How is the Eco Boost in the western mountains?

Having had both a 2014 and now a 2017 F150 Ecoboost and having towed in Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, and to Alaska I can offer what I have experienced. Like others have said, going uphill is no problem, power to spare. Going downhill is a matter keeping speed under control, start out going slow and having transmission in a lower gear. If you crest the hill at 60 mph the speed will quickly build on the downhill side and you might not be able to get things under control as the computer will not allow you to downshift to the lowest gears due to overspeeding the engine. Staying on the brakes all the way downhill is going to result in the brakes fading due to overheating. Start out slow going downhill and don't allow speed to build any faster than you are comfortable with. Not different than the 5.0 F150 I had.

We did Teton Pass with our 2014 Ecoboost pulling 4200lb TT westbound in September. Air temp was 61F and the trans temp as we crested the pass topped out at 226F. I pulled into the big turnout at the top and let things cool down before we began the descent. Using the selectshift and staying in 1st-3rd gear, letting the rpms climb up to 4500 and using the braking technique mentioned earlier works very well on the downslope.
The Eco has more power than necessary for just about anything you would ask it to do, what it lacks is cooling when using that power. We got home from that trip and I installed a larger trans cooler from an Excursion. We'll have to wait for next season to see if it helps.

I moved from the coast of NC to Idaho Falls many years ago. My employer sent me to Jackson hole with a box truck to deliver some supplies to a job site. Been a long time but I still remember that ride :)

blt2ski wrote:

Atlee wrote:
Where is the Teton Pass, other than being in the area of the Tetons?
I will be going from the Craters of the Moon NP to the Grand Teton NP. I don't want to accidentally get on the road over Teton Pass.

ksss wrote:
If you go over Teton Pass with a decent sized trailer and a half ton, just use common sense. It is nasty and if your dumb it is really, really nasty.

I do not recall Teton being that bad, other than the POS TBI454 I had when going over the first time. My TD did just fine.
ANY road be it a mountain pass, or side road can get you puckered up. I have generally speaking, NOT found a typical mountain pass to get me worried. Those are all less than 6-8% in grade if an interstate. Yes you will slow down. Where it gets more interesting is OFF the interstates. Then you will find roads in the 10-15% and steeper. THAT is where you sqeeze the cheeks per ssay going up or down. Having literally stalled a rig or two going up >15% grades, so one has to back down, or switch to 4lo if you have it, to go up. As your gearing to too tall to make it up in 2wd/4hi. You have the power per say.....
If you are at max gcwr per latest and greatist tow rating specs, min grade you have to go up, and still meet spec is 12%. Pretty minor grade IMHO. 20-25% would be better. That at least gets you up all but steepest forst service roads, local roads etc.

marty

It is a significant hill. Lot of blown motors, smoked brakes and horrific accidents.

Atlee wrote:
Where is the Teton Pass, other than being in the area of the Tetons?
I will be going from the Craters of the Moon NP to the Grand Teton NP. I don't want to accidentally get on the road over Teton Pass.

ksss wrote:
If you go over Teton Pass with a decent sized trailer and a half ton, just use common sense. It is nasty and if your dumb it is really, really nasty.

From Craters of the Moon you will go East on hwy 20 to Idaho Falls. You can go either over the pass or through Alpine, Wy and avoid the big hill.

Atlee wrote:
Where is the Teton Pass, other than being in the area of the Tetons?
I will be going from the Craters of the Moon NP to the Grand Teton NP. I don't want to accidentally get on the road over Teton Pass.

ksss wrote:
If you go over Teton Pass with a decent sized trailer and a half ton, just use common sense. It is nasty and if your dumb it is really, really nasty.

Teton Pass is on 22 just west of Jackson Hole. Have driven it with an unloaded truck and by motorcycle. It is steep, at elevation and lots of curves. If I had a trailer (moderately sized) I would only take that pass with an HD Diesel with a good exhaust brake.

Enjoy your trip, pretty country around the Tetons.
Stu

Atlee wrote:
Where is the Teton Pass, other than being in the area of the Tetons?
I will be going from the Craters of the Moon NP to the Grand Teton NP. I don't want to accidentally get on the road over Teton Pass.

ksss wrote:
If you go over Teton Pass with a decent sized trailer and a half ton, just use common sense. It is nasty and if your dumb it is really, really nasty.

I do not recall Teton being that bad, other than the POS TBI454 I had when going over the first time. My TD did just fine.
ANY road be it a mountain pass, or side road can get you puckered up. I have generally speaking, NOT found a typical mountain pass to get me worried. Those are all less than 6-8% in grade if an interstate. Yes you will slow down. Where it gets more interesting is OFF the interstates. Then you will find roads in the 10-15% and steeper. THAT is where you sqeeze the cheeks per ssay going up or down. Having literally stalled a rig or two going up >15% grades, so one has to back down, or switch to 4lo if you have it, to go up. As your gearing to too tall to make it up in 2wd/4hi. You have the power per say.....
If you are at max gcwr per latest and greatist tow rating specs, min grade you have to go up, and still meet spec is 12%. Pretty minor grade IMHO. 20-25% would be better. That at least gets you up all but steepest forst service roads, local roads etc.

marty

Where is the Teton Pass, other than being in the area of the Tetons?
I will be going from the Craters of the Moon NP to the Grand Teton NP. I don't want to accidentally get on the road over Teton Pass.

ksss wrote:
If you go over Teton Pass with a decent sized trailer and a half ton, just use common sense. It is nasty and if your dumb it is really, really nasty.

Atlee wrote:
What I'm looking for specifically is folks who HAVE an Eco Boost who have pulled a trailer through the Rockies pulling medium sized trailers, and more specifically going down those mountains. I currently have a 2017 Jayco Jay Flight 23RB with a GVWR of 6500#.

I have read the Eco does very well going up the mountain, with the turbos maintaining power much like diesels, but going down, the lack of engine size hurts engine braking.

I'd like any real world experience of those who have pulled using the Eco in the Rockies and/or the Sierras? I do not need advice that I should get a diesel. That's not going to happen. Nor do I need advice I need a big block V-8 gas, because that is not going to happen either. Just want real world experience of those who have used the Eco in the big mountains.

:) Hi, I have a 2014 F-150 Ecoboost and know what you are asking. As you probably already know, my Ecoboost is a pulling monster and has had no problems pulling any grade. But the real concern is going down these hills. Not enough engine drag for me. My 5.4L Navigator was much better at going down hills. For the steepest and longest down grades, I found the secret. The best way to get down these hills is to manually down shift into second gear. The problem that I found was that normally my six speed trans will only go down to 3rd gear. To get my truck to go into 2nd gear manually, I must drop below 60 MPH. This is the best this little engine will do for you and you will still need to brake some. Also because of some delay in trailer braking, I manually hit my trailer brakes at the same time that I brake my truck. I knew this going in before I bought this truck, but everything else was better.

ksss wrote:
If you go over Teton Pass with a decent sized trailer and a half ton, just use common sense. It is nasty and if your dumb it is really, really nasty.

That is by far the worst pass that I've ever been over. Lots of smoking brakes on the downhill side.