I am looking for all the advise out there I can get. I have a new travel trailer that is 8,700 lbs dry and I am wondering if I can use my 2004 F250, 5.4 gas engine, to tow it??? It has the 3.73 rear end and the owners manuel recomends only up to 7,500 lbs. If I change it to a 4.10 It says I can tow 9,000 lbs. So I am thinking of changing it to the 4.10 or a 4.30....is this just a gear in the differential? Is this easy to do my self or is it expensive to take to a shop to do. And will this really make a differance or should I move up to a F250 or F350 with the V10 with the 4.10 or 4.30 rear end??? All thoughts and opinions are welcome!

 

Changing to 4.10 or 4.30 gears would definitely improve your truck's towing ability. A gear swap is not something that you would want to do without some prior experience. A professional installation is best.

If your F-250 is a 2WD, this gear swap would run about $500 or so. A 4WD would cost at least twice this amount.

Do you plan to do a lot of towing? Do you have many hills to climb while towing? If so, go with the gear swap or perhaps look at a different F-250. If you only will tow occasionally and in relatively flat country, your present truck would do OK.

Lou Braun

 

...Welcome Fordsd250, to Ford Truck Enthusiasts!

See you on the boards. ….

 

sure, you can tow with that setup now. but the tiny 5.4 trying to spin over those 3.73 gears with that much weight wont be going up any hills with speed at any rate. take into consideration the mileage, you will be working that engine to it's limit doing that. upgrade to a V-10 with 4.30's if you dont care about paying a fuel bill, or go with a diesel.

i have a 2000 F-350 SC dually with 4.30s and the v-10. it will hold it's own against a diesel considering it has sparkplugs and no turbocharger. our other 6.0 with 3.73 gearing will outrun it doing anything, but take into consideration that it has much more advanced technology and puts down more torque to the wheels. i have towed ~16K several times on occasion and the F-250 SCSB does just fine.

just make sure you have trailer brakes that can stop the trailer. its not fun driving without trailer brakes, and i know that feeling.

 

Unless your not towing very often and for short distances the 5.4 is too small even with the 4.10's. Those max towing specs they list is with a bare bones truck and no one but the driver in the truck. I also had a 5.4 before and moved up to the 6.8 and love it. My fifer scaled in at 8,800 dry and is over 10k loaded. Don't take much to get the weights up there. Also is the trailers 8,700 lbs a scale weight or what it is advertised as? Trailer manufactures weights are usually with no options and can be 500 to 1000 lbs under the actual weight of the trailer. Mine was advertised at 7700 lbs. which was 1100 lbs less than what it weighed on a government scale.

 

I have pulled 11,500 with my F250 with the 5.4 and had no troubles at all and I have the 3.73 gears.

 

I'm pulling 9,200 DW with my 04 V10 and 3.73. I go over the Sierra's at 8,900 ft and the truck has a little trouble on the steeper grades. I'm switching to the 4.3 to get more towing power. I don't think I'd want to be towing that much weight with the 5.4 even though its a good engine.

 

You can tow that all day long. My buddy has the same truck and I've towed my dozer (28,000lbs trailer weight) behind it didn't have to power of my desiel but still towed it like a champ.

 

I Can't Thank everyone enough for all the good feed back!!! The trailer is 8,700 lbs dry according to the manufacturer, so it could very well be another 500-1000 more with options and then with the dog and my (skinny) wife another 110 and then all her clothes and shoes at least another 500lbs. So I know I am really asking alot of this truck of mine! ( F250, 5.4 V8, 3.73 rear end) I think it would be great to just go out and get a F250 or F350, V10 with the 4.10 in the rear end. Financially that would be a squeeze and so I am leaning toward first trying out The truck I have and change out that rear end to at least a 4.10 and better yet the 4.30 for the $500 at a shop. We will be going a distance, only once or twice a year up to northern Nevada from down hear in southern CA. I imagine I will be holding my breath going up the big hills.

If there are any others out there who have towed with the 5.4 feel free to let me know your experiance!

Also, So... can I even put a 4.30 in the rear end of my 2004 F250??? The owners manuel does not show the F250 with it as an option. Would I need a whole new rear axel? How much of a differance would there be between the 4.10 and the 4.30 in towing ability with my 5.4V8 do you think???

 

I think the 3.73's would be a little steep, would definatly go for 4.10's.

I traded in my 05 6.8L F250 for a 06 5.4 F250, and I don't think there is that much of a night and day difference. I do have the 4.10's and a 6 speed in the 06....and I tow a 6000# camper, so adding in family and other items I am around 7000#. Tows exceptionally well. (although the 05's and 06's have more HP and torque due to 3v's)

 

If you go out and buy a new truck don't get the v10 your wallet will disappear from the horrible gas mileage, go diesel. But my best advice to you is to use your truck just the way it is. If I can tow 30,000lbs with my buddies truck (same truck you have to a tee) you can tow 8500lbs all day long will no problems.

 

deleted...by ace. I think 86Mustang is trolling.

 

He isn't trolling, he just doesn't have his own Superduty and feels left out.

 

hitch up to it and floor it

 

I've have an 01' f-250 extend cab xlt powerstoke, my buddy just wanted to see if his truck had what it takes to pull it.