my family has many ford trucks, i have a 92 my grandpa has a 79 and my unlce has a 97. i mainly want to compare the 92 and the 79 but decided to throw the 97 into the compariosion. all three trucks are f150s by the way. so i was wondering would a 92 be better than a 79? my grandpa and myself have somewhat heated arguments about this. i say mine has better materials and brakes, and can also tow more legally than his. he says his is better becuase it has a ford 9 inch and a 4 speed and a 400. my uncle says his is better becuase it is newer than the other ones yet it has torsion bar front suspension 3 leaf rear suspension and the 4.6 v8. so i was wondering what rig would be best for towing, here are the specs of each:

1979 ford f150, 4 speed manual, 400 v8 3.55 gears 4 leaf springs with load toters (makes it a basically slolid axle suspension after an inch of spring flex)

1992 ford f150, e40d (soon to have massive cooler) 300 big six 3.08 gears 4 leaf suspension with big ol factory overload (thicker springs than the 79 also)

1997 ford f150 auto trans (e40d?) 4.6 v8 3.08 gears 3 leaf suspension torsion bar front suspension (which i hate for towing)

those are the specs of all of them if you need any more info just ask, i am leaning towards the 92 not just becuase its mine but becuase it can legally tow more than the 79, has better brakes and stuff like that and even though it doesnt have load toters it dose have the overloads from the factory

 

Give me the 79 any day over the other two. Not even a fair comparison. The 79 will out pull out work & out 4wd the other two. It most likely won't get the worst gas mileage either.

Craig

 

I agree with Craig...and I'd trust the 79 over the other two for reliability based on my own experiences.

 

sorry guys its not so, 79 has 149,xxx miles, gets 10 mpg loaded 12 mpg unloaded and is on its second motor, the motor is also a smog motor and my 300 makes similar power levels ( i think, i saw it somewhere and will try to find it back for you guys) thanks for your opinions though. i would like to look at this strictly from a towing standpoint, not which one is better in general cuase obviously the 79 is cooler than the other two. i should add that i want to look at it from a LEGAL towing standpoint, meaning which one is rated to tow more and has better brakes, frame ect. also assume that the trailer is a 18 foot car hualer with brakes on both axles, tandem axle with 3500 pound axles carrying 4500 pounds (probably less but lets just say 4500 pounds to be safe) worth of my pulling tractor, and see if that changes anything. and a little fact for those who dont know, the 300 and 400 share the same bore and stroke, the 400 just has 2 extra cylinders and is in a v instead of inline thanks guys

 

I had a friend that had a 79 Bronco with a 400 & it wasn't fast but it had power & he & i took that Bronco into places I wondered if we would get out, & it never left us stranded. I had another friend with a 79 F250 4x4 400/4speed. Again that thing was a pulling work horse. This was back in the day when they were new. One time I got a 400 so hot it quit running. It just seized up. I broke a bottom radiator hose. Well I fixed that & after about an hour & half it turned over & fired. I got it home removed the thermo flushed it out, Pressure tested the system & it was good no broken heads or blown gaskets. I drove that 78 Mercury for another 4 months & a guy was dragging up out of the mining camp & he wanted it to get out. I never saw it again.
See if you have that luck with these newer motors.
"NEW ISN"T ALWAYS BETTER"

Craig

 

READ MY FIRST POST. I said the 400 will "OUT PULL".
I'm not going to argue with you I answered your question & gave an opinion like you ask. If you don't want opinions that don't agree with you then don't ask for them. Where you even born when the 79 Fords were new?

Craig

 

couldnt agree with you more, that is why i love my 300 and i love that i now drive a classic, sure it might not be as good or tow as much as the newer vehicles but i am confident mine will be around in 21 more years

 

hey calm down, wasnt tryin to sound like a ***** or anything so i am sorry if i came off that way, i didnt pick that up in your first post which is why i asked again and posted up my personal experience with the 400 to see if it was on par i wasnt trying to argue with anyone or anything like that and no i wasnt born when 79 fords were new which is why i ask how they stack up against a 300 for towing, i already knew they would outpull the 4.6 straight up which is why i didnt ask

 

Agreed. the 400 will out do the 300 all day long other than fuel milage and that is the NON O/D fault.

My buddys 79 with the 400/4speed and 3.55 gears gets 115mpg on the highway and will SMOKE any 300 truck. BTW it does have an intake and carb but that is it for power adders

 

I don't see you winning that argument.. your truck is legally only rated to tow a 2600lb trailer.. 3.08 gears is killing it.

The '97 4.6 is a chump with even less torque than the old 5.0 so it's dead last in this race, and I don't see you beating a 400 even if it's a smog motor.. there is no replacement for displacement.

Rear axles are a tossup, the 9" axle assembly from an old F150 is no stronger than an 8.8, and it's not the diff that is the weak point it the stock axles.

IMO the old ruck has the edge here, it's got the big motor, 3.55 gears, and a dump truck transmission... and it looks cooler than the newer truck.

 

5600 pounds, e40d 3.08 gears says it in the manual, again not trying to sound like a ***** yet realizing that i might be losing this discussion with my relatives.... ohh well at least he can pay for gas then. also would still love to hear more opinions

 

I had a 79 with the 400 and a 93 with the i6 , bought both trucks new , the 79 wins all categories hands down , the i6 is a good tractor motor but dosn't suit me , they just won't get out of there own way on the highway , traded the 93 for a new 95 with a 302 , and it was better than the 93 i6.....

 

Like everyone else has said, the 79 will yow better then the other two hands down. Heck, The transmission alone would make me pick the 79 to tow with. Add to that the lower gears AND 100 more cubic inches and its a no brainer.

 

Not to mention the 79 is 34 years old & the other two will be lucky to go that long. Yet the 79 will still be PULLING after the other two die.

Craig

 

Now make sure your grandpa reads this thread and posts his view of the posts , i think we would like to hear from him....