All you need are some load leveling springs or airbags. Most trailers have good brakes now a days so with a good brake controller stopping should be of little concern.
You know
@gkainz and I see people in another RV forum we frequent, say that all the time when they realize they bought something WAY above the yellow door sticker numbers and they're towing it with a half ton over gross. (Some states are getting really cranky about this. State Trooper catches it during a stop and it's a BIG dollar ticket now.)
Then a year later or so, once they've thought about it a bit and especially if they live in one of the high enforcement states, and decide they don't want a ticket that big...
They go get an HD truck.
And then the post comes to the forum...
"OMG! We upgraded our TV [tow vehicle in RV forum slang] and holy cow. It tracks better, stops better, takes off from a stop better, and feels like nothing is back there! This is amazing!"
And the assembled crowd always says the same thing...
"Told ya so! Congrats on the new TV..."
Shouldn't have needed them to tow factory-approved weights, it was just a poor design choice.
It's definitely about the weight. And the manufacturers hide the weight penalty that the up-trim packages knock off of the "max" towing weights you see on their websites. There's currently over 25 combinations that will lead to different legal and safe tow weights on Dodges, alone, between the engines, transmission options, and camper sway bar packages BESIDES what the interior stuff weighs. The ONLY way to know for certain you're in weight is by the door frame sticker or VERY careful special ordering or shopping.
An example is the difference between the Aisin transmission and the non-Aisin in the top end Dodge's with the Cummins. It's almost a 4000 lb penalty to not upgrade to the Aisin.
What exactly made them bad, just because they squat?? Just about any truck loaded to their max is going to have considerable squat. All of Dodge's 1/2 ton trucks have coil sprung rear suspensions. In fact, a 3 or 4 linked coil spring suspension should handle the weight better as it will have less lateral movement.
The majority of the time I see RVers at campsites with air bags and a half ton, if I can get them into a conversation over a beer, I'll ask to look at the door sticker. They're almost always way overweight. Not at their "max". Considerably over it. Thousands of pounds. It's very hard to keep a half ton inside the truck's published limitations with the modern camper trailers the RV dealers push. And the dealers don't care if you wreck the rig or need to add air bags just to keep the thing level. They tell people every day that they can pull a 35' fifth wheel behind their half ton "just fine" to make the sale.
Ok, I had no idea what a boat weighs.
So a data point for the OP. I frequently tow a horse trailer that weighs around 3500-5000# depending on what horses are in it and what else is loaded. I pull it with an F-150 with a 5.0 and 3.73 rear end. Tow rating on that truck is a bit over 9000#. So I'm well under the rated towing capacity..... but with thousands of miles of experience with this setup I will tell you this is the lightest truck I'd want to tow that trailer with for any distance. If I was going to start pulling a larger heavier trailer on a regular basis I'd go right up to a 3/4 ton truck.
Would I tow my 5000# horse trailer with an explorer? In a pinch.... over a short distance if the tow ratings said I could and the explorer had the trailer braking setup I suppose I'd do it but it's not something I'd want to do if I had another choice. As has been said here a few other times it's not the power of the engine it's the braking ability, suspension, and weight of the tow vehicle that matter.
Agreed. That Coyote motor setup on the right F-150 is one of the highest tow ratings on a half ton out there and it does really well for what it is. I have a friend who knows these weight limits and does it correctly who purchased a "featherweight" fifth wheel and even carefully selected his slider hitch to get a light but strong enough one, and he pulls about 9,000 of trailer plus water with it, and it does exceedingly well for a half ton.
He can't outrun me even with another 3,000 lbs of trailer behind my Cummins, but he can often keep up or just barely fall back in the mountains. And if the grade is long enough, I can start getting into EGT time limits that he doesn't have because he doesn't have a turbo to worry about. It's one strong truck for a half ton.
There's a lot of totally overloaded half tons out there on the open road though. I just shake my head and stay far away when I see some doof with a 40' fifth wheel toy hauler on three axles, pulling it behind a half ton. Definitely don't want to be in front of him if he needs to stop it in a hurry. Those people are insane.
There has been rumor in the RV forums for some time now that insurers are going to start subrogating against owners who tow way over their truck's limits, if they place claims for accidents, but nobody has shown any actual court cases where it's happened for certain yet. Wouldn't surprise me if they start, though.
Personally I won't tow over the truck's numbers and I weigh the rig at a nearby Cat scale fully loaded with water and provisions whenever anything changes significantly in weight. Only takes a few minutes. Hardest part is pushing the call button way up there where a big rig cab would be from standing on the pickup's running boards! Haha.