Vacation and Ford F150

Bill from Scotland · Oct 22, 2015

Well thats me back in Scotland after spending the last four weeks visiting the US and Canada, fantastic time as usual and met some great people. As ive said before you guys are always so helpful and polite to us when we do our road trips.

Usually we go for a full size car but as its my 60th birthday in a couple of months my wife thought she would treat me to a pickup as this is something I have always wanted to drive when on your big wide roads. We went for a Ford F150 eco boost, well that was the only pickup they had.
So did I like it or what?
I thought it was fantastic and was very impressed overall, if the steering wheel was on the other side I think I would bring one back to Scotland. After driving it 2900m I did a little research to find aluminium is used to keep them light which I guess helps with the fuel consumption, we averaged between 23 and 24 mpg running at speeds of 50-70 aswell as some town driving. Power was very good and I was amazed at the acceleration and the smoothness by which it was all done. I have an Audi tt 225hp at home which is a quick little thing but I think the pickup would have beat it to 60mph. Anyway just thought I would say how impressed I was with it as I guess you guys will have your own opinions based around the other makes and models out there. My friend in Canada said it was nice but would still have the V8 model as he does lots of towing rather than the smaller V6 3.5 or so we had.You folks got an opinion on them?
Bill

RLA · Oct 22, 2015

Most of the time I hate to say it the 3.5 EB will out perform out V8's

dhermesc · Oct 22, 2015

The 2.7 Turbo is no slouch either.

Ferd · Oct 22, 2015

I have both a Ford pickup with the 3.5 Ecoboost V6 and a an older Ford pickup with a 460 V8. The Ecoboost has about 100 hp more and 60 more foot pounds of torque with peak torque at about 2000 rpm vs 4500 or so for the V8.

Tom-NoCenTX · Oct 22, 2015

Bill,
I could arrange to ship you one, in exchange for a barrel of real good 18 or 25 year old Speyside single malt Scotch, or barrel of 25 year old Highland Park from Orkney. Tom

Bill from Scotland · Oct 22, 2015

Well that would be good but my container leaves in a few days and its got three tractors in it so no spare room. They are nice trucks though, I see a guy about 100 miles from me has started brining in some Dodge srt10 pickups with 500-700 bhp, they must be some mean machine.

old-9 · Oct 22, 2015

Out perform, but will it outlast? I see race engines much horsepower but cannot make it to the end of the race. Yea, I know , not the same but would a big 460 last longer pulling a load compared to a turbo V6?
joe , not an expert

jm. · Oct 22, 2015

Well O put 65,000 on my eco boost 14 model and already have close to 30 on the new 15. I don't know how many miles they will go but so far sure have been impressed. Love the gas millage. Filled up today $1,77 per gallon and average around 21 mpg so makes for cheap ride.

ShadetreeRet · Oct 22, 2015

I don't know about the Ecoboost engine, but the early 4.2 V-6 engines would hold up very well. A customer bought one into the dealership where I worked and it had over 200,000 miles on it and it had never been tuned up. This was a company truck and it had been worked! When you think about it, turbos have been around for years now and you don't really hear too much about them giving trouble or blowing up.

4play · Oct 22, 2015

I have seen a ton of turbo failures on modern engines, the newer ones a little worse. The thing about the ecoboost is they use small turbos that spin in excess of 200,000 RPM. Sure they are considered or claim to be reliable but I'm thinking these are not going to last as long as a lot of people expect them to, especially considering the price of these trucks and what ford claims they can do.

Jon Hagen · Oct 22, 2015

I have an 11 F150 with 3.5 ecoboost. Great little do anything engine.

If driven gently in warm weather, I have averaged as much as 24 mpg, while the factory 21 mpg comes easy if your trying at all to make fuel economy. The other side is that the 3.5 will effortlessly pull much more than a light duty pickup should pull. For two years now, we have been pulling our antique parade and show tractors with this pickup. The trailer is a 28 ft gooseneck tandem with tractors and trailer weighing twice what the pickup is rated to pull.
That little 3.5 engine is so good at what it does, that now Ford uses it as the large trailer puller engine for the F150, as the 6.2 V8 has been dropped as unnecessary now for the 15 model.
420 lb/ft torque at only 2500 rpm, while the V8's have to rev into the 4000 rpm range to hit full torque. I watch the Ecoboost forums and so far (5 years) they have been reliable as trailer pullers.

RLA · Oct 23, 2015

I only know from these engine on what I sell to keep them going.. I'm Old School V8 guy
at heart that worked at a Ford Garage for 41 years. I've seen some really good ones & really
bad ones.. From what I can tell, these engine LOVE CLEAN OIL. If your short driving & stopping
I think it would be safer for 3 to 4K oil change. OHC's engines & timing chains love CLEAN NEW OIL.
I've sold turbos on one engine with 39K, at that time we replaced the chains & gears. Customer
bought it used from a Chevy store truck looked GREAT outside but not so much inside. We got FO MO CO
to help this guy some he was Happy, if it were me I wouldn't have been happy spending $$ on a 13 Trk
with only 39K I would be the 1st to be complaining. We have 3.5's with over 200K with regular maint.
No Problems except a coil or two & spark plugs. We have 3.5's with 80K that need timing chains because
they are loose & cause the engine to rattle & not run smooth. EVERYONE of these trucks with timing chain
& turbo issue's the customer elected to do 7500+ miles oil changes & I know of one we did that at 70K had
only 2 oil changes. All I know is if it's a 2.7, 3.5, 4.0, 4.6,5.0, 5.4, 6.2 & 6.8 with OHC, you'd better
be changing your engine oil..

dhermesc · Oct 23, 2015

The last SRT 10 was 10 years ago. While the V10 engine did put out 500 hp the manual transmission models had lots of problems with the clutch and all of them had brake issues.

J.Wondergem · Oct 23, 2015

Hey Bill, what tractors did you get?

Wemedeeres · Oct 23, 2015

(quoted from post at 23:09:45 10/22/15) I have an 11 F150 with 3.5 ecoboost. Great little do anything engine.

If driven gently in warm weather, I have averaged as much as 24 mpg, while the factory 21 mpg comes easy if your trying at all to make fuel economy. The other side is that the 3.5 will effortlessly pull much more than a light duty pickup should pull. For two years now, we have been pulling our antique parade and show tractors with this pickup. The trailer is a 28 ft gooseneck tandem with tractors and trailer weighing twice what the pickup is rated to pull.
That little 3.5 engine is so good at what it does, that now Ford uses it as the large trailer puller engine for the F150, as the 6.2 V8 has been dropped as unnecessary now for the 15 model.
420 lb/ft torque at only 2500 rpm, while the V8's have to rev into the 4000 rpm range to hit full torque. I watch the Ecoboost forums and so far (5 years) they have been reliable as trailer pullers.

Jon, I like that set up you have. I have a '13 with the 5.0 almost identical to yours. I've been kicking around the idea of going to a gooseneck but haven't pulled the pin yet. How does it handle the trailer, steering and braking? I wouldn't be pulling the extra camper, just a tractor and plow.

Jon Hagen · Oct 23, 2015

My 11 has the light towing package, rated for around 7000 pounds.

The 1/2 ton chassis handles a trailer fine except that you have to set your load so not to get more weight on the gooseneck than the soft 1/2 ton springs can handle.

I always thought the folks with big 5th wheel campers on a 1/2 ton were nuts until I owned and pulled with this F150. The truck has that electronic stability system that eliminates the trailer wagging the pickup tail, so even a violent emergency lane change happens without drama. Also I guess there is a reason for those 18 inch wheels, they allow large brakes, I would say equal or better than a light duty 3/4 ton of 10-15 years ago. Another problem with 1/2 ton used to be that the gearing was way wrong for trailer pulling. Today's 6-8 spd automatics pretty much make that a non problem. We have the 3.73 gearing which gives great mpg in 6th running empty, and plenty torque to pull those two trailers at 25-2700 rpm in 5th at the speed limit.

Humding · Oct 23, 2015

Hi Bill, Ken here from Ireland. Funny how us Europeans want what isn't too practical at home. My first visit to the US was 7 years ago and we hired a 5.7l V8 Toyota Tundra crewcab pickup. Was a bit disappointed at first with the brand (thinking Japanese rather than good ol American) but settled into it quickly. I actually think it was built in Texas. Unfortunately Avis decided to take the "mick" on the payment side and shafted us. Anyhow was back in the US about 2 months ago and hired something smaller, a Jeep Patriot. Got us to where we wanted to go and in comfort but took an instant dislike to it and was glad to see the back of it. Next visit will be a pick up again hopefully but by the looks of it V8's are getting scarcer. V6's may do the same job and better but you can't beat the sound of a V8

Bill from Scotland · Oct 23, 2015

Ken
Yes your right about wanting something different but I am giving a F150 some thought none the lessor one of those Dodge srt trucks. What tractors you into?
Bill

Bill from Scotland · Oct 23, 2015

JD 820 black dash, Case 900 diesel and a International 660 diesel.

GordoSD · Oct 23, 2015

How many gallons in a whiskey barrel?

jm. · Oct 23, 2015

Are they running synthic oil? We are on a oil monitoring program here for over 40 different engines and can,t see any difference in 3 thousand and 6 thousand on the late model eco boost fords. Running Mobil full synthic.. SO far no engine problems.

Humding · Oct 25, 2015

(quoted from post at 20:28:56 10/23/15) Ken
Yes your right about wanting something different but I am giving a F150 some thought none the lessor one of those Dodge srt trucks. What tractors you into?
Bill

We've about 30 tractors between Dad, brother & myself. A good few of the usual Ferguson/Massey Fergusons. Fordsons F's, N E27N & super Major 4wd, IH Super BMD, MM RT?, Renault N72, Allis B. I also have a 1928 Case 12-20 crossmount (came from New York state), 1964 Case 1200 traction King (came from Michigan) and a 1980 Case 4690 (a tractor that was supplied new in the UK)

Humding · Oct 25, 2015

Also have a 1972 Kenworth W900 which came from Harrisonburg, Virginia in 2006

Bill from Scotland · Oct 25, 2015

So I guess you know Harkie Watt with the Massey"s. Ive got a few V8 Massey"s as well as various British and US tractors from the 50-70"s.

J.Wondergem · Oct 25, 2015

(quoted from post at 15:31:20 10/23/15) JD 820 black dash, Case 900 diesel and a International 660 diesel.

Thanks. I was just curious.

Humding · Oct 26, 2015

(quoted from post at 01:10:13 10/26/15) So I guess you know Harkie Watt with the Massey"s. Ive got a few V8 Massey"s as well as various British and US tractors from the 50-70"s.

just know of him but have never met him

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