If you get a SD with the 5.4L engine, then definitely get one with 4.10 gears, which is the lowest gear from the factory. If you are willing to pay $1,800 for better gears, then go with 4.30 or even 4.56 gears.

Now, this begs the question... would it be better to spend $1,800 on better gears for a SD with the 5.4L engine with 3.73 / 4.10 gears from the factory or spend the same $1,800 toward a SD with the 6.8L engine with either 4.10 / 4.30 gears from the factory? In short, you can easily justify spending $2K more for a SD with the 6.8L engine just to avoid the gear upgrade on the SD with the 5.4L engine.

 

Oh, trust me.....I would go with the V-10 as my first choice, no doubt. But finding one has been my issue. So I started to say "Well, might have to look at a 5.4".

And thanks for all the replies everyone!!! Seems like from a lot of responses is that I will be right at the cut-off mark with a trailer like I posted, but the 4.10 would help alleviate that. I wish I had a way to "test tow" a big trailer to see how I felt about it so I could base my decision off my own opinion of how it felt. I wonder how hard it would be to find a 5.4 CC with 4.10s already on it from the factory?

 

If you want the V10 get it, I really do see a lot at auction and at used car lots. They are really frowned on because of fuel economy and ususally go for less money than the smaller motor trucks. I can find a V10 cc truck for less than a lot of rangers here. It's rediculous because my dad really wants one and they cost more than the super duty trucks.

 

66 Badboy: Your motto in life is very deep.

I have been towing trailers for the past 10 years. The first 8 years of towing for me were with Chevy trucks. I had the 8.1 gasser in the 2500HD chassis and the Duramax in a 3500 dually. Towing everything from 16ft to 36ft in length and up to 16K in weight. I've had two TT's and the current one is 28ft long and 7000lbs dry.

1. My F250 flat handles every trailer better than any Chevy I ever had. Just get on your back and crawl around under the two trucks and you can see the suspension and frame differences.

2. The pic of the TT you posted is great. Don't forget how much your family weighs and all of your stuff and that you will likely travel with 30 gallons of water.

3. You will be MUCH better off with rear airbags or air shocks in addition to the weight distribution hitch. When the rear axle bounces on the bump stops it can be uncomfortable and disturbing to your handling.

4. TT's and Fifth wheel campers have high centers of gravity and a 30+ ft. trailer will push your truck around. Just remember that your truck, the SD, will handle it better than anything else you can buy.

 

excellant advice from ruschejj, I'd rep ya but I have to spread the love first. My TT comes in at just over 8K loaded while I don't hit the bump stops or anything I can tell you that I have had all three before as well.

Without a doubt the Ford designed the truck around the purpose. Just look at the tow mirrors as an example on the Dodge and Chevy/GMC!

 

Very runny!!! Errr....I mean, very funny!!! HAHAHA Thanks for the rest of your post too. Great info.

There's no doubt I'm sticking with an SD. I totally agree with the philosophy that Ford said "We want to pull a ton of weight, so let's see what kind of truck we need to build to do it?", and the other guys "We want to build a truck, and then we'll see how much it ends up pulling."

Totally different approach.

I've searched Autotrader, Cars dot com, Ford Direct, FindAutos, and Craigslist everyday. There was one V-10 that was a great deal, but I couldn't get to it in time because of work............missed it by ONE DAY!!!

 

On a new 2010' SD the 6.8l is a $695 option and it comes standard with 4.10s.

 

This may help you narrow down your search some. The 2005 and 2006 5.4L SuperDuties came with standard 3.73 open rears. But, according to the Ford ordering guides for the 2007 and 2008 (at least job1...not sure about job2 and job3), the 4.10 open was bumped to standard and the 3.73 became optional.

I'm not sure if your price range allows for looking at 2007s, but if you can find one I think the odds are higher of it having a 4.10.

Ord.

 

I have owned a 5.4/3.73 and I now have a 6.8/4.10. Both trucks are very capable. The 5.4 must work much harder when towing heavy loads. The 6.8 easily motors through the resistance of heavy loads and elevation changes without breaking a sweat and can tow in OD at much lower RPM's, something a 5.4 can never really acheive. If at all possible get the 6.8/4.10 combo, you will never regret it and the MPG penalty is only 1 MPG around town, maybe a little higher at highway speed. Good luck with the search!

 

Factory 5.4L w/4.10 here

pulling this

2007 Prowler 280RLDS (GVWR 9200#)

no big deal, a little fuel hungry trying to keep 70 mph in the wind, but that's true any time you have that much box behind a truck

 

I have an 03 F250 with a 5.4/3.73 combo and a 6 speed manual. I towed a 32' double bunkhouse TT last this year and was able to maintain interstate speeds. I really couldn't use OD except downhill. I got about 7 mpg. It did better than I thought it would. I used to pull the same trailer with a 02 6.8/4.30/auto Excursion. It would pull in OD except on steep hills and I always got about 9 mpg. It did great from a power standpoint but swayed more because it was shorter than my F250. Get the V-10 if you can but the V-8 can do it if you're patient getting and maintaining speed. Without a load the V-10 Excursion did as good or better on fuel as the V-8 in town and on the highway. Both vehicles weight about the same.

 

Regardless of engine towing a big trailer is going to take more fuel to get up to and maintain speed. Your towing around 20k lbs of truck and trailer there.

 

In some cases but not all,

My truck is rating the same (12500# conv tow) for all cab configurations. Glancing through the specs on all other configs reveals that the cab config only makes differences on 5.4L equipped trucks. V10/PSD appear to all be the same across the board

For 5th wheels, which is more pushing the limits, you do see a consistant rating change across all configs LWB being lower. But the most extreme difference I see for any config is about 1,000# between CC and RC, less than 10%.

However for handling, the LWB will perform better IMO so its a trade off.

 

Interesting, you feel the 6.0 (chevy) had a lot more seat of the pants than the V10? Not trying to start anything, just curious.

My dad has a 6.0/2500HD. I've driven it around but never 'got into it', I tend not to abuse vehicles. He hauls a 27'-ish (not for sure) 5'er enclosed cargo trailer (bread delivery) and says its got way more power than he needs - he thought his chevy 350 prior hauled it just fine. He did last year buy a UD cab-over, says he gets the same mpg hauling loaded than the chevy truck does empty lol. Some folks just dont care about having 500 horses under the hood, as long as it gets the job done. he's about the only guy I know who does complain about having too much power lol. Everytime I ride with him and some loud dodge roars by he always has to coment about that it must be compensating for something.

 

I believe you'll find the Chevy is at least 1000 lbs lighter. Or close anyways.