Ford F-150 Towing Capacity: What 13,500 lb Requires
13,500 lb is a real Ford figure. It is almost certainly not your F-150's figure. Ford publishes it as a maximum available tow rating, meaning one specific build of the truck, optioned one specific way, carries that rating. Every other F-150 carries something lower, and several carry substantially lower.
This page gives you Ford's own published numbers with the model year attached to each, explains the configuration behind the headline, and then hands you the thing most pages on this subject leave out: a manufacturer tool that will answer the question for your actual VIN.
What Ford Actually Publishes
From ford.com, checked 2026-07-30, for the 2026 F-150:
| Figure | Ford's published number | Ford's own wording |
|---|---|---|
| Max available towing | 13,500 lbs | "Best-in-Class Max Available Towing" |
| Max available payload | 2,440 lbs | "Best-in-Class Max Available Payload" |
| Max available torque | 640 lb-ft | "Best-in-Class Max Available Torque" |
Ford attributes the tow figure to a specific engine on the same page: "The 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine outpulls all competitors. Command a max available tow rating of 13,500 lbs."
And a second engine gets its own, lower figure: the 3.5L PowerBoost full hybrid V6, which Ford lists at 578 lb-ft of torque and "up to 11,600 lbs tow rating."
Note what those two lines together demonstrate. Two engines, same nameplate, same model year, a difference of 1,900 lb in tow rating. Before you have considered cab, bed, drivetrain, or axle ratio. The 640 lb-ft torque figure, incidentally, belongs to the Raptor R and its supercharged 5.2L V8, which is not the max-tow truck at all, a useful reminder that the headline specs in a marketing block do not all describe the same vehicle.
The Configuration Behind the Headline Number
Ford's towing material states the 13,500 lb rating for a SuperCrew with the 6.5 ft box in 4×4, fitted with the 3.5L EcoBoost V6, the Tow/Haul Package, and the Max Tow axle.
Two honest caveats on that sentence:
- Confirm it for your model year and VIN. Ford's detailed trailering guide PDFs were not retrievable when this page was written, so the configuration above comes from Ford's own web material rather than from the trailering chart itself. It is Ford's stated configuration, not this site's reconstruction, and it is still not a substitute for checking your own truck.
- This site publishes no per-trim table for the F-150, because the document that contains the authoritative table could not be opened. Reconstructing one from aggregator sites would produce exactly the kind of confidently wrong figure this site exists to argue against.
Why Your F-150 Almost Certainly Is Not That Truck
Run down the requirements and check them against a typical F-150 on a dealer lot or in a driveway:
- 3.5L EcoBoost V6. Many F-150s leave with the 2.7L EcoBoost or the 5.0L V8, both of which Ford rates lower for towing.
- Max Tow axle. A separate option, not standard, and frequently not ordered.
- Tow/Haul Package. Also optional on lower trims.
- SuperCrew, 6.5 ft box, 4×4. A specific combination. A SuperCrew with the 5.5 ft box is the more common family configuration.
Miss any one of those and you are not looking at 13,500 lb. That is the whole reason "max available" is in Ford's phrasing, and it is why a salesperson quoting 13,500 lb about a truck on the lot is making a claim about the model line rather than about that vehicle.
The general form of this problem, a rating that assumes equipment your truck may not have, is covered in what does "properly equipped" actually mean.
The Ford Towing Calculator: A First-Party Answer for Your VIN
This is the most useful thing on this page, and it is startlingly absent from most F-150 towing articles.
Ford publishes an online Towing Calculator that works from your VIN. Per Ford's own support documentation:
- It covers 2020 model year and newer F-Series pickup trucks capable of towing.
- You enter the VIN, then select Conventional, Gooseneck, or 5th Wheel to see data by hitch type.
- You then enter estimated weights for occupants, cargo, and accessories, including trailer connection hardware.
- It returns Max Tongue Load and Max Trailer Weight for that specific truck with that specific load, and tells you either "Weight is within your vehicle's ratings" or "Weight exceeds your vehicle's ratings. Reduce added weight."
That is a VIN-specific answer from the manufacturer, adjusted for what you are actually putting in the truck. It is the closest thing to a definitive figure you will get without a scale, and it is free.
Ford attaches its own caution, which is worth quoting because it is the same instruction this site gives: "Before towing, review your Owner's Manual and the RV & Trailer Towing Guide for information specific to your vehicle."
One definition from the same Ford documentation is worth knowing before you use the tool, because it explains a number that surprises people: Ford's Max Loaded Trailer Weight "assumes a trailer tongue load of 10% (conventional trailer) or 15% (fifth-wheel/gooseneck trailer)." If your trailer's actual tongue weight percentage is higher than that, and plenty are, the assumption underneath the figure no longer matches your rig. See tongue weight explained.
The Brake Rating Nobody Mentions
Buried in Ford's own definition of GCWR is a sentence that reframes this entire subject, and it appears on almost no consumer page:
"The towing vehicle's braking system is rated for operation at the GVWR, not at the GCWR."
Read that twice. GCWR is the combined weight of truck plus loaded trailer. GVWR is the truck alone. Ford is stating that the truck's brakes were engineered around the truck's own maximum weight, not around the much larger combined figure. The trailer is expected to stop itself.
That is the engineering reason trailer brakes exist, and it is a far better argument for them than the legal thresholds, which vary by state. It is also the clearest justification for keeping real margin rather than towing at the rated limit, the argument in the 80% towing rule. Ford's own statement of the consequence is similarly direct: exceeding a weight rating "can adversely affect the performance and handling of your vehicle, cause vehicle damage, and can result in the loss of control of your vehicle, serious personal injury, or death."
For the legal side of trailer brakes, see do you legally need trailer brakes.
Your Door Jamb Is Still the Authority
Even with a VIN calculator available, the labels on your own truck remain the final word for the numbers they carry:
- Tire and Loading Information placard, driver's door jamb: your payload, the combined weight of occupants and cargo. Tongue weight comes out of this. Walkthrough: the Tire and Loading Information placard.
- Certification label, same area: GVWR and front and rear GAWR.
- Owner's manual and towing guide for your model year: towing capacity and GCWR, which are not on the door jamb.
If the calculator, a spec site, and your door jamb disagree, the door jamb and your owner's manual win. Every time.
How the F-150 compares with its direct rivals, using each manufacturer's own figures, is in RAM 1500 vs F-150 vs Silverado 1500. The method behind every figure in this cluster is set out in towing capacity by vehicle.
FAQ
What is the towing capacity of a Ford F-150?
Ford publishes a maximum available tow rating of 13,500 lb for the 2026 F-150, attributed to the 3.5L EcoBoost V6 in a SuperCrew 6.5 ft box 4×4 with the Tow/Haul Package and Max Tow axle. Other engines and configurations are rated lower; Ford lists the 3.5L PowerBoost hybrid at up to 11,600 lb. Your own truck's rating is in your owner's manual and, for 2020-and-newer F-Series, from Ford's VIN-based Towing Calculator.
How do I find my specific F-150's towing capacity?
Use Ford's Towing Calculator with your VIN if your truck is a 2020 or newer F-Series. Then confirm payload on the Tire and Loading Information placard on your driver's door jamb and read the towing section of your owner's manual and the RV & Trailer Towing Guide for your model year.
Does every F-150 tow 13,500 lb?
No. That figure requires a specific engine, axle, package, cab, bed, and drivetrain combination. An F-150 with a different engine, without the Max Tow axle, or in a different cab and bed configuration is rated lower, in some cases by thousands of pounds.
Why is the hybrid rated lower than the 3.5L EcoBoost?
Ford publishes up to 11,600 lb for the 3.5L PowerBoost full hybrid against 13,500 lb for the 3.5L EcoBoost. Tow ratings are set by gross combined weight rating, cooling capacity, axle ratio, and curb weight rather than by torque output, and the hybrid system's additional weight consumes capacity. It is a good illustration that the more powerful-sounding engine is not automatically the higher-towing one.
Does the F-150's tow rating include my passengers and gear?
No. Ford's Max Loaded Trailer Weight figure assumes a tongue load of 10 percent for a conventional trailer, and the truck's payload has to absorb that tongue weight plus every occupant and everything you load. That is why Ford's calculator asks for occupants, cargo, and accessories, and why payload usually binds before the tow rating does.
The door-jamb sticker and the owner's manual for your exact VIN and trim are the authority. Towing capacity, payload, GVWR, and GCWR vary by engine, axle ratio, cab, and bed configuration within the same model year, so a figure that is correct for one F-150 can be badly wrong for another. All figures on this page are Ford's own, published on ford.com and its support documentation, checked 2026-07-30, and labeled with the model year they belong to.