Whats up guys... 2005 F150 5.4 4x4 and I wanted to know what experience you guys have with towing with a charger. I am looking at a Lightning swap or other roots style blower (whipple etc) into my truck for more power for towing. What kind of effect will that have on reliablility etc? I tow a 7500lbs Toy Hauler and I want the extra power so I can go to a 35" tire and still be fine. Thanks...

 

I'd suggest gears over adding more power. Just adding more power is masking the true problem of too steep a ratio, and your trans will hate you for that. The correct set of gears will make any truck pull just fine regardless of tire size. My old 97 F150 ate one trans because I had 35s and didn't regear from the stock 3.55 gears. Minimum should be 4.10s, but ideally you want 4.56s. It'll put you back to somewhere between a stock 3.55 and 3.73 ratio.

 

Agreed start with re gearing then if that does give you what you want upgrade to the Supercharger

 

Truck is the 7lug 8200GVW with stock 4.10s

 

Upgrade to 4.56 for towing

 

Thanks for the the feedback, honestly...but I'm not looking for suggestions about how to tow better, but rather people's experiences of towing with a supercharger. I don't tow everyday so a blower will definately make daily driving ALOT more fun but I'm not willing to do it if it doesn't improve towing as well, or at least doesn't hurt it.... thanks guys

 

a blowers not going to hurt your towing. why else would they use turbo's on diesels?

 

Towing with a Supercharger is fine as long as you do not beat the truck there is no reason you cannot get normal life out of the engine. As long as you stay with the stock boost and a good tune you will be fine.

I would suggest a Twinscrew or Roots style blower, although the Procharger is nice. But like a few of us have said a gear swap still is something you need to do running those 35's. The supercharger will make that tranny wear out even faster if you do not do that.

 

not going to be able to do a lightning swap onto your 3 valve without a custom lower intake manifold, the whipple or roush are probably your easiest options.


I'd regear and add a shift kit before I did anything else if I was you

 

just want to confirm something. L swap 5.4 in my truck makes hauling 6k# loads easy. never slips or drops out of od lol