Looking for some info, I have a 2016 Ford 250 6.2 Gas with 3.73 gears, I be towing a 5th wheel trailer @ 11,800 lbs dry which will be right at its limits or just over. the Ford towing guide says if I had 4.30 gears it would increase the trucks towing capacity.
Any idea what it would cost to change gears and would it be worth it??

Thanks

 

My 5er toy hauler is about 1000 lb heavier than yours(just under 13000 dry), now you have to factor in all the added stuff/water/gear, etc you are going to load into the trailer and suddenly you are quite heavy. And, like you, I started towing with a 6.2/3.73 geared F250. Around the mild hills of western ND and eastern MT and local trips I was fine............BUT!!!!!!(Don't we love that word?) Then I headed out for Arizona, over mountain passes, bucking western winds, etc. and I came to a very quick decision that I did NOT have enough truck for this task! Now own an F350 dually with the 6.7L power stroke! Now, as to the cost of gear changes, that can vary quite a bit from one locale to another. Your best bet is to research your area. Also, you might want to pull your 5er around where you intend to do your towing.......you might be like me........thinkl you just need more truck rather than spend the money re-gearing and still not have enough truck.

 

My suggestion here is to try it first and see how you feel about it. The posts on the difference between the 3.73 and 4.30 has been going on forever both here and in the 6.2 forum.

Did you get the wrong truck? That really depends on how much towing at elevation, your own sense of what is adequate, and so on. For me towing in the Southeastern U.S. I have zero problem with 3.73, but I also took our slide-in camper out West all summer and if that were my regular camping environment, I would jump to diesel and bypass 4.30. But again, this is a personal decision and I know others will disagree.

In my opinion, the first question to ask yourself in making this decision is how often you will be towing at elevation. At least that is the first thing I would consider.

Steve

 

truck control with trailer
trailer control with truck

and is your trailer really 11,800 pounds.. or are you just reading the label on trailer..

my trailer has 2 tags that say 7,500 pounds. but empty my trailer is 8,300... so loaded up for 2 old people. its over 9,200 pounds. without Water ( Fresh,gray,black )

some members have posted a charge of $1,500 per axle.
but as stated.. get quotes from your area...

If I was going out West mountains .. I would want 4:30 behind my 6.2L with my trailer..

but that's me.

also what is your PIN weight ? ... number of people.. what is your Carry capacity of your F 250??? not just Tow !!

 

As many others have said on the forums, check your actual weight on a scale. We were unpleasantly surprised to find our used fiver to be heavier than the sticker showed even though the previous owner said the sticker was within a few pounds of actual. It is all good and the 6.2 hauls it fine-- but slower over the mountains out here in the west. We did upsize to 4.30 gears and are much happier.

As a side note, the noise at 4k + rpm was rather annoying, sounding like sick cats in a tin can. After much reading, and changing our intake to no avail-- it came down to backflow problems. I have used Flowmaster mufflers on many trucks but this one seems to not work with our 6.2. Just changed it out to a Magnaflow and the crazy cat noise is gone. Looking forward to our next hard pull to see if it improves the power curve...
As many have said, it depends on your skill, comfort level, and the mountains.

 

As an addendum to my previous post, one thing I learned real fast also. When matching truck and trailer, do NOT go by the listed nor the actual EMPTY weights of the trailer. Go by the listed GVW rating of the trailer and the maximum pin weight. Then match the truck up to those capacities and it will be a much more relaxing pull!!!
And another thing I noticed when I had the SRW was highly accelerated tire wear when pulling the 5er. Just watching them wear down, I estimated the Conti's that were on the rig would only make about 10,000 miles towing the rig. When I bought the 5er, the tires were about 1/3 to 1/2 worn. After a 3000-3500 mile trip up and down the Rocky Mountain statesthey were about gone when I got home. Just information FYI to give all a heads up.

 

Humph, To answer the Question you asked, I have the 6.2 and just had the gears changed from the 3.73 to the 4.30, I tow a 15000 pound toy hauler and I feel it made a big difference, I definitely notice a difference starting from a stop and on the Expressway, though I still lock out sixth gear. As for cost I am in the Detroit Metro area and I paid $1900 for both axles plus $200 the buy a programmer to recalibrate the speedo and make it shift properly.

 

This. I've been researching 5ers for a while. The consensus in the towing community is estimate your max pin weight at 22% to 25% of GVWR of the RV . This gives your a good total load-out to work around.

 

The gears will make a big difference. I have run both 3.73 and 4.30. Depending on the regularity of your towing the 12k+ would be the concern. If you are frequently traveling with that weight I would lean diesel. For short distance like I do or less frequent towing the 4.30's would be great. My dealer quoted me $2800 on my 2016 to swap to 4.30's.