Honestly, I would tough it out, beat the ever living **** out of your 4.6 on your way to cali and sell it when you get there for another ford

Why buy a new truck then beat it? If you make it to cali you'll get your 5k, if you dont you can get 2k for a push it, tow it, limp it in deal.

-06inthestix

 

Just rent a moving truck with a hitch. Use it to pull your bronco for ya. Then someone else can drive the ford for you and you can keep both trucks

 

So I guess I dont get the problem... Your truck has a 4.6 and of course half the trip is uphill and the other half is downhill... The downhill parts licked, but the uphill seems to be troubling you. I would fill the tank and take a trailer camping to test the mileage. You gave an idea of after about half a tank the gauge goes down fast. But how much fuel is actually in the half tank. On my previous truck the tank was smaller at the bottom than the top, drove for awhile on full then at about half a tank it went fast. I do the math and 700 mile trip at 10 MPG and your going to use 70 gallons of fuel. I dont know if your tank is 10 gallons or 40 gallons. Stops will of course be based on the size of your tank. Worst case you get 7 MPG and you use 100 gallons... How this can equate to sell your truck before moving and buying a new one when you get to California, you may be justifying wants versus needs. Even at 100 gallons your looking at less than 400 dollars in cost of fuel. But if you want to buy a new truck when you get here, well your going to get sticker shock... But too each his own...

 

Wow didn't know the 4.6 was that bad, towing around 7k I never go over 2500 rpm usually is level at 2000, and can gain speed uphill or at least stay the same. If you are towing between 2300 and 4500 rpm you may not wanna tow that long of trip. IMO you may be sitting beside the road with engine troubles, thats a lot of strain on the engine for that many miles. If you could slow down and try to keep it from downshifting to that high rpm range it would work fine, just be a slow trip. Also, try using the cruise control. Using cruise on my pickup while towing with o/d off, it stops the downshifting. I can have the cruise set at 60 coming up a hill and it will slow down some if it needs too instead of downshifting. Handy so you don't have to do that manually.

 

My brother and I hauled a 3k double axle uhaul over 1200 miles from Wisconsin to Georgia with his 5.4. It did a pretty good job, but as expected it had to gear down somewhat frequently when going up hills etc. That being said, if I were you I would buy a 5.4, at this point it's sounding like your only option and the reason I say that is because towing over 5k with a 4.6 may be doable but you will use a sh!tload of gas and grenade your tranny if you are constantly gearing up and down over half of the way there. Keep in mind that neither of these engines are going to be great in the towing department when compared to the new engines but thats just my 2 cents.

 

I just can't believe the 4.6 isn't capable of towing 6k pounds... Isn't the v6 even rated for that much weight?

 

seriously? yes its rated to tow well over 6k

 

It should be rated to tow at least 6200lbs. Dont know why you are having problems. What year, size is the f150?

 

Here is the problem with the 4.2 and 4.6. They are good standalone engines, but for actual use in a truck they aren't great. I mean that by its all about torque when it comes to towing (and nearly everything else). The 5.4 makes 350 lb-ft @ 2500rpm (which is only 166 hp right there) but around 2500 rpm your cruising in direct drive at 65mph. Now the 4.6 makes 290 lb-ft @ 3500 rpm and the 4.2 makes 254 lb-ft @ 3400rpm. Torque is the ability to turn the wheels while power is the rate at which you can apply torque.

Torque also has to do with efficiency. A Eco-Boost makes 90% of its peak torque at 2000 rpm which is why it is a good engine for pulling and is why it's efficient. That is also why a 500hp Duramax LBZ can make 23 mpg going down the highway, it puts down 990 lb-ft of torque at 1600 rpm. Also why a stock Common Rail 5.9 can make 29 mpg going down the highway, it makes 650 lb-ft @1600 rpm and 2000 rpm is 75mph in OD.

What all am I getting at? Try pulling with the truck and keeping the engine as close to 3500 rpm when your going up hills. Make sure OD is off, and keep the engine in the torque. Yea your going to burn more fuel, but why buy a new truck that will cost you more than try and sell a truck you have that can get the job done, just won't do it as efficiently?

 

I didn't see any suggestions for the eco-boost engine.

I am going to be buying a new truck in the spring and I am doing the research now. I was thinking about a Ford Lariat with the eco-boost. I want something to pull a travel trailer. I am looking for gas milage and towing power (isn't everyone?). The eco-boost seemed like the answer. Should I look esewhere?

BTW, I am also looking at the GMC SLT with the 5.3.