SL550 weight.

[mjb929rr]

My advice if you have a 1/2 ton tow vehicle and a relatively new wake boat....

Don't go to the scales. Ignorance is bliss. Ask me how I know

They are definitely getting up there in weight for a half ton. I believe being able to tow with the tower down helps immensely on the highway, and having 3 axles with brakes makes a huge difference. Highly recommend getting electric over hydraulic for the trailer brakes.

[Guppydriver]

They are definitely getting up there in weight for a half ton. I believe being able to tow with the tower down helps immensely on the highway, and having 3 axles with brakes makes a huge difference. Highly recommend getting electric over hydraulic for the trailer brakes.

Yep!!

Out of all the "sexy" upgrades I was offered and did get, this is the one I wish I would have sprung for! I won't have another boat over 5k pounds with surge brakes.

My particular boat likes (as in needs) 150 pounds of lead right in the bow, so I leave it there full time. Of course, when I threw it on the scale, that 150 pounds transfers right into the hitch weight, reducing payload. So now I feel compelled to move the weight back every time I tow, which my back doesn't like too much!!

Anyway, I hate daily driving a 3/4 ton, so I made sure to forgo a few options on my truck order I would normally get just to preserve some payload capacity. A wakeboat at 10k pounds is crazy!

[Josh828]

Yep!!

Out of all the "sexy" upgrades I was offered and did get, this is the one I wish I would have sprung for! I won't have another boat over 5k pounds with surge brakes.

My particular boat likes (as in needs) 150 pounds of lead right in the bow, so I leave it there full time. Of course, when I threw it on the scale, that 150 pounds transfers right into the hitch weight, reducing payload. So now I feel compelled to move the weight back every time I tow, which my back doesn't like too much!!

Anyway, I hate daily driving a 3/4 ton, so I made sure to forgo a few options on my truck order I would normally get just to preserve some payload capacity. A wakeboat at 10k pounds is crazy!

Not to derail but my mojo with surge brakes absolutely pushed my 1500 off the mountain to the point I don't even know if the surge brakes work at all.
Now tow with a 2500 diesel and no problem but I couldn't imagine a heavier boat that I see being pulled all the time with something that has a 5000lb tow cap

[Guppydriver]

Not to derail but my mojo with surge brakes absolutely pushed my 1500 off the mountain to the point I don't even know if the surge brakes work at all.
Now tow with a 2500 diesel and no problem but I couldn't imagine a heavier boat that I see being pulled all the time with something that has a 5000lb tow cap

This is actually a great point so I'll even derail a little further..

I'm sure there are a lot of F-150 owners out there being the most popular vehicle and all. The hitch on the f-150 is actually rated for only 5k without weight distribution. Since boat trailers really don't incorporate weight distribution hitches, virtually every F-150 owner is exceeding the hitch limits when pulling their boat. It's something that really bothered me when I ordered my F-150 last December. My current Tundra has a 10K hitch IIRC.

I'll obviously tow my boat with the Ford when it comes, but if what I was pulling was close to 10K, I'd be leary from a liability standpoint.

If my boat weighed 10K, I'd bite the bullet and get a HD/SD rig.

[KnoxMojo]

You can order F150with max tow package to increase the hitch rating. For anyone interested to see what they have rating wise, crawl under your hitch, it is stamped on the the tow and tongue weight rating.

[haknslash]

This is actually a great point so I'll even derail a little further..

I'm sure there are a lot of F-150 owners out there being the most popular vehicle and all. The hitch on the f-150 is actually rated for only 5k without weight distribution. Since boat trailers really don't incorporate weight distribution hitches, virtually every F-150 owner is exceeding the hitch limits when pulling their boat. It's something that really bothered me when I ordered my F-150 last December. My current Tundra has a 10K hitch IIRC.

I'll obviously tow my boat with the Ford when it comes, but if what I was pulling was close to 10K, I'd be leary from a liability standpoint.

If my boat weighed 10K, I'd bite the bullet and get a HD/SD rig.

This is why I completely removed the factory tow package on my F150 and replaced everything with Curt Class IV rated hardware. Took a little cutting with a saws all but nothing difficult. Sucks they come equipped but there are ways to upgrade so it’s at least using hardware rated for these boats. I have it posted somewhere in the tow vehicle thread in off topic but worth the upgrade to any F150 owner IMO.

I tow with 300 lbs of lead in the bow with my old 2010 5.4L Triton F150. I definitely know the boat is back there. I just try and drive conservative but hate the surge brake feeling. Would love electric next time.

[Guppydriver]

You can order F150with max tow package to increase the hitch rating. For anyone interested to see what they have rating wise, crawl under your hitch, it is stamped on the the tow and tongue weight rating.

Technically you are correct but there is YUGE caveat. This little note in the 2022 (and 2021) F-150 Tow guide:

• Do not exceed trailer weight of 5,000 lbs. when towing with bumper only.

ANYTHING over 5000 pounds technically requires a WDH to reach it's max hitch rating. The problem is boat trailers are not built for WDH.

[haknslash]

Found some pics of what I did with my factory tow package basically cutting the brackets down to allow a Curt Class IV hitch to work around the bumper brackets…

[haknslash]

[Holdmybeer]

Explains why Ford rates 5000lbs as bumper towing and not conventional. Their hitch is literally the bumper.

That is poor engineering for a truck with 12k towing ability.
Should have not put a hitch on it and mounted the ball in the bumper and called it a tow package...lol