Payload vs Max Tow

[BoilerTimmay]

Based on the documentation the max tow adds no payload capacity, but actually lowers it due to additional weight of axle, bumper, and brakes.

That being said, if you’re trying to tow a travel trailer with your family in the truck, max tow is doing you a disservice by not allowing more combined tongue weight and people payload. Essentially going from 11,000 to 12,400 lbs of towing capacity doesn’t matter because you won’t be able to handle the payload/tongue weight unless you’re driving the truck by yourself.


Example:
9,000# travel trailer
1,000# tongue weight

1500# payload non max tow
1350# payload max tow

Me, the wife and kids: 500#

Am I over thinking this or should I ditch the max tow or are the brakes etc worth it? I will NEVER tow a 12,000 lbs trailer by myself.

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[daemonic3]

Tim, are you watching this thread I started? https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/gawr-axle-stickers-for-regular-max-tow-and-eb-pb.872/

I'm with you that it seems absolutely asinine to charge so much for max tow and everyone is deciding against it thinking it reduces their towing (due to payload). This is so counterintuitive. I feel like it is just the spec methodology or that they do not give any GVWR credit when only bumping the rear axle.

So I'm asking for the white door stickers to determine the rear/drive GAWR between max and regular tow package. Just missing a few more data points!

 

[BoilerTimmay]

Tim, are you watching this thread I started? https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/gawr-axle-stickers-for-regular-max-tow-and-eb-pb.872/

I'm with you that it seems absolutely asinine to charge so much for max tow and everyone is deciding against it thinking it reduces their towing (due to payload). This is so counterintuitive. I feel like it is just the spec methodology or that they do not give any GVWR credit when only bumping the rear axle.

So I'm asking for the white door stickers to determine the rear/drive GAWR between max and regular tow package. Just missing a few more data points!

Yep. I’m on the same thought process. I just haven’t seen a sticker for a max tow compared to another, and I don’t know what my Max tow powerboost with a moon roof is going to be rated at weight wise. No power running boards. But I’m guessing 1350... everything leads me to believe it will pull more buttes payload which I’m hoping is wrong. They have the chance to publish “max tow” payload data, but I have seen other discrepancies in the documentation.

I’ll stay tuned and try and ask ford as well.

 

[kavm]

Very similar thoughts, though I am still persisting with max tow. With stronger axle, better brakes, it’s got to be superior. For some reason, Ford is, intentionally or other unintentionally, under specifying the payload. My thinking is that if one could stay legal with the official payload - one would rather have the max tow. But, one would be consistently worried about being legal. So, there’s that. Seems like there’s no avoiding that.

Our absolute minimum payload requirement is about 1200# = 800# tongue + 280# driver and passenger + 100# 5-th wheel Anderson ultimate hitch and rails. So, trying for a 1400+ payload number. It could get tricky if we have a visitor/passenger but that’s rare.

 

[Bryan Simon]

Y’all concerned about a couple hundred pounds.
Scenes similar to this are seen almost daily in my neck of the woods.
Pretty sure these people have no idea what the payload capacity is.
They may have the same view that I get only once every couple of years.
“Tires are still round—add more”

 

[BoilerTimmay]

Y’all concerned about a couple hundred pounds.
Scenes similar to this are seen almost daily in my neck of the woods.
Pretty sure these people have no idea what the payload capacity is.
They may have the same view that I get only once every couple of years.
“Tires are still round—add more”

I’m going to go out on a limb and say I’ve got a lot more to lose Than that fella in an accident. In today’s world even if you aren’t at fault, having your truck a hundred pounds over its weight rating could easily result in getting sued for negligence and everything you own, in the case of personally injury etc.

The ratings aren’t guidelines and are legally binding. I’ve worked too hard to lose what I have built for my family. Better safe than sorry

 

[lcrain]

Boy, this is making me rethink the max tow package vs ticking the regular tow package. Would love to see two identical trucks one with and one without.

 

[daemonic3]

Yes! And I totally blew my chance at the dealer where 2 XLT's with absolutely everything equal, but one max tow and one regular tow. I only took pics of the window stickers and yellow payload stickers! If only I got the dang white stickers. The boring carbonized gray one is gone and they only had the cool guard one I test drove still there as of sunday.

 

[kavm]

Y’all concerned about a couple hundred pounds.
Scenes similar to this are seen almost daily in my neck of the woods.
Pretty sure these people have no idea what the payload capacity is.
They may have the same view that I get only once every couple of years.
“Tires are still round—add more”

To be honest, I am mostly worried about implications in case of an accident. I am quite certain that exceeding the payload by 50 or 100# isn’t going to affect anything. Also, Ford isn’t exactly giving much credit for things like max tow that ought to improve the payload. It is the liability, insurance coverage and any other implications of that nature in the event of an accident are the problem.

 

[Waxer]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say I’ve got a lot more to lose Than that fella in an accident. In today’s world even if you aren’t at fault, having your truck a hundred pounds over its weight rating could easily result in getting sued for negligence and everything you own, in the case of personally injury etc.

The ratings aren’t guidelines and are legally binding. I’ve worked too hard to lose what I have built for my family. Better safe than sorry

I am definitely interested in the discussion, but a suggestion beyond the technical details of payload capacity - ask your insurance broker what an umbrella liability policy would cost you. I have a few teenage daughters driving vehicles in my name, and getting an umbrella coverage for a couple million dollars of limit allows me to sleep well at night and not worry too much about payload numbers from the liability aspect.

 

[Bryan Simon]

My comment and pic was more “tongue in cheek” than condescending.
But, this is a pretty common sight near the border.
Same as seeing an old Tacoma flat towing two other cars or trucks behind it.
International commerce.
No way I would consider grossly overloading for anything more than a trip to a landfill or scrapyard, both of which are not that far away.
I have a rule—if it does not fit inside the walls, it doesn’t go in the truck.
Time for a trailer

 

[BoilerTimmay]

I am definitely interested in the discussion, but a suggestion beyond the technical details of payload capacity - ask your insurance broker what an umbrella liability policy would cost you. I have a few teenage daughters driving vehicles in my name, and getting an umbrella coverage for a couple million dollars of limit allows me to sleep well at night and not worry too much about payload numbers from the liability aspect.

I have a million dollar umbrella, but my understanding is that it doesn’t cover you in the case of negligence. Perhaps I should do some research and stop worrying haha.

 

[kavm]

I have the umbrella but still concerned. We will not knowingly overload the truck but we aren’t going to have a weigh station handy each time either. So, with the low payload, there is a possibility that we are over the limit by, say, 50 lbs sometime for some reason one did not know before the fact. I am not clear what the consequences of that might be in case: (a) one is stopped in a weight enforcement situation, and (b) most important - if this happens in case of an accident.

 

[davek22554]

I have a 5.0 Lariat with max towing. The limiting factor is the payload. My payload is 1509. I do have the power tailgate, power running boards, moon roof and the Fx4 package. That pretty much maxes me out at ~10,000 with a 1000 lb tongue weight and me and the misses with all luggage and gear loaded in the trailer.

IIRC though the specs say max towing is something like 13,500 but only if you have the max towing.

 

[NoSnow]

Based on the documentation the max tow adds no payload capacity, but actually lowers it due to additional weight of axle, bumper, and brakes.

That being said, if you’re trying to tow a travel trailer with your family in the truck, max tow is doing you a disservice by not allowing more combined tongue weight and people payload. Essentially going from 11,000 to 12,400 lbs of towing capacity doesn’t matter because you won’t be able to handle the payload/tongue weight unless you’re driving the truck by yourself.


Example:
9,000# travel trailer
1,000# tongue weight

1500# payload non max tow
1350# payload max tow

Me, the wife and kids: 500#

Am I over thinking this or should I ditch the max tow or are the brakes etc worth it? I will NEVER tow a 12,000 lbs trailer by myself.

I had the same thoughts and passed on the Max tow as well. For me, I will run out of payload long before Max towing capacity. I also believe that if I needed to pull 12000+ lbs then I should probably be looking at a 250 or 350 regardless of the specs.

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