I can assure you that 10,000lbs is a fictitious number, pulled from a hat by some Ford engineers....who knows, that might actually be true, or they could have some random idea of what they 'think' it should be, given the weight of the vehicle, the suspension parts, the tires.... but, who really knows. No, the truck won't 'break' just because you tow 'too much' with it, at least we know not at 17,000lbs. : /