towing and GVWR questions from the new kid

[gleno]

Thank you all for making such a great site. I am the newest kid on the block, and I want to thank all of you for your mentoring me as I have ghosted through the site. Live here is Seattle.
I have been given the task to steward a 71 F-103, 4500# GVWR, 300 I6 through its next life, and this site has been incredibly valuable to get me started. So far, I have replaced the head, and have discovered how nice it is to have six cylinders that all fire on the same day. I have also done the heater and radiator, brakes, drive shaft, replaced the bed, and I found a receiver hitch to allay fears of losing a trailer. Simple truck to work on!

With all 6 cylinders firing, I am slowly increasing my confidence in the vehicle as a tow vehicle, and the payload I am considering is a 4800# total weight boat/trailer, on a trailer with surge disc brakes (all new braking system on the trailer).

The question I have to the forum regards the sanity of this payload. Is the 4500# GVWR of the F-103 sufficient? The drive train is the 300 I6 with a 1bbl. Carter carburetor, followed by a C4 transmission and a Ford 3.70 rear end, capacity 3330#, according to the info gleaned from the website. Tongue weight is around 200# or so. I have not found a listing for towing capacities for these vehicles to date, and I really hate wrecks, and leaving the drive guts on the highway sounds like a mess. Any ideas or experiences to share? Tranny coolers?

My other question is about what makes an F-103 rate 500# lower than an F-100? Are there simple differences in suspension parts, or is the axle rating too low at 3330#, or some other criteria? Thanks for all of the quality advice! Gleno

[rjewkes]

If your total wiegh is 4800 lbs. thats truck, trailer you passenger(s) and other odds and ends, i think ou'll be allright. IIRC others have posted that they hual 3800 lbs on top of the trucks own wieght.

[ScreaminZ]

A 4800 lb trailer should be no problem if your engine is running good. The 3.70 rear axle ratio helps a lot as well. Very good thing that the trailer's got brakes as well. Just be sure that the truck's brakes are working good too. 200# tongue weight is aweful low for a trailer that heavy and in my experience, can case the trailer to want to push the truck around a bit. If it's a boat and trailer, though, you probably don't have much control over the weight distribution. Ideally you want to have approx. 10% of the trailer's weight on the tongue.

I say, hook that trailer up and go for it!

[gleno]

Thanks to ScreaminZ and Rjewkies for the inputs. As the new kid, it has taken me a little while to figger out how to reply and all, but I truly appreciate gleaning from the experience of others. I'm going to put the boat/trailer combination through some trials, and will re-post to share the wisdom with the readers.

A bit of wisdom to share with all who use braked trailers: pay attention to them, and make sure they are working. If there is a weak link in trailer brakes, it is their inability to let you know when they are not working properly, and often, by then, it is not a god time to find out. Stay safe. Gleno

[GSequoia]

On the topic is there any listing of unladen weights of our trucks? My '71 is a 6900 GVWR truck but I'd like to know what my payload/towing capacity is. In the near future I plan to tow a bit over 5,000 lbs over hills and valleys so I'd like to know how much trouble I'm asking for.

Thanks

[gleno]

Re: unladen weights...Here in Washington, the vehicle registration lists the scale weight, in my case, a 1971 F-103, is listed at 3780. When I weigh out at the dump scale, the 3780 seems like a good number. You can go to the dump, or check at a weigh station, or look at your registration. On this site, if you go back to the site index, you will find the secrets to decoding your vehicle's VIN tag, as well as the rear-end tag, which has a lot of info on it. The last mystery I have for my truck is what makes the F-103 model rate 500# less than the F-100 model. Good luck. Gleno

[64squire]

A good auxiliary transmission cooler is highly recommended. I toasted the transmission in a "brand X" truck a few years ago while towing.

[GSequoia]

A good auxiliary transmission cooler is highly recommended. I toasted the transmission in a "brand X" truck a few years ago while towing.

Oh yeah, anything with an auto gets a cooler if it'll be worked hard, OEMs never give you enough!

[Jarred Hodges]

I saw a 67 f-100 lwb pull a 16 ft utility trailer in the scrapyard today loaded with a set of semi trailer axles, they weighed 5600lbs. The truck had a 302 3spd and he said it would pull it ok.

[GSequoia]

I saw a 67 f-100 lwb pull a 16 ft utility trailer in the scrapyard today loaded with a set of semi trailer axles, they weighed 5600lbs. The truck had a 302 3spd and he said it would pull it ok.

I hope that trailer had some good brakes!

[rjewkes]

Oh it ain't realy the pulling, its the getting started and stopped with most loads.