towing slx250

[Mxgirl1]

i just ordered my 2022 slx250! i just ditched the jet boat scarab life and so glad i did! i was towing my 25 1/2 foot boat with my 2017 ford raptor. has anyone towed a slx250 with a 2017 or newer raptor? the specs say its ok. but i know its about tongue weight with the raptors.

 

[boatman37]

Just a guess here but you should probably be around 600-700lbs of tongue weight. The 'typical' rule is 10-15% but with boats you are usually lower because the engine is at the rear. Our boat/trailer weighs 8900lbs and I have about 700lbs tongue weight. Ideally I'd like to be closer to 800lbs but it tows great as is so I'm leaving it. I don't think you will have any issues but if you aren't sure then go to a CAT scale. Most truck stops have them. They have an app you can download. There are 3 scale pads. The front one weighs your front truck axle, the middle one weighs your truck rear axle and the rear pad weighs the trailer axles, all in one shot. You need to pull on the scales with just the truck then pull off, hook up the trailer then pull back on. The first time on is about $12.50 then the same scale within 24 hours is another $3.00 I think. If you load a card into the app you don't even have to get out of your truck. That will tell you exactly how close you are on payload, GVWR, GCWR and tongue weight.

Boat is a 2006 Crownline 250CR and truck is a 2018 2500 Ram 6.4 Hemi 4x4

Here is mine from my boat from this spring. 1/2 tank of fuel in boat, full tank in truck, and just me in the truck.

 

[JHornsby3]

The hitch weight of most 1/2 ton pickups is about 500lbs or less. And that is the hitch or bumper weight (pin weight). The answer to "can it pull it" is yes it can. But the larger question is for how long. With a V6 motor and the light duty trans, it will pull a big load. But if it's an auto trans, you should be shifting manually. Keep the rpm's up on hill pulls. And never tow with the overdrive. That makes the trans slip more than normal and will cause over heating of the trans.

You can load to the pin weight. When you head out to the lake, make sure everything is loaded to the back of the axel. If it has two axels, even better. That will help with pin weight. But still load to the back to keep below the 500lbs hitch weight.

We have pulled the 19' boat with dad's Colorado with the 4.3l and 6 speed auto. It pulled it but it wasn't the safest ride in the world. Now I stick to pulling with the full sized half ton with a V8 engine and 4 speed auto with a 750lbs pin weight.

 

[Mxgirl1]

The hitch weight of most 1/2 ton pickups is about 500lbs or less. And that is the hitch or bumper weight (pin weight). The answer to "can it pull it" is yes it can. But the larger question is for how long. With a V6 motor and the light duty trans, it will pull a big load. But if it's an auto trans, you should be shifting manually. Keep the rpm's up on hill pulls. And never tow with the overdrive. That makes the trans slip more than normal and will cause over heating of the trans.

You can load to the pin weight. When you head out to the lake, make sure everything is loaded to the back of the axel. If it has two axels, even better. That will help with pin weight. But still load to the back to keep below the 500lbs hitch weight.

We have pulled the 19' boat with dad's Colorado with the 4.3l and 6 speed auto. It pulled it but it wasn't the safest ride in the world. Now I stick to pulling with the full sized half ton with a V8 engine and 4 speed auto with a 750lbs pin weight.

thanks. yes my raptor pulled my scarab 255 easily. didnt even know it was there. i just thought maybe the sea ray had a different tongue wait. my dealer says yes it can pull it. he has other customers doing it . i only go about 6 miles to the marina. thanks everyone for your help. i appreciate it. i dont have heavy loads. its just me, my dog and usually husband or a friend. no weight in the truck either. its just fir day use on our so cal oceans, so u should be good! thanks again. raptor pulls great! i put it on cruise at 80 mph hahhaa.

 

[JHornsby3]

I would never tow a trailer at 80mph. The tires are not rated to that speed. And having pulled up to a pick up on I-40 in the Texas panhandle after a high speed trailer wreck. I don't ever want to see bloody blonde hair of a smashed up young lady again. Things you can never unsee. But you can try to talk some sense into those who needs to see

 

[Mxgirl1]

I would never tow a trailer at 80mph. The tires are not rated to that speed. And having pulled up to a pick up on I-40 in the Texas panhandle after a high speed trailer wreck. I don't ever want to see bloody blonde hair of a smashed up young lady again. Things you can never unsee. But you can try to talk some sense into those who needs to see

obviously its out in middel no where flat and straight with a raptor. thanks again

 

[RBB]

Fellas I don't think pulling it is the big deal, stopping it is most important.

 

[boatman37]

That ecoboost shouldn't have any issues at all pulling that. (EDIT: just went back and saw it's only rated to tow 8000lbs which is odd).
But agreed, 80MPH towing is asking for trouble. As stated, trailer tires aren't typically rated for those speeds and you get any wiggle in that trailer and at 80 it is magnified. Good luck getting it back under control.
Ballpark you should have about 500-600lbs tongue weight. Boats should have about 7-8% tongue weight (yeah other type trailers should be closer to 12% but boats have more rear weight due to engine location). So if your boat/trailer weighs 7000lbs then you would want about 550lbs tongue weight. I have about 660lbs tongue weight on my 9000lb combo and it tows great, both with my 2500 and with my old 1500. Make sure your trailer brakes are working good.
Class IV hitches typically have a 1200lb tongue weight capacity so you shouldn't even be close to that. I think bumper balls have 500lb capacity so that may have been where the confusion came from. I wouldn't tow a lawn mower with a bumper ball...lol

 

[Stan Karamargin]

i just ordered my 2022 slx250! i just ditched the jet boat scarab life and so glad i did! i was towing my 25 1/2 foot boat with my 2017 ford raptor. has anyone towed a slx250 with a 2017 or newer raptor? the specs say its ok. but i know its about tongue weight with the raptors.

I have an 2014 SLX 250 and tow it with my 2015 F150XLT 4x4, super crew 4.5 (145") foot bed with a 2.7 ecoboost engine with 3.73 rear end gears, with trailer tow package and 2.7 EcoBoost Payload package and can tow 8200 max see link for my specs.
https://www.fleet.ford.com/content/...eet/towing-guides/Ford_Linc_15RVTTowGuide.pdf

As stated in the prior posts, stopping is the most important so I upgraded my brake pads and Rotors (all) with a PowerStop slotted/drilled rotors (I think Raptor has upgraded brakes so you should be fine) and that made all the difference in the world! the silly owner (me) though failed to install a weight distributing hitch the first time I towed her to upstate NY from Delaware and almost flipped over, but was able to keep her under control. So I purchased a weight distributing hitch and that made all the difference in the world, of course you need to follow the

installation procedures to the tee but I have had no issues at all and tow her to the St. Laurence River and Cayuga Lake every year (three years running now) I will say that I only go about 65 to 70 mph as I am at my max payload with the SLX250 (almost dry, 1/4 fuel and no water) and trailer (7,800lbs). I also upgraded the tires on the trailer with radials and that also made for a smoother ride. check your specs on your hitch as mine goes up to 11,000 with a weight distributing hitch and only 5,000lbs without one. I love my 250SLX as she handles the big waves no problem and if I had more $$$ I would get a bigger SLX! Happy Boating/trailering! I take Sweeter all over the place via trailer and love it!

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I have an 2014 SLX 250 and tow it with my 2015 F150XLT 4x4, super crew 4.5 (145") foot bed with a 2.7 ecoboost engine with 3.73 rear end gears, with trailer tow package and 2.7 EcoBoost Payload package and can tow 8200 max see link for my specs.
https://www.fleet.ford.com/content/...eet/towing-guides/Ford_Linc_15RVTTowGuide.pdf

As stated in the prior posts, stopping is the most important so I upgraded my brake pads and Rotors (all) with a PowerStop slotted/drilled rotors (I think Raptor has upgraded brakes so you should be fine) and that made all the difference in the world! the silly owner (me) though failed to install a weight distributing hitch the first time I towed her to upstate NY from Delaware and almost flipped over, but was able to keep her under control. So I purchased a weight distributing hitch and that made all the difference in the world, of course you need to follow theView attachment 114861 installation procedures to the tee but I have had no issues at all and tow her to the St. Laurence River and Cayuga Lake every year (three years running now) I will say that I only go about 65 to 70 mph as I am at my max payload with the SLX250 (almost dry, 1/4 fuel and no water) and trailer (7,800lbs). I also upgraded the tires on the trailer with radials and that also made for a smoother ride. check your specs on your hitch as mine goes up to 11,000 with a weight distributing hitch and only 5,000lbs without one. I love my 250SLX as she handles the big waves no problem and if I had more $$$ I would get a bigger SLX! Happy Boating/trailering! I take Sweeter all over the place via trailer and love it!

I've never seen someone towing a boat with a weight distributing hitch. When I towed, I just adjusted the trailer axles to get the trailer balanced. Learned something today, I guess.

 

[Stan Karamargin]

I've never seen someone towing a boat with a weight distributing hitch. When I towed, I just adjusted the trailer axles to get the trailer balanced. Learned something today, I guess.

First time for everything. My trailer does not have any adjustments on the axel and the weight distributing hitch works great for me.

 

[boatman37]

Most can't use a WDH as far as I know because of the surge breaks? I have never used one with a boat but have with travel trailers. With only 600lbs or so of tongue weight not sure you would really need a WDH but wouldn't hurt. You can also adjust the load distribution by adjusting the trailer to move the boat forward or back. I had to move mine forward about 12". Where it was I could lift the front of my trailer by hand with the boat on it and it weighs 9000lbs.