I'm a Ford guy all the way, but I would avoid the 3v 5.4's like the plague... I've never owned one, so no direct experience with one, so guess I'm biased to the interweb stories of them.. But I did own a 97 F150 5.4 and drove it to 255,000 miles with no issues towing a #5000 GVWR TT. Same one in my sig..
Those had their Gremlins too, so I guess there are good ones out there in everything.. Even Chevy's.. ha, ha... :)
I have no real advice for ya, so just gonna say, good luck and hope you are able to get out in something.. Creating family memories when the kids are young is what's it's all about.
Mitch
