2020 Ford F-150 Towing Capacities

The 2020 Ford F-150s had a great overall towing capacity for most of their models and the top model had an astounding 13,200 pound rating! On the flip side of that, the lowest rating I found was at 5,000 pounds, which came down to the options you had installed on your truck.

Many of these options were things like: the engine you had, the axle ratio, the cab style, whether you had a 4WD or 2WD model and many other factors. I broke down everything I could think of to make this 2020 F-150 towing capacity resource guide for those of you out there that want to know what you can tow! I hope you like it!

I really tried hard to include all of the most important towing info I found from all of Ford's resources on the 2020 F-150. I do recommend you do your own research though and look through all of the resources I have linked to at the bottom of this article.

2020 F-150 Towing Overview


Overall Towing Capacity:

The towing capacity for the 2020 F-150s ranged from 5,000-13,200 lbs. for all models. This is an overall figure that included all engine options, axle ratios, cab configurations, etc.



3.3L (V6): If you had the 3.3L engine equipped in your 2020 F150, then you would have seen the lowest tow specs on the charts, compared to all of the other engine options. The towing capacity range for models equipped with the 3.3L engine was between 5,000-7,700 pounds.

2020 3.3L Conventional Tow Chart

Conventional Chart

2020 3.3L 5th Wheel Tow Chart

5th Wheel Chart


5.0L (V8): If your 2020 F150 had the 5.0L engine equipped, then you would see maximum trailer towing ratings of between 8,300-11,500 pounds! The 5.0L engine was one of the strongest engines in the lineup, next to the 3.0L diesel and 3.5L EcoBoost engine options.

2020 5.0L Conventional Tow Chart

Conventional Chart

2020 5.0L 5th Wheel Tow Chart

5th Wheel Chart


3.0L Diesel (V6): The 3.0L engine that was also an option in 2020 was another strong contender when it came to towing, having a capacity range of 7,200-11,500 pounds overall.


The conventional tow specs for the 3.0L had a much better range, compared to the 5th wheel chart and some of the lowest numbers on that chart were due to certain options regarding the transmission you have.

2020 5.0L Conventional Tow Chart

Conventional Chart

2020 3.0L 5th Wheel Tow Chart

5th Wheel Chart

2.7L (V6) EcoBoost: The 2.7L engine was yet another option for the 2020 F150s, and it had a pretty decent overall towing capacity rating of between 7,400-9,000 pounds. The 2.7L models even outperformed the 3.3L models on the low end and the higher end.

2020 2.7L Conventional Tow Chart

Conventional Chart

2020 2.7L 5th Wheel Tow Chart

5th Wheel Chart


3.5L (V6) EcoBoost: If you had the 3.5L EcoBoost engine option equipped in your 2020 F-150 then you had some of the best towing capabilities out of all of the engine options. The towing capacity range for the 3.5L engines ranged from 5,900-13,200 pounds, which was quite impressive!

2020 3.5L Conventional Tow Chart

Conventional Chart

2020 3.5L 5th Wheel Tow Chart

5th Wheel Chart

Conventional:

Conventional towing for the 2020 models ranged from 5,000-13,200 pounds.

5th Wheel:

5th wheel towing for the 2020 models ranged from 5,000-11,900 pounds.

GCWR:

GCWR specs for the 2020 models ranged from 9,600-18,600 pounds.

Assumed Weight: In order to list maximum trailer weight ratings in the charts, Ford "assumes" certain weights that act as a control group for all of their models, including the 2020 F-150s. For these trucks, Ford assumes that there is a passenger weight in the vehicle of 300 lbs. total, (2 passengers weighing 150 lbs.) no cargo weight at all and all required factory towing equipment is installed.

2020 F150 Weight Assumptions

2020 Ford F-150 Towing Charts...

I grabbed the towing charts from Ford's 2020 Towing Guide for the F-150 trucks and posted screenshots of them below. The first charts are for conventional towing and the second charts are for 5th wheel towing.

Most people will want to look at the conventional charts, as that is the most common type of towing setup people will have with the receiver hitch mounted on the rear of the truck underneath, attached directly to the frame.

The 5th wheel hitch is not used as much by most people but still is used today and this type of hitch mounts in the center of the bed, is bolted to the frame and is accessed from the top.

Conventional Charts

2020 F-150 Conventional Tow Chart
2020 F-150 Conventional Tow Chart 2
150

5th Wheel And Gooseneck Charts

2020 F-150 5th Wheel Tow Chart
2020 F-150 5th Wheel Tow Chart 2
2020 F-150 5th Wheel Tow Chart 3

How To Read The 2020 F-150 Charts...

The 2020 F-150 tow charts had a ton of information listed from engine options, axle ratios, cab styles, GCWR metrics and more and looking at it for the first time, especially if you have never seen one before can be quite a lot to digest.

In this section, I break down where you will find some of the information in the charts and how to read that information correctly.

The example images I used to explain how to read the charts are not for the 2020 F150s. They are just for example purposes only and should not be used for towing specs, the charts above this section are for the 2020 model year F-150s.

Cab Configurations: At the top of the tow tables you will see three main columns that are divided by cab style or cab configuration. These are outlined in the red boxes in the image below and are the main columns in the chart.

Tow Chart Cab Style Explanation

Tow Chart Cab Style Explanation

4WD vs 2WD: Now if we focus on the columns within the main cab configuration column, we can see that there are specs for 2WD and 4WD models that consist of two columns total. The numbers are slightly different for 4WD and 2WD models so be sure you look at the correct column for your specific model and the drivetrain that is equipped.

Tow Chart 4WD & 2WD Explanation

Tow Chart 4WD & 2WD Explanation

Engine Equipped: The main rows that make up the 2020 chart are reserved for the engine options that were offered. As you can see in the example image below, the engine row in the table makes up the majority of the data.

Tow Chart Engine Options Explanation

Tow Chart Engine Options Explanation

Axle Ratio: Moving on to our final section in the tables, we come to axle ratio listings, which are located to the right of the engine rows. There are at least two different axle ratios for each engine option, so there will be separate rows within the engine option rows that specify the axle ratios.

Tow Chart Axle Ratios Explanation

Tow Chart Axle Ratios Explanation

Axle Ratios For The 2016 F-150's:

The axle ratio you have equipped in your 2020 F-150 will determine your towing capacity, at least a factor that will determine the maximum capacity, anyways. So you need to know what your axle ratio is, but the information is "coded" in a sense but really easy to figure out.

I will walk you through the two step process. The first step is to open your driver's side door and search along the door jamb and you will see a label that looks like the one in the image below. On the bottom of that label, you will see a section labeled "AXLE" and below that, two digits.

Example Of Ford Axle Code

Example Of Ford Axle Code

Write down those two digits (letters, numbers or a combo) and compare them to the two columns on the right of the chart I have listed below. That will tell you what axle ratio (second column) you had factory installed in your truck.

2020 Ford F-150 Axle Codes

Tow Packages & Options:

In the F-150 spec sheet (link at bottom of page) I found this small towing equipment chart that lists all of the optional towing packages for the 2020 model trucks. You will also notice the standard towing equipment that is included for base and Raptor models in the left two columns, which is pretty minimal compared to other packages.

2020 F150 Tow Equipment Chart

What Engine Do I Have?

If you aren't sure what engine you have equipped n your 2020 F-150, then you will have to do a little investigative work in order to figure it out. This is a very simple process and only takes about 3-5 minutes to perform and will actually provide you with other useful info on your truck in the process.

The first step is to locate you VIN and write it down. The VIN can be found in a couple of different places...

The first place you can find your VIN is on your registration card, if you have that on hand. The second and third location is on your vehicle, one is located on your dashboard, on the driver's side, but you will have to look from the outside of the truck to see it.

The other are it can be located is on that same label that is on your driver's side door jamb. Once you have the VIN, you will need to use a decoder to decipher the data withing the VIN itself. I like to use this website for that and will be using this site in my example.

Just enter your VIN in the search box and hit search!

VIN Decoder Site

You will be shown a lot of data that you can save for later if you would like but we are interested in the engine that is equipped, so you will have to scroll down a bit until you see the "Engine Model" section. That will have your factory installed engine and in the case of the example below, it shows the 3.5L EcoBoost Engine equipped.

Looking Up Engine

Cab Configurations:

Cab configurations was another very important variable that you needed to plug into the 2020 towing charts in order to find out your 2020 F150's maximum towing capacity. Who really would have considered that the cab style they had on their truck would determine tow numbers?

I went ahead and grabbed this image from the web to show the three different cab configurations that are used by many different manufacturers, which are similar looking, but the names did differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Ford cab styles (names) are located on the third row down and are labeled: regular cab, super cab and crew cab.

Truck Cab Configurations_Styles

Truck Cab Configurations/Styles (styleyourtrucks.com)

Important Safety Notes:

If you look in the owner's manuals that I have linked to below, you will find all kinds of different information regarding towing in general, but also a lot of other weight related limitations and other safety information like the examples I have listed below.

As you can see from the images below, I have taken screenshots from the owner's manual which has weight limitations for certain engines and tow setups like a bumper hitch and notes on the 2.7 L, 3.3 L, 3.5 L and 5.0 L engines.

I also found a little note regarding towing in higher altitudes, along with a gross combined weight rating definition and the maximum loaded trailer weight definition, according to Ford.

2020 F-150 Recommended Towing Weights
2020 F-150 Recommended Towing Weights 2
2016 F150 Higher Altitude Weight Warning


2019 F-150 Maximum Loaded Trailer Weight
2020 F150 GCWR Definition

Helpful Links:

I wanted to include the resources I used to gather all of the information for the 2020 Ford F-150s for those of you out there that may want to do a little bit more research yourselves, which I would recommend you do. There is a lot of helpful information not only in the Ford Towing Guide, but also the owner's manual and the F-150 spec sheet I have listed below.

Last updated on April 27th, 2022 at 06:41 pm

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