I am looking to purchase a 97-99 F150 Extended cab which has the tow package and Off Road package. The truck will be used to tow 6-8 times/year a 5,000 lb car/trailer combo.

Question is, should I avoid trucks with offroad package? What are the ride/handling differences with the Offroad package? Does it sit higher than without? I understand that the package included different shocks and springs.

I want be going offroad, just daily driver and the tow mentioned.

Appreciate the feedback.

Keith

 

Hello smithk3933,

Both the Tow package and Off Road package have the exact same shocks, springs and suspension height. With the Off Road package you will get 17" aluminum wheels, skid plates and the Off Road badge. In my opinion the Tow package and Off Road package is a good combination to get.

 

It makes a difference if its an Offroad package or an FX4. An FX4 is just an updated version of this available on the 02 and newer F150s I believe. The old ORP didn't really have upgraded shocks, but the rear springs were different. The regular 4x4s got a 3 leaf pack and the ORP got a 4 leaf pack. Other than that the suspension was pretty much identical. The ORP also got skid plates, 3.73 gears with a rear LS diff, and I THINK it got the aux transmission cooler as well. The FX4 package got the fancy aluminum wheels like the old ORP did along with the skid plates and the extra rear leaf. The shocks on those are different. They're VERY crappy Rancho knock-offs (they use hard plastic boots and don't usually last very long). That really is the only big difference between the old ORP and the FX4, most of the other options remained the same. If you're going to be doing any towing, especially in the weight range you're talking about, I would make sure the truck has an auxiliary transmission cooler (install one if it doesn't, preferably the biggest one you can find) and install a transmission temp guage. I tow a similar load to what you're going to be and I installed a B&M 28,000 GVWR stacked plate cooler which dropped my trans temps almost 25*. The temp guage was nice since I could keep an eye on what my transmission was doing since this was one of the reasons why I had to get my trans rebuilt before. It got overheated and since I didn't have a guage I couldn't tell that it had.

 

Great feedback. I'm probably going to be in the 97-99 model range due to the price point I'm looking at.

Any ideas why the 17" wheel package lowers the tow rating from 6600lbs to 6100lbs. The 97 I'm looking at has the tow package and offroad with an axle code of 3.55LTB.

Thanks.

Keith

 

2 Reasons:

1) Extra weight. The extra weight of the wheels and tires on the 17" package must be subtracted from the towing capacity.
2) Gearing. I don't know about the particulars of the package, but if the 17" tire/wheel package comes with taller tires, you are effectively increasing the final drive ratio (i.e. putting higher gearing on the vehicle). Higher gearing means lower tow capacity.

Grim