Ok I have been towing with a 2004 F150 2 wheel drive. It towed my TT great, solid as a rock. No wiggle, no nothing. Fast forward to the new F150 4x4 Off Road. I set the hitch up the same, all measurement good, sits level. So while I don't have a sway issue. I can feel the TT more than I could with the 2 wheel drive. I have lots more power, but it is just not as rock steady as the 4x2. Sill no sway at all though.Admittedly, I haven't put the HD tires on yet, but even with the stock tires. The 4x2 was more steady. I'm thinkin that maybe because the 4x4 sits so much higher, I feel it move more. Reason why. Even with out the TT. The 4x4 is not as stable as the 4x2.BTW. The 4x4 has a higher GVWR, and more payload than the 4x2.

Tires can make a big difference. Even the tread pattern on same size tire. Some tires require more PSI than others to ride correctly. A truck that sits lower can also feel more stable.

4x4 pickups usually come with tires having a more aggressive, blockier tread pattern, as a matter of style and an expectation you bought 4x4 to go off road. The more off-road the tread pattern, the more squirmy on pavement. You'll notice the difference a lot more as you push the tire's handling limits, whether by towing, fighting crosswinds, or cornering at high speeds. Higher chassis height, larger wheel-tire diameter, taller aspect ratio are all factors that play into 4x4 vs 4x2 handling differences. Inflation pressures can also be critical for handling, although seldom adjusted for this purpose in normal driving.

Did you adjust the head hieght and tilt or the new trucK??

Something seems odd. I've never driven a F150 4x4, but my Ram 1500 is rock solid towing or not. I'm going to presume you did NOT get a F150 Raptor? Is it an FX4? A more off road oriented package/model could have somewhat softer suspension and more travel so that it can handle faster off road which is not going to be the best for towing IMO.

braindead0 wrote:Something seems odd. I've never driven a F150 4x4, but my Ram 1500 is rock solid towing or not. I'm going to presume you did NOT get a F150 Raptor? Is it an FX4? A more off road oriented package/model could have somewhat softer suspension and more travel so that it can handle faster off road which is not going to be the best for towing IMO.Bingo! We have a winner! A 4X4 with a stiff suspension is pretty useless offroad as you want the tires to have contact with the ground at all times.

Going from 4x2 to 4x4 | Good Sam Community

braindead0
Explorer
Aug 01, 2016
What size/type of tires? I still have P tires on my ram, however they are fairly low profile 275/60-20 which I would suspect helps with side-wall stiffness.
Terryallan
Explorer II
Aug 01, 2016
No it is not a
Fx4. It is. A XLT 4x4. Off-road
braindead0
Explorer
Aug 01, 2016
AJBert wrote:
braindead0 wrote:
Something seems odd. I've never driven a F150 4x4, but my Ram 1500 is rock solid towing or not. I'm going to presume you did NOT get a F150 Raptor? Is it an FX4? A more off road oriented package/model could have somewhat softer suspension and more travel so that it can handle faster off road which is not going to be the best for towing IMO.

Bingo! We have a winner! A 4X4 with a stiff suspension is pretty useless offroad as you want the tires to have contact with the ground at all times.
I wouldn't say useless, certainly less fast. We take our 4x4 RAM 1500 off road all the time and as a TV it's rock solid (at least with our 3000# TT, admittedly fairly light), however we do so fairly slow and nothing like the kind of places we'd take our Jeep. If our RAM was something like the power wagon variant I'd bet it wouldn't function quite as well as a TV.
SoCalDesertRid1
Explorer
Aug 01, 2016
I think the Raptor only came with the 6.2 V8?

He has the 5.0 V8 with 'off road package', likely the FX4. I think he probably just has different shocks, all terrain tires, a skid plate under the t-case and a couple stickers on the bed that say FX4 Off Road. That's usually all the off road package comes with.
AJBert
Explorer
Aug 01, 2016
braindead0 wrote:
Something seems odd. I've never driven a F150 4x4, but my Ram 1500 is rock solid towing or not. I'm going to presume you did NOT get a F150 Raptor? Is it an FX4? A more off road oriented package/model could have somewhat softer suspension and more travel so that it can handle faster off road which is not going to be the best for towing IMO.

Bingo! We have a winner! A 4X4 with a stiff suspension is pretty useless offroad as you want the tires to have contact with the ground at all times.
braindead0
Explorer
Aug 01, 2016
Something seems odd. I've never driven a F150 4x4, but my Ram 1500 is rock solid towing or not. I'm going to presume you did NOT get a F150 Raptor? Is it an FX4? A more off road oriented package/model could have somewhat softer suspension and more travel so that it can handle faster off road which is not going to be the best for towing IMO.
eHoefler
Explorer II
Aug 01, 2016
Did you adjust the head hieght and tilt or the new trucK??
tatest
Explorer II
Aug 01, 2016
4x4 pickups usually come with tires having a more aggressive, blockier tread pattern, as a matter of style and an expectation you bought 4x4 to go off road. The more off-road the tread pattern, the more squirmy on pavement. You'll notice the difference a lot more as you push the tire's handling limits, whether by towing, fighting crosswinds, or cornering at high speeds.

Higher chassis height, larger wheel-tire diameter, taller aspect ratio are all factors that play into 4x4 vs 4x2 handling differences. Inflation pressures can also be critical for handling, although seldom adjusted for this purpose in normal driving.
Highway_4x4
Explorer
Aug 01, 2016
Tires can make a big difference. Even the tread pattern on same size tire. Some tires require more PSI than others to ride correctly. A truck that sits lower can also feel more stable.

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