I have a 00 F150 5.4 Auto. 3.55. 265/70/17 - stay that way. Going across the montain to Mountain City, I was pulling a 4 wheeler that weighs 600 lbs and a 200 lb. trailer. 800 pounds. It felt like i was pulling a 24" deep V boat. Now I am considering changing to 4.10s. Biggest concern, gas mileage. I have searched but the answer seemed mixed...will it be at least the same? I had a big chevy fan with me, it was embarassing. Even on flat ground you could definately tell something was behind it. 3.55 should have never been put in these trucks. I have heard 3.55 to 3.73 isnt worth it and tat i should go to 4.10...just don't want gas to suck though...what do yall think?

 

I have to agree with you 100% My truck has 3.31 gears and I pulled my 21' ski boat for the first time. WHAT a let down. My old Sport Trac pulled it before and my wife noticed that it didn't pull any different. I've got 33"s and will deffinately go to 4.10's. Looking at a supercharger for it also.

 

4:10's would be better for towing but I would expect a decrease in mileage. ( unloaded anyways ) I have a 99 F150 4x4 with the 5.4 and 3:55's and I will say that my 00 Expy with the same gears and motor does tow better than the truck does. Plus it seems to downshift less than the truck does.

 

City should stay same if not slightly increase
Hwy should go down about 1mpg

 

I am the complete opposite. I tow a 2660 lb bass boat and hardly know its back there and get 14 mpg towing it. Guess I’m just lucky

 

You have a 7 year upgrade and also a 3v vs a 2v. Apples to oranges.

4:10 will help out. But, in all honesty, 800 lbs should not have hurt you at all. Strange, because, my 98 four six doesn't act that bad with a load of it's own weight PLUS the trailer. I am running 3:55 in it as well. It has a tow package though. Does yours have a tow package?

 

On my 02 I got the same size tires and gears.

Pulling 2 seadoos 500 pounds each, trailer at least 400 pounds and extra fuel and gear with 4 people in the truck and ac on you don't even know they are back there. Stays in overdrive with the cruse on and downshifts as needed when the hills come. She at 112K and still running strong.

I'd check for codes or maybe a tuneup might help cause with that light of a load on flat ground you shouldn't have any problems???

Maybe jack your trailer up and spin the tires to see if they are dragging or maybe a tranny issue.

 

I have a 99 with 33's and 355 gears and when I pull my snowmobiles that probably weigh less then 1500 trailer and all is does drag it down a bit over the mountain. I find its better if I shut off the OD. I'm thinking about gearing it down some if I can get the money this year. The stock tire height is only about 28 inches so putting 33's on it raised the gearing quite a bit. I figure 410's would put it back to stock and 456's would lower it a bit. The gas mileage actually should improve I think.

 

ehlersad, Well, you have a totally different truck then what a 2000 F150 is...

Big Blue, I have a '97 F150 and tow a #5000 TT and it does very well for my expectations... I also tow a small 4x8 utility trailer that will weigh in around #1000 when all loaded up. Totally different experiences between the two...

I've got 3.55 gears and LT265/75/16 tires, so they are basically the same height as yours.. I'm in 3rd gear pretty much all the time with the TT, but I can get into OD with the utility just as often as I do running empty. I barely know the utility is there for the most part..

On the bigger hills, I can't hold OD running empty, so I don't expect it to with an additional #1000 load dragging behind me.

What is your towing 'goal' as far as performance goes??

Is it that you can't hold OD all the time? Is it that you want to tow at 75 mph? Or go 75 mph up the big hills?

Going to 4.10's will help you most on the 0-60 on ramp times and if you do a lot of city towing (speeds below 40 mph).. But, once you are cruising on the hwy, you will either need to be able to hold OD for the speed you wish to go, or deal with about 350 rpms higher in 3rd..
Also, on the really big hills, unless you can hold 3rd where you would normally downshift into 2nd, you will be pulling around 500 more rpms.
IMO, you might have some kind of performance issue going on that's not letting the 5.4 get all of it's ponies to the ground. I've got 185,000 miles on my rig and it tows just as well now as it did when I got it with 62,000 miles on it..

But, I probably have different towing performance expectations then you do too... I feel just fine in 3rd gear, going 60-65 mph and pulling around 2300-2500 rpms.. I also feel just fine going into second up a 6% grade and going 50-55 mph pulling 3000-3500 rpms.. I don't have the pedal to the floor in either of these situations either.. Just a nice steady pace and that's all I think I need to do... Now, this is while towing the TT, so I would be concerned if I had to do this with my utility....

I don't think going to 4.10's in my case would benefit me at all.. I'd probably still have to downshift going up the 6% grades and I probably still won't be able to hold OD on the flats with the speeds I want to go..

Good luck and don't let a "Chevy guy" make you feel bad about driving a Ford.... It's his loss and he will never know what he's missing!!

Mitch

 

OD need be off when hauling. It is in the owners manual...

 

aw crap im closer to mitchf150 now!

OP: 4.10's will be great for you!

Tech-doc: yes to an extent, but for his case he's only hauling a few pounds. he will be ok as long as he dont let it slip/shift/lock/unlock.

 

NO, I agree with you 100%. That truck should be doing alot better than it is with that little bit of weight.

But, I was just stating that the OM states when hauling to turn off OD. It doesn't differentiate with what amount to draw the limit at.

 

Well, I dont do much interstate driving, and if I do I don't go over 75. I usually stay at 70 though. I do a ton of city driving and I really want 4.10's. How is the top end with them?

I got 75K and spark plugs might still be OEM, but I doubt if spark plugs are gonna make me notice 800 lbs or not. Like I said, on flat ground, you can barely tell it is there, but you can tell.

 

I noticed sero MPG change going from 3.31 to 4.10s. If there was a change one way or another, it wasn't significant enough to notice.

What do you mean by "top end"?
If you mean top speed, it will be higher with 4.10s because even this gear is too tall...you run out of power long before you even come close to redline.

If you mean highway passing power, again it will be better with 4.10s.

 

True.....Sorry didn't see that he had a 2000