Towing specs make my head spin....help!

[Loreal]

We tow with a 2008 Ford F250 diesel crew cab 4 wd and purchased a 5 th wheel that has a gvwr of 12,400 lbs. Of course, the salesman said we would have no problem towing it but we just want to be sure. For the life of us, we don't know
How to figure it out! Pin weight is our major concern and of course downhill braking capabilities . Any input would be a great help! Thanks friends!

[therink]

The truck will tow it, for sure. If you want to stay within the rated capacities of the truck, pin weight will be the concern with a large fiver and 3/4 ton truck.
Figure that a fiver with GVWR of 12,400 lbs (such as mine in signature below) will have a 20% loaded pin weight of 2400 or (as does mine). I am not sure what the GVWR of your F250 is. You will have to figure that out by loading truck as if you were camping (passengers, firewood, dog, fuel, firewood, add 150 lbs for hitch. Take to a scale and weigh it. Now add 2400 lbs for pin weight. You will likely exceed GVWR of your truck. You can find the GVWR rating for your truck on sticker in driver door jam. .
If you want a fiver with GVWR over 11000 I recommend a SRW 1 ton. My 2 cents.
Steve

[Cnc_hemi]

For sure your truck will tow it. Therink said all you need to know. I see peps pulling large 5ers all the time with 3/4 ton trucks. Lol I'm one of them. Now to know one thing the truck it self can handle it all day. Your trailer will do most of the breaking for ya. But making sure all your equipment is working right and is not in need of any repairs is a must. Most people have issues because of lack of maintance to their rigs:bearing, breaks, tires, ect. Not all trucks are equal in power but are very close in all three makes so two good things of adavice I can give you is replace any old tires even with good tread left. After 5 years replace. And air psi is important inflate to what the tires call for cold. Trailer tires take a beating with just springs to take the hits the side walls of the tires have to hold up. The other big one is speed on the road. With our high speed limits on the hwys today. It's fast for our trailers so back it down some and let the traffic go. Just a couple mph will do. If you where pulling with a Mack truck I would say just pull it how you want. But with me and for I'm sure most on this forum we pull with our everyday drivers. Good luck with new 5er and be safe.

[tileman]

As for your braking capabilities we have a exhaust brake on our dodge 3500 to me it makes a big diff coming down off a big downhill.

[airforceret]

The diesel exhaust brakes are awesome and well worth the investment if you don't have one already. I've towed with and without one, and the difference is amazing.

[theeyres]

As others are saying, it is really pretty easy to figure if your truck will handle the pin weight by just adding up all the weights and checking that against your max weight as listed on the door jam or in your manual. Seems to me like you will be just OK, similar to what we pulled with our Chevy and Arctic Fox. You just have to take it easy. We never had a problem with braking. Our Chevy does not have an exhaust break but does have the tow mode where the transmission automatically shifts down when you touch the brake going down hill. It always handled the Fox just fine. Don't know about your Ford, though.

[fla-gypsy]

What is the trucks GVWR and payload rating? These are your only concerns. If you have a 9200 or 9400 GVWR you may well exceed the payload capacity of the truck with that trailer.