Well, I just anted up and finally bought my first nice vehicle ever(besides the mustang), a '97 F-150. Before my questions, this is what it's got:

Short box, no extended cab
2WD
4.6 SOHC V-8
Auto Tranny
It's an XLT, Lariat package, doesn't have the off-road pkg.
I absolutely LOVE this truck. It's so nice!! It's only got 55K on it so it should last me quite a while(or until I step up to a superduty with a powerstroke)

Now, I'm planning to tow the mustang with this thing. My mustang weighs 3100 pounds, and I have an 18' flat-bed trailer. with electric brakes. The trailer weighs 2,010 pounds. I will be getting an electric brake controller along with a 7-pin brake/lighting plug in the rear. The truck already has a hitch on it that is capable of this kind of a load.

1) Pulling power. I plan to put a cold air intake and cat-back exhaust on this truck, and that's it. Any suggestions on brands/types? Links to pics of them mabye? I don't know much about these trucks, are there any other simple mods for more power? A friend of mine hauls his 4000 pound torino with a 24' enclosed trailer with another 500-600 pounds of crap in the trailer. His truck is just like mine, except it's an extended cab and it's got the 5.4. Otherwise it's identical to mine. I figure if he can pull that kind of a load with the 5.4, I should be able to pull this with the 4.6, right?

2) Tranny durability. I know it's a no-no to pull in OD, and I won't do it, even at the sacrifice of gas mileage. Any suggestions? I should probably change the fluid every so often right? Anyone know if this thing's got a tranny cooler on it? If not, I'm gonna put one on. Where would you guys suggest I get one if I need it?

3) Rear suspension. I am going to buy a load-distributing hitch for the trailer but I'm still going to beef up the rear suspension to carry the weight. Should I go with airbags or helper springs? I'm leaning towards airbags because I can deflate them when not carrying a load and the ride quality won't be affected(this thing rides like a caddy compared to anything I own/have ever owned before!).

4) Any other suggestions, tips etc would be helpful.

 

what rear end do you have?

 

Welcome to the board. Iam glad you decided to join us.

aka 96BlackGT on the corral

 

I'm not quite sure what gears the truck has - I'll need to get under it and get the code off the axle tag I guess.

 

Welcome to the boards, man. Your best bet would be obviously to go with what would make the best power. In the case of these trucks, the intake to buy would be the AirRaid. It nets a solid gain of 18 hp. As for exhaust, I'd go with a high-flow glasspack or a good # Flowmaster (70 series is what I would reccomend). Hop over to the computer forums before you decide to drop the money on these and talk to Mike Troyer about a superchip. This might get you the power you want in a different package. Just something to think about.

Since you've got the 4.6L, you've got the new version of the older AOD tranny, the 4R70W. It's a good solid transmission; many of the newer 5.4L come with it behind. With 55K on your truck, I'd go ahead and have it's guts changed (fluid & filter).

The suspension can be upgraded fairly easily with some helper springs. Last I checked, JCWhitney.com had some for Leaf spring vehicles that only worked when loaded and were unnoticable when unladen. I'd save the $$ on the airbag system and go with the springs, then dump the $$ saved into the Mustang

As far as rear axle goes, you've got the 8.8" and most likely have 3.55 gears. You can find the gear ratio on the door post sticker or on the axle tag.

Hope this helps ya some.
-Flea

 

Welcome to the forums fiveoboy,

First I want to say congrats on the truck. Sounds like your excited. That's cool. I have the 1997 Lariate too...and I love mine. I bought it new and have it about paid off. I think you'll find this sight has a great bunch of folks. I can't tell you how much I have learned here.
Maybe I can help answer a couple of your questions. Fleas already told you how to find what rear end you have. For the 1997 year the 3.08 rear end is what came standard in the Lariate package. I had to pay extra to get the 3.55 LS rear end, so don't feel bad if ya have the 3.08.
I noticed you mentioned you did not have the towing package...there is one item that you may want to think about adding to help you with the towing. A transmision cooler. I am not sure which one is best or where to get the best price, but it sure will help extend the life of your tranny if you plan on towing alot. One other item I'll bring up is the radiator. This one I have not confirmed, but I was told by another forum member here(Texford) that the towing package gets you a thicker radiator. You may want to do some research on this also.
One other thing I will caution you on is the cat back Mod. you are wanting to do. When you are looking at exhaust systems...remember....they are all bragging about mid range gains. On the low end RPM's they all loose torque. Some are not as much as others. This affects folks that want to tow more than those that don't.


Enjoy Your New Ride(new to you),

Rocks

 

Thanks for the friendly welcome, guys.

The truck DOES have 3.55s - I checked the code on the doorjamb.

Does anyone know who makes a good bolt-in tranny cooler? Name of a company or something? I looked at my friend's '98 5.4/offroad pkg., his tranny cooler is the stacked fin type, I'm wondering if the style that looks like a small A/C condenser would work better. I know about zero about auto trannies(but I've had the tranny in and out of my mustang about 10 times, but it's a stick). Are they pretty easy to install?

Would a catback exhaust really hurt low-end torque that much? I was under the impression it barely made a difference; changing to aftermarket, bigger headers is what kills it the most. Or mabye I'm wrong on that.

 

Hey fiveoboy,

All catback systems drop low torque to some extent. When folks post that they did not loose low end torque, they are always talking "seat of the pants", which is not going to be a real number. If a person where to put the truck on a dyno before the cat back and then after, the dyno would tell them what they do not want to hear. You get it back after about 2000-3000 RPM's(depends on which brand). In my research, I have found out that Flomaster gives the worst torque loss, my Gibson comes next and Magnaflow gives the least amount of low end loss.
Now I am ready for the flames, nobody likes to think they lost anything...LOL.
The instant anyone uses the word "backpressure" or refers to pressure in the exhaust, you can rest assured you are not talking to the right person. It is more about flow design and velocity.

I'll give you a helpful suggestion. If you go over to the superchip thread and post this or some other question to super_chips, you will get some very good advice.

By the by. You are well within your limits to tow that 3800 pound mustange. The helper springs will also improve the tow.
I have towed a 16 foot trailer with 5000 pounds of corn and other crap to our deer lease at least 2 times each year since I bought mine and my configuration has a lower towing capacity than your config. I have a longbed/supercab, same rear end and motor.

Rocks

 

Regular Cab F150

4.6L 3.55 auto overdrive max GCWR =11,500 LBS MAX TRAILER WEIGHT=7200 LBS

SAME AS ABOVE BUT WITH SUPER CAB GCWR =10,000 LBS MAX TRAILER WEIGHT=5,500 LBS


Hope this helps. Let me know if you need some other spec.
Ohh, I almost forgot to add this, turn off OD while towing

Rocks

 

So my max COMBINATION weight would be 11,500 right, leaving me with 7,200 pounds for the trailer/car(car & trailer together weigh just about 5,000 #) - if I'm reading this right then I'm well under the max gross weight...

So anyone have a suggestion for a tranny cooler? If not, I'll just do a search - I'm sure I can find something.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

As far as the fans go, I'd try either Mike T. in the computer chips section, or B&M (www.bmracing.com). If you're going to get a cooler, you may as well get a fan cooled unit and have the extra benefit of that cooling.

As far as exhaust is concerned, Rocks is right. All cat-back exhausts do lose some low-end torque. Some may be only 2-3 ft-lbs while others could be as much as 10-12. I had the Flowmaster 40 series (pretty mellow), and my low end dropped slightly, but not too much under load. Then again, I've got the 5.4L. Personally, if you don't mind the sound (some people don't like 'em), a glasspack has good torque retention at low engine speed, and it really screams up high.

As far as headers are concerned, headers with tube diameters (individual) of 1.5" or less work better for low end torque. When you get into above 1.5", it's really tuned more for high-end horsepower than torque.

Hope this will help you

-Flea