Hey, I just picked up a 2002 supercrew with the 5.4 and 3.55's and i'll be using it to tow my 2009 29 foot travel trailer. I wont be towing it that often and the weight of the trailer is matched to the trailer towing capabilities of the truck but i'm looking for a little added comfort.

So I've been out of an f150 for over a year and a half so some mods have changed on me ... I'll be getting a gryphon programmer with probly 1 custom tune (towing). I'm also considering new intake ( Probly k&n ) and Exhaust ( probly magnaflow but not sure yet ). Also possibly some pacesetter long tubes.

I'm thinking this will give me a little more low end to help get me up and over some hills that might otherwise give the supercrew some problems. I'll be upgrading to 4.10 gears next year when it's time for new tires ( 33's ) but the 3.55's will have to do for now.

Let me know what you think and let me know of anything else i could add or change to help me tow a little better and safer. Thanks.

 

The only thing that will provide any difference in acceleration under 2500rpm is the gear change. The tuner will help with transmission shifts which will also be a benefit, but the bulk of the actual power increase is at much higher engine speeds.

Is this a 2WD truck? $500 installed for new gears. For the cost of everything except the gears, you could replace the gears instead and provide a better towing performance in a 4WD truck.

If you plan on 33" tires, get 4.56 gears, not 4.10.

 

the truck is a 4wd and i'm looking at about 1300 for front and rear installed.

 

Right, so $1300 for gears or $1300 for all the other stuff combined. Gears would be more valuable for towing, but the rest may be nicer for DD.

 

O.k cool good to know. I'll probly stick with the programmer intake and exhaust for now since i'm getting the trailer delivered probly sat so chances are I wont even tow it for a month or two to shop around for a good deal on gears and install.

 

What APT said, most bang for the buck is gonna be the gears. Been there, done that.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the make and model of this If you mean that the 'dry' weight of the trailer is under the 'tow rating' of the truck, then you might have some more math to do with some actual weights....

Towing 'comfort' is pretty subjective, so that could mean anything.... It might be comfortable right now, but what do YOU mean by 'comfort'... Is it cruising up the hills at 65 mph in OD? Is it to feel like the trailer is not even back there?

Even with 4.56 gears, are you going to be able to make enough torque at whatever speed/rpm you are at to stay in say 3rd gear going up the hills? If so, then great, but if not, then you'll be running in 2nd like the rest of us and pulling even more rpms because of the 4.56 gears.... For example, going 60 mph in 3rd gear with 33" tires, you'll be pulling around 2800 rpms. Are those tunes and other power adders going to provide enough torque at that rpm to be able to maintain your speed up that hill? The grade of the hill is going to make a difference too, so you may very well be able to hold 3rd on the smaller ones, but those 5-6% ones might still bog you down.....

Anyway, not trying to dash any hopes here or sound all preachy, but just 'cause some tow numbers and added hp/tq numbers look good on paper, does not always mean a 'comfortable' tow either..

Mitch

 

So have you already put in the brake controller and purchased a good weight distribution hitch? What about a good sway brake? It'll be adequate in going, what about stopping?

 

It's a wildwood la I believe ( don't have the paper work on me)

I'll i mean by a little extra comfort is I know the the truck will pull the trailer mostly just what can i do to improve the truck for A towing in general and B prolong certain parts that may be prone to wear faster when towing a heavy load.

When i said that the truck could pull the trailer i took into account the dry weight and about 1200 pounds of gear/water. That being said if i was gonna tow it any great distance i wouldn't have a full tank of water anyways.

I've never had a trailer this size so thank you for your input. If you can be any more help i'd love it.
It already has a brake controller and yes I purchased an equalizer hitch ( which i'm guessing is the same thing as a weight distribution hitch.) Sorry for my inexperience showing what does a sway brake do?

 

A sway brake or sway controller helps to keep trailer sway in check. Works especially well when it's windy or around semis on the road. Reese actually reccomends running two sway brakes on trailers above 26'.

 

If you are going with the 29' Wildwood LA, both models I looked at are way over your capacity. Both have greater than a 11,000lb GVWR. And well over a 7k dry weight. Tow capacity is 7500-8300 depending upon 4x2 or 4x4 and wheel size. GCWR is 13000 no matter what. You will be well over that also.

 

Your E-Qualizer hitch is both WD and sway control so your good there but you really need to know the UVW (unloaded vehicle weight) and GVWR of that particular travel trailer to do the numbers...IMO, published Tow capacity is the least important and most misleading of the specs to work from when deciding what you can pull.

 

Even the 'smallest' Wildwood LA model will be at the limits of your truck IMO....

If you are indeed getting one of those "29..." models, it's actual length is 33' from bumper to hitch and would make a Super Duty work hard!

No amount of add ons is going to do make towing eaiser with your F150, if it's one of those beasts....

I really do hope it's that model "27...." that you are have, because it's the only one that you have any kind of chance of towing, but as I said, you'll be pretty much maxed out with it and actually over some of your other trucks load limits... Just not the trucks "tow rating" figure.... You have to deal with the trucks GVWR, front and rear GAWR to start with and just as an example, in my case, I'm over my trucks GVWR with just a little 22' TT (measured from bumper to hitch) and it only weighs #5000!

Verify the exact model of the Wildwood you have and that will determine what your next course of action is going to be.....

Mitch

 

i believe the dry weight was just under 6500 lbs and the tow capacity i was told on the f150 was around 7500lbs. I could be wrong on the truck but i'm pretty sure that was the trailers weight. It is a light weight model.

 

Just curious...How does a #5000 TT with a #650(+-) tongue weight put you over GVWR? How much stuff do you have in the box? Just asking in case I am missing something about my set up.