2018 F-150 XL 3.3L GDI vs 2014 Ram 1500 Tradesman 3.6L Pentastar

[Fordiesel69]

2018 Ford F-150 XL: 142K Miles
-Extended Cab with 6.5' Bed
-4X4
-3.3L V6 GDI NA (non turbo) w/ 6SPD Tranny
-3.73 Axle Ratio
-100% Mint Aluminum Body
-Very good, but not mint frame. No rust on flat surfaces, but some orange anywhere there is a weld joint. No rust scale or rot.
-All service records indicate it was highway only and in an acceptable lower salt use area. Still got some exposure.
-220 Idle Hours
-3048 Total Run Hours
-20 / 21 Highway MPG, and 15 / 16 City MPG.



2014 Ram 1500: 192K Miles
-Full 4 door Quad Cab 5.5' Bed
-4X4
-3.6L Pentastar V6 w/ 8SPD 845RE Tranny
-3:21 Axle Ratio (Fuel Mizer gearing)
-100% Rust Free, Mint all highway.
-All service records indicate it was highway only and in a good area with no salt.
-1506 Idle Hours
-5000 or so Total Run Hours
-21 / 24 Highway MPG, and 16 / 17 City MPG.

For starters thank you to all who chimed in with my last post a few months back when I was comparing my current Dodge to a 2015 F150 XL. I had settled on the 2014 Dodge and now have been driving it ever since. After owning it for this short time, I really enjoy the ride and handling, the highway gears, the 8SPD tranny, and the fact it has the full 4 door cab. I hate the fact it has the short bed. I cannot fit my tractor or ATV in without the tailgate being left down. After I bought the truck I only then (stupid on my behalf) found out to my horror the axle ratio will not allow for much towing (4200lbs max) and my boat far outweighs that...... The truck has a jet black frame, and a near mint clean underside.

Before the truck devalues any further, a too good to be true deal came up on a 2018 F-150, that has the towing axle 3.73 and has its specs listed above. Now what? I would basically sell and upgrade for just a bit more. It has the 6.5' bed with cap, has the extended cab but not the full rear doors, and can tow pretty well or so im told.

Thoughts?

 

[Tdbo]

If the Ram doesn't meet your needs, no point having it.
Get out from under it before you lose any more money.

 

[nwjones18]

The Ford being lighter to start with should help you some with towing, but I have a hard time believing there is going to be a vast difference in real world towing performance between that 3.3 F-150 and the Ram, especially with the Ram having the superior transmission... 1st gear on the 8spd is almost a granny low and you can just hold it down it whatever gear makes sense on the top end.. I don't know how big of a deal leaving the tailgate down is to you, but I'd just run a strap behind the atv and keep my truck if it was me, but its a personal choice, so whatever makes you happy.

If your boat weights far more than 4200 lbs then I think you'd want either the Hemi or the 5.0. Have you tried pulling it with your 3.6? I always thought it odd that on the Ram's the towing capacity was wildly different for gear ratios. I just looked yours up and 4400 for 3.21's and 7400 for 3.55's seems a bit of an extreme spread to me..

 

[hemioiler]

Before you write off the "fuel mizer gear", keep in mind that the actual final gear ratio of that truck in 1st gear is much deeper than a ram with a 3.92 and the 6 speed transmission. Haven't done the math on this specific comparison but I bet it holds true for the Ford with the 6 speed too, that ZF has an incredibly low first gear that can't be beat by just bumping up to higher rear axle ratio.

The only difference you'll experience by grabbing a v6 with the 3.55 (can't get a v6 with 3.92 IIRC) is a tiny bit of increase in real world acceleration immediately off the line. Once you're in the city or in second/third+ gears you're not going to notice any difference in performance as the transmission will do the work of bumping up your final gear ratio.

In other words, if you hate pulling with the 3.21 then you're not going to improve on that in any meaningful way by jumping to a 3.55, you're still going to hate it equally bad. The v6 is a passenger car engine, it doesn't make much torque anywhere.

 

[fantastic]

Ford would get my vote over what you currently have. Take it for a spin & check everything out first. Measure the bed to make sure it's bigger than what you have. Although, I'm not a Fiat/Chrystler "hater" I'm under the belief that Ford has a slight edge over those.

 

[MNgopher]

How heavy are you towing? Recognize that ANY F150 in that model year is limited to 5000 lbs towing unless it was equipped with a trailer tow package.

Check for yourself on page 6: https://www.ford.com/cmslibs/conten...general/pdf/guides/18RV&TT_Ford_F150_Oct9.pdf

You don't mention your maximum trailer weight, nor if the truck has a factory tow package.

The deeper 1st gear in the ram transmission means the 3.73 gears in the Ford may feel about the same as your current ram, all things considered when starting from a stop...

 

[Fordiesel69]

I am a patient driver when it comes to towing. I towed with a cop car engine 4.6L V8 in my old 2007 rot bucket F-150. Never fast and didnt care. The good news is, had I have been pulled over, no ticket as it had a high weight rating. My dodge is only good for approx 4k on paper. If the officer was really good at his job, I would be forced to leave it on the side of road. Im not looking for a speed increase, just soemthing legal to tow.

My boat and trailer weighs more than 4k. Probably not more than 6500.

I will take it over the scale one of these days.

Also our 30HP tractor is 3600 lbs + the trailer that is 1500-2000. Again not sure how I didnt check ahead of time. And why dodge has the rating so low is beyond me.

 

[b_b]

I am a patient driver when it comes to towing. I towed with a cop car engine 4.6L V8 in my old 2007 rot bucket F-150. Never fast and didnt care. The good news is, had I have been pulled over, no ticket as it had a high weight rating. My dodge is only good for approx 4k on paper. If the officer was really good at his job, I would be forced to leave it on the side of road. Im not looking for a speed increase, just soemthing legal to tow.

My boat and trailer weighs more than 4k. Probably not more than 6500.

I will take it over the scale one of these days.

Also our 30HP tractor is 3600 lbs + the trailer that is 1500-2000. Again not sure how I didnt check ahead of time. And why dodge has the rating so low is beyond me.

because it is limited by payload. rams have low payload to begin with and the basic v6 version have a lower gvwr that the v8 version.

 

[Fordiesel69]

But what is terrible is if you jump up to rams 3.55 axle, the issue goes away. Its like owning the ford. How can an axle make that much difference.

 

[meep]

From a towing weight perspective, the leaf-sprung ford is probably a better platform with the 6000+ pounds you are pulling. I own an extended cab f150 and it is a nice arrangement. both have a lot of miles … condition means a lot, tightness, noise and rattles, leaks and pending leaks, condition of any coolant I can see or sniff. If the transmissions have never been serviced before, I know which one I’m favoring…

 

[hemioiler]

But what is terrible is if you jump up to rams 3.55 axle, the issue goes away. Its like owning the ford. How can an axle make that much difference.

Generally this is due to 0-30 mph tests in the J2807 standard. The one truck will accelerate slightly quicker from a dead stop just like if it had an extra granny gear. But as I said, in the real world, you're not going to suddenly think the 3.55 can tow more. It won't feel any better anywhere, maybe slightly better from a stop sign that's it. Which is also where you need it least, at least when I'm towing the only time I'm going pretty heavy on the gas is on ramps and passing guys on the freeway, and there the axle ratio won't make 1 bit of difference.

Before you trade it in for the ford v6, I suggest a test towing with it because you're going to be just as disappointed with the ford when it comes to acceleration, that v6 is pretty anemic even compared to the pentastar, it's no ecoboost and the transmission is a pretty bad handicap compared to your current ram.

 

[hemioiler]

because it is limited by payload. rams have low payload to begin with and the basic v6 version have a lower gvwr that the v8 version.

GCWR is what the OP is referring to, GVWR/payload isn't the issue here. An otherwise identical v6 ram with a 3.55 will have the same payload but a higher GCWR.

 

[Fordiesel69]

I guess id love to know why the ram is so low. With the 8spd tranny i kid you not, i bet it would out power my 6.9L diesel which was 165hp / 315 tq.

 

[hemioiler]

I guess id love to know why the ram is so low. With the 8spd tranny i kid you not, i bet it would out power my 6.9L diesel which was 165hp / 315 tq.

I've already explained this, it's the 0-30 acceleration runs in the j2807 standard. After about 2014 all truck manufacturers switched to the same standard, so comparing one truck using the standard will give you lower GCWR than pre-standards where everybody was just throwing darts at a wall and saying "yup you can tow this amount".

But towing performance can never be reduced to a single number, as I've also tried to explain. Looking at the towing charts for my truck, a v6 with the 3.92 is rated to tow 7730 pounds. My truck with a hemi and 3.21 is rated to tow 8510. Nobody who has ever pulled with the v6 and the hemi would ever suggest there is only a 780 pound difference in performance. The v6 can barely maintain 8th gear on the freeway unloaded.

So the towing standard/number puts way too much significance on the initial 0-30 test. I couldn't care less about stoplight performance, I've never once needed WOT from a dead stop while towing.

 

[panthermike]

I would agree that the only difference really with the 355 gears is going to be down low performance. I don't believe there's any other upgrades that give it a higher tow rating? I'll admit I had a 2019 ram classic with the V6 and was very disappointed to find out that it had such a low tow rating. However in the back of my mind I knew if I ever needed to tow more for somewhat of short distance I would have.

Not sure about the Ford 3.3 with a 6-speed but I've seen videos with the 3.3 and 10 speed and that thing rips! I would definitely drive them both and see, would be awesome if you could tow with the Ford just to see what you think. At 192,000 on the ram with an early gen pentastar, I would be a little concerned about longevity issues but could be totally fine of course.

 

[Fordiesel69]

I like the ram a lot, and frankly the oil cooler is on my mind and not much of a big deal to me. However the roller rockers are dead silent now, and if they ever do go bad, accessing the valve covers and getting to the cams to work on them is really hard. This does have me concerned. Like if they havent failed by 190k am I good? Or is failure right around the corner? Conversely, The GDI fuel unit on the fords is certainly a concern but there does not seem to be any engine issues in the 3.3 / 3.5 / 3.7 cyclones. They use a cam and bucket style valve train. Phasers are not much of an issue either on the v6's like fords notorious 5.4L.

 

[panthermike]

I like the ram a lot, and frankly the oil cooler is on my mind and not much of a big deal to me. However the roller rockers are dead silent now, and if they ever do go bad, accessing the valve covers and getting to the cams to work on them is really hard. This does have me concerned. Like if they havent failed by 190k am I good? Or is failure right around the corner? Conversely, The GDI fuel unit on the fords is certainly a concern but there does not seem to be any engine issues in the 3.3 / 3.5 / 3.7 cyclones. They use a cam and bucket style valve train. Phasers are not much of an issue either on the v6's like fords notorious 5.4L.

Tough to say, but good sign if it's quiet and runs well.

One other thing I noticed is the much lower idle hours on the Ford. Big price difference between the two?

 

[Fordiesel69]

No there is hardly any diff in price. I have to buy the 18 out right and sell ram, no trades, so it will be a few months of being strapped for cash until it sells. In the rustbelt town of pa, that should be no problem being how clean it is. Prob it will sell itself.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Got a copy of the maint records on the 18' and it looks like it has a clean history. Nice fresh windshield, new genuine starter (**** start stop garbage), and new 4WD wheel actuators. Other than that, just maint.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Fingers crossed. Got a car hauler trailer lined up and a car to load onto it to do a tow demo.

Also new info..... My current dodge had 4k to 5k oil intervals per the svc records. Unfortunately the 2018 f150 had 10k and some 12k intervals, and racked the miles on super fast. Inside the oil fill cap the head and cam components are nice and clean bright silver with no varnish, the only varnish is on the dipatick where it passes thru the area of the engine by the exhaust manifold. Really bummed me out to hear that but it does backup the fact it was all highway instead of me guessing.