Boulevard

Marketing. FORD is very guilty of manipulating capacities in order to upsell 1 product vs another. Lots of arguments about this with the 5.0 vs the ecoboost where FORD deliberately reduced the capacity of the 5.0 in order to upsell the ecoboost. If you look at the 2015 5.0 vs the 2015 ecoboost and you will see the numbers reversed...why? It's all the marketing. Its all about profit, not safety.


If you were using a calculator to tow your trailer than acadianbob would be an authority. What Acadianbob does not realize is that calculators only work if the truck is not moving. I routinely tow 6000lbs at 70mph sustained and according to every person on this site who has ever tortured a calculator I am overloaded and thus unsafe. These are the same people that are nothing more that road hazards because their rigs are so poorly set up that they can't climb above 60. The calculator says that they should be able to keep up but for some reason they cannot. For Christ's sake there are guys on this site removing their spare tires just to make weight. How stupid is that!


Worry about safety, worry about set up, worry about stability and make sure to run over your calculator on your first trip out.

smokeywren

Payload = GVWR minus the shipping weight of the truck. Because of various options, there are numerous different shipping weights, and thus numerous different payload capacities of the same basic truck.


For 2011 thru 2014 F-150 there several different GVWRs.


7,100 = 4x2 standard
7,200 = 4x4 standard
8,200 = any F-150 with HD Payload Pkg.
Around 7,600 or 7,700 = any F-150 with Max Tow Pkg.


For a 4x2 with 7,100 GVWR, you could have regular cab, SuperCab or SuperCrew, with 5.5', 6.5' or 8' bed. And with XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, or Platinum trim level. Since the GVWR is constant, the heavier cab or heavier bed or heavier trim level will result in different payload capacities.

smokeywren

Your opinion. I don't agree with your opinion.

Ron AKA

That would be my conclusion. Wrong engine, and not enough payload, for 5th wheel towing. Better with a 3.5 EB and heavy payload option.

Ron AKA

Towing is all about where the power is located, not what the peak is. The 3.5 EB is much better suited for towing because it achieves the peak torque at very low RPM. This torque is available when towing at highway speeds. The 5.0 on the other hand, while it has a higher peak, is deficient at low RPM, and much more poorly suited to towing. Ford in fact probably made it worse for 2015 by increasing the peak HP. When you increase the peak in a non EB you typically sacrifice low end power.


The real marketing play was eliminating the 6.2 V8. It had reasonable low end torque, but not as good as the 3.5 EB. Assuming the 3.5 EB is durable, there really was no role left for the 6.2 based on performance. The durability question is still open though.

tomb1269

I agree with Ron AKA, low end torque is what you want for towing. I can tell you that based on % of capacity my 2006 4.2L Freestar with Tow package is a much better tower than my 2005 F150 FX4 5.4L SCrew, when you compare % of weight being towed to actual capacity. No I am not referencing its 9600lb tow cap on the F150, but what may actual tow ability is, i.e. payload. My the Freestar's torque and horsepower curves are Peak Torque of 268 at 3600rpm and Peak Horsepower of 201 at 4200rpm. The van will pull at 90% of its GCWR (100% GVWR) much better than the truck at 60 - 70% of its GCWR and 100% GVWR. The 5.4 needs more RPM to hit peak torque and therefore requires more attention. The Van will sit in top gear and pull up just about any north east interstate with out shifting at about 68mph. The only place I will tend to gear it down is the east on I90 coming out of the toll both due to the fairly good up slope and possible either direction on I90 at the Lee exit if there is traffic and I cannot build momentum.
When towing low torque and reasonable displacement are your friend.

Boulevard

Seriously. You are saying that the only measure of a desirable towing engine is low end torque. I think that the criteria that you are using to determine what is or is not a good towing engine is simply not broad enough, and I can prove it;


The FORD 6.2 which you both state is an inferior engine, is an F250 engine borrowed into the F150. The 3.5EB is a Ford Taurus engine borrowed into an F150. To me, the 6.2 isn't just a better engine, it is infinitely better engine.

king nothing

And most people would tell you the 6.2 is inadequate in the f250 for serious towing

A7B2FX4

Will disagree on the 6.2 being inadequate for towing. Have several with the 6.2 and love them. Picture is 13k towed and another 500 in the bed. Same MPG as my F150 EB when towing the TT. Equip the 6.2 with 4.30 axle sets and it does fine without the diesel drama nowadays.

5.0GN tow

The 5.0 does a good job towing at max load in the hills. I just towed 500 miles this weekend with a 5.0 2013 scsb with 3.55 gears and 1800lb payload. The trailer was at about 7500lbs and that is right at max per ford and it was a gooseneck trailer. I pulled a 2 mile 5% grade starting at 40mph and by about the 1mile point I was backing off throttle and sitting at 70 mph at which speed I crested the hill. The truck accelerated easily in 4th up that hill and several other long steep grades on the route never dropped below 4th and usally was in 5th or 6th.

The 5.0 with the 6 speed tranny is a great towing truck and would easily pass the new standards with far more on the hitch than ford rates it for. The key is the tranny which let's the engine really find its sweet spot and stay there no matter the load or road.