i bought it new.

it was my daily driver for 11 years and then became a work truck also in 2011.

as my daily driver it also pulled a 3600 lb boat 20 times a year...

now it pulls a 3000 lb trailer 5 days a week.

just a few months ago it became a full time work truck when i purchased another truck.

in 197K miles i have replaced an alternator, a rotor and A/C system. the heater is starting to act up a bit, but i think a flush will fix it.

anyway, i am quite proud of this little 6 cyl. its a tough truck and i hope i get another 100K out of it

 

That's awesome. Still looks great, too!

 

Great Service! Excellent Truck!

 

You do know that the max tow rating with the 5 speed is 2500#, right? You are very fortunate that you haven't had clutch and transmission issues.

 

thanks all

and no, glc, i did not know that. bumper is 500 lb tongue, 5000 lb gross. says so on it...

 

The bumper is only one factor - and you should not be using the bumper to tow that kind of load anyway, you really need a Class 3 receiver hitch to do the job right. I won't tow anything with the bumper except a small utility trailer for short distances at low speeds.

 

hmm, well that's interesting.

i wonder why ford says its okay and they post so on the bumper. you would think there would be liablity with such statements, huh?


thanks for your input glc, but my little truck is kicking *** pulling 3K lbs daily with no clutch or tranny issues.

 

The problem with the bumper is the ball is too close to the tailgate and too high. Too easy to damage things if you get into a tight spot and have to back it up at a sharp angle. Where do you attach the safety chains?

 

hmm, first it was not recommended because of my tranny and clutch.

now its the bumper height and angle.

look man, i got some towing package apparently. there are hooks under the hitch that are built in for safety chains.

the dealer stood there and personally told me it would pull my 3600 lb boat all day long. and it did !!!!

now it pulls 3000 lbs daily.

no issues

 

Just my two cents, not that it matters as your truck seems to be doing fine.

I know it seems confusing even though it states on the bumper that you have a 500lb tongue weight and 5000lb towing capacity, but it is the m5od that is the limiting factor.

My bumper says the same thing, but also says under that to check the owners manual as the numbers may be different for the specific truck. I have a frame mounted hitch, but don't really tow often or anything over 2000lbs.

Not trying to tell you to change anything, just trying to help possibly clear things up.

 

Just to be clear - you are towing with a ball mounted directly into the bumper right behind the license plate?

 

what is m5od?

 

yes, right where i was told it would do fine.

and it has, but only for 16 years

 

M5od is the manual transmission.

 

gotcha.

can someone point to a link pointing out the limitations of this tranny?

maybe i have abused it. if so, fords-rock !!!!

i've owned no less than 4 bad *** mustangs that tough too...

thus my screen name