I'm not trying to start something but... I have done the same thing on various trucks and very few will shift out of 4wd under a load even if the light goes out and we all know how bad it is to run in 4wd on dry pavement....

 

That's true. The first one of these we did was in 2009, and my '08 had a manual T-case that I did the same thing with. If I remember right, I heard the tires scrubbing around that corner.



This entire exercise was hard on the truck though, and I've never heard of anyone breaking their 4WD components by using them on pavement. Not that it's a good idea, but none of us have had problems doing it. My F150's rear axle, on the other hand...

 

A twin turbo 5.0 in an aluminum bodied SD would be fine. (Ford does need to lighten the truck up some more though). Put it at 400 hp/ 650 lb-ft of torque.
The 30% fuel economy advantage of diesels is long gone. Now it's more like 15-20% and that's not even accounting for the added cost of DEF as well as higher maintenance costs. Also even though fuel has went down, diesel is still higher than gas in most areas.
I have had two ecoboosts and three diesels- all could do the job. If what you need to tow could be satisfied by the specs that I mentioned above and you didn't tow 10k miles a year, you would be way ahead with an ecoboost.

 

I dissagree about making them lighter. I was towing a 12000 lb mini excavator/trailer combo yesterday and the brakes didn't work on the trailer. My regular cab 08 weighs in around 6700# with me in it. The brakes were more then capable of stopping the load but on the first hard stop I had to make the trailer was pushing me making for a rather uncomfortable experience. I've been towing for a long time and have had brakes fail so this wasn't my first experience but it could have been bad. I also have 35x12.50 tires so that was 50" of tire fighting for traction. On a lighter truck with 245 or 265 tires I imagine that would have been a lot worse.

 

I probably didn't insinuate the sarcasm enough but I'm on the same page with the 4wd being capable of handling dry pavement to a reasonable amount. I know of several Super duties owned by local co-op's that have over well over 200k and over 70% of the Miles have been in 4x4 and never had anything other than maintenance items replaced

On the hill test, I personally wouldn't consider that exactly hard on the truck.... It's what they were designed to do and if that is hard on the truck it isn't something I want to own....

Did you have problems with the rear axle on your F150???? I missed that.

And just a suggestion for next years hill pull if it has a 3.5EB. What kind of EGT's are they seeing? I can't find anything yet on the 3.5EB but it's a problem for gas as well as diesels. I'm waiting inpatiently for the next event!... Still trying to justify an 11h+ drive to represent Iowa with a old 3v V10 farm truck but it sounds like a great time for the time spent.

 

Yep. I'm not sure it had to do with the OH meet, but axle issues are relatively uncommon. Truck developed a whine at certain speeds and had the ring and pinion replaced under warranty. Two weeks later it came back, and the truck was in the shop for about a month while the dealer checked everything over and finally discovered the pinion depth was wrong.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...yone-else.html


I really don't know, I've never seen or heard of an EcoBoost truck with a pyrometer. I know that the diesels didn't get pyrometers until 2007 when they were needed to monitor DPF regeneration. I'd imagine the stock tune is setup to be perfectly safe without the need to monitor EGTs, just like previous generation diesels.

If gas stays cheap that excuse comes even easier!

 

There should be a 3v 5.4 there to test as well. It's a long ride but if I could I would love to come out

 

NO excuses. I drove from Connecticut in '13.

 

Well If I can find a way to keep the travel trailer in my soon to be departure from marriage I will come lol. Or if I have the money at all hahaha

 

Your first stop should have been back to your shop to look at those brakes...

 

Agreed but unfortunately it was a rental and we needed it because of an emergency caused by all the rain. It was the only one around so I was very limited with options.

 

If I can make the run from MD, CT is not that far.

 

And you would have been put out of service by dot or anybody. That shouldn't have moved, period.

 

You are correct and I can't agree more but it happened and fortunately ended well. Back to the point though. A lighter truck regardless of tow rating would not have faired as well. And these crazy ratings of 30,000+ lbs of towing is down right dangerous. If the same truck was towing anywhere near that much weight and the trailer brakes gave out there is no possible way that load could have been stopped. Things like this need to be taken into account.

 

On the flip side, if a lighter truck is towing 30k lbs and the brakes on the truck go out, the trailer will have no trouble stopping the extra weight of the truck since it is lighter.

You can't have a contingency for every foreseeable problem, otherwise we'd never leave our front porch.