Good Morning FTE's,
New user from the West coast of New England. Not new to Fords – have a ’40 Deluxe Wagon and have had prior stick-shift 150’s and 250’s. But most recently switching over from a chevy. Hmmm – come to think of it, this will be my first Ford auto tranny…any good?
Just ordered a 6.2L DRW F350 Lariat 4x4 CC w/4.30 axle and have a few days to tweak the order. Truck will be used to haul a 5,000# (wet) slide in camper and tow a 5,000# boat/trailer but rarely together.
So the question keeping me up at night is can that engine hold 6th gear at 65mph through the flats and light terrain with the wind resistance of a hard side, single slide camper if I switch to a 3.73 axle? I would love to cruise at the lower RPM’s but not if the truck is shifting back and forth. It seams like my intended use is pretty light for this truck and it should be able to oblige.
Would love to get the feedback from any 6.2 DRW Truck Campers on their experience with the different axles, effect of camper wind resistance and long haul mpg.

 

Another reason I'm considering going with the 3.73 is because Ford made it the standard gearing in this truck and gave it more capacity than I will be using. One would presume their engineers know a thing or two about matching rear ends ( , )

 

Personally I would stay with the 4:30, when I had my 6.2 I had more of an issue with rolling hills, long slow inclines such as I40 westbound up the Colorado plateau, and strong head winds, rather than outright mountain/ hill climbs. But I was towing a mid profile 7,000lb cougar 28sgs fifth wheel.

 

Our truck is an F350 SRW 4x2 6.2 with the 3.73 axle and small A/S tires on 18” wheels. We just returned from a trip towing an ~6K trailer that was 8 ft wide and >11 ft tall (overall). The truck could hold 6th @ 65 mph on level ground with zero wind or with a tail wind. But, it generally ran better in 5th. We had no problem running in 4th and 5th gears up the Tijeras Grade (~7K ft elevation at the top) on I40 eastbound out of Albuquerque.

Ford’s towing specs are based on trailers with max 8'x8' frontal areas, IIRC. I found aero drag to be more of a challenge than weight. I also typically used 89 AKI fuel while towing.

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

 

I think a 3.73 would get the job done, but personally I would go for the 4.30 axle. It seems the trade-off in fuel economy is pretty small.

Your question regarding Ford auto transmissions: yes, they are good. The 6R140 you will be getting has been out since 2011 and has an excellent reputation.

 

I have a '17 CCLB 4x4 6.2 3.73 and carry a Northern Lite 9.6. The truck cruises on the flat in 6th, but it kicks down to 5th with any acceleration or incline. The 4.30 is equivalent to 1/2 gear. I bought my truck off a lot, and settled for the 3.73. To order one, I'd buy the 4.30 unless I was predominantly running empty or at speeds over 70.

 

Does 89 make a measurable or noticeable difference?

 

remember the DRW tires will be shorter than the typical SRW truck that your comparing too, not many DRW 6.2 trucks out there

 

While I don't have a DRW truck, I can tell you that my camper reduces mileage by 3-4 MPG. With a 3.73 rear, I don't bother with sixth, I lock it out because it will shift at the slightest hint of a hill.
Last month I went to Utah (from California) and avg mpg was 9.2.
Sixth gear difference between the 2 rear end ratios is 250 rpm, and the fifth - sixth difference for 3.73 is 450 rpm.
I would think, for your weight, you should get the lower gears.

 

I didn't try towing using 87 AKI, so I don't have a good answer. This was our first towing trip and Big Bend National Park is rather remote, so I used a higher AKI fuel to hopefully avoid any performance issues.

The only difference I noticed was after I picked up the rental trailer and switched from 87 to 89 AKI fuel, I could swear that my seat-of-the-pants-o-meter registered a smoother idle.

Towing mileage varied considerably. I saw ~8 mpg towing west on I40 and/or US90 in Texas, which is generally uphill and (for me) typically into a headwind. I saw 11 mpg in central NM from Alamogordo to Albuquerque via the north side of the Trinity Site. 2300 miles of towing the trailer from near sea-level (Houston area) through Austin, Big Bend, El Paso, and Albuquerque via many ups-and-downs to ~7K feet max (Clines Corner, NM) and then back to sea-level yielded ~9.7 mpg average.






I will say that I was very happy with the truck's performance towing the trailer (~13K lbs. combo) up the Tijeras Grade on I40 east out of Albuquerque. 60-65 mph up the hill in light morning traffic using 4th- and 5th gears was very relaxed.

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

 

I cant recall anyone here that regrets's their choice in 4:30's. Myself, given your circumstances, there's no way I'd go with 3:73's.

 

Yup. 4.30's for sure.
My V10 trucks also had this gearing. Never regretted having the 4.30's.

 

Mine almost exclusively hauls the 9.5 foot camper and tows our boat.
Get the 4.30 gears.
Timbren overloads are a great and easy bolt on for the rear suspension to.

 

Yep, that matches what my truck does with my camper. Frontal area of truck with the truck camper is pretty big.

9-ish mpg is generally what I get, and I've learned to lock out 6th.

Works just fine. And, it has way more payload than a diesel engined truck.

 

Well it sounds like the 4.30 rear end is the way to go - thanks for all the input. My order lock's in tomorrow.

I'm wondering if there's any value in my having it prepped for a 5th wheel if I don't plan on using it. It's not a big cost and might help resale. But will the plugged bed attachment plugs interfere with a slide in camper? Also question getting the camper/plow prep or maybe even just the plow prep instead of the camper pkg - doesn't look like the camper package provides more than a $160 piece of paper in the glove box for drw trucks. But someone suggested the attitude of the truck may be high in the front with the a camper on the rear if I prep it for a plow with heavier springs up front?

Any thoughts on the carpet delete option. I've always have base trucks with vinyl floor and didn't know if the carpet makes the cab quieter? Looks like there are some decent aftermarket mats available that will go with either.