Scooney8

2018 F150 2.7L V6 Ecoboost. Purchased to tow vintage Airstream 31 ft...approx 7500 lbs. I have the tow package. Do i have to use premium gas and do I have to drive it in 4L? Any info would be appreciated.


Thanks

icantdrive55

Ford recommends using premium if you're towing. You NEVER drive your truck in either 4Hi or 4Lo unless you are in a limited traction situation, i.e., snow, ice, gravel, dirt, grass. If your truck is an upper trim level and has the 4A setting, you can use that on dry pavement, but it's certainly not necessary. Strongly recommend you go read your Owner's Manual immediately. Nearly everything you need to know is in there.

I have no doubt there will be other posters in here soon to weigh in on your truck's towing weight limits, so I won't even bother going there...

smokeywren

Hi, Scooney8, and Welcome! to ourcampfire.

Caveat: Don't confuse GCWR and GVWR. in the discussion below.

Premium gas? Maybe. A TT that weighs 7,500 pounds is heavier than the 2.7L 4x4 with standard 3.55 axle ratio is rated to tow unless you tow with basically an empty F-150 that grosses less than 5,400 pounds (12,900 GCWR minus 7,500 gross trailer weight) before you tie onto the trailer. Load your F-150 with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing, fill up with gas, and weigh the wet and loaded F-150. You'll probably discover that your wet and loaded F-150 weighs more than 5,400 pounds. So you're going to be overloaded over the pulling capacity of your F-150 when your trailer grosses 7,500 pounds. Therefore your 2.7L engine is going to struggle when towing, especially over hills and mountain passes. So you'll need premium gas to give the small engine all the help you can give it.

I tow often with my 3.5L EcoBoost using regular gas, but never when loaded to anywhere near the GVWR and payload capacity of my F-150. With your F-150 and 7,500-pound TT, I wouldn't leave the driveway without a full tank of premium gas. And more than that, plan ahead so you burn up all the regular gas in the tank and get down to fumes before you fill up with premium close to time to tow the trailer.

The towing pkg will help with cooling your overloaded drivetrain, but unless you also have the 2.7L Payload pkg, you're probably going to be overloaded over the payload capacity of your F-150, Use the same scale ticket as above to get the wet and loaded weight of your F-150, then subtract that weight from the GVWR of the F-150 to determine payload capacity available for hitch weight.. Subtract 100 pounds from the payload capacity available for hitch weight to get payload capacity available for tongue weight (TW). Divide the payload capacity available for TW by 13%, and if the answer is less than 7,500 pounds, then you're probably going to be overloaded over the payload capacity of your F-150.

If you replace the 3.55 ring gear and pinion with 3.73 in both front and rear diffs, that will give you enough GCWR to not be overloaded over the pulling capacity of your F-150. But there's nothing cost effective you can do to increase the payload capacity of your F-150. Bottom line? You bought the wrong F-150 to tow a 7,500-pound TT.

What icantdrive55 said.

ifallsron

I'm looking at the same type of Airstream and plan to find an F-250 for dedicated tow and flexibility when I'm out of the flatlands.