Ford introduces two very useful towing tools. One tool – the VIN Towing Calculator – is for finding out your truck’s exact towing and payload ratings. It also helps you figure out the leftover payload capacity. The second tool is a Towing Needs Assessment. It helps you determine which F-150 or Super Duty truck best suits your needs if you already have your trailer and cargo specifications.
It has been very difficult to find out exactly how much a specific truck is rated to tow.
GM recently made it very easy by putting a specific towing and payload rating sticker on every new 2019+ Silverado and Sierra truck they sell. This sticker or stickers are in the driver’s door jam. No more wondering and searching for your truck’s specific configuration, axle ratio, engine, and transmission information. Just look at the sticker and know exactly how much weight you can tow or haul safely.
Ram has had a simple Towing Guide and VIN lookup tool for several years. You can use this link to “Lookup My Vehicle” by using the VIN. It will provide the towing and payload ratings for that vehicle.
It’s great to see that Ford is making the towing process more straight forward and safer by making this information easily searchable. If I had my wish, Ford would put these lookup tools directly into the truck’s infotainment system. The 2021 F-150’s owner’s manual is already preloaded in the latest SYNC system.
The next holy grail will be if a truck was equipped with weight sensors or weight cells at each corner (or each axle), so you can see exactly how much your truck weighs at any moment in time and how the weight is distributed. It would be dead simple to figure out exactly how much trailer tongue weight you are adding to the truck or how your payload needs to be positioned. We can only dream…
