Many of you know that we are on an excellent adventure to the Grand Canyon and then Lake Powell. We are towing our 25' SeaRay boat that weighs about 5000#, and driving 65 MPH completely w/o cruise. In fact, I am babying it to see how well it will do.

We started the trip with a full tank of ~89 octane gas. (I had 91 octane in it and when I topped it off for the trip I forgot and put 10 gallons of 87 in. My math say that works out to 89.9 octane, although I don't think octane works linearly.) We drove 312.2 miles and filled up with 31.143 gallons of 90 octane, which was the highest at the station. That gave an average of 10.025 MPG, although the LoM had been on 10.3 for many miles. I cleared that and we hit I-40 again and the LoM went to 12.0 and stayed there. We now have 100 miles on that tank and have stopped for the night. It will be interesting to see what the actual MPG is when we fill up tomorrow.

But I can tell you this thing tows like nothing I've ever driven. (I haven't driven a diesel pickup.). It has all the power I could want, and amazes me with how easily it handles hills - in 5th. I'm running in Tow/Haul and have 6th locked out because it just won't stay in 6th. It doesn't take much of a hill at all to make it downshift, so I gave up and locked it out. It is running about 2150 RPM at 65 and it has only gone to 4th about 3 times today, and that was on some fairly long, steep pulls - although we haven't hit the longest/steepest ones yet. I let it roll down the hills and have seen 70 several times w/o backing off the throttle, and I've seen 60 a few times when I didn't give it any throttle from 65. However, where it really wants to run is between 67 and 70, as I find it up there unless I watch it closely.

As for handling, it makes the tow a Sunday afternoon drive. I can't say enough about how well the truck handles the boat. It certainly doesn't need a weight-distributing hitch nor stiffer springs.

And the addition of the larger snap-on mirrors helps a bunch as I know how far people are behind me. That lets me decide when I want to pass w/o losing speed or having to accelerate rapidly.

Bottom line: I love it! More tomorrow as the trip progresses.

 

Awesome report Gary, glad to hear your truck is exceeding your expectations. These things really do an outstanding job when used within their capabilities.

 

The EB pulls great in the mountains. It's amazing. There were a lot of situations where I turn tow haul off so I can run in 6th gear.

 

Thanks, Tom.

xr7gt390 - Yes, the EB pulls extremely well in the mountains. We got a bit over 6,000' today and I couldn't tell a bit of difference in power.

As for MPG, yesterday afternoon and this morning's run of 293.6 miles used 27.198 gallons of 90 octane, for an average of 10.798 MPG. And yet the LoM was claiming 11.5 MPG. We filled up at McClean, TX at an elevation of 2861', and drove to Cline's Corners, NM with an elevation of 7057'.

At Cline's Corners we filled up with 91 octane and drove ~320 miles to Winslow, at 4850'. And, while we've not filled up yet, the LoM is sitting on 13.2 MPG!

Again, all of this was done w/o cruise and in Tow/Haul mode with 6th gear locked out. (I've been asked how I lock 6th out - I just push the +/- button on the gearshift on the "-" side and it takes "6" off the display on the dash, meaning it is not available to use.) However, I did have to take it out of Tow/Haul one time. We were descending a loooong downhill and the speed was inching up. So I took my foot completely off the throttle and the truck downshifted to 4th. So I went into Normal mode on the tranny and that let it shift into 6th and we got up to 75 MPG with no throttle. I had no idea Tow/Haul would regulate the speed that way if you don't hit the brakes, but it certainly did.

Also, we had three rather harsh downshifts from 5th to 4th. They were under power, but we also had several other downshifts that weren't abrupt. Is there a TSB on that?

Bottom Line: This thing rocks! It acts like it'll climb anything at any speed, and there's no muss and no fuss. It is very quiet, even in 5th, and rarely needs 4th to pull a hill. But, if it goes to 4th you'll need to lift the throttle a bit or the speed comes up several MPH. And, it does it with aplomb and very decent MPG.

 

Keep the updates coming Gary...since I haven't done anything cool with mine yet I enjoy reading about others. Love the detail.

 

Tom - You have to put this in perspective. Some time in Feb of 2015 we bought the boat we are towing now - a 2002 SeaRay 25' bow rider. We took possession in OKC, which is ~120 miles from home. So, we took Rusty down to get it. And, while he was quite capable of pulling the boat, it took lots of downshifting and the sound of a 4bbl ringing. Plus, there was the wind noise to be expected with a 34 year old truck.

 

I believe that Gary.

I've never driven anything with a 351, but I pulled 15,000 lb trailers with my '00 V10-powered Excursion and my '13 EcoBoost-powered F150. No comparison between the two, the EB combined with the 6R80 was a MUCH better towing experience. I imagine the difference would be even larger comparing with a smaller N/A engine than I was.

Hence my signature quote.

 

Yep. Yesterday we drove right back down the same highway we'd come up with Rusty and the boat about 18 months ago. Absolutely no comparison. Going from a built 5.8L to a stock 3.5L would suggest that the old adage of "there's no replacement for displacement" would be proven in spades. Quite the opposite. Turbo's indeed do replace displacement and give the benefit of being fairly oblivious to elevation - as today's experience proved.

No, the 3.5 EB with 3.55 gears doesn't get killer MPG when running light. But, I'll bet its MPG when running light far exceeds that of any NA gas engine that tows like it does - if such an engine exists. As far as I know there has never been an NA gas engine that has the guts to tow like this one does, much less shrugs off elevation changes.

 

Yes there is specifically one on the harsh downshift from 5 to 4.

 

That pretty much mirrors my experience. We've recently gone over a couple of high mountain passes (9,000' and 10,000'). Once in a NA 4L, and one in the 3.5L EB, and the difference was quite stark. The NA was really having trouble breathing at high altitude. The EB shrugged it off.

 

BP - Thanks. I'll have the TSB for shifting done as soon as we return.

As for the experience with elevation, I'm sold. This thing doesn't care how high it is. I saw 12 psi of boost today with moderate throttle at 7000', and I couldn't tell we weren't at sea level.

 

Is this the TSB: http://www.f150forum.com/attachments...sb-15-0142.pdf? If so that says at idle or coasting. Mine is under significant throttle when towing. In fact, it has been in T/H mode with 6th locked out and the boost showing at about 50% of the gauge.

 

That's the one. Key word in the description is "usually". I've had it happen on mine in several different situations, but always when down shifting from 5 to 4. Have not had mine fixed yet, but it's almost due for service.

 

This morning we left Winslow at 4850' and climbed to Flagstaff @ 6909', where we got gas. For the 376.6 miles from Clines Corners to Flag we used 31.611 gallons of 91 octane and got 11.914 MPG. And the LoM said we got 12.6 MPG, so apparently there's about a 0.7 MPG error on mine at about 12 MPG.

Then we pulled out of Flagstaff and climbed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is at 7452'. And the LoM says we got 12.8 MPG, although that will probably be more like 12.0 when we fill up in a few hundred more miles. But that's on 91 octane gas, and still in T/H & 5th gear. However, it did have to downshift to 4th a few times, but it did so smoothly.

Speaking of that, I emailed the shop manager at the dealership and he said that TSB doesn't apply since my harsh shifts were at speed with quite a bit of throttle. However, the TSB calls for installing the latest firmware, which he will do when we get back.

Anyway, this thing just keeps pulling. I am beyond pleased, and can't imagine towing w/o turbos, especially when going to any significant elevation.

 

Gary,

Really enjoying your trip! Keep us updated! Oh and pictures of the Grand Canyon are welcome. I've been wanting to make that trip myself for a couple of years, finding the time is the hard part.