Ford F-450 Towing Capacities (2008-2020) (2024)

The F-450's are one of Ford's biggest trucks out there and they have some serious towing capacity attached to them because of that. I was quite shocked to find out just how much these trucks were capable of pulling after doing my research.

This article is short and straight to the point, as there were really minimal options for the F-450's, resulting in simple but surprising tow chart specs. Hope it helps!

Overview of the Data For the Ford F-450's:

Engine Choices: There were not any engine options at all for the F-450's over the years, as they only came with one single option for specific years. For 2022-2011, the engine option was the 6.7l diesel engine and for 2008-2010 models, a 6.4l diesel engine was the only choice.

Configurations: There was not a whole lot of options for the F-450's either, much like the engine options for these trucks and the only real choices you had were in 2019 and 2020, where you could find the F-450's in a regular or crew cab configuration. All of the previous years, the F-450's only came in a crew cab option.

Overall Capacity: The towing capacity for the Ford F-450 ranged from 16,000-37,000 lbs. over the years and was pretty straightforward, due to the lack of options, but the numbers did change quite a bit over the years.

F-450's made in 2017 and up (newer) had a pretty significant increase in their tow rating, in both conventional and 5th wheel/gooseneck specs, according to the charts.

Remember to look at the owner's manual for your F-450 for other towing related info that may affect overall weight numbers.

All of the tow tables I have listed shared specs with the F350 models, so you will see ratings for both the F350's and F450s together on one table, which makes them a little bit harder to read. I did outline the F450 specs though, so you can scan the charts better and much quicker.

2022-2011 Models:

The 2022-2011 F-450's only had one engine choice: the 6.7l diesel engine, so it made for easy comparisons, compared to the F-250 and F-150.

The towing capacity for the 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 Ford F-450's ranged from 17,500-37,000 lbs. for both conventional and 5th wheel/gooseneck setups.

The conventional tow specs for the 2022-2011 were quite a bit lower than the 5th wheel/gooseneck specs, so I wanted to break down each to give you a better idea of how they compared.

2010-2008 Models:

The 2010-2008 Ford F-450's had only one engine choice, like the later models we looked at, but the engine choice for the 2010-2008 models was a 6.4l diesel engine, instead of the 6.7l engine.

The towing capacity for 2010, 2009 and 2008 Ford F-450 ranged from 16,000-24,600 lbs., including both conventional and 5th wheel/gooseneck tow specs.

2010-2008 F-450's had a little different range when it came to the capacity numbers, if we look at the conventional specs alone and the 5th wheel/gooseneck specs alone.

If we look at the conventional tow specs alone, we can see that there was no range at all and 16,000 pounds was the "calculation" in the charts and if we look at 5th wheel/gooseneck specs, we can see that the range does differ quite a bit, between 18,100-24,600 pounds.

2010

2010 F 450 Tow Chart

2010 F 450 Tow Chart 2

2009

2009 F 450 Tow Chart

2009 F 450 Tow Chart 2

2008

2008 F 450 Tow Chart

2008 F 450 Tow Chart 2

Hitch Receiver Weight Capacity Limitations

It is important to note that there were some limitations when it came to the hitch receiver that you were using for your truck and I found information on this in one of the guides.

If you're using a weight carrying hitch, which is basically just a traditional hitch that gets bolted underneath your truck to the frame, then you might have limitations on your trailer weight rating.

If you look at the screenshot I grabbed from the 2010 tow guide and if we look at the data in the table in the highlighted red box, we can see that the trailer weight rating was set at 8,000 lbs. if you were using a weight carrying hitch, but it was increased to 16,000 lbs. if you were using a weight distributing hitch.

Not all model year trucks had these two trailer weight ratings based on the type of hitch that you had installed, in fact, the 2020 models had these same rating for both hitches. I would recommend taking a look at the guide for your specific model year truck to verify this information.

A Word On Axle Ratios...

Most of the Ford F-450's had only one axle ratio to choose from but 2008 models had two options: either a 4.30 or 4.88 axle ratio. You will need to look up your axle ratio to get an accurate figure.

If you open your driver's side door and look inside the door jamb, you will see a label that has all kinds of information on it. If you look towards the bottom of that tag, you will see a section labeled "Axle" and a code below that.

Example Of Ford Axle Code

Take that code and visit blueovalfords.com to match that code with your axle ratio, just to be sure. You can also look under the truck's rear differential for a tag or stamped markings that will also indicate the axle ratio.

Resources That I Used For The F-450s:

I decided to use Ford's Towing Guides for my research because the graphs were easy to read and clearly laid out. All of the information I gathered for these trucks came directly from these guides and I wanted to link to them just in case you wanted to check them out for yourself.