I'm looking to purchase a new truck. Current is 2002 Ford f150 Supercrew 5.4 with 3.55. It struggles pulling my 27' TT up hills, ie 421 heading into Boone.

I was looking for a 2011-2015 to get the 5.0L engine. I have heard the v6 ecoboost turbo is good, but can also be expensive to replace down the road.

So, I have seen lots of trucks, but the axels are all over the place, H9- Limited 3.55, L9 Locking 3.55 and L6 locking 3.73.

The new 5.0 has 360 HP compared to my 5.4 which was 280 when new.

Will the HP be enough, or should is a 3.55 axel enough to pull up the steeper hills.

TT is 2006 Jayco Jayflight 5400lb Dry..so with all gear, tanks, fuel, I'm sure I'm reaching 6600 when heading on vacation.

 

I had a 2007 F150 with the 5.4 to pull my 26' Rockwood- it hit the scales loaded for camping at 6800 lbs. It was not nearly enough truck on hills. I traded it on a 2013 F150 with the Eco and 3.55 with electric lock. It was a night and day difference in pulling power. Remember, you'll be getting more gears in the newer truck regardless of Eco or 5.0. I had 163,000 trouble free miles when I traded the 2013 on a 2017 F250. I got the Superduty for several reasons:

• The F150 was a little light when towing in wind or having semis pass.
• I was 400-500 pounds over capacity depending on rear axle or total load.
• I hope to retire soon, and plan some longer camping trips where more cargo capacity will be needed.
• What made the final determination, I slid under the back of the truck to inspect welds before a towing trip, and found the truck receiver was starting to split out from the front about halfway to the rear of the receiver box. I had it welded up to do the short trip, but we had a longer trip planned, and that spooked me.

The F250 doesn't have any more noticeable towing power (maybe less than the Eco), but is a noticeably more stable tow than the F150. Plus my cargo sticker is now north of 3,000 lbs instead of less than 1,500.
Edited to add new truck is 6.2 gasser.

 

Either gear ratio is probably fine. Focus more in condition and cost.

 

If I were buying a 5.0, I would get the 3.73. Much like the 6.2 in the f250, it likes to rev. If you pull any thing remotely heavy, especially a travel trailer with lots of wind resistance, you will find yourself locking out gears on the interstate. Not that it is a big deal, but a lower gear will help eliminate some of that. The ecoboost on the other hand makes a lot of low end power, and I wouldn’t worry so much about the high gear. But that 5.0 sure does sound good and run good on the interstate when empty.

 

Coming from 2011 F150 5.0 3.55 s/crew myself I can provide at least some insight.
Looking at your post I’m laughing a bit. Traded my 02 F150 5.4L to the 2011 with 5.0L. Easy difference in that year from 265hp to 365hp. I too pulled a TT 27ft Forest River Cruise Lite. Dry weight 5900+. Wet was probably closer to 7000. I can tell you living in the Northwest where we have plenty of hills the truck actually pulled the trailer fine. Plenty of torque uphills. Pulling saw lows in fuel mileage around 7 mpg. Normal fuel mpg while hauling the trailer was closer to 10-12 mpg and in excess of 16 mpg without a trailer. WD hitch and I swapped out the rear shocks to Monro spring assist and gained an inch of height and no loss in ride comfort without. I did have some minor tail wagging prior to swapping but the shocks and slightly different trailer loading helped. I just sold the 2011 a bit over a week ago and stepped up to 2018 F150 S/crew XLT 3.5L 3.55 max tow 157WB. Why? I just retired a year ago and plan longer more extensive trips. Traded the TT for a new Rockwood 2304DS (about 25 ft) and wanted a longer Wheel base rig. The difference between the 5.0L to the 3.5L twin turbo is all the power/torque is made down in the lower RPM on the V6. I can tell you that you could easily get the 5.0 up to speed without ever having to get into the upper RPM. I don’t think I ever got into 4000 rpm range pulling. Besides, I just loved the new trucks, updated motors and 10 speed trans. Hoping this to be my last truck.
Any questions holler.

 

I just traded in a 13 f150 SCSB 4x4 with the 5.0 and 3.55 because I was tired of hearing the 5.0 scream in 3rd gear while towing my 5k lb (dry) TT up long steep grades. I loved the truck (maybe more than my new 250) but I couldn’t get past the paranoia I had of damaging the drivetrain or significantly reducing its longevity. Even knowing the engine has a torque band that peaks high in the RPMs I stressed every time I was towing.

So I would definitely go with 3.73 if I had to do it again. I was actually about to get a 16 Eco 150 to replace my 150 because I was very impressed with how well the Eco pulled after driving a friends. Ended up with a 250 because of the deal I got, but the Eco is a good choice too. As is the 5.0. If you don’t tow a lot and don’t tow in hills then a 3.55 5.0 would be fine IMO, but personally I would at least go 5.0 3.73 if not Eco 3.55 if there are a lot of hills around and you tow a lot.

Tuckr2 mentioned the 10 speed tranny & I would definitely look at the newer trucks with that if it is within your price range. I test drove two of them and they are great. Zero awareness of it looking for gears. Even when accelerating hard. It’s pretty sweet.

And after talking to a friend/Ford mechanic about the Eco reliability, I was convinced it is just as solid. The 1st couple years it had some issues but it is dialed in now. There are stats that show more Ecos go in the shop for repairs than 5.0 but those stats don’t take in to account that there’s A LOT more Ecos sold every year than 5.0. Over twice as many sold if I recall correctly.

 

When selecting a truck for towing, always go for the numerically higher gears.

 

Agreed, for towing numerically higher is better.

All things equal, get the steeper gears. But the difference between the gears mentioned in your subject line will not be enough to justify compromising in other areas. View the gears as a "tie breaker" between two equivalent trucks.

 

Just traded my 2003 F-150 with air bags Tow package and 355 gears in rear end. Pulled my 27 ft FR EVO 2360 with it and it was a dog on hills here in Utah. I got a F-250 Super Duty with Towing package. Different as night and day. Safe and Happy now, no more white knuckles.

 

Man, for that nice of a camper, I'd go gas 6.2L F250 CC. 3.73 or 4.30, don't care. In this case either will do.

 

.If you go 5.0, try to get the deeper gears. Wont matter with the ECO.