Good day everyone, Starting to research a replacement tow vehicle and I like what I see with the F-150 Ecoboost. We have a 24ft travel trailer (Keystone passport 2400BH) 4700lbs empty, loaded for a trip 5500lb to 6000lb. Current tow vehicle is a 2004 dodge durango with the 5.7l engine. The durango has served us well but it is time to replace it. What I like about the F-150 is the cab room as we are a family of five, having a comfortable cab is important. We are looking to buy a used F150 most likely a 2013 or 2014 model. With that I have some questions for those that own and tow with an Ecoboost F-150. -3.55 axle or 3.73 axle. -Will the shorter wheel base super crew cab be a good stable platform. (the short wheel base will fit in our garage). -How is gas mileage while towing, current vehicle gets in the 10MPG range and would like something that gets at least that. -How is the gas mileage when not towing. -Would you tow cross-country with an ecoboost, as we are looking to take a trip from southwest Ohio to the Grand Canyon. And in future years we want to take a trip to Yellowstone. -How are these trucks for reliability, I am a firm believer in preventive maintenance so neglecting any and all required maintenance it not something I do with my vehicles. A few disclaimers we just purchased our current trailer last year and have no plans whatsoever to buy a bigger trailer because we buy a bigger truck. Our previous trailer we kept over twelve years and will do the same with this one. I am not interested in a ¾ ton diesel as I feel a properly equipped ½ ton would be a very safe tow vehicle for our trailer. I do have one other truck in mind that I will post questions about separately. Thanks for any feedback David

It sounds like you've made up your mind so - enjoy!I would not buy one without the Max-Tow package, which can be hard to find.

Even being a huge diesel fan, I will say that you likely have found the right truck for your needs. You should get better mpg while towing, and significantly better daily driving. Many owners on here will give you accurate numbers.

We have the '12 Ecoboost, SuperCrew, short box, with Max Trailer Tow Package. You will love that truck, and will pull that light trailer like it's not even back there. We had a travel trailer that was 7,000 fully loaded, and we'd pull that up 7% grades at whatever speed I chose, and pass when we wanted. I've since installed a custom 91 octane tune, and its really a beast. (Cue the weight police) I currently tow our Reflection FW, which is 10k fully loaded. I can pull up the 7% grades at 65 mph, and only have issues at 100 degrees (Arizona). Then I need to slow to 45 mph, and all is well. You will love that truck. And for the weight police, I'm now in the market for a full ton diesel.

We have a 2013 ECO 4x4 crew cab short bed 3.55. 48,000 miles, 12,000 plus towing. We tow a similar TT. Ours is 4900 empty / about 6100 loaded. We have a WD hitch and it tows great. Replaced the tires in Dec with Michelin LT tires and added Bilsten shocks. We have no problems with the short wheelbase being a stable ride. It actually towed great before the new tires and shocks too.We tow to the Keys at least once each winter, about 2000 miles for the trip. Overall mileage towing is 10.5 mpg avg. Will vary depending a lot of wind. Range is from 8.5 to 12.5 but on a long trip avg always seems about 10.5. Just made our first trip to NC mountains and averaged about the same 10.5 on a 1000 mile trip. We tow around 62-65 miles per hour. Faster or slower will definitely affect your mileage. Mileage not towing with a mix of driving is around 18.5. Can go up to 20-21 if on a long trip and you are not doing 80 :).The truck has great power and I would not worry taking it cross country. We are actually thinking about doing that. From NC coast to the Keys we set cruise and it rarely will drop out of 6th gear. In the hills I locked out 6th and dropped cruise in the real hilly areas but it still performed great.Long term reliability is to be determined. Some folks question that on the ECO. I don't think it is an issue. Only thing we have had to repair was a battery gone bad under warranty and a couple of minor recalls. Ours is not a max tow or max payload. Don't see it necessary with our size TT.

Many F-150 will tow your TT fine but watch the payload rating. You need 1,000 lbs free after gear for tongue weight including your WDH.Here is the 2013 towing guide. Pick a year and Ford's towing guides are a quick google away with all the info you need. Read the footnotes for the charts, for example some state Max Tow required.2013 Ford Towing Guide

F-150 Ecoboost towing | Good Sam Community

69 Replies

ShinerBock
Explorer
Aug 14, 2017
Ford does not recommend 91 octane when towing. It just recommends it if you want a bump in performance over the advertised output and it is most noticeable when towing. However, you do not need it if you are fine with the performance of 87 octane.

Those TFL guys need to learn how cam phasers, knock sensors, and computer controlled injection/ignition work. These ain't your old fixed timing engines anymore. They can adjust to different octane ratings and each octane rating will allow it to advance timing to gain extra power. If you don't need that extra power then no need to buy a higher octane.

Also, if someone believes that an Ecodiesel is nose to nose in performance to a 3.5L Ecoboost then they are smoking crack. The Ecodiesel is less powerful, but considerably better fuel economy. The 3.5L Ecoboost is considerably more powerful, but get worse fuel economy. It is up to each person on whether which is more important to them.

OP, I towed up 9,500 lbs regularly with my old 2012 F150 Ecoboost. Not once did I ever need 91 octane and not once did it ever fall bellow the speed limit when towing even when crossing the Rockies a few times. The only reason I got rid of it is because I needed a bigger truck.
VernDiesel
Explorer
Aug 14, 2017
Compare drive more than one brand. Fast Lane trucks recently did a you tube video of 2017 f150 10 speed 3.5 vs the Ram Ecodiesel sorry I can't seem to link it but it's any easy quick search with the picture being both red trucks nose to nose with a white enclosed trailer between behind them.

70 mph 98 mile two way loop towing 7K. The Ram got almost 50 percent better towing economy ie 13.3 vs 9.1 for the Ford. Fuel was 30 cents a gallon more for the Ford since Ford recommended premium for towing as would be prudent for a gas turbo. Ford builds a great truck just food for thought as I said drive them both & more. BTW since you can now get 17 EDs the prices on a used Crew Cab 14 ED should be competitive.
riven1950
Explorer
Aug 14, 2017
BTW with a family of five, depending on tongue weight you may need a max payload version. Ours is about 1450 wo max and it is right at payload max with just the two of us. As stated above check the payload and your other weights before buying!
ROBERTSUNRUS
Explorer
Aug 14, 2017
:) Hi, I towed my 6,300 lb. GVWR travel trailer for over ten years with my 2000 Lincoln Navigator with no problems. In 2015 we towed this same trailer in our cross country trip of over 13,000 miles. This was done with our new at the time, 2014 F-150 Ecoboost crew cab short bed truck. I have Max Tow, 3:73 gears, and 4X4. I drive with the flow of traffic and above the speed limit by about five MPH. I get right at 10.8 MPG when towing. I get about 16 MPG in local driving and can get as high as 20 on the road, but I don't go on long trips without my trailer so I don't have a real highway mileage. My trailer's tongue weight is about 900 lbs. and my payload is 1745 lbs. This leaves me plenty for my wife and I and whatever I put in the bed.
OutdoorPhotogra
Explorer
Aug 14, 2017
Many F-150 will tow your TT fine but watch the payload rating. You need 1,000 lbs free after gear for tongue weight including your WDH.

Here is the 2013 towing guide. Pick a year and Ford's towing guides are a quick google away with all the info you need. Read the footnotes for the charts, for example some state Max Tow required.

2013 Ford Towing Guide
riven1950
Explorer
Aug 14, 2017
We have a 2013 ECO 4x4 crew cab short bed 3.55. 48,000 miles, 12,000 plus towing.

We tow a similar TT. Ours is 4900 empty / about 6100 loaded. We have a WD hitch and it tows great. Replaced the tires in Dec with Michelin LT tires and added Bilsten shocks. We have no problems with the short wheelbase being a stable ride. It actually towed great before the new tires and shocks too.

We tow to the Keys at least once each winter, about 2000 miles for the trip. Overall mileage towing is 10.5 mpg avg. Will vary depending a lot of wind. Range is from 8.5 to 12.5 but on a long trip avg always seems about 10.5. Just made our first trip to NC mountains and averaged about the same 10.5 on a 1000 mile trip. We tow around 62-65 miles per hour. Faster or slower will definitely affect your mileage. Mileage not towing with a mix of driving is around 18.5. Can go up to 20-21 if on a long trip and you are not doing 80 :).

The truck has great power and I would not worry taking it cross country. We are actually thinking about doing that. From NC coast to the Keys we set cruise and it rarely will drop out of 6th gear. In the hills I locked out 6th and dropped cruise in the real hilly areas but it still performed great.

Long term reliability is to be determined. Some folks question that on the ECO. I don't think it is an issue. Only thing we have had to repair was a battery gone bad under warranty and a couple of minor recalls.

Ours is not a max tow or max payload. Don't see it necessary with our size TT.
treeofliberty
Explorer
Aug 14, 2017
We have the '12 Ecoboost, SuperCrew, short box, with Max Trailer Tow Package. You will love that truck, and will pull that light trailer like it's not even back there. We had a travel trailer that was 7,000 fully loaded, and we'd pull that up 7% grades at whatever speed I chose, and pass when we wanted. I've since installed a custom 91 octane tune, and its really a beast. (Cue the weight police) I currently tow our Reflection FW, which is 10k fully loaded. I can pull up the 7% grades at 65 mph, and only have issues at 100 degrees (Arizona). Then I need to slow to 45 mph, and all is well. You will love that truck.

And for the weight police, I'm now in the market for a full ton diesel.
Redwoodcamper
Explorer
Aug 13, 2017
Even being a huge diesel fan, I will say that you likely have found the right truck for your needs. You should get better mpg while towing, and significantly better daily driving. Many owners on here will give you accurate numbers.
ScottG
Nomad
Aug 13, 2017
It sounds like you've made up your mind so - enjoy!
I would not buy one without the Max-Tow package, which can be hard to find.

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F-150 Ecoboost towing

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