How's Your Ford 5.4L For Towing?

nast70

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Have been looking to move into a newer truck for a while, might have found a winner in a 2009 5.4L Ford. Have any of you had issues? how much do you tow with it? My 5'ver is within the published capabilities of the truck (10300 wet, trucks listed at 11300 with 4:10 ratio). I think i'm at the point i can give up keeping up with the deisels and settle for a better all around truck as a daily driver. Any thoughts would be appreciated....
 

Oilboy

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It will tow it, it's not really going to like climbing up a mountain, but with 4.10's it will do it, just be screaming, fuel mileage with something that heavy will probably be around 7-8mpg
5.4 were tuff motors we have them in all our work trucks they idle 24/7 and were not nice to them I just wouldn't want to ever have to change the plugs ($$) could be a $300 job could be $3000
mechanically they seem good Don't get much for mileage though best I've seen is 18 and that's with 3.73's
and some seem to have rear end issues, could be the drivers though. Check the f-150 forums. Lots of guys there with more info on issues
 

sirkdev

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Don't do it..... My 2006 f250 5.4 ext cab short box struggles with a trailer and a commander on the highway. 2500 lbs behind that feels like i'm towing 15000lbs compared to my 6.7 diesel.
 

nast70

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Currently hauling with a magnum V10. Gave up on good mileage a long, long time ago! A buddy once told me "they are bullet proof motors, except they use more fuel than the space shuttle! yuk! yuk! yuk!"
 

magnet

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09 was ok at best definitely not billet proof lol
Had an 09 150. Put 200 km on it was decent towing but not great the six speed they came out with in the 09 was a huge improvement for mileage and towing.
Traded it this year as the cam shaft eccentrics where going big money to repair. Differential needed a rebuild as the clutches where fugged to.
It was ok truck I abuse my ride if it can't take it they should make it tougher IMO lol. I towed our 33' bumper pull that tares at 9800lbs but it was a job.

Traded in for a ecoboost. Ten times the truck for towing pulls the trailer like nothing. Fuel Milages are comparable with a slight advantage to the ecoboost
Definitely a fun truck to drive a few bolt ins and you can be over 500hp easy with less than 2g in add ons.

IMO spend a few extra dimes and get an ecoboost.
 

Iron Horse Racing

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We have approx 800 light trucks in our North American Fleet, about 75% of them are Fords and a high majority of those have the 5.4L motor.

Now lets talk about all the Ford 5.4 motors , Google camshaft phaser variable timing proplem,we have six of them in Edmonton alone 18 company wide...
We are now going to start a program of dumping the 2005 - 2008 with over 100,000km to start as it hasnt showed up yet in the 2009 and up..

If you own one and it starts to tick like the old stuck lifter sound, get someone you trust to inspect it ASAP...... The Final Repair Guide to 5.4 Cam Phaser Tick/Knock Sound - Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans heres a good idea of the problem and one guys fix......(Fords fix is to replace the motor)
 

magnet

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We have approx 800 light trucks in our North American Fleet, about 75% of them are Fords and a high majority of those have the 5.4L motor.

Now lets talk about all the Ford 5.4 motors , Google camshaft phaser variable timing proplem,we have six of them in Edmonton alone 18 company wide...
We are now going to start a program of dumping the 2005 - 2008 with over 100,000km to start as it hasnt showed up yet in the 2009 and up..

If you own one and it starts to tick like the old stuck lifter sound, get someone you trust to inspect it ASAP...... The Final Repair Guide to 5.4 Cam Phaser Tick/Knock Sound - Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans heres a good idea of the problem and one guys fix......(Fords fix is to replace the motor)

Yup at idle it shows up the worst. Starts running really rough then sounds like a rod is coming out the bottom of the pan. Rev it up a bit and goes away long enough to get a trade in value. :)
My 09 did 200k then got really bad started at about 80k though
 

cokecrazed007

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I run a superchip in my 5.4 and it sure woke it up. I have over 215000 on it and I would buy another. It is for sale if anyone is interested.

Sent from my LG-E973 using Tapatalk 2
 

magnet

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I was running a bullydog but still no ecoboost
 

doorfx

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I run a superchip in my 5.4 and it sure woke it up. I have over 215000 on it and I would buy another. It is for sale if anyone is interested.

Sent from my LG-E973 using Tapatalk 2
Which one are you running?
 

any1butjj

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had a 5.4 for about 5 years before switching to a diesel truck, as said on other posts it is not bad on the flat with no head wind but if you a long hill or have some head winds you will be doing 70kmh and turning 4500 rpm - not a good long term solution
 
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