Everybody's been so helpful! I called the Ford dealer in town and they ran my vin # - My 95 F-150 302 4x4 with overdrive has a 4R70W tranny with an 8.8 locking axle and 3.31 gear ratio in front and back.
The problem as you recall was towing a 4700# travel trailer over a long grade.
So, now, I'm thinking that if I change the gear ratio to 3.55 or 4.10 I will have better luck hauling?
Other than swapping the motor for a larger one (not economical) is there any other additions I should look at?
Thanks in advance,
Jim

 

First of all, I would reccomend an auxillary transmission cooler. I would also reccomend towing with the overdrive off. That would save you quite a bit of trouble.

You should be well enough off with the gear ratio that you have. I talked with a good friend of mine yesterday who has a 1994 F-150 Flareside 2WD 5.0L. He changed the rear gear from a 3.55 to a 4.10. He also said that after he did that, he had to pull the instrument cluster and send it to Ford to have it reprogrammed. That set him back $300. Anyone else heard of this?

Either way, in your situation, it depends on how much you're going to be towing this travel trailer. A brake controller would also be helpful to you if the travel trailer has brakes. Most of the time it's not the pulling, it's the stopping. But in your case, it's the towing so it sounds.

I have the oppurtunity to pull a 24' travel trailer next week with my truck. I'm hoping for a good turn out, but we'll see what happens. I can probably offer more helpful advice after that.

All in all, you should be okay. I would just gas it up before a hill and stay in it until you get over the top, as long as you feel that you have total control of the whole rig...

Also, a shift kit for that transmission would help out alot in my opinion. I can tell when I really tromp on my 5.0L, my transmission doesn't have the best and most adequate shift points in the world. I am considering a shift kit for mine. I'm going to talk with the local transmission shop and see what he says.

Hope this helps.

Nightrain

 

You can re-program the instrument cluser yourself like 3 times (it is in the tech section on this site) for free. After that, it would need to be replaced, reprogammed or simply lived with is my understanding.

Before replacing gears, I would also suggest a transmission cooler and try towing with the truck first. As I recall, the tow limit on mine is 5000lbs (I have the 4.9 though)

I never tow that much with it (more like 2000-3500 occasionally) But it seems to have no problem as long as I stay out of overdrive.

Jim

 

Well, I've never heard of a 3.31 ratio in a '95, but I guess there's a first for everything. Keep in mind that because it's a 4x4, you have to change both axles. Figure about $500 an axle for a shop to do it. 3.55 isn't much of a jump. I'd say you'd have much better results going right to 4.10.

I don't think you have to touch the speedo for a gear change. I'm pretty sure you only have to worry about it if you change tire sizes, but since it can be done for free, it's not much of an issue.

The aux trans cooler is a good idea. Keep that tranny cool, and it will last a lot longer.

As for towing in overdrive, there's a lot of mis-information out there. Not saying anyone here is spreading it, but it's OK to tow in OD as long as you're not shifting between gears constantly. That will kill your transmission pretty quick. Keep an eye on the tach, and as long as it doesn't shift a lot, keep it in OD. If you run into some hilly country, you'd be better off in D, though.

Also, I'd recommend putting in an aftermarket water temp gauge. The factory gauge isn't worth much, and you want to make sure you don't overheat the motor.

 

If you change the gears, the speedo will be off. Just one of the factors like changing tire sizes.

As far as the trans goes, andym does make a point though.... However, staying in the powernband for the engine will be better on it. Which is why (when hauling the heavy loads...which I go slower with) I simply drive without the overdrive. That and the fact that I am in Wyoming.... No hills, wind or altitude to cope with here after all

Jim

 

if you can afford it go to 4.10. it will not change your speedo reading. i have the exact same truck and gears and have been thinking of doing the same thing. cost is the major factor for me. a 302 with 3.31 gears is not set up well for towing. put 4.10s in there and it will do better. long trips empty you might notice drop in fuel milage but when towing the engine will be working easier pulling the load. does that make sense? the only reason to pull the instrument panel would be to put in one with a tach. check tech articles for that. or you could do what am doing. convince the wife you need another truck. not working so well.

 

Wow, I am grateful for all the advice. . .I did not use OD on the hill climb

Nightrain - I have a tranny cooler - how can I add another? Maybe an additional fan on the radiator? I have a Reese brake controller also and I am running 31" tires. Let me know how your trailer pull goes. .

andym - I never heard of a 3.31 gear either but that's what I was told from ford dealer . . I figured on going to the 4.10 - they're about $180 bucks each from Summit Racing. I was planning on doing the switch myself.

KC73 - I don't plan on pulling apart the dash - we take weekend trips and some of the areas are off-road but not far from home. I really don't want to replace the motor yet but we'll see how the gear change works first (gulp) reason being - the trailer is new so there's not much room for another major expense. . but if I have to, oh well - it'll beat camping by the garage. . lol
Thanks again for everyone's help! It is greatly appreciated
Jim

 

Jim, you don't need to do anything to the speedo after a gearchange on your truck. It has a Vehicle Speed Sensor in the rear axle that reads from a tone ring on the ring gear. The electronic speedo gets it's info from this VSS system. The tone ring spins with the ring gear regardless of what size the gears are. The only time you need to calibrate the speedo is when you change the diameter of the tires.

I agree about going with 4.10 gears instead of 3.55's (I made the switch from 3.55 to 4.56 in my F350 and love it!). I also agree about the trans cooler and shifting out of OD on the hills. If you have a steep hill, you may need to shift down to 2nd gear. It's better to pull with the engine revving than with the engine bogging so use the gears to your advantage. You can also shift the transmission manually when starting accelerating from a stop so you have control over when shifts occur. There is no harm at all in shifting it manually and in some transmissions manually engaging the lower gears engages more clutches which strengthens the transmission and extends it's life when used in heavy towing.

You may also want to look at putting in a 4-row radiator if your truck doesn't already have one and you have experienced it running hot. Using 92 octane gas when towing will also help protect the engine from pinging and overheating. My engine pings when I use less than 89 octane gas with the truck under load. Our Ford van, Taurus, and my Dodge pickup ping with 87 too. It might just be the California gas, but I'm in the habit of running 89 or higher on all of them.

 

with 31" tires instead of the 235-75 your over all ratio might be closer to 3.08 or there abouts.

 

My 460 pulls like an BIG OX. Part is because of the big engine, part because of the gearing, part driver. Pulling a big hill with a heavy load I run the truck at peak torque. Look up the specs for your engine, find out at what RPM your engine develops peak torque and gear your truck so that 3rd gear at peak torque is 55-60mph. When you start up a big hill and loose speed, downshift to 3rd to pull at that speed. That will be the best your truck will do, everything else is the driver.

There is a towing forum here at Ford-Trucks.com, I am sure you can get the same advice over there.

 

Hey SoCal,
The problem I posted here was pulling a 23ft travel trailer thru Cajon Pass above San Bernardino. Seems like even on a down hill run I could not accelerate for the next hill. The gas pedal did nothing just as shifting gears did nothing. We just struggled up the last hill at about 30mph and kept on going. Any ideas?? Also, when I pushed the flashers to turn them on - there was an extreme loss of power - so I switched it off again. . any clues?
Thanks,
Jim

 

It sounds like you are already killing yourself with the 3.31 gears and 31" tires. A gear change is in order if you want to be able to pull and have big tires. But with the lower ratio (numerically higher) gas mileage will go down. I like 3.55's cause you get the best of both. You have a 302 it's way under powered but it's built to rev a lot higher than my 300. Also is that 4700 lbs the dry weight of the camper or the total weight of everything inside? If it's dry then you have to add up everything like appliances, beds, cabinets, etc...

 

Kista20
The trailer's 4700# is stock off the lot w/o personal stuff; w/o propane and w/o water. I should be able to go to 6500# total wt with my 302 according to the towing charts.

Thanks for your input,
Jim

 

With a 302 I would agree on the 4.10's but when you drive around empty you'll be turning more rpm's. I'm going with 3.73's for mine, I just need a little bit more but I feel like 4.10's is too much as I'll be turning a lot of rpm's running up the highway and the 300 isn't built to rev really high either. I emailed summit a couple weeks ago and they told me they didn't list the reverse cut gears for the dana 44 front and said that if you can get a part number from richmond or superior they can get them but I checked both they're websites and they did not have the reverse cut ones. I got some used richmond 3.73 gears w/ 3000 miles off ebay for pretty cheap and I'm having trouble finding ones for the front. I'll probabally end up buying them new. I'd check there for some 4.10's