Gotcha. Thought you were going the other way, that people with 250s always go back to a 150.

Dont get me wrong, I still like my truck. It looks good, drives good and empty, it has good power (always want more).

Seriously considering some 4.10's for this truck, but since 95% of the time, it is just a weekend cruiser, I'll be spending money to burn more gas.

 

I just got a wonderful 11 mpg towing my boat to the lake, but I got a nice 14.75 on the return trip.

 

You guys talk about 4.10's, 3.55's. Is that the gear ratio you are speaking of? I just got my truck, and am a little disapointed at the MPG. Ford says 18 hwy 14 city. The 1st tank of gas was 13.4mpg, and mostly hwy. I did not baby it though. I have a 5.4L, 4.10 rear end, 163in wheel base, tow package, extra capacity package. Ford says I can tow 9300lbs. I don't know. This weekend I got a load if mulch, piled 3ft over the bed. Tarped it and drove home...I didn't even know it was there. The total wt was 8000lbs. I think they said 8200 was max. The truck didn't even squat. GREAT TRUCK.

Does the 4.10's give it better MPG?

--Rick

 

No. 4.10s are for pulling power, which will give you crappy highway mileage.

 

Not necessarily. Remember, an F250 or F350 PSD is much heavier than an F150. When you factor in the fact that most PSD superduties come with 3.73 or 4.11 gears, you aren't helping yourself much there. If you compared two F250s, one with a PSD, the other with a 5.4L gasser, then you'd be correct, but unless you're towing more than 5000lbs, you aren't going to see much difference between a F150 and a F250+ until you go up steep grades (with the PSD, of course).

Every one of my friends that I race with get about the same mileage as me, and since we're in the same class, we're towing about the same weight. Unloaded, most of them get upper teens, same as me. Loaded, most of them get 15-17mpg, about the same as me, maybe marginally better. We even tow together sometimes, so speed isn't a factor.

However, I am the only one who can make a u-turn on a residential street. Hell, most of them can barely make u-turns in cul-de-sacs and 2 lane (per side) roads. For a while, diesel was also more expensive than regular. Would I rather tow with an F250? Hell yeah, you can never have "too much" tow vehicle. You can, however, have too much daily driver/commuter. None of my friends daily drove their F250/F350s for more than a month before buying a commuter or motorcycle.

Coolest tow vehicle? My friend tows with a '78 Buick Estate wagon (AKA Hearse!) with a 440ci big block. Wouldn't want to actually tow with it, but cool nonetheless...

 

What are you towing? How much weight?

 

Everything in his sig, plus a car trailer. Not a lot of wind resistance, and probably 5000lbs total.

 

Given the same gearing/cab and 2wd/4wd configuration, a PSD will get better fuel economy than any 5.4L Ford puts in theirr trucks. Comparing a 2wd Scab w. small tires and 3.55 gear ratio to a 4wd F-250 Crew cab 4.11 offers no value. There ware too many conbinations of drivetrains and cab/bed lengths to comprehend a comparison. The 7.3L was even better on gas than the 6.0L, but the 6.o is still better than any gas engine offered for fuel economy. A coworker got 26mpg on 2-lane highways @65mph with his F250 Crew/8ft bed 4x4 7.3L w/ manual tranny for example.

Why would the turning radius of a Superduty be significantly more than the same bed/cab length F-150? I didn't find the specs @ Fordvehicles.com to verify.

If the OP already has a PSD, there is no fuel savings going to an F-150 5.4L of any cab configuration. He'll lose more in depreciation in selling/trading that trcuk in on a, F-150. THe guidelines of staying below 70mph for good 5.4L fuel economy applies to diesels as well. I stand by my statement. Given the same person driving the same way in the same conditions, a PSD will get better fuel economy than a 5.4L F-150. Both drive 80mph, they both get worse fuel economy than if they both drove at 70 or 60, but the PSd is always better.

 

My dad has a 2001 7.3 auto crew cab long bed with 4x4 and it rides great. We drive everyother year 2 hunt in colordo. We carry a trailer with coolers 4wheelers and a overthe cab camper and we get 19 mpg at 70mph. We never slow down even when we hit the Rockys.

 

I think Raoul has it right. It's usually the wind resistance that gets ya, not the weight. Until you start hitting some big hills. In a nutshell, If you want to tow 7,000 lbs with an f-150, you could probably tow it just as hard and fast as the PSD, but you might have to be ******* the crap out of the f-150. I pull a 1,000 gal water wagon, and my truck doesn't care about it. But I don't go 75mph with it either.

Do I really pull 8-9K with my f-150? Sometimes. It's according to which time of year it is. I mostly stay around the 15-18K range. Occasionally I pull something 25K+ But I'm not trying to win any speed races. Just getting my junk down the road....

 

Just picked this boat up this week, 2006 23' Centurion Enzo listed at 3500lbs + the trailer +46 gal fuel tank + gear. Pulled the grades at 65mph thanks to the Troyer 91 tow tune. Sure you could feel the weight back there but the truck felt solid.

Now to have a custom set of airbags installed for the 6" lift, sags just a bit.

 

i tow about 9500lbs everyweekend with mine, and it pulls it fine. of course you can tell its back there but it does pull nice. here is the link to a pic of it.

https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?num=11490