I guess other than DQuerze above none of you do any towing or driving in mountains. Hill descent and exhaust braking makes a big difference. If you dont want FX4 dont get it. Whatever makes you happy. Long distance towing or just driving you never know when you hit a piece of truck tire or debris and it causes damage to fuel tank or anything else. Kind of glad I have it! Just my .02

 

I do. I just use my foot on the brakes. I'm not disabled yet.
I can also lock out gears to achieve basically the same effect. 4-low and lock out gears for some situations too.

I do miss the skidplates and the peace of mind with them, but they weren't worth the $500 to me. After many years with them, I never managed to mangle any, so I think the risk without them is worth it to me with my driving. Ripping out the low hanging, fragile plastic transmission lines and cooler is a much bigger concern, and no OEM skidplate covers those!

 

I don’t live in the mountains but I am surrounded by them and tow into them. Hill decent disengages above 20 mph, so it’s useless over 20 mph.

 

Until this thread I've never heard of anyone using hill decent for highway towing; I thought it was an offroad thing......haven't had an issue with just the exhaust brake and service brakes. I also have a small fleet of trucks for going on 38 years now and haven't had any road debris cause damage yet. .....I don't think it's bad to have FX4, I just think it doesn't amount to much and wouldn't pass up a truck without it. We live in mountainous terrain and have 9 trailers we tow constantly.

2 cents,
Dave

 

My truck has the off-road package which includes the E-locker. I'd rather have the regular old, limited slip diff. instead. I plow so I like the skid plates and the Duratrac tires it came with. First plow truck I bought that I didn't have to go out and buy new tires right away.

NYH1.

 

Starting with the 23MY's Ford unfortunately made getting the FX4 package something to now consider, but not because of what the package offered as much as what is no longer offered any longer ala-carte. The FX4 package ONLY includes 4 items:

For those that want hill descent, the button costs about $10 - $15, takes 5 minutes to install and can be turned on for free with Forscan.

As for shocks... they have been discussed in plenty of threads and the consensus is that there's nothing special about them. Nothing. Save the FX4 money and just go with Bilstein or Fox shocks aftermarket.

If you're after the sticker, they sell them for about $10 on eBay/Amazon. And despite how little actual value that the FX4 package adds to the truck (which is none), it is a selling point because so many folks don't know what it actually consists of, and yes, people do pay attention to it because that FX4 sticker is a "status" to those who don't know better. As an example (even seen in the thread), some folks think that the FX4 package comes with locking diffs or "better" tires, however none of that is true. If you want to add the FX4 package to the truck, it requires you to also add those other options first. The kicker is that these other additions still costs the same price as if you were to add them without the FX4. So it doesn't even make those other things less expensive.

For those that want factory skid plates, this is where Ford has now made the FX4 package a required consideration. Before the 23MY's, you could add the skid plates on ala-carte for $100 when ordering the truck. They took that option away starting with the 23MY's, and last I saw, the only way to get the factory skid plates now is with the (overpriced, over-valued) FX4 package. My opinion here, do like with the shocks, and put that money towards much better skid plates aftermarket.

When I ordered my truck (22MY) I thought I wanted the FX4 package, but once I noticed what it actually was, I realized it was one of the biggest waste of money for add on's... unless I was buying my truck to sell in a couple of years (which I wasn't). I am so glad that I realized what that package offered, and thankful that I left it off. I ended up buying the hill descent button and installing it easy peasy and I put Bilstein 5100 shocks on all 4 corners, and still spent less than what the FX4 package costs. Hill descent is hill descent, but the shocks are light years bette than any of these factory shocks, so the money was more wisely spent. Sure, I don't have the skid plates, but I don't need them, and if I felt like I actually did, I would much prefer some of the aftermarket skid plates verses the thin factory plates.

Also, I understand that a lot of folks buy their trucks off the lots, and the dealerships love to equip packages like the FX4 package, chrome packages, navigation packages, etc... because it looks more attractive and people are more likely to be talked into buying these things. In this case, the FX4 package wouldn't stop me from buying a truck off the lot if it had everything else I actually wanted in the truck, But for those ordering, it is a much less attractive package when we realize what it actually is.

 

I've had several of these trucks. Some FX4, some not. What little is added really didn't make any difference for my use of a truck.
But I've never cared for Ford's plain 4x4 decals or their colors. So with my previous truck I did as chadstick suggested. The truck was black. I bought some green FX4 decals from eBay. $24.95 a pair. They were allegedly Ford licensed. They did appear to be authentic to me and I was happy with the appearance.
When I traded the truck the dealer did in fact advertise the truck as having the FX4 package. I had ordered and purchased the truck from that dealer so they should have known better. They either passed it off as a true FX4 or simply just believed the sticker without really knowing what they were selling.
Photo below screenshot from the eBay listing back then.

 

My 2023 STX has the FX4 package... I can tell you it didn't come with Rancho shocks, which is a shame. Not that Ranchos are All That, and a bag of chips any longer (their quality has gone to poop,) they HAVE to be better than the Motorcraft trash I got. I also got the Bridgestone Dueler tires, which are complete crap, too. I did get the cool FX4 sticker, however... which I peeled off about 3 minutes after I got it home.

Looking at my sticker...

The 3.73 E-locker was extra... not part of the FX4 package.

The FX4 package, $495, basically only included the skid plates as far as I know. I do have the hill descent button on the dash, but I'm an old truck driver, I know how to manage my truck on hills by myself... I don't need a button to do it for me.

I do appreciate the skid plates. I go out into the desert once in a while, and it's cheap insurance. There is also, as J&L's mentions, highway debris to tear stuff up on. For this reason, when I take delivery of my 2025 2WD F-250 in a few weeks... I'll be putting the skid plate on the gas tank.

 

To bump up resale value, I’m going to take off my FX4 decals and put on some Tremor decals in their place and put Z71 Badges on the front fenders.

 

I would also put a PowerWagon sticker across the tailgate...

 

Don't forget the Raptor logos!

 

I have the diesel and I'm not going to do much off-road so the Fx4 package doesn't do all that much for me. But in my area there have been a whole lot of catalytic converter thefts (a bit fewer now, I think) and if you have a gas rig the FX4 makes it a longer and harder process to steal the cat - and they'll skip your truck and go to another and steal theirs.

But I do expect to make use of the locker and I do intend to do just a little off-road so the FX4 package isn't that bad an idea for my truck.

 

I ended up with the Tremor package on my truck this time. Wasn't looking for it by any means, but it had been sitting the longest and was substantially less expensive than a regular Lariat 4x4 or FX4. It'll likely never see near it's capability limits, rock crawl, etc., but it does look good and functions as I need. Maybe the Tremor package will help resale down the road. The ride is a bit more compliant than the others due to the suspension setup and 18" wheels.

 

For the price of FX4, you can get a full set of 5100's. That's going to do MUCH more for the ride of your truck, both on and off road, vs FX4.

 

I can't see how anything about the FX4 pkg would make it any harder to steal a cat.