I just sold my 93 ranger that I bought used in 99. I put a over50k on it for a total of 111k miles. I used it to pull an 18 ft 71 thunderbird boat with a 21ft heavy duty galvinized trailor that was't made for the boat so the tounge weight was extremely heavy because of the forward positioning of the boat on the trailor. The ranger pulled it no problem though. I am looking at buying an f150 extended cab truck. My question is does a tow package have a different gear and tranny configuration? My mech that does all my heavy maintenance says yes, my brother that is a motor head says no. I know jet engines but not auto engines? Who do I trust, my mech of course and I'll tell you why. When my tranny went out on my 91 mustang I took it to him. He had it a week but couldn't get reverse to work. Gave me the car back with all new parts in it and didn't charge a dime cause he couldn't get the reverse to work. He even showed me the old parts and explained to me everything. My second question is how much horsepower and gas mileage difference is there between the 2 V-8s Ford uses and would a V-6 be good enough to tow with and still get decent gas mileage when not towing. I got 22 mpg with the ranger, 11 when towing. Most of the reports I have found online show no significant difference between the V-8s.

Owner of a 91 Mustang LX 5.0 (first car I ever bought new)
Midnight Blue, running Mobile One synthetic oil, K & N air filter

191,000 miles. Total costs for maintenance other than tires and oil is just over $1000.
Fuel Pump at 96k miles 200 bucks
Tranny at 134K miles 650 bucks (what tranny shop charged to fix reverse) (Powerbraking in automatic not good)
A/C at 188K miles 240 bucks (milked it a long as I could)
Not having to walk - PRICELESS

 

Hi ScottW,

I don't have all the answers to your questions, but I may have some. I have a 2001 4.2L V6 with the tow package. The tranny is the same for all 4.2's. The rear in mine is 3.55. I'm not sure if it would be different without the tow package.

If you get the factory tow package the V6 comes with a heavier battery and alternator. The V8's also get a bigger radiator and transmission cooler.

I get 17/17.5 mpg in my V6 whether I am towing (small tent trailer) or not. When towing, I do notice a loss of power going up hill. My son in law has a V10 and he gets 13 mpg when towing and about 14 mpg otherwise. He has no noticeable loss of power going up hill.

When I was truck shopping I noticed that the mileage numbers for the V6 and the small V8 were about the same (1 mpg difference). If I was going to pull your boat and if I could afford it, I think I would buy the V8. You get the tranny cooler, radiator, a little more horsepower and more torque.

Good luck!