I'm trying to decide what truck to by. I have a 2001 f150 crewcab 5.4 v8 with only 77,000miles never towed a thing. Then I have a2004 f150 5.4 with 85000. And has Towed off and on it entire life. The question I have is which one and was there a big difference in the motor and tranny between the two trucks? I know the body still changed a lot. Help me out my Ford friends?

 

I purchased a 2005 F150 new and owned it for 4 years. While it was a nice truck, I never did find the interior very comfortable compared to the earlier version (1997-2003) of the F150. The armrests weren't at the right level and the seats were as hard as a brick. In addition I felt that the newer 5.4L engine wasn't as powerful and peppy as the older version, and I never did get used to the new body style.

I sold that truck after it started having sticking injector issues with a little over 30k and started looking for a low mileage 2003.

I found a nice 2003 FX4 Lariat with low miles recently and in my opinion it is a much better truck than the '05. I guess you have to drive both and decide which suits your tastes.

 

The 04 is supposed to have 40 more hp, but is heavier and they had cam phaser problems.
The 04 trans is a little stronger 4r70 vs 4r75
I like the 01 better myself.

 

newer engines have cam phaser problems, and spark plugs break off. but newer truck supposedly has more power. I like the older ones because less troublsome..................but eventually we all will get newer trucks....my present truck is a '01 F=150 lariet with a 5.4.

 

'04 5.4 is the first for that motor (new design) and as mentioned they had issues with the cam phasers and plugs getting stuck in the heads and breaking off when trying to change them. The '01 5.4 had issues with blowing spark plugs out of the heads due to having fewer threads. This was corrected in '03 by having more threads in the head.

 

lol, knock on wood, havent had that happen......

 

I have not had any issues with that on my '01 and I have almost 142K miles on it.

 

I was in a similar predicament a few years ago and went with the 03 SuperCrew 4x4 I have now. The main reason, besides being a bit cheaper, was that the 04 and up are quite a bit heavier than the 01-03 Crews. I don't like super heavy vehicles.
Also, it was easier to find a shorter wheelbase in the 01-03 crews, which I wanted, over the later trucks. I think (not 100% positive) the 04 and newer trucks came with 5.5' or 6.5' beds in the crew cab, while the earlier ones just had 5.5' beds. The longer bed would be better for a cab over camper.
The downside to the pre 04 trucks is the front suspension. It works just fine, but the 04 and up got normal springs and A-arm, and rack and pinion steering, while the 97-03 have torsion bars and old style worm gear steering box. I have not had any issues with the front end/steering, or the truck itself in the 3 years I've had it, but I would prefer the more modern front setup.
My truck also has the towing setup with 3.73 gears and limited slip. I've towed quite a bit with it, and hauled a fair amount, and it has performed just fine.