Ford: 1978 Ford Towing Capacity, ford towing capacity, torque output

Question
I'm inheriting my father's 1978 F100 Custom. It's a 2wd 300CID. I'm trying to find out what the towing capacity is. I would like to pull a 5th wheel...not too big. Thanks for any help.

Answer
it depends on a couple of things, what kind of gears you have in the axle, 1:4.10 is a very good towing gear for a truck, 1:5.13 is REAL low end, while 1:3.73 is a nice middle of the road compromise and 1:3.56 is a great highway gear. if you have a manual it is most likely a New Process or Muncie 4 speed standard. Auto Trans is a 3 speed C-6, all are very rugged heavy transmissions. i would recommend that if you are going to be doing a lot of towing to install a transmission cooler on it (if it is an Auto Trans) all automatics have a Trans cooler integrated in the radiator, but a second mounted on the front of the radiator will keep your transmission cooler and running strong, heat kills transmissions.
your engine is a 300 CID in line 6 which is an excellent motor, it doesn't have a huge amount of horse power, if i remember right a mid 70 to early 80 inline 6 HP output is around 175 HP at 2500 RPM, but it also has a very high torque output, almost the same as the 351W V8 small block, with less RPM. good truck all around for mid weight towing range.
good luck with your new truck, i hope it works good for you