Ok, it took forever for me to get these statistics. For some reason ford does not publish this information very loudly. All they do is yell out “hey, our truck can haul 10,500 lbs” but in reality its so expensive to get your truck equipped in order to do that, that it would prob be cheaper to just buy a extended cab f250. Anyway, here are the stats that I got and required to know in order to do my job ( I work construction and plan on hauling lots of material on trailers, so I need to know what my weight limits are) had to contact for directly in order to confirm these numbers and they replied to me that it was accuret.

The regular f150 with a 5.4 triton V8 with a factory supplied transmission cooler (transmission cooler linked in front of rad) extended cab, with 3.55 gearing ratio and the factory receiver (hitch hook up) can hold only 1495 lbs in the back box ( that’s after a full 135 L of gas and an estimated load of 2 people at 200 lbs each ( RUFF ESTIMATE ON PERSONS WEIGHT, FORD COULD NOT GIVE ME THERE NUMBERS THEY WENT BY) This number for amount of weight can not be changed unless you upgrade to a higher level of suspension or add a few more leafs in the back end (I have 2 extra leafs and it did make the ride stiffer but I can now put over 2000 lbs in the back….. so ford says)

NOW… that’s nothing important, most of us knew that about the 2006/2007 f150.. but it’s the HAULING statistics that are very hard to find

That same f150 described above can only haul 8300 LBS, the frame can actually handle over 10500 and so can the engine, so if you do happen to haul more then 8300 lbs with that particular truck, you prob wont have any problems still. BUT the reason they rate the vehicle at only 8300 lbs is because of braking distance. That truck did not come close to passing the standards set for weight hauling in North America for weights in excess of 10000 lbs. The braking distance required to stop a 10000lbs load is just to great for that truck, unless the gearing ration is increased (use the engine to slow down) and the suspension is beefed up even more (I don’t know how that would help braking) that truck is only rated for 8300lbs.

BUT WEIGHT

I looked farther into this and found that by increasing the ratio from a 3.55 to a 3.73 you can haul 9300lbs. That’s a 1000 lbs difference. So it then starts becoming a “how much do you want to spend on gas” sort of a thing. The higher the ratio, the higher your rpm’s. I don’t know if you can get a ratio higher then 3.73 for the f150, I know you CAN for the f250 but I don’t know much about that. So in all, it takes many, many, many add-on’s to make the f150 capable of hauling nearly 11000 lbs. So for anyone that bought or is thinking about buying an f150 because they think it hauls 10500lbs, make sure you seriously investigate and educate on the truck.

In all, I bought the 150 because it drove nice, I felt very comfortable well riding in it. It was high enough in the air for me, and in general…. It’s just a tough truck. My family drives gm and my father just blew his tranny in his sierra and my sisters entire front end went in her Malibu, my old f150 did have some front end problems to, but nothing compared to the issues I have and my family had had with some other domestic vehicles. I believe ford really knows what there doing in the truck market, and I look forward to using my truck they way it should be used…


I just thought i might add, that hauling more then 8300lbs with your 3.55 axle will prob be very starining on the axle. you will prob cause some bad damage the the thing if you over haul what your truck is rated for. Also, i am no expert on ANY of what i said above. all of that was told to me in a email from ford, ford dealerships, and my own information i found well researching the topic. i could be totaly wrong on some things... but like i said in the name of the post. this is just for your information, just to give you some rough idea's

Thanks

Danny