I have a 2008 F-250 with the 6.4L and auto. It has a 3.73 rear end, towing pkg. and camper pkg. Labeling say max towing with a weight carrying hitch is 6000 lbs. 12,500 with weight distributing, and 16000 gooseneck/5th wheel. My question is whether there is any wiggle room on the weight carrying vs. weight distributing hitch. I'd like to rent a skid steer that has an operating weigh of 6200 lbs. Assuming it's loaded on a trailer that weighs 1800 lbs, I'm looking at 8K. Do I have to use a weight distributing hitch for this assuming I can keep the tongue weight at or below 600 lbs? This would be a 1-day thing from Home Depot just for me to mess around with the skid steer to see what it can do as research for possibly buying a used one for use on some rural property. Anyway, if I'm just towing that one time, can I get away without using a weight distributing hitch? Total towing distance would be about 80 mi. If I need it later, I plan to get a weight distributing hitch but would like to avoid the hassle and expense for a one-time deal. Thanks.

 

NO! You will ruin the suspension, and your tires will be worn down to nothing from rubbing the inside of your wheel wells for so long. For towing a skidder i would deffinatly recomend nothing less than a 5th wheel hitch if you don't want to be paying for repairs before you even get to have fun messing with it! The 6.4L has alot of problems with blowing gaskets, and head bolts, among with a few other things also. Under a heavy load, you may "induce" a problem if you don't place the weight properly over the axles/ center mass of the truck. Sry for the bad news, and good luck.

 

I routinly pull 8000+lbs with my 08 5.4L F250 with no problems. The tongue weights are probably in the 800+ range. I also have towing and camper packages and 3.73 diffs.

I have never felt the need to use a wd hitch. It hardly sets the rearend down.

The only thing that worries me is the strength of the factory reciever hitch, but alot of people around here pull a heck of alot more then that on them.

I have put 1000's of kms on towing 7000lb horse trailers, and a few hundered pulling 9000lbs of hay. Just make sure the Trailer has breaks, and is balanced correctly with approximatly 10% tongue weight.