carry the load or you're going too fast or over lots of bumps/ruts). If you're going slowly enough not to lose control of the vehicle, you'll be fine. It's on a road with other people who aren't aware that your steering and braking capability is compromised when this becomes problematic.

EDIT: It sounds like you know this, but you're not the only audience on the forum...

 

[Heliian]

have found other posts that state the hitch on the Lightnings leave a lot to be desired as far as strength goes.

It's still an f150, whoever said that knows nothing about trucks or towing.

1000 pound mark based on taking it over a scale when attached to a previous SUV of mine

That is a heavy load for a half ton, you can do it but when you're at the absolute max like that it won't be comfortable.

If you can shift the load to reduce tongue weight a little then it'll be more comfortable.

 

[Dan C]

I have a lariat er. The max payload of 1730. My tongue wieght is around 600 lbs. With no equalizer it only drops the rear of the truck an inch. With people and gear I think I have around 400 lbs left. If you have max tow that takes away from your payload as it adds wieght to the truck. Tow rating is different than payload.

 

[xwing]

My trailer 24ft flat bed trailer weighs about 4000 lbs. I'm guessing I had around 4000 lbs of logs. I towed from a site about 10 miles from my house on a 2 lane highway up and down hills with speed limits up to 50 MPH. I made at least 10 trips from that site. The lightning tows as good as if not better than my F-250 with that load. No distribution hitch, so I definitely had more than 500 lbs on the tongue. Would I pull this load on an Interstate? NO. Personally I would tow a fishing boat as you described 10 miles. Would I tow it on an interstate? NO. Its up to you to decide. I think the truck is more than capable.

 

[CJWisinski]

My trailer 24ft flat bed trailer weighs about 4000 lbs. I'm guessing I had around 4000 lbs of logs. I towed from a site about 10 miles from my house on a 2 lane highway up and down hills with speed limits up to 50 MPH. I made at least 10 trips from that site. The lightning tows as good as if not better than my F-250 with that load. No distribution hitch, so I definitely had more than 500 lbs on the tongue. Would I pull this load on an Interstate? NO. Personally I would tow a fishing boat as you described 10 miles. Would I tow it on an interstate? NO. Its up to you to decide. I think the truck is more than capable.

Your post is exactly what I was looking for. Your setup in the picture is something I would potentially be doing as well with it. It doesn't appear that your truck is squatted very far as that was my concern with the tongue weight. I would say you easily had around a thousand pounds of tongue weight in that picture. Yeah there is always the safest way to do things, and using my F550 to tow my boat would be safer. However I don't want to always take my F550 work rig to the lake on the weekend as its full of work related things and lacking the room for passengers haha. So it is a requirement that my second truck, whatever it is that I purchase, be able to be used as a truck and not a driveway princess. FYI your truck is my favorite color that the Lightnings are available in

 

[xwing]

Thank you. I just hauled 4 Oak logs this morning that were from 16 -24 in diameter and 4 - 8 ft long. My tractor loader will lift 2000 lbs and it could not lift the big one. I had them biased toward the front of the trailer so I know I had some pretty good tongue wt. The truck was level and I Iooked under at the bump stops and it was was an inch or so off the bump stops. I'm guessing I had around 6000 lbs. I should have taken another picture. This is the hitch mount that I use that keeps the trailer level with the truck unloaded. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QEKGPU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I would be more concerned about the tires. I typically run mine about 42-43 lbs cold all the time. If you know you are putting a load on the back, I would air those up the the max on the side wall. Remember that is cold pressure. Tires are designed for Max inflation COLD. They designed for extra pressure generated as they heat up.

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