--I beg to differ on that 300 I6 is THAT slow when towing.

i was driving behind him, so i know he going 15mph. my cousin had just sold his truck to buy another one. so they got my uncle to pull his car to the track that week. my cousin and his dad were in their ltd, the uncle with the truck was pulling a tow dolly and his mustang. i was behind them. he got going so slow that my cousin and his dad made him pull over, unhook the car, and hooked it up to their ltd and pulled it the rest of the way.

 

Ill never pull a good sized load with a I6 again. My experience with them anyway has turned my away, too much stress. I pull 15k and I would never think of pulling that with a I6... even with 3.73's.

 

Man,
I must have a good running 6 or something seriously wrong with the ones you'all saw
Mine pulls comparable to a 96 Reg cab 2wd ZF5 F250 with a 351 I don't know his gears though but taking off, accelorating and hill climbing we are ALMOST dead even, him by a small margin. I'm also carberated so I "Should" be weaker than your fueli's but aparently not
I'm getting all warm inside and proud of my truck

 

Lets see, you have a 351 and a F250... last time I checked a 5.4l V8 was a 330, and the V6 that the OP is talking about is a 4.2l and a F150... so you shouldn't have any issues with the trailer the OP is asking about. However, for a 1997 4.2l V6 (NOT a I6 which has far more torque than the equivlant V engine) F150, no, you cannot tow a 6500lbs gooseneck, sorry. I wish it were so, but it ain't.

 

Yeah, there must be something different there. I don't know the specs, but a 351 should out perform a I6. The torque may be the same or fairly close, but the get up and go should be considerably higher. Plus, most of those I6's have those mazda trans in them, they would last long pulling 15k. But I'm a little one-sided one it comes to I6's. I judge them because they don't have the high performance, and from my experiences, but man they have the torque... something like 240?

 

--you have a 351 and a F250... last time I checked a 5.4l V8 was a 330,

the f250 he mentioned is a 96 model with the 5.8 in it. 5.4 didnt come in trucks until 97.

--I must have a good running 6 or something seriously wrong with the ones you'all sawMine pulls comparable to a 96 Reg cab 2wd ZF5 F250 with a 351 I don't know his gears though but taking off, accelorating and hill climbing we are ALMOST dead even.

the 300 pulls great for a 6 cyl, but its still a 6 cyl. 240 lb/ft of torque is still only 240 lb/ft of torque. the 5.0 is not a great towing v8, but its still got 300 lb/ft of torque, and has more torque all across the power band than the 300, except for about 200 rpms off idle. something must be seriously wrong with the 5.8 you are talking about, because it should pull circles around the 300.

--the V6 that the OP is talking about is a 4.2l and a F150... so you shouldn't have any issues with the trailer the OP is asking about. However, for a 1997 4.2l V6 (NOT a I6 which has far more torque than the equivlant V engine) F150, no, you cannot tow a 6500lbs gooseneck, sorry.

kind of confused here, the first line says he shouldnt have any problems with pulling the trailer with a 4.2, and then the next line says he cant pull it with a 4.2. ?? i know the original post asked about the 4.2, but ive never driven a 4.2. and the reason i mentioned the 4.9 is because its a good towing 6 cyl and it struggled with about 4k behind it, and that i wouldnt recommend trying that much with the 4.2.

 

you, as in the previous poster with the 351 engine. HE shouldn't have any issues, but the OP should have plenty of issues with only a 4.2l.

I was compairing CC's with the numbers, I don't care what year the f250 was... a 351 is bigger than the 330 that I have, and the 330 I have is a 5.4 and the OP has a 4.2, so the 4.2 is significantly smaller than the 351.

Nobody said a 6 cyl engine was crap... MANY engines are I6 and can haul more than V8's. IE all Cummin engines.... I think we are saying that the 4.2L engine isn't enough to handle tha OP's job, not that 6 cyl engines are gutless.

 

--I was compairing CC's with the numbers, I don't care what year the f250 was... a 351 is bigger than the 330 that I have, and the 330 I have is a 5.4

who said a 351 isnt bigger than a 330? he said his buddy has a 351 in an f250 and you write back and say "Lets see, you have a 351 and a F250... last time I checked a 5.4l V8 was a 330". looks like youre trying to tell him he doesnt know what engine size he has.

--Nobody said a 6 cyl engine was crap... MANY engines are I6 and can haul more than V8's. IE all Cummin engines....

first of all, the cummins is a diesel and the 4.9 isnt. i wouldnt base how a v6 or inline 6 gas engine pulls based on how a diesel pulls. the 4.9 is a good engine, very durable, and pulls good for a 6 cyl. and im sure there are some v8s that it will outpull, but those are few and far between. 6 cyl engines arent crap, and do a great job pulling light loads, or even heavy loads on flat land. but get a big load on one on a steep hill, and it takes it all day to get to the top.

 

Nope, I was saying his 351 is bigger than my 5.4L. And I don't know anything about any 4.9L engine, just the current ford engines and a few random diesels.

 

Who said "I" have the crappy mazda if you even bothered to READ my sig I have a "NP 435 GRANNY 4 SPEED." with 3.73 gears in a F250 With a good running 6
It is only the guys who jump in without READING that I laugh at the stupidity and wonder how they made it this far.
a 351 AKA 5.8 NOT 5.4
even my 6 year old brother knows that there was NOT a 5.4 F250 in 96"READ"
DUMB!!!
ibf,
There may be something wrong but he maintains that truck religously and it does not flash any codes I just thought the 351 was a dog oh I asked about the gears he said axle"35" whatever that means.

 

Alright guys, a good debate is fine, but let's not bash eachother over this stuff...

 

Not to get off topic but I think you guys can help answer my question about my 96 f 150 extended cab short bed 302 auto with 355 gears. I am wanting to tow my 67 Fairlane to shows the car weighs about 3800 so the total weight including trailer is about 5800 pounds. Do you think my truck will have enough power to tow it ok or not. Also the new trailer I am gonna buy I ordered brakes on both axles. By the way with stuff in the bed of the truck and in trunk of car, I will probably be closer to 6300. My manual says Trailer weight Range of 0-7000 and Max GCWR of 11500. Am I cutting it too close Give me the bad news I can take it...
Thanks alot

 

You'll be able to pull it, but it will be slow going up hills with the 302 and 3.55 gears. Your weights are probably just inside the ratings.

What I did on my truck was change the 3.55 gears out for a lower ratio and that put the engine up in the powerband quicker and made for much better usable towing power. I changed to 4.56 gears. That's probably too low for your truck unless you're running oversize tires on it. A change to 4.10's though will do that 302 some good and you'll still be able to cruise at a reasonable speed on the highway, assuming you have an overdrive gear in your transmission. Being a '96, I imagine it does.

The GCWR increases from 11,500 to 13,500 with the 4.10 ratio change, at least that's how the ratings are on my '92 F350 with 351. I'm surprised the 302 with 3.55's in your F150 was rated the same as the 351 with 3.55's in my truck.

 

You can probably get away with it for one shot but why go to the expense and trouble of getting a 5th wheel hitch installed in your truck for just one trip. It would be easier and cheaper to find someone to pull it for you. Check with your local RV dealer as to who in the area does it. The 4.2 will do it but you have to take it easy and watch how it runs. Back in1982 when the NAVY transfered me I hauled an old 10.5 foot overhead camper and towed a Fiat X-19 from Seattle to San Diego one time down the coast highway with a F-100 with a 302 (5.0) and the old 3 on the tree transmission. No give in the rear suspension as I was on the snubbers. I also pulled a 20 footer once with a ranger up to and out of the mountains once (90 miles round trip) due to being younger and not to bright. It can be done but be ready in case.