Ford V6 Ecoboost tractor hauler?

Any experiences--good or not so good--on this truck? Looking to replace my ol'97 Chev. Also considering the Chev. 5.3 liter V8. Occasionally pull my JD630 on a bumper-pull tandem trailer around the valley where I live. No long distance or mountainous trips anticipated.
Thanks, John M.

4.6,It will pull it, but it will be slow. Gonna trade mine off and get a 5.4 again. Get good mileage but wont pull hat off my head

I opted for the 5.0, brother in law has an ecoboost, I own mine he leases his. Biggest thing for me was the twin turbos, some day one or both are gonna crap out, more than likely after warranty is up, I'm not saying I won't have trouble with mine it's just an extra I don't need. Last winter he was getting 11 mpg I wax getting 14 granted last winter was one cold SOB, he told me his sounded like a jet when he started it in the morning.

Summer driving I average 17 1/2 mpg, he gets 20.

This summer we both hauled our polaris rangers to the lake for the weekend, he got 10 mpg and I got 11, going home we'd had the bright idea to removed the windshields from the dangers for the drive home, he got 10 1/2 mpg I got 15. Needless yo say when his lease is up his getting a v8

According to a guy I know it will pull more than my Chev. HD 2500 6 liter 6 speed trans with 411 rear end. I think my truck is rated at about 12,500 lbs
So they must be one heck of a puller.
Personally I think it would be fine just pulling your heavy load locally from what I have heard and seen. Same goes for the 5.3 Chev. My son uses that engine in his landscape trucks which he's always pulling something he really should have a 3/4 ton for. But they seem to hold up good for him.

I have an 11 super crew (crew cab,weighs 6400 pounds with a half tank and two passengers) with the ecoboost(3.5) 4X4 and the std towing package. Driven gently at the speed limit, mpg is 20+ mpg.

We pull a 26 ft goose neck flatbed trailer to haul our tractor parade / tractor trek toys.

Last weekend we went to a 3 day steam threshing show
with two parade tractor toys on the trailer and a bumper hitch travel trailer hooked behind. Whole rig was right at the 70 ft long limit. The ecoboost pulled it with ease, really did not know the trailers were back there, the thing has big block torque and horsepower(420 torque low down at at 2500 and 365 hp, yet will make light load mpg with the best of them. With all that load and wind resistance, we still averaged 8 mpg loaded.

Makes a great cheap running chase around pickup that can pull trailers with the best of them when it needs to. If I had to do it again, I would do it again. ;-)

I have a 2011 Ecoboost with 3.73 limited slip axle and I pull my 40' fifth wheel camper, and my gooseneck trailer all the time. Pulls better than most 3/4 ton pickups do. Every time I use it someone always comes up to ask about it. My gooseneck is a 25' deck, haul 2 tractors a 6500# and 4500#. I really like passing the other guys and watch their expressions as I cruise on by!

Well sure got some different answers. Mine is a crew cab 4 wheel drive 2012. Ha 69000 miles today. Runs around 21.5 most of the time and drops to 17 when I pull a trailer. All I ever pull is a 6500 car hauler with car or tractor . Have a new one ordered supposed to be here early Nov and going back with the e co boost . Will out run and out perform my grandsons 5 0 . We check them pretty often.

Fellows,

Thanks to all for your thoughtful replies. I still sitting on the fence.
John

John, If you get the one with the max tow package and drive it like you're trying to get good mileage you will really like it. They make 90% of their torque at 1700rpm and max. torque at 2500. you don't need to wind this engine out to make power. I always let mine shift around 4000rpms when I tow. My tractor weighs 9500lbs. and this trucks handles it very nice. I get about 9.5 mpg towing the tractor. The new 150 weighs about 750 lbs.
less and is rated to tow 12000lbs.and has more power and torque than the 2014s.

Nice truck, nice ride, good power, 2013 crew cab. We actually have just put over 12000km on it yet. Drive other trucks most of the time.

Couple weeks ago started acting rough. Also time for oil change. Dip stick showed that it was over full. Ford dealer blamed the independant oil change place previously used...Ford changed a pcv and a couple other little things under warentee.
Went on a 1500km trip down to eastern Washington and up through the interior of BC. Came back with extra oil (fuel getting in some where). Turns out there is a Service Notice on some bolt by the turbo??? leaking fuel into oil.

They fixed it...didnt appoligize much though for the scolding for not using the dealership for the oil change.

Still like the truck, just beware...
Grant

With that truck it is all about the axle gear ratio. For occasional towing around 10,000 lbs 3:73's are ok. If you are going to pull 10,000lbs all the time I'd want 4:10. Most guys that complain about these trucks buy it right off the lot and have no clue what gear ratio the truck has

Wow after reading the below info I feel ALOT better about keeping my old Ford F350 with a 460 to pull with. Nothing it can't drag and I'm getting just as good of loaded fuel mileage as these new fangled trucks.

Take note of how all the negatives are coming from people who have never owned one, and all the positives are coming from people who DO own one.

Supposedly the turbos are going to "crap out" on you sooner or later? You run tractor turbos way harder for way more hours and they RARELY if ever "crap out." I think the industry has turbo technology pretty well perfected if you ask me.

Near as I can tell Ford knocked it out of the park with the ecoboost engines. Everyone I know who actually owns one, loves it, and hasn't had a lick of trouble.

If you're going to be towing heavy, look into the HD Payload package for your F150. Trucks with this will have 7-lug wheels. They have an 8200lb GVWR and easily over 2000lbs of rated payload capacity. You guys like to overload 'em so this will give you that much more capacity to handle it.

I have a 12 with the smallest eco-boost and it sure don't lack for power. Tow my camper with it and at 60 mph I get 14-15. When I hit the inter-state and keep up with the traffic (75) it cuts it down to 13. Waiting for thee 15's to be on the market and trading for a new one.

The Chevy 5.3 is a good motor my dads had two of them, his last one he sold at 175,000 miles trouble free and bought a new one has 40,000 on it so far and runs great, 20-22 unloaded, 8-10 loaded pulls anhydrous tanks, 375 buscher seed tender, haul sandblasted trailer with sand roughly 10,000 pounds seems to be a good motor and pull pretty good. I like the dodges but Chevy defiantly has a good motor with the 5.3

I like the GM 5.3. I bought a Serra 1500- 2004 new and ran it for 200K, often pullling a 10K trailer loaded to capacity. Never had a power problem. Here in Pa we really don't have any long hills, but there are some tough ones. Two of my BILS have the eco-boost. One is a 2012 and the other is a 2013. They don't tow anything and the 2013 has been in for a turbo, while the other one complains of no power. They get approx 15 mpg around town. I now use and tow with a 2003 silverado 5.3. It does okay and keeps up with traffic anywhere. My 5.3's get around 15.5 mpg on 15% ethanol fuel and 19 mpg on gasoline only fuel. Loaded they do approx 12 mpg.

1st of all I'm a Ford Parts manager. About the
only 4 parts I've ever sold for a ECO boost since
their inception has Been oil filter/ air filters
2 COP & 2 Sets of spark plugs. A Neighboring
tool maker company has now owned 4 F150 4X4
eco Boost. They bought 2 2010's in Oct of 2009.
Ran them till Oct of 2013, both were well over
200,000 miles. Both were trouble free Fords
except one truck after he washed the engine
needed 2 Coils On Plugs. They bought 2 more just
like the first ones. Those 4 trucks & all the
other Boost we've sold have been GREAT.
Performance wise, & durability. I know there
has to be some that haven't done well, but they
haven't been in our store. I'm an old V8 Man
& they have me impressed so far. With any kind
of care, I don't think you'll have a problem
with one.... For the most part a 3.73 seems to
do well for towing in Pa.. Get the Heavy Pay
Load. Equip it right it will treat you right.

The payload on my 11 is 3060lbs.

I have a 73 F100 with a 460 and a 2012 ecoboost. The ecoboost is rated for 11 300 # tow capacity. It has 100 hp and 60 foot pounds of torque over the 460. Not only that, peak torque is around 2000 rpm. I love the 460 but it won't pull at all like the Ecoboost. The 460 gets 5-6 mpg towing and maybe 9 tops. Ecoboost gets 10 towing a 8,000# fifth wheel, 18 + at 70 and best I've seen is 22.4. I also have a 06 GMC with the 5.3 short cab and short box. I really like driving it but it's not nearly as quick or torquey as the ecoboost. I've never heard anything but positive comments from anyone that actually owns one

Stay with pre 99 Chevy, with 5,7 (350) HP mouse motor and 4:10 gears. That's what I have and it gets 16 unloaded and 12 loaded to the max (12K) and will pull the front off your house.
I have 175 on the clock and nothing but tuneup parts .But I religiously change the oil every 10k miles. LOL
Every 5k miles in the 350 mouse in the 72 LT1 Corvette.

My work truck was a 2012 eco boost. I pulled a Ford 9N with it and it is loaded with calcium. That truck didn't know it was behind it. Ok it did but compared to when we hauled the tractor back a few weeks later with the Chevy 1500 the Ford out pulled the V8 chevy. This is coming from someone who loves the bowtie and really thinks FORD stands for fixed or repaired daily. But I was impressed by that truck. Put 12000 miles on it in under 3 months and only had to change the oil.

My 5.3 Chevy runs down the highway pulling a 10K gvw trailer loaded with my Farmall M. Heck I would break the speed limits with an 8n or 9n Ford at 2000 lbs on the trailer. The old 302 Ford I had could hardly move it.

(quoted from post at 04:51:29 09/25/14)
My 5.3 Chevy runs down the highway pulling a 10K gvw trailer loaded with my Farmall M. Heck I would break the speed limits with an 8n or 9n Ford at 2000 lbs on the trailer. The old 302 Ford I had could hardly move it.

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uhh duh, 302 is a mustang motor not a truck motor

We have one Ecoboost (officer's pickup) and 10 5.0 trucks (supervisors). Empty you can't tell the difference between them unless you run it up past 80-90 mph - then the Ecoboost seems to have more power. Towing they are all about the same. Mileage - the Ecoboost does slightly better empty (still only gets 19-20 MPG per tank of fuel) - loaded they are the same. Either of these engines is 10X the engine you could could in anything in the 1990s or earlier.

People hate hearing it but even the base 3.7 V6 in the Ford f150 a couple years ago was very comparable to the 460 and the 7.3 in the Super duties in the 1990s.

Millions of 302s (5.0s) went in Ford pickups from the 1970s to 1996. They were OK during their day, but comparing the newer 5.3 to the older 5.0 is hardly fair. The 5.3 in a pickup came out 3-4 years after the 5.0 was dropped from the Ford line. A better comparison would be a 5.3 to a 5.4. Both were in production at the same time.

Actually the Ecoboost has more than 140 hp over the 73 460. The 73 460 was rated at 225 net hp (with the updated heads - 208 HP with the "old" heads), the Eco Boost is rated at 365 hp, the little V6 also has more torque.

A production 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine, #448AA, was randomly selected from the assembly line at Ford's Cleveland engine plant. This engine had no idea it was in store for 163k miles of brutal endurance testing.
#448AA was Shipped to dynamometer cell 36B in Ford's Dearborn, MI engine lab and run for 300 hours, this engine's first experience was a rapid simulation of 150,000 customer miles, including thermal-shock runs in which the engine was cooled to -20F and then heated to +235F, repeatedly.
The engine was shipped to Ford's Kansas City truck plant where it was installed in an F-150 4X4 Super-Crew. After assembly the truck was driven to Nygaard Timber in Astoria, Oregon, where it dragged a total of 110,000 pounds of logs across the ground (requiring all 420 ft-lb TQ)
Next they drove the truck to Miami Speedway, and hooked it up to a 2-car open trailer carrying two NASCAR Ford Fusions (a total of 11,300 pounds) and run continuously around the oval track for 24 hours (average speed: 82 mph, distance covered: 1,607 miles)
After this they took the truck to Davis Dam in Arizona, where it beat out the 5.3-liter Chevy Silverado V-8 AND the Ram 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 each pulling 9,000 pounds up a 6 percent grade in an uphill towing contest.
The 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost engine was removed and then installed in a 7,100-pound F-150 Baja race truck. After 1,200 miles of practice they raced the truck 1060 miles in the SCORE Baja 1000, the toughest off-road race in North America, finishing 1st overall in the Stock Engine class. The truck's owner said the engine's fuel economy was so good compared with his previous V8 he skipped 2 planned fuel stops during the grueling trip from Ensenada to La Paz. After winning in Baja they sent the engine back to dynamometer cell 36B and dyno-tested one final time. It generated 364HP and 420ft-lb TQ, only one horsepower less than its HP rating and exactly Ford's given torque rating.
Lastly, for the final episode of the F-150 EcoBoost torture test, Ford Motor Co did a complete engine tear-down and inspection of engine #448AA (never been serviced or previously inspected) in front of thousands at the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The engine parts were laid out on three huge tables so that when the tear-down was complete, the engineers and the audience could take a closer look.
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(reply to postat 16:24:56 09/25/14)

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No experience with the eco boost but have two 5.3 engines.
99 GMC with over 400k, replaced lots of tires, lot of oil and a few sets of plugs and wires. and one a/c compressor.

2013 Chevy so far runs good.

To get a good ride when hauling match your rear end and suspension to your expectations. Ford Chevy and dodge all make a good product if its built for its application and cared for.