Travel Trailer Owners Forumbumper-pull owners, no salesmen
Tow vehicles and hitching

2021 F-150 5.0 towing a 7,500 lb Jayco 264BH, honest answers please

started by northwoods_ranger on Sep 4, 2025

N
northwoods_rangerOPWeekenderEly, MN10 posts · joined Sep 2025

2021 F-150 XLT SuperCrew, 5.0, 3.55 gears, 4x4, not the max tow package. door sticker says 11,000 tow, payload sticker says 1,648. trailer is a 2020 Jayco Jay Flight 264BH, 5,900 dry, about 7,500 the way we load it for a week, with a Husky Centerline WDH. me, my wife, two kids, a 70 pound dog, a Yeti, and the firewood we are not supposed to move.

we tow from Ely down highway 53 to Duluth and over to the north shore mostly, some trips to Itasca. the truck does it. it is not fast up the hills past Virginia and the wind off Superior pushes us around on 61 but it goes. two guys at Cascade this summer told me i am way over and should be in a 3/4 ton. two other guys said they tow more with less.

i would rather hear it straight than find out on a hill. what is the actual math and where am i on it.

#1
T
tim_weighs_itSeasonalKearney, NE23 posts · joined Sep 2025

tow rating is the number the marketing people use. payload is the number that matters and you already posted it, 1,648. that is the total of everything the truck carries, people, dog, cooler, hitch, and the tongue weight of the trailer. so:

tongue weight at 7,500 lb loaded, 13 percent975
Husky Centerline hitch head and bars95
four people500 to 600
dog, cooler, bed junk150
total1,720 to 1,820

so you are 75 to 175 over payload before the firewood, with a truck that says 11,000 on the brochure. that is the whole half ton story in one table. the 11,000 assumes a 150 pound driver and nothing else in the truck.

it is not going to explode. the rear axle is over its number and the tires are near theirs, the truck squats, the headlights point at the trees, the trailer pushes you in the wind, and the brakes are working harder than the engineers planned. you feel all of that as the truck being tired and you being tired at Duluth. that is what over means most of the time.

#2
D
hitch_pro_daleFull-timerEau Claire, WI27 posts · joined Sep 2025

tim did the math so i will do the shop view. what i see on half tons pulling 7 to 8 thousand: bent receiver hitches on trucks where the guy cranked the WDH bars to get the squat out, rear axle seals weeping, and rear tires worn on the inside from a year of riding on the bump stops. i have also seen plenty of them run 40,000 miles like that and be fine.

the thing nobody talks about is frontal area. a 264BH is about 11 feet tall and 8 wide. that is a barn door at 65 on 53. the truck that pulls it fine on flat ground in still air is working twice as hard in a crosswind. the 3.55 gears on a non max tow truck also mean you are living in third gear on the grades. a 3.73 max tow truck with the same engine tows the same trailer noticeably better, and it is still a half ton.

if you keep the truck: 1,000 pound bars, check the receiver welds every spring, LT tires or at least the E rated P tires, and stop carrying the firewood. that alone is 150 pounds of payload.

#3
L
lakecabin_swapSeasonalAlexandria, MN16 posts · joined Sep 2025

been where you are. 2018 Silverado 1500 5.3, pulled our 2608BS at about 7,200 loaded for three seasons. it did it. we went to the north shore, we went to Custer, it never broke. and i sold it in 2022 and bought a 2500 gasser and the difference on the first trip was enough that my wife asked why we waited. no sway, no squat, the truck just goes and you forget the trailer is there until you look in the mirror.

so the honest answer from a guy who did both is that the half ton is not unsafe if you are careful and loaded right. it is just tiring and you are always managing it. the 3/4 ton is boring. boring is what you want at 65 with the kids in the back.

#4
N
northwoods_rangerOPWeekenderEly, MN10 posts · joined Sep 2025

went to the CAT scale at the Holiday in Virginia yesterday, loaded like a trip, everybody in the truck. three passes like tim said in the other thread.

truck alone, loaded with people and gear6,540
truck GVWR from the door7,050
hooked, bars on, steer axle3,380
hooked, bars on, drive axle3,840
hooked, bars on, trailer axles6,560
rear axle GAWR3,800

so with the bars on i am at 7,220 on the truck against a 7,050 GVWR, 170 over, and 40 over on the rear axle. trailer came in at 7,480 total so tim guessed it within 20 pounds which is annoying. tongue was 940 by the math.

one thing i went and looked up while i was at it, MN does not have a lower speed limit for towing like some states, and brakes are required on any trailer over 3,000 pounds with a breakaway switch. MnDOT keeps that in plain language over at dot.state.mn.us, which beats reading the statute.

#5
T
tim_weighs_itSeasonalKearney, NE23 posts · joined Sep 2025

170 over is about what i figured, and honestly it is a better result than most half ton scale tickets i see. your bars are doing their job, 3,380 on the steer axle with the trailer on means you got most of the front weight back. the number i do not love is the drive axle over its GAWR, the axle rating is the one with the least margin built in.

options in order of cost. one, get 200 pounds out of the truck, that is the firewood, the second cooler and half the bed junk, and you are legal on paper. two, put a 2,000 pound lighter trailer behind it, not happening with two kids. three, 3/4 ton. i would do one for the rest of this season and think hard about three.

#6
N
northwoods_rangerOPWeekenderEly, MN10 posts · joined Sep 2025

last trip of the year to Bear Head Lake this weekend and here is where i landed. firewood stays home, they sell it at the park anyway. moved the generator and the tool bag into the trailer's pass through, which puts it on the trailer axles instead of the truck. put on a set of SumoSprings in the rear, 210 bucks, an hour, took most of the squat out and the headlights point down the road again. ordered 1,000 pound bars for the Centerline.

re-weighed on the way home and the truck was at 6,980 with the bars on, 70 under. so i am keeping the truck one more season and the next truck will be a 3/4 ton gasser like lakecabin said. thanks for the math instead of telling me i was going to die.

#7
Log in to reply. No account yet? Registration is by request while we keep the bots out, ask a mod.
F-150payloadCAT scaleJayco 264BHhalf ton

More threads