grumpin Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 More pics I took tonight: Final hitch and trailer connector: Wiring under the bed: (That extra wire is the old crossmember ground... I was too lazy to remove it; out of sight, out of mind?) Another shot of the installed controller: Under the hood: Not 100% tied up. Not happy with the extra battery grounds either... but the aux splice was already full (Head unit and CB grounds). And the brake controller ground somehow got extra tugging when setting cable lenghts, and is honestly too short: Eventually I'll want to find a way to condense all the battery grounds back to 1 connector. But this will do for now at least? Looking good! I was born and raised in Kokomo Indiana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 Looking good! I was born and raised in Kokomo Indiana. I live in Madison, IN, but have lived all around the state. Ft. Wayne (Born there, 1992-1998), West Lafayette (inlaws and best friend still live near there, 1998-2010), and New Albany (2010-2016). I have several friends/acquaintances in Kokomo, mainly through my volunteer work (and High School student participation) in FIRST robotics. Used to drive though the area a lot, in particular as a kid during the Ft. Wayne to Lafayette move (US 24 was closed due to being rebuilt to it's current 4-lane standard, so we'd have to take SR 26 and I-69 as a bypass). Lots of trips in my parents' 1988 GMC safari and 1987 C-10 (they were bowtie fans, both vehicles ran well all the way to the grave). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 I wouldn't tow more than 2000 lbs with a half-ton pickup. Preferably only a light dirt bike trailer etc. That's just me. I see a lot of half-ton pickups towing heavy trailers passing me out on the highway as I tow 21k with my F550 at 55-60mph. I suppose it's legal but I won't do it. We don't even own a 150 except for one we're building up for my teen daughter to drive. All our other pickups are 250/350. http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n97683/BlueF150.jpg Snuck in on me... Not planning on towing anything heavier than a midsize truck/SUV, and only sparingly (project vehicle purchases, etc.). The trailer is grossly overkill for the truck... as is the hitch. But I'll take overkill; as long as I respect the F150's limits, it's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 I live in Madison, IN, but have lived all around the state. Ft. Wayne (Born there, 1992-1998), West Lafayette (inlaws and best friend still live near there, 1998-2010), and New Albany (2010-2016). I have several friends/acquaintances in Kokomo, mainly through my volunteer work (and High School student participation) in FIRST robotics. Used to drive though the area a lot, in particular as a kid during the Ft. Wayne to Lafayette move (US 24 was closed due to being rebuilt to it's current 4-lane standard, so we'd have to take SR 26 and I-69 as a bypass). Lots of trips in my parents' 1988 GMC safari and 1987 C-10 (they were bowtie fans, both vehicles ran well all the way to the grave). Oh, cool! Near Louisville and Cincinnati. I was a Reds fan as a kid, the Big Red Machine. Bench, Rose, Concepcion, Morgan and all. Haven’t been in Kokomo for 40 years or so. Wouldn’t mind seeing it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 I live in Madison, IN, but have lived all around the state. Ft. Wayne (Born there, 1992-1998), West Lafayette (inlaws and best friend still live near there, 1998-2010), and New Albany (2010-2016). I have several friends/acquaintances in Kokomo, mainly through my volunteer work (and High School student participation) in FIRST robotics. Used to drive though the area a lot, in particular as a kid during the Ft. Wayne to Lafayette move (US 24 was closed due to being rebuilt to it's current 4-lane standard, so we'd have to take SR 26 and I-69 as a bypass). Lots of trips in my parents' 1988 GMC safari and 1987 C-10 (they were bowtie fans, both vehicles ran well all the way to the grave). Oh, cool! Near Louisville and Cincinnati. I was a Reds fan as a kid, the Big Red Machine. Bench, Rose, Concepcion, Morgan and all. Haven’t been in Kokomo for 40 years or so. Wouldn’t mind seeing it again. Yep. Ironically, I bought the hitch from a guy in SW Louisville (Valley Station), and the controller from a couple in NW Cincinatti (Colerain). Indy isn't far either... we're an hour from Louisville, an hour 15 from Cinicinatti, and an hour 30 from Indy. Gives a lot of options for scoring stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 I wouldn't tow more than 2000 lbs with a half-ton pickup. Preferably only a light dirt bike trailer etc. That's just me. I see a lot of half-ton pickups towing heavy trailers passing me out on the highway as I tow 21k with my F550 at 55-60mph. I suppose it's legal but I won't do it. We don't even own a 150 except for one we're building up for my teen daughter to drive. All our other pickups are 250/350. http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n97683/BlueF150.jpg Snuck in on me... Not planning on towing anything heavier than a midsize truck/SUV, and only sparingly (project vehicle purchases, etc.). The trailer is grossly overkill for the truck... as is the hitch. But I'll take overkill; as long as I respect the F150's limits, it's all good. Did you say that trailer has a GVWR of 7000 #'s? If so, it isn't overkill. In fact, if you aren't careful you'll overload it. When I was shopping for trailers I found that most of the trailers were sitting on 3500 # axles giving the trailer the 7000 # GVWR. But then I realized that the trailer itself weighs north of 2000 #, so you are left with less than 5000 # for the vehicle. And lots of vehicles weigh more than that. And then comes the loading. Remember that the axle, and usually the tires, is rated for 3500 #'s. So if you put a 5000 # vehicle on the trailer you'll be at the limit if the weight is evenly distributed. But you do NOT want the weight evenly distributed as you need ~10% of the weight on the tongue to prevent sway. So you'll need to have the vehicle forward on the trailer and it will be easy to overload the front axle if you aren't careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 Did you say that trailer has a GVWR of 7000 #'s? If so, it isn't overkill. In fact, if you aren't careful you'll overload it. When I was shopping for trailers I found that most of the trailers were sitting on 3500 # axles giving the trailer the 7000 # GVWR. But then I realized that the trailer itself weighs north of 2000 #, so you are left with less than 5000 # for the vehicle. And lots of vehicles weigh more than that. And then comes the loading. Remember that the axle, and usually the tires, is rated for 3500 #'s. So if you put a 5000 # vehicle on the trailer you'll be at the limit if the weight is evenly distributed. But you do NOT want the weight evenly distributed as you need ~10% of the weight on the tongue to prevent sway. So you'll need to have the vehicle forward on the trailer and it will be easy to overload the front axle if you aren't careful. The truck's only good for 9000GVWR... but I didn't think the trailer cared about the truck's weight, while the truck does. Hence the "5200lbs" number I came up with at the start of the thread. Thus, the trailer is overkill relative to my truck's capacity. I'll overload the truck before I overload the trailer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 The truck's only good for 9000GVWR... but I didn't think the trailer cared about the truck's weight, while the truck does. Hence the "5200lbs" number I came up with at the start of the thread. Thus, the trailer is overkill relative to my truck's capacity. I'll overload the truck before I overload the trailer. The trailer only cares about the weight of the vehicle on it and the weight of the trailer itself. Or, to put it another way, it is the axles and tires that are limited to 7000 lbs. And since they are carrying both the trailer and the cargo you have to add the two together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 The truck's only good for 9000GVWR... but I didn't think the trailer cared about the truck's weight, while the truck does. Hence the "5200lbs" number I came up with at the start of the thread. Thus, the trailer is overkill relative to my truck's capacity. I'll overload the truck before I overload the trailer. And yes, you'll exceed the truck's GVWR before you exceed the trailer's GVWR. So I see what you are saying about the trailer being "overkill". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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