OP, my opinion , at least where I live, is that the 3.73's are awesome with the powerband of the 5.0. I live where it is not flat. If it were flatter, I would have been OK with 3.55's. I plan on bigger tires and wanted a lower gear. As I said, my wife's Expedition has 3.31's. they suck back home. But right now on our vacation, they are OK. It's totally flat. Drive each if your concerned.

 

Good point about the terrain, it's all flat land where I am. But even still the 6 speed tranny pretty much makes up for hills. There are man made hills here, I-10 east high rise in New Orleans East is about it.

That expedition is also a huge heavy brick compared to the pick up.


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I grew up with my father being a chevy dealer so i should of been diehard bow tie. I just bought my third F150 and drove the new Z71 before i bought the newest FX4 last thursday. the only problem i have had with any of my F150 is the cup the front tires if not rotated as recommended and the rest have been issues with choices of upgrades which weren't fords fault by my poor decisions on wheels and tires. As mentioned above if buying a 5.0 get 3.73 gears. I wish my one week old FX4 didn't have 3.55's but i will live with it and hopefully get better mileage. My fathers last truck was a 2010 F150 but he hasn't been a dealer since the 90's since he sold out.

 

Over 95,000 trouble free miles on my 2011 ECSB 5.0 truck with 3:55 gears. Mine is used as a service truck 99% of the time and a play truck once in the blue moon. By far the best truck I have ever owned!

Perry

 

Buy the ford you wont regret it, I traded from a 2001 chevy 4x4. I like my 2013 f150 stx much better and will never go back to chevy after the issues I had with it. Show us some pics of that new ford when you pull the trigger.

 

You can always reduce tire and rim size down to the min to basically lower your gears.

 

I would never reduce tire or wheel size. If anything I would go bigger but have no plans to on this truck since I will be driving 350-400 miles per week. I hoped to get better mileage with the 3.55 gears but i am not seeing any better than my 2011 was getting with 305/55/20's in the 1000 miles i've driven in the past week. It is running better now though.

 

If the sky's falling I'm going down with it, Pulled the trigger on a '13 fx4 ruby red screw 5.5'box 5.0 with the 402a trim level.

Hope to be in it by the weekend (waiting on dealer swap)

 

My Ecoboost is fine at 850 miles.

 

Congrats on the new ride, make sure you put some pics up when you get it. I really like the ruby red but I am not sure if you can get an stx in that color unless you special order.