I am considering selling my van, an 03 5.4 3.55LS to my friend. He needs a tow vehicle for his 5000lb (unloaded) TT and room for the kids and dogs.....
If I value our friendship, do I sell him it?

 

The engine is a bit small and the rear a bit tall, but, it should do fine with 5k. Just make sure he uses a hitch and not a bumper to pull the TT. I would suggest a fan transmission cooler too. Cheap insurance.

 

5,000 lbs is nothing for a E-350 van. I have my E-150 with a 4.6L V-8 maxed out at 12,000 lbs combined with van/trailer. I'm upgrading to the E-350 later this year but I think I'll go with the Diesel. The only I did was put the extra capacity tranny pan on it and I'm using a Class V hitch with the weight distribution kit. My '05 has the 3.73 rear end in it and pulls just great for me. He'll probably watch that gas guage go down though in a hurry with the 5.4

 

I've got a E350-V10 and really not terribly impressed with the power at all. Maybe it's because I would like to maitain the same speed no matter what the grade, but going up hills it does get winded and before you know it you've dropped a few gears, you are doing 40 and everybody else is passing you. With a tiny little V8, who knows, maybe it would be even worse. But I really would like something I could maintain the power in the grades. That being said, I'd still buy another one. And this time perhaps the V8 instead of the V10. I don't tow as much as I planned.

 

I've also got an E350 with a V10, an '03, and have always been impressed with the power. Adventure, I dunno what's up with yours, but mine has always held the speed I set, within one or two MPH, no matter what's in it and/or being towed. To answer the original query about the 5.4's power, that's the precise reason I bought the V10... I tried the V8, it just didn't go fast quickly enough when I pressed my right foot to the floor...

 

I'm starting to think that I'll keep my E-150 for now. I'm gonna swap the 3.73 gears in the rear end thought for 4.10s here in a few weeks. I tow with my van about 70% of the time. I'm gonna take the 3,500 lbs axles from my trailer and swap them out with 7,000 lbs axles. I'm gonna do everything in the next few weeks.

Ever want see a E-150 with 15,000 Lbs combined (van/trailer) I'll post pics. Think if I break this van in 1/2 by insurance company will buy me a new E-350????

 

Ya know, I never thought to ask the length of Adventure's V10... Mine's the "shorty" 12-pass, maybe his is the 15-pass... Might be the difference between my satisfaction and his dissatisfaction... I know it makes a considerable difference in towing capacity...

 

Mine's the extended version and a dually to boot! Pulling a 1000 pound trailer up and down hills at 70+ is no problem. But at 1 ton to 1.5 tons is when I noticed the difference. The gearing is 3.73. Perhaps the later models just have more power. I would often drive fully loaded with people with no problem. It's just when I broke the 2000 pound mark with a trailer that I started to notice the problem.

 

Adventure, you'd benefit from 4:10 gears. Ford has always put the wrong gears in the 15pass vans. They don't figure you bought it to tow. They think you bought it to haul the kids.

Vince. I KNOW what an E150 looks like towing a trailer that alone weighs 15k pounds (or just shy of).... When my dad moved from Indiana to Ohio he built a 16 foot box trailer out of an old mobile home frame, then hooked it to his '88 E150 club wagon XLT (same a chateau these days) with a 302, and AOD, and 3:55 gears... Towed it 200 miles with no out any problems. His biggest problem was getting it moving, with the load leveling hitch it helped but he still had to be REALLY gentle with the throttle.

 

The 3.55 gears in the E-350 ext is the dumbest idea I've seen, around town MPG suffers dearly, I'm wanting to swap out the whole axle with another one, a dually from a box van would be nice. I put a Superchip Microtuner program in my 99 5.4, shifts tighter and feels more powerful, but the high gearing sux stop light to stop light. I have a wheelchair lift, power seat base, power door motors, isolated rear battery, and a large speaker box in the back, the bench seat over the axle was the only one kept and I break 8000 lbs with me in it.
Some of the V-10's have a 5 speed auto, allows them to run a taller rear ratio due to the fact that the extra gear in the 5 speed is a lower fist, same overdrive ratio as the 4 speed auto. I looked into this when trying to see about putting one behind my 5.4, evidently the bigger V-10 has the power band up high, requiring help to get moving, just like the V-6's, no V8 gets the 5 speed yet.
If he's dedicated to pull a camper, he'd be better off either getting a regular LWB with a towing package and lower gears, or yours and plan on replacing the rear end with a better choice of gearing.
If I wanted a van for towing, a 7.3 PSD is a must, look away from the 6.0, get the one that has proven itself.