Am I crazy or does 12,950 max tow capacity for my truck sound crazy low? It is a 2007 2500 Mega Laramie, 5.9 Cummins. GCWR is only 20,000?!? My 1/2 ton Ford can do almost that!! What gives? What can I do to boost capacity? The trailer I want to haul is 11,500 UVW. Please advise before I buy buy something I can not haul.

 

Mega's are huge heavy trucks, tow ratings suffer because of that. 11k lb. trailer is pretty damn heavy. I am assuming a 30ft + 5th wheel?

 

Yep, 38' fifth wheel toy hauler. Any hope in making this work? Air lift bags or spring helpers?

 

Well I do know a friend of mine had a custom made long bed Mega cab 3500 with the CTD and towed a 40ft. 5th wheel toy hauler loaded with his quads and stuff, probably weighed about the same 12k lbs or so (I'm completely guessing) and he said it towed it with ease. The difference between a 2500 CTD and a 3500 CTD? Not really too sure. Maybe a pair of airbags and a programmer which has a towing tune and can display EGT's would be all you would need to tow that weight. What state are you in? You will likely get the guys coming to you with the legal argument before too long.

 

And they claim a plain old F150 is good for over 11k right in their advertisements.

There's nothing that special about the truck so it has to be that Ford is simply willing to certify it for higher loads. They all use bigass frames and it's not like the rear end of a Ford is any more special than Dodge's or GM's. It's certainly not a powerplant problem.

Note that I wouldn't want to tow 11k with my 1500; it's that Ford has the gall to say theirs is fine doing it. It's ludicrous that it should require a CTD 2500 to match an F150's capacity.

 

I think you are forgetting the pin weight is going to exceed the 2500 Mega-cabs payload ability. I think the main difference between the 2500 and 3500 SRW is just the springs but with that big of a trailer you are probably in DRW range for the pin weight. The 3500 Mega-cab go up to 23,000 with the 4.10 axle ratio.

 

Well with that length, the trailer is more than likely a triple axle, and the weight is fairly well distributed. You would be amazed at how light they can keep the pin weight on these newer 5th wheels. But I agree, it is definitely worth researching before you purchase.