Tim - It was a Lariat Sport and the brochure says it should have "LT275/65R18C OWL all-terrain tires". Mine has Hankook 275/55R20 tires. TireRack says the Lariat's tires should be 32" in diameter, and my specific ones are 32.1" in diameter. So I wouldn't think the tires make a difference. Or, am I missing something - as usual?

 

With the Max Tow I assume you have the 3.73. Right? This was intended for Glue Guy.

 

Not sure I understand, but I have 3.55's and I think GG has 3.31's. And I think I'm in the same boat as Tim - my truck is fast, so what would 3.73's be like?

 

That's the same way I drive haha Wide open throttle is common place

Our sales truck is a 2013 Eco 3.31's and it's not any fun to drive. I've always been a fan of deeper gearing, i know it's not as much of an issue with the new transmissions but it's still noticeable.

Super happy with 3.73's and my 6.2

 

Yes. 3.31 and 4x4 and 3.5L EB. The truck does not lack for power at all. Controlling it in low RPM situations is the challenge. Sometimes it is nothing or all.

 

Right. I'm on the 3.31. No question our truck gets out of the way in a hurry. I get that big smile whenever I have to step on it for any reason (or no reason). If it had 3.55 or 3.73 I'm thinking the rear tires would be liquid rubber a lot of the time.

 

Not sure, but the max tow pkg for 2015 and up is a 3.55, 3.73 not available except maybe on max payload pkg. with either the 3.55 or 3.73, traction in 2 wheel drive is questionable, these trucks are quick for what they are.

 

BP - I found my 3.55's make the truck easier to drive than the Lariat's 3.31's. Instead of it needing to shift and not doing it until it does and boost also comes on, mine has the engine spinning faster and doesn't need to shift as often. And, when it does need more power it either shifts or the turbos come on faster. So instead of the nothing, nothing, nothing, and then wham, you get both barrels, mine does it much more gently. So my wife doesn't say very often "why did you do that?"

But, when I do want it to GO it does. Last Christmastime we had our son, his wife, and our granddaughter with us in STL. He was in the back seat giving directions, but got caught up in a conversation and was late to tell me I needed out of the fast lane to make an exit. There were a few other vehicles 'twixt us and the exit lane that was coming up pretty quickly, but we made it with room to spare. His comment was "I'd heard that these things can move, but I was beginning to doubt it. They sure can."

 

Same config here. Sport mode around town fixes the low RPM issue... it purposefully keeps things geared down a bit and higher RPMs. On the highway, drop out of sport mode (or set cruise) to drop into 6th gear and enjoy nice low RPMs/better MPG at high-speed cruise.

 

I don't notice it at all around town; only when coming up the mountain (which is pretty much daily for me). I've been using tow mode, and I get similar results in sport mode (although I haven't used sport mode much).

 

if ford only a manual tranns in a 1/2 ton ,, the world would be a better place. total tire diameter, width, weight and hardness of the compound have a huge effect on mpgs. but to those guys who like the higher 3.31 or 3.15 gear ratios. just remember your tranns is doing alot more shifting and or lugging in gear. which in gerneral means faster wear on internal tranns parts.. in the early 2000s the explorer had 3.27 3.55 and 3.73 and the ranger had 4.10 both with 4.0 55re tranns. at my dealership we always had 3.27 and 3.55 explorers in for tranns repairs. 3.73 ratios a lot less and hardly ever a ranger for tranns isssues.

 

Not at all "apples to apples", but back when I had my 2012 with the 3.5EB and the 3.31 gearing, I felt that they were a good combination for my useage. When towing, especially up hills, I probably needed to downshift one gear further than a 3.73 truck would have, but it was no drama or hassle. And since most of my driving had nothing heavier than my fat carcass to haul around, the 3.31 was excellent on the highway, and got what I considered to be very good mileage. Without a load, it rarely downshifted for minor hills.

For my next truck, I will take 3.55 or 3.31 if I'm buying off the lot. If I end up ordering, I actually think I'd buy 3.31, unless I end up with max tow, which would force my hand.

 

I believe the truck would shift more, but I haven't seen any evidence to indicate reduced transmission life as a result. If and when we see 6R80s blowing up, we may have some evidence to back this up, but at the moment failures seem quite rare.

 

I'm in the same boat. Ours has the 3.31 gears, and it seems to be fine for most "normal" driving, and we've had no issues when towing. It might be one gear lower when pulling a load, but that's about it. With the 10-speed in the 2017, I would think that the rear gear selection would be even less of an issue.

 

I had all of these thoughts while driving today. Would 3.31's be better since 5th would be slightly higher, so 5th would be a good towing gear. Might the gear ratios on the 10-speed make it even better for towing?

Anyway, we are home. I plan to fill up the truck in an hour or so and hope to update y'all with the finished spreadsheet later tonight. But, the LoM is sitting on 12.0, meaning we might have gotten 11.3 MPG for the last leg. And, since we filled up in essentially the same place on the way down, we can compare the assumed 11.3 to the actual 10.0 MPG.

We're there some differences? Yes. On the way down I ran 65 average but let it slack off to 60 uphill and run to 70 downhill. On the way back I brought the turbos in hard to keep it at or above 65 MPH. And the boat weighs about 250 lbs more since the fuel tank has 40 more gallons in it now. And today we had a serious crosswind that we didn't have going down. In other words, the leg back should have worse MPG than the one down.

So, why the 1.3 MPG diff? Octane. If I remember correctly, I think we probably had 89 octane gas in on the way down, and we had 91 octane on the way back.

Oh yes, about two miles from home we have to cross a highway. As I started out a guy came over the hill so I got on the throttle a bit - and lit the rear tires. And that was just a "bit" of extra throttle - I had a lot left.