The Max Tow Package description states upgraded steering gear. Does anyone know what that includes?

 

Don't know if it has changed from one year to the next, but this is from the 2016 Order Guide:

Max. Trailer Tow Package (optional on XL, XLT, LARIAT, KING RANCH and PLATINUM; required for towing up to 12,200 lbs. [5,534 kg]; requires 3.5L EcoBoost® engine; n/a with Regular Cab 122" WB) includes 4-pin/7-pin wiring harness, Class IV trailer hitch receiver, Smart Trailer Tow Connector, Pro Trailer Backup Assist; auxiliary transmission oil cooler, 3.55 electronic-locking rear axle, trailer brake controller, and upgraded radiator, front stabilizer bar and rear bumper.

 

I think it has a different steering ratio.

 

A better ratio for maneuvering trailers around. Not exactly sure where it falls, only that it takes less movement of the wheel when backing up a trailer than the non Max Tow steering.

 

Another MaxTow 'feature' is the HDD frame, which is not listed. Several owners confirmed that, including myself. As far as the steering, is it really different? I can't imagine being any worse. I feel like driving a bus. Or a 70s car.

 

Yeah, it's different, and if you think an F150 drives like a bus or a 70's car, you've forgotten how poorly both of those steer. My 2015 XLT steers as well as my '95 SHO AFTER I added Eibach, Koni, a strut tower link and undercarriage links to the car.

Steering is tight in these trucks, dive and body roll is not bad for a truck. Many confuse body roll and dive with steering performance.

 

If you think these trucks drive harshly you must be pretty young. These new trucks drive like Cadillacs compared to the old trucks. Pretty well each new generation of F-series truck has offered an improved ride. I've owned a 1952 Mercury M1 4x2 which was solid front axle, leaf springs on all four corners, and a short wheelbase. I've owned a 1968 Ford F100 4x2 with the famous twin I-beam, with front coil springs and leaf springs in the back. That rode much better than the the old Merc. I had a 2005 Ford Sport Trac 4x4 with torsion bar front suspension, leaf springs in the rear, and front and rear swaybars. That rode better than the F100. My 2016 Ford Lariat, even being 4x4, is a nice riding truck.

 

I have owned six F150's, and my current one rides better than my wife's Escape! The roughest riding truck i've had of the bunch was a 2007 Single Cab XL. Tough as a mule, I worked that truck hard for 146,000 miles. I can't believe how far the comfort and ride quality has progressed with these trucks in just ten years!

 

I've owned European sports cars and sedans before this truck, so yeah, steering and handling is awful by comparison... but nothing I didn't expect . Steering is relatively accurate, since it's rack-and-pinion (vs recirculating ball), but that's about it. It requires constant small 'corrections' due to its lazy ratio too, just like cars from the 70s. And the 'pull drift compensation' makes matters worse; need to deactivate it one of these days, but need to download FORScan on my new computer first, and I'm not looking forward to that, since it was a royal PITA on my last computer... and don't even remember where to start .

 

Someone said they had the dealer recalibrate something called IVD and it fixed the steering issue. May be a better solution than turning off the pull drift compensation. I have not even seen how to do that in any of the forscan spreadsheets.