Will A 5 Star tune give me more mid range pulling power?
 

I towed for the first time with my TT (8000 lbs loaded to the max) at the weekend, first impressions were good, seems to pull well off the line and gets up to speed quick enough, but then I hit a couple of hills (65mph) and noticed that unless I was in 3rd above 4000 rpms I was starting to slow down, I must admit to being disappointed with the midrange power, does the truck get stronger with more miles and would a tune sort this mid range power problem out.

I live at 3500 ft elevation and the route was approx 100 miles with some head winds along the way, the truck had a full tank of gas, the wife, two young kids, bbq, bikes, and 30lb propane bottle in the back.

In a word, NO. The 6.2 likes to be above 4000rpm's. Third gear seems to be the favorite.

that's disappointing to hear :'( DO you think I'll get any improvement with a tune or after I put some more miles on it ?? what do people do who tow heavier trailers?

I was thinking of getting a fifthwheel, do they tow better than TT ?

Are you used to diesels or something? Doesn't sound like your truck has a problem. In situations like that, going up hills while towing, it's designed to rev high, and that's not a malfunction.

I believe max torque is around 4500 rpm on these engines, so you should be aiming for around that rpm when pulling hills. I can't remember what redline is, but you have a long way before you hit that.

EDIT: Also, sorry to sound rude, I'm fighting with my kids, and I'm not in a great mood. Hopefully no offense is taken.

I came from a 2010 F150 5.4l, I just expected there to be more of a power difference when towing the same TT.

I felt the same way at first coming from my Nissan Titan. Now that I have some miles on the truck... it seems to be better. The engine sounds great at 4000 rpm, don't be afraid to let it rip. Also, try Manual mode and hold the gear you want, using the toggle switch like a manual transmission. Works pretty good in certain conditions.

I haven't towed a lot with ours yet but I'm sure there is going to be a learning curve on how best to drive it when pulling just like when I went form a 460 to the 2V V10, after I got used to the higher RPMs and figured out the power cure my mileage went up and so did it's ability to pull. As far as hills all tucks including diesels slow down on hills, I also don't feel the need to be the first one to the top of a hill, fuel is just to expensive.

Denny

The power is there, it just may be higher up the band. Try it out and see.

We just ran a 4300 mile trip down through Tennessee with our truck and 8500lb trailer with 4 adults. I ran 93 octane most of the trip and it made a noticable difference in the power. I did not see any change in mileage but it pulled most of the hills in the Smokey Mountian area in 4th gear. I have 3.73 gears in mine and I used manual mode all the way (except when in cities) as the computer even in T/H IMO is useless. FWIW we averaged 8.8 miles per US gallon hand caculated never any faster than 62 mph.

well you did not say what kind of hills you are pulling and at what speeds.

I pull an 11k fifth wheel - on long 6% grades 4th gear and 4500 R's puts me right in the pulling groove with the 4.30 diffy. That is five mph faster than my old 99 psd would do.

I don't ever put the pedal to the floor so I spose it would go faster if I ran the pee pee out of it.

Thanks for the replies, I suppose after reading all the post about people pulling huge weights I was expecting diesel pulling power, I haven't owned a diesel truck and haven't ever pulled with a diesel truck so I don't know how they pull.
Anyway I love the truck, and after reading all your replies feel a lot happier about the way it performs:D I still may go for a tuner.

I remember years ago going from a 600cc road bike to a 1000cc bike and expecting there to be lots more low end torque, and then being disappointed because I thought it didn't need to be high in rpms to make it's power, but a friend of mine had the same bike and told me to go back out and 'ring it's bloody neck this time' :D and all of a sudden at 9000 rpms it went into warp speed :D:D:D
So I suppose the 6.2l is the same, in that it likes to rev:-X22


Dave HM,

I have the 4.30 rear end too, the route is from South of Calgary on Hwy 22X through Bragg Creek onto Hwy 1 to Banff, elevations vary from 3500 to 5300 feet, and there was a head wind most of the way on Hwy 1, as for the the mileage, I also got around the 8-9 mpg.

Sorry Dave HM,

I'm getting your posts mixed up with JohnnyThunder's :o

It does make diesel pulling power, just at different rpms. Diesels have the power down low, gassers have it up high. You can see the results here from an Ohio meet where my truck and KC8QVO's 6.7 pulled the same trailer up the same hill. His was only marginally faster. Now, pulling this load on a regular basis with a gasser? I probably wouldn't, but I don't fit that demographic so the 6.2 is perfect (for now) for me. Still entertaining that whole supercharger idea though... I need to talk to my dealer and get their thoughts on it.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post10764990

I rolled over 3000 miles today and the engine still feels tight. I would imagine it won't loosen up until about 5000 miles.

I also went from a 2010 F150 with 5 star tune 87 perf. to the 2013 6.2 with 430s and it tows much better, about 500 miles towing stock. Fuel economy the same towing, 8mpg but I only get 11.5mpg vs 15mpg in the F150.
Just got a tune for my 6.2l 87 per.tune put 250 miles on it unloaded and gained about .6 mpg more, will tow 500 miles in a month can't wait. 1600 miles tot. on truck.
The F150 seemed faster than my F250 but with the 430s and the tune its plenty fun to drive.

Towing stock the 6.2 was fine to me, much better than the F150, they both got up to speed the same but the F150 couldn't hold the gears and was always shifting around as there was no OD lockout. My F150 was a 5.4 with 3.73s.
I did add super springs ssa16 to my F250 because with a cap and tools the rear was a 1/2 lower than the front. Have not towed with the superspring yet. Its just a little stiffer but not really noticable driving around, it lifted the back 1 1/4". Truck was level stock before the cap went on.