Hey Y'all!

I must say this is the last place I thought I would ever find myself, a new member of the Ford Truck Enthusiasts site. I have been a dye in the wool Chevy fan since I was born. I came home from the hospital in my dad's Orange 1965 C/10 longbed, my dad made his living driving a Chevy C/65 tandem Dump Truck and had his fun in a 1965 and later a 1967 Chevelle SS convertable. I work for a large dealer group who has 7 GM stores of which 2 are Chevy. My first Chevy truck was a 2000 Silverado Ext. Cab 5.3L Z-71 whose lease ended in January. This Silverado was my daily driver. It would tow my 1999 Jeep Wrangler to Jeep Jamborees and other trailrides throughout the summer, a job it did wonderfully. It would simply out pull my buddy's 2000 F-150 SC with the 5.4L. I could out pull him on hills and from a stop, and he was towing a Suzuki Samauri. I would not even consider another brand...Until last weekend.

My Jeep is highly modified and very uncomfortable on long trips. I had rented a 2004 F-150 XLT SC 4.6L with about 1200 miles on it for a road trip to Somerset KY to visit my best friend. My best friend's father is a retired GM employee so he is an even more rabid Chevy fan. I pulled into his driveway in this Beautiful Big Black Ford and he was not very happy. His first words were "get that Ford POS off my driveway!" Little did he know that I had been converted in the 250 miles of highway I had just driven. I said before you make me park it in the street, lets go for a ride. I tossed him the keys, he climbed in. "Holy Crap, this thing is huge and the seat cloth is great!" he said, "I love the dash and instruments". We pulled out onto the main road and he noticed it was a bit gutless, "feels like your Silverado when towing your Jeep". But I explained the engine was the 4.6L, was very green and probably had the 3.55 gears. We cruised around for about 30 minutes over the twisty, bumpy and hilly roads surrounding Somerset Ky and the Lake Cumberland area and the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart Super Center. We pulled back into the drive of his house and he parked it behind his 200,000 mile 1995 Chevy SportSide 350. We critiqued the styling and pointed out what nice lines the Ford has, how well it drove, how quiet the cab is and what a great truck Ford had come up with. As we talked that night over Sonny's Bar-B-Q, we lamented the fact that the new Chevy is BUTT-UGLY and somewhat crude compared to this new Ford. I think we both have been converted to the FORD SIDE!

Our conversation kept coming around to the fact that in all of the comparisons we have read or heard about, the Ford seems to always be the slowest. Finishing behind the Dodge Hemi, the Titan and in some cases the Silverado 5.3L. And our time in the rental F-150 seems to confirm this.

I have decided my next truck will be a F-150 FX4 SC in Red, Black or Silver. My questions are: Will the 3V 5.4L loosen up and get stronger with age? Can I get 4.10 gears in the 2004 FX4? Has anyone had any experience towing a 5800-6000 pound trailer with their 04 F-150?

I know a diesel would be the best tow rig. I want a quieter, more comfortable and less expensive truck. Towing 6-8 times a year for 75-200 miles a trip does not warrant a diesel's expense or a 3/4 ton's ride harshness in my book.

Thanks for your responses and please be kind to this soon to be Ford newbie!
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Welcome to the blue oval family! I do not believe you can get 4.10s, and the 5.4. I believe they are either 3.55, or 3.73 (both can be optioned with limited slip I believe). Yess, the 5.4 should get stronger with age. I know mine (01) did after 3k miles or so. I hope your new F150 is as good as your tester.


Rich

 

You can in at least the Super Duty trucks, I don't know about the F150.

 

4.10's are available with the Heavy Duty towing package, which means you have to get a longbox. Maybe different for '05, but not sure.

 

I hope they get stronger. I am thinking about buying a 2005. I went in and priced them to see about getting one. I decided to wait until 2005. I currently have a 2000 F150 XLT 5.4L 4X2. Today I just raced a coworker's 2004 F150 fx4 3.73 5.4L. He just got it about a month ago. Another coworker just bought a GMC 4X4 NON Z71 SMALL V8. The coworker with the Fx4 f150 had been bugging us (The gmc guy and me to race him for about two weeks now. I had been reluctant because it had been raining and I do not have limited slip or 4x4. The GMC guy is reluctant because he has a small v8. I had also been reluctant because we all agreed that the 2004 , even though has a weight increase over My 2000 should have no real problem beating me. I am happy to say but sorry for him because I know he just bought a 33,000 truck, that I had beat him not once but twice from a stand still. It was not even close. He got a jump on me because I have original tires fairly slick 63,000 miles on them and i did spin for a good bit before i overtook him. He had about half a length until about 20 miles an hour after that I smoked him just as if he had a 4cylinder. It was bad Like I said I beat him twice. There was no comparison. My 2000 xlt supercab 4x2 5.4l fully stock in every way smoked him bad. I am curios now to see if the GMC SMALL V8 will be close.

 

I'm not surprised, being 4x4 and a heavier pickup in general gives the 04 a major disadvantage, even with the more powerful engine. On a 4x4, even in 2wd mode, power has to go through the transfer case which soaks up some of the power. In most comparisons I've seen, similarly equipped 04's are just as fast as similarly equiped 03's. There have also been reports of poor throttle response and a reflash to fix it.

 

How about Superchips or Banks or somebody begins offering computer programs for all of our trucks? They can make it perform AND last as opposed to crappy Ford reflashing.

Don't new Ford's (97+) all pretty much have automatic hubs up front? Another source of drag.

You might as well be in 4WD when you run, give you that better traction. It's adding weight and power is turning in the wheels anyways, put em to use. PSD trucks run .1 better in the quarter with 4WD on. There have been a few people who have confirmed this.

All engines get stronger with age. I've driven my friend's 4x4 4.6 and it didn't feel gutless. His was a SC SB automatic though...so it wasn't carrying around much in the way of weight. His dual exhaust was LOUD and made you want to hammer it all the time. I didn't cause it wasn't my truck, but when I did get on it the thing would romp quite nicely. You'll always be happy with the Ford truck. The engines might not be quite up to par with what others offer, but they're not exactly far behind either.

The 5.3 doesn't hold any competition to the 5.4 - thi as well has been confirmed by every test done in the magazines. The 5.3 is more a contender with the 4.6 then the 5.4. The only way a 5.3 truck could beat a 5.4 is if the 5.4 was a HD CC LB Automatic 3.55 and the 5.3 was a SC SB Manual 4.10.