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Breaking Down the 2019 Ford F-150's Towing Capacities

By Matt Barnes

There's often a chicken versus egg dilemma when buying a tow rig. Do you choose the trailer you want and find a vehicle to match, or do you choose the tow vehicle you want and find a trailer to match? Either way, when looking at the 2019 Ford F-150's tow ratings, it's necessary to select the cab, engine and package configuration that suits your needs within the F-150's 5,000-to-13,200-pound towing capacity. Here's your towing guide to various configurations of the 2019 Ford F-150.

What's the 2019 Ford F-150's Maximum Towing Capacity?

In order to get the class-leading 13,200-pound towing capacity, you must select the base rear-wheel-drive XL trim SuperCrew with the 6.5-foot bed, 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine, Max Trailer Tow Package and 20-inch tires. The Max Trailer Tow Package adds the 3.55 electronically locking rear differential, the 36-gallon fuel tank, auxiliary transmission and engine oil coolers, a Class IV receiver hitch, an integrated trailer brake controller and an upgraded front stabilizer bar. This brings the total cost to $43,515 (all prices include destination). Four-wheel drive lowers the towing capacity for this configuration to 12,900 pounds.

As you move up through the trim levels, more features and weight are added, which takes away from weight that can be used as payload or tongue weight from a trailer, so higher trims have lower payload and trailering capabilities. Ford's F-150 towing selector provides all the towing capacities. The max trailer rating can only be achieved by conventional towing with a weight distribution hitch. Without a weight distribution hitch, the F-150 is limited to a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds.

What's the F-150's Fifth-Wheel Towing Capacity?

The maximum fifth-wheel towing capacity is 12,100 pounds in the 4x2 XL regular cab with the 8-foot bed, the 3.5-liter EcoBoost, 3.55 axle ratio and Max Trailer Tow Package. The total cost for this vehicle is $33,540. Ford is the only manufacturer to list fifth-wheel towing capacities for its half-ton trucks. Because of this, we'll focus on conventional towing ratings.

What's the 2019 Ford F-150's Minimum Towing Capacity?

Without the Class IV trailer hitch, which is included in the Trailer Tow and Max Trailer Tow packages, all versions of the F-150 are limited to a maximum 5,000-pound towing capacity. When opting for the Class IV trailer hitch on the 3.3-liter V-6, there are three listed configurations that allow a maximum rating of 5,000 pounds. They are the regular-cab 6.5-foot bed with four-wheel drive, the SuperCab 6.5-foot bed with two-wheel drive and the SuperCrew with 5.5-foot bed and 2WD.

Max Towing Capacity by Engine

Ford offers five different engines for the F-150 and two different versions of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost, essentially providing six different options. The 3.3-liter gas engine is equipped with a six-speed automatic, while all other engine options use the 10-speed automatic. The Trailer Tow Package is required for the highest tow ratings. For the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, the Max Trailer Tow Package must be added.

3.3-Liter V-6 (290 hp, 265 pounds-feet of torque)

The F-150's 3.3-liter V-6's maximum tow rating is 7,700 pounds. This can be done with either the regular-cab and 6.5-foot bed or regular-cab and 8-foot bed, both with 2WD. All of the highest tow ratings with the 3.3-liter V-6 are achieved with the 3.73 axle ratio. The second highest rating is 7,500 pounds for the 4WD regular-cab and 6.5-foot bed. The third highest rating for the 3.3-liter V-6 is 7,400 pounds for the regular-cab 4x4 long bed, the SuperCab 6.5-foot bed in both 2WD and 4WD, and the SuperCrew 5.5-foot bed in both 2WD and 4WD.

5.0-Liter V-8 (395 hp, 400 pounds-feet of torque)

This engine achieves its highest tow rating with the 4WD SuperCrew 6.5-foot bed at 11,500 pounds. Like the 3.3-liter V-6, the 5.0-liter V-8 achieves its highest tow ratings with the 3.73 axle ratio. Coming in second with an 11,300-pound tow rating is the 4WD SuperCab with the 6.5-foot bed. The third highest rating is 11,200 pounds for both the 4WD SuperCab with the 8-foot bed and the 4WD regular cab with the 8-foot bed. One thing to note with this engine is that nearly any cab and bed size in 2WD or 4WD can be optioned to tow more 10,000 pounds.

3.0-Liter V-6 Diesel (250 hp, 440 pounds-feet of torque)

The F-150's maximum rating for the 3.0-liter V-6 diesel is 11,500 for the 2WD SuperCab with the 6.5-foot bed. Since the goal of this engine is to be highly fuel efficient, Ford offers the 3.0-liter diesel with only the 3.31 or 3.55 axle ratios. The 3.55 provides the highest tow ratings. Of note is that the engine is not available for the regular cab or the LT or XLT trims, except for fleet customers. Also of note, when the tow package is selected, a tow rating of 10,000 pounds is achievable in every configuration available to the engine. The second highest rating is 11,300, found on the 4WD SuperCab with the 6.5-foot bed, the 2WD SuperCrew with the 6.5-foot bed and the 4WD SuperCrew with either the 5.5-foot or 6.5-foot beds. The third highest rating is 11,200 in two configurations: the 4WD SuperCab with the 6.5-foot bed and two-speed automatic 4WD transfer case, and the 2WD SuperCrew with the 5.5-foot bed.

2.7-Liter EcoBoost V-6 (325 hp, 400 pounds-feet of torque)

For this engine, the maximum tow rating of 9,000 pounds can be had with the 4WD regular cab with the 8-foot bed, the 2WD SuperCab with the 8-foot bed, the 4WD SuperCab with the 6.5-foot bed and the 2WD SuperCrew with the 6.5-foot bed. The highest tow ratings for 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6 are achieved with the 3.73 axle ratio and the 2.7-Liter EcoBoost Payload Package. The second highest tow rating of 8,900 pounds is obtained with the 4WD SuperCrew with the 5.5-foot bed. The third highest tow rating of 8,500 pounds can be had with the 2WD regular cab with either the 6.5-foot bed or the 8-foot bed. The 2.7-Liter EcoBoost Payload Package doesn't need to be selected for these two options.

3.5-Liter EcoBoost V-6 (375 hp, 470 pounds-feet of torque)

The highest is 13,200 pounds in the 2WD SuperCrew with the 6.5-foot bed. As noted earlier, the F-150 with the highest tow rating is equipped with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 and requires the Max Trailer Tow Package, 3.55 axle ratio and 20-inch wheels. These same requirements apply for the top three rated configurations. The 4WD SuperCrew with the 6.5-foot bed is the second highest at 12,900 pounds. The third highest rating is 12,700 pounds for both the 2WD and 4WD SuperCrew with the 5.5-foot bed.

3.5-Liter EcoBoost V-6 High Output (450 hp, 510 pounds-feet of torque)

This engine is only available on the Raptor and Limited trim levels; look for its tow ratings in the Raptor and Limited sections below.

Max Towing Capacities by Cab

The highest tow ratings by cab are 13,200 pounds for the 2WD SuperCrew equipped with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost and 6.5-foot bed. For the SuperCab, the maximum rating is 12,000 pounds with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost, 2WD and 6.5-foot bed. If the regular cab is your thing, then a rating of 12,100 pounds can be had with the 2WD model equipped with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost and 8-foot bed.

What's the F-150 Limited's Towing Capacity?

The F-150 Limited with the high-output 3.5-liter EcoBoost makes 450 hp and 510 pounds-feet of torque and is only available in the SuperCrew 5.5-foot bed configuration. In 2WD models, the F-150 Limited's maximum tow rating is 11,100 pounds, and in 4WD models the maximum tow rating is 9,400 pounds. The Trailer Tow Package must be selected, bringing the price to $69,725 for the 2WD version and $73,150 for the 4WD version.

What's the F-150 Raptor's Towing Capacity?

The F-150 Raptor, which also uses the high-output 3.5-liter EcoBoost, has a tow rating of 8,000 pounds for the SuperCrew and 6,000 pounds for the SuperCab. The Trailer Tow Package is standard on all Raptor models. The SuperCab has a base price of $54,540 and the SuperCrew has a base price of $57,435.

While these are the maximum tow ratings for a variety of configurations, keep in mind that additional options might decrease the towing capacity. Also, additional passengers and payload within the truck will decrease the maximum towing capacity. Always be aware of the gross axle weight, gross vehicle weight and gross combined weight ratings of your truck and trailer, and never exceed the rated capacity of any of these. You can read our primer on towing and weight capacity definitions to familiarize yourself with what you need to know before towing.