^^^ good call. I forgot that alot of the 5.4's have the 3.55 gearset. the 3.73 will give you a little extra out the gate as well

the 5.4 plug issue is over-rated. we all worry about stuff, but this current plug issue (04-08 years) is just as likely to happen as the 2 valve 4.6/5.4 issues in 97-04 years.

 

i towed with my buddies 4.6 and i wasnt really impressed,granted i was coming from a 300I6 which makes its power at about half the rpm the 4.6 does.so id go with the 5.4 it has crappy gas mileage along with fords other engines but it is a decent engine

 

It would be nice if we could get back to a good 5.0 5.8 setup. Those were so much easier to work on.

 

ya that would be nice but i dont think well see those days again

 

Not after the announcement yesterday with the new mileage requirements.

 

really. tell me more

 

I think by 2015 the gov is requiring even higher milege out of cars and truck than previously released.

Proposed fuel economy standards go to 35 mpg - USATODAY.com

this article lists the new standards.

 

The new mileage proposal not yet approved to my knowledge, would require light trucks to yield 28 MPG. This, as I understand it, is virtually impossible with the current configuration of light pickup trucks as we know them. Politicians have no idea with what they are tampering, our trucks, our way of life. This so caller fuel crisis is a construction of our government's tampering through environmentalist fiat with our own production of domestic oil. The reserves thereof exceed the amount needed to power 60 million vehicles over the next 60 years. We have enough natural gas to last for more than 160 years at current use levels. So, all we have to do is drill, drill, drill! Don't hold yer breath. It's not politically expedient. '04F150, 4.6L, 3.73LS, XL reg.

 

Just get the 5.4L you will thank yourself the next time you have to pass someone, But I have the 5.4L with 3.55 gears so are you all saying I have less power? If so DAMN, I told the lame salesman I want the best engine and the best gear ratio for 2WD. I'll be getting a utility trailer to haul 4 ATV's soon, and from Iam hearing that it wont pull worth a S**T with 3.55, and less low end with 3.55 then 3.73. I want the 3.73 how to go about this process? I saw that on the windows of the F-150's on dealers lot it's only $300 more, DAMN I for sure would have went that route but I wanted 2WD so maybe they dont come stock with 3.73 with 2WD? Dont know, wish I could make may purchase over again! 3.55 limited slip suck or what, please enlighten me on this gear ratio thing?

 

Go big or go home!!

 

3.55 arent bad its pry the best overall gear for mpgs and towing

 

Reference please!

 

Interesting. They've got their work cut out. Changing over to a fuel that yields less gas milage and having to increase overall MPG. Looks like the Transportation Dept is advocating Hybrid electrics because ETOH and current vehicle sizes ain't gonna do it.

This could also be a hastily devised chess move in response to OPEC. We announce our intentions to consume less and hope that this scares OPEC to raise production to curve prices and put the oil speculators in their place.

 

To NASA bridge, if I remember correctly these statistics come from a new book reviewed on AM radio a couple days previous. The author, Robt. Price, the book, "Gusher of Lies".

I don't know about his research since I have not yet read it. I will get around to it soon. In my gut I believe this environmental hysteria is a colossal hoax the likes of which the world has never before seen.

Because of current governmental environmental regulations, an oil well will take ten years to bring on production line. Same for any new refinery. Thanks to the multiple levels the plantiff bar and the activists who employ them. We have been asleep, ladies and germs, for far too long. Wake up all. Our way of life has been under assault for the last four decades by radicals in our midst. It has been a Gramscian assault, quietly, it moved through our social infrastructure, our cultural institutions, schools, churches, our pickup trucks. And now our fuel mileage, of all things, is the recipient of this revolving of our society. We must be very careful every time we go to the ballot box.

This is not your grandfather's country. They're coming after his pickup through fuel mileage mandates. That's my reflection for the day.

 

Further, any reduction in our use of oil will quickly be absorbed by increased use in India and China. The only way to stem the rising market hysteria in the price of oil is the threat of producing our own. At the least, 20 percent of current market prices of oil are fueled by speculation. If we even threaten to open up ANWAR it will have a depressing effect on the speculation. If we actually begin drilling, off our coast and in ANWAR, it will have a net positive effect on our own energy problem in the US.

And we then, having 60 or so years, can move on the development of a totally new model away from oil. We can do it, we need only the sense and the will.