newbie towing question with 5.4 engine

[copescobra]

Towing with 5.4 engine. Not sure the gears as don't know how to look them up.

Question is regarding if the SMB with 5.4 is too heavy to really tow 1 or both of my ski boats up and down from CA to WA state. (1 boat at time of course) going over Grapevine and Mt Shasta.
1 boat is a jet boat at 20ft which weights a bit and the other is a small 16 ft fiberglass with 115 HP outboard motor. I would think the 16 ft would be doable.

My concern is just how much the SMB weighs as I have read that 5.4 tows well but when empty.

any advice would be great.

thanks

[Ford_6L_E350]

You should be able to tow it fine. Maybe a little slower than if you had a bigger engine, but it should do fine.

FYI: My dad pulled a 6000# trailer all over with a 5.3 Chevy.

Mike

[depark]

I have a 2006 E250 RB 5.4 and you will do just fine with it. I pull a 26' pontoon boat with a 115 HP outboard. Fully loaded on the trailer it is just shy of 4300 lbs. My van has no problem towing it up hills. They are 6-8% grades around here. It pulls a little slower on the hills but you can hold 40-45 mph up hill. It has a great power band but you have to let it rev. It is made to do it.
Cheers
Darryl

[86Scotty]

Yep. Rev it. Don't worry. It will do fine.

[carringb]

What they said^

You may not be able to keep up with the left-lane traffic, but you'll make it.

The Triton motors can run at high RPMs indefinitely, and it doesn't hurt anything besides gas mileage. Pulling the Siskiyou grade and the grapevine with 15,000 pounds in tow means even my V10 is in 2nd gear, staying around 5,000 RPM for 10-15 minutes at a time.

My only other note: If you have lights in front of the grill, make sure you monitor transmission temp. Stock cooling is fine, until you block the airflow. After adding my lights I had to up-size the transmission cooler.

Oh, and make sure the rear-diff has synthetic lube. It comes that way from the factory, but quick-lube places try to talk my into conventional every time I go to one

[accrete]

We tow our ~2400lb at scales 15' fiberglass trailer behind our awd chevy w/5.3L v8 (loaded at scales ~6900lb) without issue. Passing uphill at 65+ with LT Radials on trailer.

Thom

[copescobra]

Thanks all…..great to hear as I was concerned about towing stuff.

[stiggs]

I have been up and down the I5 and would say going up isn't the worry part going down the grades is. The grade down from Yreka to Ashland can get pretty fast, as well as Grant Pass. Gear down before you head down.