Hello All, I am new to the TT towing and have read a few threads on the towing limits you have posted and see that a 4.6 SC is not the best workhorse for towing. But will it be maxing out the limits and causing me to travel at 40mph on my trips? I usually travel 4 to 24 hours drive time. Here are the stats that i know. I have a 2003 SC with 130K miles on her. It has a 4.6 with a 3.55 and I have purchased a TT that has a dry weight of #4085 and GVWR of #5900, so I calculated the tongue weight on the 13% mentioned which would be #637. I have installed an adjustable hitch and an electric break controller. The truck shows a GVWR of #6350. Would you mind "weighing in" on the safety and towability of this combination? Will my truck be coughing?

 

What kind of towing do you do? Mountain towing or more flatland? Acceptable performance is generally in the eye of the driver. I think it will do it, but won't be overly impressive. If you tow mostly flatlands it may be just fine.

 

i have a 97 scab with the 4.6 and i hauled roughly that weight in squares on a flatbed and it squatted like a girl. Takeoffs and hills were not fun, and i didnt have a trailer brake... it did it, but reluctantly. I would do it again, but if your hauling all over get a bigger truck.

 

You will mostly likely hear many different opinions on this subject! Many will say a 4.6 should not tow anything! But the reality is that's its all about expectations.
I currently have a 2007 STX ext cab 4x4 with the 4.6, 3.55 greaing and the OEM tire size (255 70 17's). No mods other than I opened up the air intake to a full 3 inches through the fender, which only really has benefit at or close to WOT.
I tow a 23 ft Forest River Bunk house with equializer WD hitch that has a similar weight to yours. I figure around 5500-5600 loaded (at least). There is 5 of us in the Truck, and we don't pack light, the bed is full!
To me the truck does fine! It is what I expected, and its safe! lock out the OD, and let it rip! This is where expecatations, knowledge, and facts come into play! (Look at the torque curvers) It is a power house? No, but it does OK in developing a fair amount of its torgue and a fairly low RPM. Will a larger engine like the 5.4 (Ford) or 5.3 (Chevy) etc, be better at towing....YES!
To summarize, your 2003 is lighter than my 2007, but my 2007 has a bit more HP (230 in yours vs 248 in mine) and the torque curve also changed a bit, but basically equivelent in terms of real world towing power. the 4.6 is a very relieable little engine, and IMO more relieable that the comperable Chevy 4.8. As long as you have Stock tire size, and don't expect pull 75 mph going up long grades, it will be fine! Keep the OD button off when towing, and DON"T get bigger tires, as that lower your final gera ratio which is worse for towing!

 

You are just within towing limits of that truck. It won't be speedy but it will do the job.

2003 SuperCrew 4.6 4x2 = 6500#
2003 SuperCrew 4.6 4x4 = 6200#

Weight distribution hitch with antisway highly recommended.

 

id rather tow with a 4.2 than a 5.3 chevrolet..the 4.6 will probably out tow a 5.3 anyways

 

I would have to not agree with that. my dad pulls his 7200 lbs tt to the mountains with his 1500 5.3. i do think my 5.4 pulls alot better but his does alot better than my old 4.2 did

 

Well folks this is my first post to this site. Nice stuff here. I have a 2000 Ford f150 XLT 6 cyl. I just bought a Travel Trailer that I estimate will weigh loaded with gear at about 4000lbs. Will this truck pull it well. I live in east TN mountains and plan to go west, old man. Can you help me or do I need to move up in power. I want do not want to get bogged down when traveling and with 278K miles on my baby I need to know if I will tax it too much. Thanks.

 

It will pull it if you have an automatic transmission and 3.55 gears, but not very well, especially in the mountains. If you have a manual transmission or 3.08 gears, that's way over limits. Your limits with an auto and 3.55's are about 5000#, with a manual or 3.08's, about 2500#.

With 278k, it sounds like you are due for a new truck anyway!

 

This truck did pull the trailer just fine. We towed from Tx. to La. We had to take off the overdrive though. Did not like going up hills and definitely should have put on a sway bar. Stoped at the scales and the combined rig weight is 11250. The GCWR on the truck is 11500 so we were just under. I may need to get an equalizer hitch to even out the weight but i think that additional tounge weight would put me over the GCWR. Any suggestions on how to get better performance?

 

For sure get a weight distributing hitch. As for performance, depends how much money you want to spend. You can get lower gears like 4.10's or 4.56 which can get really spendy OR you could get a GOOD programmer like an sct xcal3 with a good tow tune

 

Okay, at the risk of being accused of doing duplicate posts, I will say that I just finished a short trip with my '03 5.4 to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina. It pulled my 5200 lb. trailer just fine, easily maintaining 60+mph on the flat, and 55-60 mph through the hills. There is one 5 mile stretch of 6% grade on I40 east where the speed dropped to about 53, but other than that, it was no problem.
While at the campsite, I did happen to talk with a man who was pulling a slightly smaller trailer with a 2005 4.6. He was not happy with its hill performance; he said it wouldn't go more than about 45 up many hills, and the long, steep grades were done at 35-40mph. We both have 3.73 rear axles.
So, I would say the 4.6 is probably okay for "flatland" towing of lighter travel trailers, but you have to be really patient in the hills.

 

The 4.6 has a lot less low end torque than the 5.4 and you have to keep it wound up to get any kind of power. If you have to tow heavy with a 4.6 you need to regear.

To the OP - think 4.56's.

 

I tow 6000lbs with my 02 F150 Screw 5.4 4x4 3.55 gears. 23' camper using weight dist. hitch w/sway bar. I do have the larger 285/70R17 tires. The wind restriction of my camper is what kills my truck. I shutout OD and can maintain 65 mph no problem. If I tuck in behind a semi I can drop into OD and cruise with little load on the motor doing 70 mph. My point is the wind restriction is the killer for me. If I pull my 16' car hauler with my compact tractor loaded it tows totally different even though they weight the same. Biggest towing improvment for me was adding air bags to the rear axle. This put the load back on the steering axle and made the truck sit level. Before it felt like the truck was pushing the steering axle when steering around tight corners.

 

I have a 2006 STX 4x4 extra cab. I tow a 18" flat bed with a Rock Crawler Samurai, weighs total around 4500, and a pop up cab over camper, weighs 15-1800. Electric brakes. No trouble towing on flats, can keep 50 in the mountains as long as I don't ahve to slow for a truck. Cruise at 65-70 no problem.