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expedition_tows_a_boatOP
Tow PackageNampa, ID37 posts, joined Jun 2025
2021 Expedition XLT 4x4, 3.5 EcoBoost, Max Trailer Tow package. towing is rated way above what i pull, so that is not the question. payload is.
the yellow tire and loading sticker on my door jamb gives me 1,512 lb for everybody and everything i put in or on the truck. here is our normal lake day to Lake Cascade:
me 205, wife 150, kids 120, 95 and 70. cooler and gear in the back maybe 150. that is 790 before the boat. the boat is a 2019 Malibu Wakesetter 22 MXZ on a tandem trailer, Malibu says the boat is about 5,500 dry, with trailer, fuel and gear i am guessing 7,000. ten percent tongue weight is 700. 790 plus 700 is 1,490. so i am basically right at the line and that is without the dog.
am i doing this math right, and should i care?
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gm_tech_darnell
Full SizeAtlanta, GA61 posts, joined Jun 2025
your math is right and the right thing to do is stop guessing. go to a CAT scale at a truck stop, three weighs: truck alone with the family in it, truck and trailer hooked up, and trailer alone. about $15 for the first and a couple bucks for each reweigh. the difference between the truck weighs tells you the real tongue weight, and you compare the truck weight to the GVWR on the same sticker.
boat trailers are often lighter on the tongue than 10 percent, sometimes 6 or 7. or they are heavier, if somebody loaded the front ballast or the anchor locker. you will not know until you weigh it.
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yukon_xl_miles
Long WheelbaseAlbuquerque, NM44 posts, joined Jun 2025
and check the tires while you are at it. a lot of these trucks come on P-metric tires from the factory and the payload sticker assumes the door pressure. at a full load i run the pressure at the top of what the door says, not the "comfort" number the dealer set. our Yukon XL went from squirmy to planted on I-40 with a trailer just from that.
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expedition_tows_a_boatOP
Tow PackageNampa, ID37 posts, joined Jun 2025
did the scales at the Flying J in Boise on saturday morning on the way up. real numbers:
truck with five of us and the cooler, no dog: 6,310. truck plus boat hooked up, front axle and drive axle: 6,920 on the truck. so tongue weight 610. trailer axles alone: 6,480. that means my boat and trailer are about 7,090 total, and tongue is 8.6 percent.
payload used: 790 people and gear plus 610 tongue is 1,400. under the 1,512, with the dog i am at 1,465. tight but legal. my GVWR on the sticker is 7,450 and i was at 6,920, so that agrees.
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tulsa_tahoe
ShotgunTulsa, OK22 posts, joined Jun 2025
would a weight distribution hitch help you here? i run one on my Tahoe with our camper and it put weight back on the front axle and the steering felt like a different truck. but i do not know if anybody uses one with a surge brake boat trailer.
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mod_lisa_k
ModeratorOmaha, NE48 posts, joined Jun 2025
tulsa, a WD hitch moves some of the tongue weight to the front axle and back to the trailer axles, it does not take weight out of the payload number, your passengers and gear still weigh what they weigh. and most surge brake trailer makers say no WD at all, because it interferes with how the surge coupler works. so for expedition it is probably not the fix. lighter cooler, kids walk to the boat ramp, ha.
ford publishes a towing guide for each year that lists payload by package. it is on ford.com under owners, worth a look before anybody buys a boat to match a truck.
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expedition_tows_a_boatOP
Tow PackageNampa, ID37 posts, joined Jun 2025
end of story for now. started packing the cooler in the boat instead of the truck, it rides over the trailer axles that way. drained the ballast completely before every tow (i did already, but now i check it). tires at 44 cold all around, the max on my door. the dog stays. we made six trips up to Cascade since the scale day and the truck does not squat or wander like it did in june.
if we ever get a sixth person in the truck i am going to need a bigger truck or a smaller boat. my wife says the boat.
