Pulling a large trailer

[disisme]

Hi
I have to pickup a large flatbed trailer for my son , 3700 lbs , I’ll be pulling on a busy hiway 4 hours ,

it has electric brakes . I have a 2022 Ford F150 with the tow package . Any advice for pulling it would be appreciated, no experience pulling other than a popup camper . Thanks

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[DT444T]

Hook it to the truck and go. That's not even close to the stuff others of us are out here towing.

Put it in tow/haul and go, baby.

Are there any specific questions you have? Also which engine do you have?

 

[Snakebitten]

That's a really sweeeeeet trailer!

And pulling it empty should be a piece of cake. As DT444T said, put it in Tow/Haul mode and enjoy the pull.

As for advice, just be patient, give some space between you and who you are trailing, and get your gain set right for those electric brakes.

 

[mwheue]

Should be a easy tow. I pull a 7500lb travel trailer and while noticeable it's not to bad. I have the 3.5l eco boost. Wind is the big issue and you won't have that issue with a flatbed.

 

[disisme]

Thanks guys it’s a 3.5 , I forgot to ask if to use tow mode but it’s answered. No sway bar is needed is it?
thanks

 

[DT444T]

As mwheue said, we pull big ol' travel trailers (at least for an F150) in stock form. No sway bar or anything else needed.

You're good to go!

And as The Great and Wise Snakebitten has spoken: go as fast as you are comfortable doing so.

And

 

[Snakebitten]

Thanks for the flattery.

Nice condo-on-wheels!

 

[disisme]

Geez that trailer is huge.

As mwheue said, we pull big ol' travel trailers (at least for an F150) in stock form. No sway bar or anything else needed.

You're good to go!

And as The Great and Wise Snakebitten has spoken: go as fast as you are comfortable doing so.

And

 

[astro_fusion]

Swing wide and watch your trailer's axles/tires on right hand corners.

These trucks tow so well you'll forget that it's there with nothing on it, so it's easy to drift back to default driving mode and wipe stuff out. Nice trailer!

 

[Buyer2021]

No sway bar is needed is it?

Nope.

The way that sweet trailer is designed, towing it empty and level will provide near ideal tongue-weight bias for an inherently no-sway experience.

Note that the coupler-mount on the trailer has holes allowing it to be height-adjusted. When you pick-up the trailer, have the dealer adjust that to your ball height so the trailer is as close as possible to level when hitched with the tongue jack off the ground / tongue weight fully bearing on your truck. Double-check the torque on those coupler bolts!

After you 'deliver' it, your son can re-adjust that to match whatever tow-vehicle / ball-height he's using.

Swing wide and watch your trailer's axles/tires on right hand corners.

Yes indeed, that's a very nice trailer ! (note the linked specs indicate a 2-5/16"ball is required)

 

[Chris GTO TT]

Geez that trailer is huge.

That's what she said... Wait are we still doing that joke or am I just showing my age?

For the question at hand most items have been covered already. One thing I'd add in is make sure your trailer brake gain isn't set too high. Empty it will be fairly easy to lock up the trailer tires even on a heavy flat bed like that one.

 

[WalterMitty]

Check this out...



Each trailer is very different and each has it's sweet spot in terms of brake gain.

I prefer a gravel lot versus what they say in the video, and then I do the following....

Start with a low brake gain set up
Let the truck get to around 3mph while pulling the trailer and then use the manual controller (don't touch the brake pedal) to apply the brakes.
If it does nothing, add gain.
If it locks the trailer wheels up real fast, reduce gain
if it stops you normally, you are probably in a good spot

Monitor your first few stops to check for lock ups.

3700lbs ain't nothin for your truck

 

[NVRANUF]

@disisme Pretty much hook it up and go. You don't need any kind of anti-sway, or leveling bars, since you are towing an empty flatbed trailer. That's an easy trailer for the truck to tow. You really don't need to use towing mode either... but you can if you want. You'll just notice it holds the gears a little longer and doesn't shift through the gears as quickly. If you're just towing on flat roads, normal-mode is fine for that empty trailer.

Like the last post said... The only thing you might have to play with is the brake gain on the brake controller. If you are locking up the trailer brakes when you come to a a stop at a light, then you need to hit the minus button on the brake controller a couple times. On the flip side, if you feel like you are having to do extra braking with your truck every time you come to a stop, then you probably need to turn up the brake gain a little by hitting the plus button a couple times. If you really want to be precise about it there is a procedure in the manual about setting the trailer brake gain, and a short process of adjusting it that involves using ONLY the brake controller slider to stop the whole rig from a slow roll, and holding it at a stop with just the trailer brakes.... Once you do the procedure in the manual just drive like normal because the trailer brake controller adjusts the braking proportionally based on how hard you are braking the truck.

Like others have said... you will learn real quick to take corners a little wider. You don't have to swing out like a semi-truck, but you'll just need to drive a little deeper / further into a 90-degree corner than normal before starting the turn, and then you'll have to turn a little sharper... It's pretty subtle though and self-correcting when you clip a curb.

The last couple of pieces of advice I have are pet-peeves of mine. I used to be a commercial vehicle inspector (roadside port-of-entry stuff), and soooo many people don't hook up the break-away brake cable correctly, or at all. The cable that connects to the break-away brake plunger is not supposed to be weaved through the safety chains or looped over the hitch ball. It is meant to be it's own independent device, and the cable should be routed through, or connected to the safety chain hole or separate attachment point on the truck (not just hooked onto the safety chain). The point of the break-away cable is to activate the brakes if the trailer comes completely disconnected from the truck. If it's woven through the safety chains and the whole thing comes undone, the brakes will never be activated. One end of the break-away cable has to remain attached to the truck so that the plunger gets pulled out of the trailer-side break-away brake box for it to activate the trailer brakes. (And there must be a working / charged brake battery on the trailer [usually a small box with a motorcycle-sized battery in it]).

GOOD:

BAD:

The other pet-peeve of mine is people who don't use a safety pin in the hitch latch.... put a damn pin in there as the first line of defense for the latch lifting up.

 

[disisme]

Thanks everyone, I feel I have enough information now to feel comfortable pulling the trailer.

 

[2515050]

@disisme Pretty much hook it up and go. You don't need any kind of anti-sway, or leveling bars, since you are towing an empty flatbed trailer. That's an easy trailer for the truck to tow. You really don't need to use towing mode either... but you can if you want. You'll just notice it holds the gears a little longer and doesn't shift through the gears as quickly. If you're just towing on flat roads, normal-mode is fine for that empty trailer.

Like the last post said... The only thing you might have to play with is the brake gain on the brake controller. If you are locking up the trailer brakes when you come to a a stop at a light, then you need to hit the minus button on the brake controller a couple times. On the flip side, if you feel like you are having to do extra braking with your truck every time you come to a stop, then you probably need to turn up the brake gain a little by hitting the plus button a couple times. If you really want to be precise about it there is a procedure in the manual about setting the trailer brake gain, and a short process of adjusting it that involves using ONLY the brake controller slider to stop the whole rig from a slow roll, and holding it at a stop with just the trailer brakes.... Once you do the procedure in the manual just drive like normal because the trailer brake controller adjusts the braking proportionally based on how hard you are braking the truck.

Like others have said... you will learn real quick to take corners a little wider. You don't have to swing out like a semi-truck, but you'll just need to drive a little deeper / further into a 90-degree corner than normal before starting the turn, and then you'll have to turn a little sharper... It's pretty subtle though and self-correcting when you clip a curb.

The last couple of pieces of advice I have are pet-peeves of mine. I used to be a commercial vehicle inspector (roadside port-of-entry stuff), and soooo many people don't hook up the break-away brake cable correctly, or at all. The cable that connects to the break-away brake plunger is not supposed to be weaved through the safety chains or looped over the hitch ball. It is meant to be it's own independent device, and the cable should be routed through, or connected to the safety chain hole or separate attachment point on the truck (not just hooked onto the safety chain). The point of the break-away cable is to activate the brakes if the trailer comes completely disconnected from the truck. If it's woven through the safety chains and the whole thing comes undone, the brakes will never be activated. One end of the break-away cable has to remain attached to the truck so that the plunger gets pulled out of the trailer-side break-away brake box for it to activate the trailer brakes. (And there must be a working / charged brake battery on the trailer [usually a small box with a motorcycle-sized battery in it]).

GOOD:

BAD:

The other pet-peeve of mine is people who don't use a safety pin in the hitch latch.... put a damn pin in there as the first line of defense for the latch lifting up.

Thanks for the in depth breakdown. I've seen tons of brake cables weaved through the safety chains and never stopped to think about it being a bad idea.
I noticed the setup in your Good example only appears to have one safety chain and it led me down an internet rabbit hole where I learned that the purpose of crossing the chains under the hitch is to form a basket that hopefully catches the tongue in the event the hitch pin or ball fails. If the tongue/coupler hits the ground and catches an expansion joint it could turn the trailer into a catapult.

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