Tow Test: 2009 Ford F-250 Super Duty - MotorTrend Magazine
Chances are, you wouldn't buy a Super Duty unless you had a problem load. You can get Ford Super Duty pickups with Gross Vehicle Weight Ratings all the way up to 16,500 pounds on the F-450 or, for that matter, 19,500 on the F-550. With one of those and a fifth-wheel hitch, you can tow up to a 24,000-pound trailer,... As Super Duty pickups go, our test unit is one of the lightest-duty configurations, a 10,000 GVWR model, with single rear wheels, 6. 5-foot box, four-wheel drive, and 3. 73 axle gears. It's rated to tow up to 12,500 pounds with a weight-distributing hitch. With a conventional weight-carrying hitch, the max towing recommendation is 6000 pounds and, according to the tire label, the front axle can handle 5600 pounds and the rear 6100 pounds of load. Our load in this case was a 21-foot Skipjack, a rugged older boat loaded with fuel and camping gear. Mounted on an older trailer equipped with surge brakes, this kind of load presents a challenge because the tow vehicle isn't given the advantage of a weight-distributing hitch or electric brakes. Like most people, we had no idea what our boat really weighed, so we made a trip to a certified truck scales and got in line with a bunch of big-rigs. Source: www.motortrend.com
