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F-150 Drop Hitch and Ball Rating


hethj7

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My boat is sitting in KC while I'm still in Montana and I need to buy my ball mount for the factory receiver on my 2009 F-150. I would wait to get home and buy, but I will be towing a uhaul back. So, I'd like to buy a mount up here that will work for the boat when I get home. The boat is a 2000 VLX on a Dorsey tandem axle trailer. Any idea what the ball height is on that setup? Just wondering what size drop to buy for my F-150.

Also, what ball rating do most of you use? 6000 lbs seems easy to get and I doubt I ever get that heavy, but after ready about the true weight of some of these boats, I'm worried it may get close at times. Just wondering if everyone has 6000 lbs rated balls (*insert joke here*) or 7500, which seems like the next rating up.

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My boat is sitting in KC while I'm still in Montana and I need to buy my ball mount for the factory receiver on my 2009 F-150. I would wait to get home and buy, but I will be towing a uhaul back. So, I'd like to buy a mount up here that will work for the boat when I get home. The boat is a 2000 VLX on a Dorsey tandem axle trailer. Any idea what the ball height is on that setup? Just wondering what size drop to buy for my F-150.

Also, what ball rating do most of you use? 6000 lbs seems easy to get and I doubt I ever get that heavy, but after ready about the true weight of some of these boats, I'm worried it may get close at times. Just wondering if everyone has 6000 lbs rated balls (*insert joke here*) or 7500, which seems like the next rating up.

OK here goes, I am trying to do this with a straight face. 6000# ball is 2" 7500# ball is 21/4" wont fit in the Bu trailer unless you get a bigger trailer hitch. Your boat should weigh in at around 3400 with the trailer around 1500 so you are at 4900. That gives you around 1100 for gear and stuff. Dont think you will go over.

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I can appreciate that I obviously am not a pro on hitches :) but while trying to figure out what to buy I've seen 2" balls rated at 7500, hence why I'm asking. In fact, I see Curt makes a 2" rated at 10,000 lbs.

While I doubt I'll exceed 6,000 lbs, I've seen several posts while doing searches of members who have actually weighed their VLX and trailer loaded up and are coming in at 5,800 lbs (granted, mine is on a smaller hull and may not approach that). I know on our lake trips, we used to stop at the last major city and put more than 200 lbs of beer :unsure: in my buddy's boat and finish the trip to the lake cabin. My best drinking days are behind me now since my daughter has come along, but I'm considering these rare instances where the boat is really loaded up and want to make sure my ball is properly rated.

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I have the tow package and believe it's rated for 9,700 lbs or so (I need to check to see what gear ratio I have for sure, as the deeper 3.73 gears are rated for over 11,000 lbs). Hopefully I'm not making too big of a deal about this. I just want to make sure I buy the right setup the first time.

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J,

I have a '07 F150 lariat 4x4 and use the standard 2" drop ball for towing tandem axle.

411zvkyMJNL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I think all f150's come with class 3 hitches, 500-600 tongue weight, 5000-6000 total lbs.

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I dont think Truck tow capacity is the same thing as hitch capacity, look on the hitch fir a label, it will state a 5000 or 6000 pound capacity, even if truck is in the 9700 range

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J,

I have a '07 F150 lariat 4x4 and use the standard 2" drop ball for towing tandem axle.

411zvkyMJNL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I think all F150's come with class 3 hitches, 500-600 tongue weight, 5000-6000 total lbs.

Thanks. I'm thinking I'm fine with that setup as well. Of course, it looks like the only tag that isn't readable on the truck is for the hitch, but I could make out 500 for the tongue weight, so it looks like I have a Class III. So, should I look into getting a class IV? From what I've seen, it isn't too hard to exceed 5,000 lbs when loaded up. In reality I'm sure I'm fine due to safety factors, but technically I could be exceeding the hitch rating. What are most people here using?

I dont think Truck tow capacity is the same thing as hitch capacity, look on the hitch fir a label, it will state a 5000 or 6000 pound capacity, even if truck is in the 9700 range

Gotcha. I did confirm the truck is rated for 9700 and it looks like the hitch is Class III (5,000). Thanks for the clarification.

Btw, it looks like the F150's have recently been offered with a "Max Trailer Tow Package", which I believe includes a Class IV hitch.

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Without looking it up , here is the scoop. Those trailer balls are available everywhere with an 1 / 2" bolt, an 3/4" bolt, and an 1 " bolt If I Recall Correctly.

I still have the first 2" slide-in hitch and ball from my 1972 Suburban. Actually, I have a fleet of slide in hitches with balls attached from 39 years of towing.

My advice is go to the trouble of finding a ball with the highest rating with the 1 inch bolt. This probably means you should visit a real hitch shop, not the local wal-mart. Make sure you end up with the correct ball height for your boat trailer. That way you will never second guess yourself. Thirty Nine years from now you can thank me.

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So, should I look into getting a class IV?

Gotcha. I did confirm the truck is rated for 9700 and it looks like the hitch is Class III (5,000). Thanks for the clarification.

Btw, it looks like the F150's have recently been offered with a "Max Trailer Tow Package", which I believe includes a Class IV hitch.

Yeah, mine is the same way, vehical tow rating between 9-10k but hitch rated at 5,000. I looked into upgrading to classIV, and I can't recall if 09 models are included, but removing the tralier hitch on the f150 requires replacing the entire rear bumper assembly, and from what I've seen on some ford forums is many dealers won't even do it. I guess the demand finally caused ford to offer the class IV on the F150. I also noticed the '10s and later now are rated to 600lb tongue and 6,000 lb hitch capacity.

that being said, I've towed the vRide 4+ hours a few times including a trip through northern arkansas (lots of hills) with no problems. The boat was loaded with 3 full coolers and tons of gear, since we were heading to a cabin for 6 days.

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You can add a weight distribution kit and increase you class 3 hitch to 1000lb tong and 10000lb gross. I have never seen this setup on a boat but it should probably be more common considering the weight of some of them with gear.

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Get a heavy duty ball and then you wont have to worry.

Buy a hitch with a drop that looks right, and then test it out. You want the trailer to ride close to parallel to the ground, or slightly lowered to the ball for towing.

The bars are not very much $$ so if you buy wrong you can get another one.

Like others have said, they last about forever. I probably have about 6 or different lift or drop levels. Right now I keep 2 in my truck, one for the boat (a higher hitch) and one for a small cargo trailer (needs to be lower).

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Thanks for all the replies. Although the engineer in me still thinks something is wrong using a hitch rated for 5,000 lbs, it seems that practically speaking, that is what a lot of people are doing without issue.

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And, don't forget to buy hitch ball grease.

You can't tow anything anywhere without it.

Just curious - I thought I saw in the greaseless ball thread that you never grease your ball? I've spent too much time here already to notice something like this with my relatively low post count :crazy:

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Just curious - I thought I saw in the greaseless ball thread that you never grease your ball? I've spent too much time here already to notice something like this with my relatively low post count :crazy:

Dammit!

You got me. I was just trying to stir the pot. :crazy:

Good memory.

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And, don't forget to buy hitch ball grease.

You can't tow anything anywhere without it.

If I Recall Correctly there is a thread somewhere around here about the merits of using Mobil One synthetic ball grease instead of conventional ball grease. The debate centered around the merits of using a higher viscosity number. It could have been a three page thread as is normal around here when lubricants are involved. :crazy:

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Cool concept and if I towed a variety of different trailers all the time, I might try it. But for that price, I can use the trial and error method several times to get mine right and still be money ahead:biggrin:

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Yeah,

They're neat and look nice but, jeeze, just for the adjust-ability and/or bling, no thanks.

I've already got 3 different sized drops in my truck plus a 3 ball. All for waaaaay less than one of those.

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