Manuellabour247

I know several people on here that got better gas mileage going to the 3.73 or another gear with bigger tires. Goes towards the mechanical advantage to get the tires going. Similar to the guys with procharger getting an unexpected surprise of higher MPG (when not making the charger scream Lol). It's a lot of factors that go into MPG, the biggest one is how you manage the go pedal.

summertop511

I think it's like the no36 gallon gas tank in the 2011 ecoboost's. Then they put them in 2012 cuz they saw the ecoboost was no better then the 5.0 towing mpg

Ron AKA

The way I read the guide at the link below, you need the heavy duty payload package to get the 3.73 gears in 2014 too.


http://www.ford.com/resources/ford/g...F150_Sep11.pdf

DemonGT

iTrader: (1)

maybe its because of the weight dropping?

pfbz

It is odd that Ford restricts the 3.73 gearing so much. Definitely the best 'performance' gear ratio with the EcoBoost.

My 2011 FX4 EcoBoost has 3.73's and I would absolutely want it in a new truck, but as pointed out, even in 2014 there are very few combo's that will get you 3.73's + EcoBoost, and pretty much all of them involve big tow mirrors and often 6.5' bed's in SuperCrew.

Ford makes it way to easy for me to just keep my 2011 instead of getting a newer EcoBoost.

Milton6001

That is not how I read it. If you look at the chart on page 2 it shows tow ratings of up to 9600 lbs with 3.73 and 145" wb 4X4. This is exactly what I got on my '13. It bumps up to 11,200 if you get the same truck with max trailer tow.

The heavy duty payload option contents on page 4 indicate that the package forces you to 3.73 gears....not that you cannot get them without the package.

My .02

Ron AKA

Agree if you go for a 4X4 you can get 3.73 without the heavy duty payload. However, you can't on the 4X2. Not sure why one would go for the 3.73 though as it gives you no extra trailer towing capacity over the 3.55, and only 100 lbs over the 3.31. 100 lbs is insignificant.

GreenScrew

OP is regarding the 2015 as this is a 2015 forum. I'm the 2015 order guide 3.73 isn't available as an option, only as part of the heavy duty tow package per the OP. And finally, also per the OP, one reason might be to retain good acceleration with over sized tires.
Still scratching my head as to why Ford limits this so tightly...

Ron AKA

The OP said they were considering a 2014 because of the limited option for the 3.73 in 2015. I just pointed out that unless you go with a 4x4 the option is not there in 2014 either. Also seems to me that if acceleration is a priority one should be looking at a Mustang, not a F150. I have a 5.8L with a high ratio rear end, but that is for towing, and it sure is no hot rod.

Power Kid

I'm also "troubled" by the lack of 3.73s with a 3.5EB max tow. Yes losing 700+ lbs will have a tremendous impact when empty, however when you load er up 8,000 lbs + I don't think a '15 w/ 3.55s would keep up with my 2011 and 3.73's. Now that said the X factor is we still don't know the power rating of the '15 3.5 EB. Maybe with a bit more hp & tq combined with the diet then perhaps the tradeoff was so small the 3.55's made sense. And lets face it even for those of us that do tow heavy loads with our F150s its not very often otherwise we would step up to Super Duty.

What concerns me much more is the downgrade from the 9.75 rear pumpkin to ? If you read the order guide you get the 9.75 with the baby EB and the tow pkg, and with the EB and the HD payload pkg, but NOT with the 3.5 max tow. Now if this is correct (please advise if I'm mistaken here) how does that make sense? You can tow 11,000lbs but with the ring set that us to be n the 4.6L trucks? I've had enough problems with my rear end on my 2011, wasn't looking for a weaker one.

I think Ford wants us to tow boats and wagons with no pin weight!

(And no I won't go to a HD payload unit as I don't want a 6.5 ft box and I want a Lariat Sport)