My father-in-law is looking to buy a new Ford pickup. He occasionally (three or four times a year) towes his camper trailer (GVWR=7540lbs) up moderate inclines. He has been told that the 5.4L isn't strong enough to do the job. What do you guys think?

Thanks for any input,

John

 

I recently bought a 99 f-150 w/the 5.4 V8 and it is great. With in one week of buying it I was asked by my uncle to move his camper trailer for him. He has an Airstream that weighs close to 4 tons. The truck had no problem on flat or inclined surfaces. in fact I was impressed with the gas mileage, I got 400 miles on the first tank which averaged out to be 17 mpg.

>My father-in-law is looking to buy a
>new Ford pickup. He occasionally
>(three or four times a year)
>towes his camper trailer (GVWR=7540lbs) up
>moderate inclines. He has been
>told that the 5.4L isn't strong
>enough to do the job.
>What do you guys think?
>Thanks for any input,
>John

 

>Whoever told your father in law that the 5.4 would not pull was smoking crack, unless he was comparing it to a powerstroke diesel. Fords have always offered more torque than the other brands. Currently the 5.4 produces 345 ft.lbs. at 2300 rpms. the 5.3 chevy only puts out 315 ft.lbs. at 4000 rpms. Who wants to pull their trailer at 4000 rpms. Low end torque is what pulls and ford has got it. Get the towing package and 3.55 or 3.73 gears and he can pull it year around.

 

I would say without a doubt it will work. I dont know what he drives currently, but I guess he has an older ford? The 5.4 is no comparison to the 5.8l liter. The 5.4 has more hp but the torque doesnt appear to be as much. Anyone else have a comment?

 

>From my sources the 5.8s produced 210 hp and 310 ft.lbs. of torque. The 99 5.4s produce 260 hp and 345 ft.lbs. of torque. What were your numbers on the 5.8 and where did you get them? I am not too familiar with the 351W 5.8s. However my dad has a 90 f-150 single cab, long wheel base 2wd with the 302 5.0 and it feels faster than my 97 extended cab 4X4. Mine pulls our tractor and hay alot better than his though. But the 5.8 would have to pull better than the 5.0. I don't know about real world pulling between the 5.4 and 5.8 but the my numbers show a big difference. Plus the 5.4 has fail safe cooling and gets alot better gas mileage than the 5.8.

 

Much to EVERYONE'S surprise he went out last Saturday and purchased a SUUWEEET truck. It's a 99 F-150 Lariat extended cab w/ all the bells and whistles (leather etc.). For my f-i-l to buy anything new was a shock, let alone a Lariat!

I'm glad to hear that everyone agrees that it will do the job. The only thing that concerned me was the GVWR on the truck is 6500lbs and his trailer wieghs 7540lbs. No more than he pulls it though I have no doubt it will do the job.

Any comments on the "low" GVWR? I'm not going to mention it to him, I'm just curious.

Thanks,

John

 

Hi John,
Congrats to your f-i-l, great choice! As far as gross vehicle weight rating-the 6500# rating seems to be about average with a 150.
The rating has nothing to do with trailer weight other than the weight that is on the hitch must be included in the gross weight of the vehical. If the truck is 5000# and the occupants with gear is 750#, and the stuff in the bed is 500#, this would total 6250#. Now you have appx. 250# left for tongue weight. What I would consider more import is what is called CGVWR-Combined gross vehical weight rating. This is the combo of truck, equipment, and trailer. If it's 12000# and the truck weight is 6250#, the trailer could weigh as much as 5750# and not exceed the rating.
Usually the rating is in just trailer weight and tongue weight in #'s for lighter duty trucks.Hope this helps with any fears of "Low" GVWR. Chuck P.

 

John:

Chuck’s advice is dead-on. Have your F.I.L. check his owners manual and it will tell him the CGVWR. You can certainly exceed these weight ratings, but not safely. There are many places to weigh your F.I.L.’s truck to give you the baseline.

It’s OK for the tow vehicle to weigh less than the towed vehicle. Happens with big rigs all the time. I have an ’81 F-100 which weighs about 4,000 lbs. I have used it on occasion to tow our 4,500# trailer. The most important accessories that let us do this are the load-leveling hitch and the sway control system. Without either of them I would never leave the driveway.

Good Luck.

Bruce

 

I drove a 99 5.4 liter in f-150 and really was unimpressed. I know my old 302 could keep up with that any day. The 351 liked gas very well. I think that the 5.4 and the 5.8 cant really compare. The 5.4 is a superior engine to the 5.8. But on the 4.6 vs 5.0 (in trucks) NO Comparison. The 5.0 was made for over 30 years. Hopefully in time the 4.6 will evolve and it will be a great motor, but for now, its sucks!

 

I had a 5.0L in my 93 E-150 conversion van and pulled my 4500lb travel trailer with it through the rocky mountains. It did ok, but not anywhere near as good as my 88 E-150 with the 5.8. I leased a 97 E-150 hi-top conversion van with a 5.8L and it did much better pulling my trailer. In fact it significantly better. In 1999, after the lease was up I bought a E-150 Chateau club wagon with the 5.4L engine. It is my subjective opinion that while the 5.4L is much better than the 5.0L, it is not nearly as good as the 5.8L I had in my 97 van. Some of this may have to do with the gearing, but I sure miss my 5.8L.

 

My 5.4L engine in my 99 E-150 Van is rated at 235HP not 260, I believe the 260 you refered to is for the larger diesel engine. Also, my 97 E-150 with the 5.8L engine was rated at 215hp I believe.

 

99 and up, in pickups, the 5.4 is 260 hp. Vans are still 235, just like 97-98 trucks.

 

The torque curve of the 5.4 shows that the torque output is kinda low at low rpms. I have noticed that some 5.0 and 5.8 powered trucks I drive even feel like they have more torque the moment you press the gas from a start, but then they just can't hang with the 5.4 after that. Ford's internal documents acknowledge this and they may remove the 5.4 from the Excursion. But, after a second, after the rpms are up around 2000 or more, the 5.4 does pull my stuff better than those 5.0s and 5.8s - with less gas wasted. If you need the 600 rpm torque get a 4.9 I6!

 

I saw something on the message board saying something about engine pulling ablity and truck capacitys. the difrence in a 5.0 to a 5.8 is exstream. I would know because i have pulled a 4,500 pound boat up the steepest hill in 500 miles from me. I have 2 broncos and a F-150 the first truck I used was a 89 Ford eddie bauer 5.0 k/n filter, flow master It barely made it over the hill. I was afraid it was going to start rolling backwards. I hit the hill going 55 mph and I had the peddle down all the way. Half way up I was going 15 than 10 then slower. I stopped the truck put it in low range and floor it ever so luckily I made it over the hill at 15 mph. I was never going to deal with that again I had to take a diffrent rought wich took an extra hour. Soon I got a F-150 with a 5.4 trinton 235 hp 345 tourq yeah right I think they way over did it on that. This time coming over the hill I hit it going 60 with the peddle to the floor. AT half way up I was down to 15-20 mph the speed limit is 40. It made it over the hill better then the 5.0 but no good enough. I sold that truck and bought a mercedes sec. There was no way I was going to use the 5.0 so I sold that for a 95 Ford eddie buear bronco with every possible option to my opionion the nicest looking bronco ever to be made. Cherry Red with 2 tone tan boarder, step ups, chrome brush guard that looks really cool premium wheels just the swweeettest bronco ever it had a 5.8 windstar automatic transmission same as my other trucks, 3.55 gears also same as other trucks. A truely understated 210 hp with 345 tourq as I beleave. There was one problem when I put my 2,500 pound trailer 6500 with 3 horses or my 4,500 pound boat it goes really low unlike my 5.0 bronco. The f-150 went down somwhat but not as much as my 5.8 bronco. Sorry this seems confuseing but my 5.0 bronco did not go down a cm when I put my boat on it and went down a little with the loaded up 3 horse trailer. This is a disavantage to me but that dose not change anything I still love my 5.8 bronco it goes 40 on the floor with my boat on it.



The thing about the f-150 pullin 7,500 pound trailer with a 5.4 triton a snap. I warn you don't take on the monstar hills you don't want to end up like my 5.0 bronco. The truck will go down somewhat with the trailer on it but thats just normal. Don't worry about it at all it will be fine. If you ever do have problems with the truck not being to hual the trailer e-mail me.

I didn't mean to right a hole novel but oh well. I hope you liked my true story book.

chris

 

>>From my sources the 5.8s produced 210 hp and 310 ft.lbs. of torque. The 99 5.4s produce 260 hp and 345 ft.lbs. of torque. What were your numbers on the 5.8 and where did you get them? I am not too familiar with the 351W 5.8s. However my dad has a 90 f-150 single cab, long wheel base 2wd with the 302 5.0 and it feels faster than my 97 extended cab 4X4. Mine pulls our tractor and hay alot better than his though. But the 5.8 would have to pull better than the 5.0. I don't know about real world pulling between the 5.4 and 5.8 but the my numbers show a big difference. Plus the 5.4 has fail safe cooling and gets alot better gas mileage than the 5.8.

My Chilton manual says the 1995 5.8l with MFI and without Califonia emissions got 240hp at 4200 and 340 ft*lbs tq at 3200. Engine code is R instead of H. The H got 210hp/325tq so saying the 5.4 is a great improvement over the 351 is simply based on the fact that most of us have or have driven the weaker version of the 5.8l. Food for thought.


Daywalker
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