Thinking on trading ST for F150 or F250

I really have nothing negative to say about the ST overall. Great daily driver. Comfortable, fast with ZFG tune, handles well with Steeda swaybar, looks great, gas mileage is pretty decent, etc...

We bought a boat 2 months ago and have to trailer it any time we want to use it. ST pulls it well even if its at the higher side of the ST tow rating. I dont notice much suspension squat although I am sure there is some. We towed 4 hours home from picking the boat up and I had no complaints. Only towed one other time about an hour each way to drop off the boat and pick it up after getting a custom cover made...again no real complaints of bad on road towing behavior.

My issue(and may not really be an issue) is every time we put the boat in the water(or take it out obviously) the rear of the Explorer is underwater(parts of the rear bumper, mufflers, rear tires in the water, trailer wiring connector, etc...), I basically step out of the drivers door into the water(front tires are out of the water). 2 weeks ago I am pretty sure the mufflers took on a lot of water as they were gurgling after we pulled the boat out and were wiping it down(I did not shut off the ST) and draining water from the weep holes for a while(I saw water under the mufflers in my garage the next morning). Every time I pull the trailer wiring connector I am spraying with some cleaner to keep it from getting corrosion from being wet(and staying wet). I cant imagine this is good for long term longevity with all the other electrical stuff that is back there either.

NOW I think this is a combination of things. Our trailer being fairly low slung being one of them. Were using a b&w 2" drop ball mount(30010). Although it calls it a 2" drop, the ball is just about centered with the receiver opening. This gets our trailer level(the "proper" way to tow a tandem from what I read). The other factor is the ST is already fairly low and the overhangs are pretty short, so from rear tire to rear bumper is pretty short distance. Again, I dont feel that the ST sags excessively when the trailer is hooked up, so not sure if this is a contributor to any of these things or not.

So first, I guess any thoughts on my real or perceived issue above and long term issues with the vehicle in question?


Second... thinking on ordering an F150 or F250 and doing a trade. Trade in price right now is more than I paid for the ST, so financially I would come out well.

Looking at Lariat packages in both as I am thinking of a supercab vs. crew cab. I have 21' of garage depth. I can get an F150 crew cab into the garage, but an F250 would have to be a supercab. We dont use the back seats much in the ST so thats not much of a concern for us. It seems that the back seat in both cab sizes is basically the same, but in the crew cab(f150) you gain about 12" of leg room. Supercab can get 6.5' bed, crew cab 5.5' bed. The extra foot is in the cab from what we can tell. On the fence on an F150 of 3.5eco vs. 5.0. F250 would be the 7.3 Godzilla motor with 4.30 axles because, why not? LOL... Only reason on thinking of 5.0 in the F150 is a Whipple although with mods the 3.5ecoboost is probably the better choice power wise. But the Coyote motor is pretty nice motor. Any of them would tow my boat and likely anything else I would buy outside of a 5th wheel(which the wife and I have looked at from time to time and obviously the F250 would tow it). F150 is more interesting because of the Blue Cruise hands free driving, otherwise the interiors and electronics on both are pretty much the same. Obviously F250 is going to beat out F150 in trailer capacity and overall weight capacity for an obvious MPG hit of about 5mpg... F250 is definitely overkill for my boat. Both trucks the way I would order them sticker right at 65k... thats the ONLY other reason the F250 is even in the conversation.

Am I dumb for even thinking about this? Is my concern with dipping the rear of the ST into the water constantly overblown?

If I do decide to order a truck and trade, thoughts on my F150 vs. F250 arguments...

LokiWolf just traded his ZFG tuned ST for a PowerHybrid F-150 with no regrets.

IMO, I would go for the Godzilla F250 if you ever consider towing something big and/or heavy (10k+ lbs). The Godzilla engine sounds amazing tho and overall, its a beautiful truck! Are the 4.30 gears the only option on them? Sounds a bit overkill and wont be nice on MPG either.

You can get 3.55, 3.73 or 4.30. The 4.30 gets a heavier duty rear end(Dana M245 has larger ring gear, 10.8", larger axle shafts, 4" tubes) vs. Sterling 10.5(3.5" tubes, smaller axle shafts, 10.5" ring gear). From what I can gather average MPG only drops by 1 and everybody recommends the 4.30's over the 3.55's if you are ordering.

Any of the ecoboost/5.0 F150's seem to average about 16.5 looking through fuelly. The godzilla F250's seem to be averaging 11.5... Im averaging 19.9 over 10k miles in the ST, but thats using premium. F150 ecoboost would likely also need premium because I would get it tuned once Adam opens up F150 tuning again. 5.0 I think is fine on 87. 7.3 is an 87 motor also. ~50c per gallon from 87-93, so even at 5mpg less, the Godzilla motor wouldnt cost a lot more to fuel. We also own a prius that I have been driving a lot more lately with gas prices going up.

Interesting, didnt think it was that much of an upgrade for different gears. Just noticed the 7.3 is only available with 3.55's and 4.30's, wouldve been nicer with a 3.73. But alas, wouldnt complain either way haha

Wonder what is the difference in mpg when towing for the F-250 vs the 5.0 F-150. I remember reading, an Ecoboost 3.5 will waste slight more gas vs the Coyote 5.0 when towing.

Regardless, itll be a completely different vehicle vs the SUV you're driving right now whichever route you go on the trucks. I take it that it wont be your DD?

Ive owned trucks including a 3/4 ton GMC diesel before so I know what I am getting into vs. the ST.

My boat weighs like 5k, maybe 5500lbs on the trailer. Some people claim it weighs more, but book numbers put it around 5k dry and maybe up to 5500 wet. I havent weighed it. Either way it wouldnt tax either truck to much. The ST got 10ish towing it back 4 hours from when we bought it. Im GUESSING either F150 would be similar. Most of the Godzilla F250 reports are guys towing 10k+ lbs and are reporting like 7-8mpg. TFL towed a 5k lb trailer with their Godzilla F250 with 3.55 gears and got 9.8mpg(they had been averaging almost 13mpg empty). So mileage towing probably isnt that different between the two(3 if you count my ST) trucks(or 3 engines, 4 if you count my ST).

We have been transitioning to driving our Prius a lot more over the ST as gas prices go up. Luckily I only drive into work once a week(4 times a month) at 45 miles each way and generally take the ST(and would take whatever truck I bought) vs. the Prius since the Prius is my wife's car. We also have a Miata, but its slowly turning into a track car LOL... So MPG, overall, doesnt bother me. The ST is our road trip vehicle...BUT with that said, most of our trips this next year(2022) our plan is to take our boat with us(Bull Shoals, Lake of the Ozarks, Canyon Lake, etc...) so 10mpg is 10mpg. Im seeing reports of the Godzilla F250's getting 15-16mpg on the highway unloaded as long as you arent hammering on it...

If thats the case, IMO, I would take the F-250 with the 7.3. Bigger gas tank too! Any type of towing situation, you wont have to worry with it and in any weather as well. Surprised you went with the ST seeing that you dont really use it as an SUV, with the passengers that is.

If the pricing isnt much of a factor, might as well go with the best in any given situation. Seeing that youre a truck guy as well, should be an easy smooth transaction. Only con is the sportiness from the ST and speed. Unless you're looking into driving with passengers as well, then itll be a toss up haha

We needed a larger vehicle. We had a Chevy Cruze diesel as our daily driver(and 2 Corvette's and a Harley LOL). We bought the ST and Prius within 2 weeks of each other. I would say we still drive the ST more than the Prius, but thats changing. We looked at quite a few SUV's and the ST was what we liked the best. We did not own a boat and really we were looking at 2-3 more years before we were going to buy one... so AT THE TIME a truck wasnt really in the picture because we had no use for one.

I can count on one hand how many times somebody has been in the back seats of the ST and literally 1 finger how many times somebody has been in the 3rd row(its folded 99.9% of the time). On the road trip we took in September our dogs were in the very back and all our shit was piled into the middle. With a truck our dogs easily can have the back seat area and all our shit can be loaded in the bed(will have a folding hard bed cover of some kind). So really no big change there. We dont have kids...yet.

Pricing between the F150 and F250 are both roughly 65k, but like I said the F150 comes with a few nicer things like Blue Cruise. I like the lane centering on the ST and use it on long trips, but a full-up system like Blue Cruise would be even better. Its not available on the F250.

Something else to think about that I don't see above. The F-150 makes a much better unloaded DD than the F-250. In order to keep up in the arms race of payload and towing capability, modern super-duty trucks are incredibly stiff/rough when unloaded. I try really hard not to buy a vehicle for my 5 use cases a year when the other 360 days I'm using it for other stuff.

We have a 2020 3.5 Ecoboost Lariat in addition to my ST. Absolutely love driving it too, and it’s great for pulling our 6000 lb 27 ft travel trailer twice a year to the lake and back. I believe I was getting around 8mpg towing, and closer to 23 mpg highway normally. Also inherited a 25 ft fifth wheel this summer, so may try out a fifth wheel hitch too.

This is our third one since 2015 and we have really enjoyed them all. I was a supercharged Denali guy for towing for years before that but obviously the versatility of the truck is much more useful. I love being able to throw stuff in the back and haul it to the dump, then hose out the bed.

Any interest in the 2022 F150 Lightning? I think I saw 775 ftlbs of torque!

I actually find the F250/350's to ride pretty dang good, obviously not likely as good as an F150, but an F350 could almost haul the weight of an F150 in its bed. The ride gets better all the time even though payload keeps going up. I had a 2018 GMC Denali 2500 Duramax and thought it rode great. My uncle thought it was a 1500 until he commented "is this a diesel 1500?" and I said "no its a 3/4 ton diesel". I have driven a few F250's are they also ride pretty dang good for what they are. From my research on the Ford truck forums, it seems the way I am optioning out a truck it will likely come with the "softest" springs.

And as far as quantity of usage towing the boat, I expect at least 2x a week usage towing the boat and ~3-4 times a year towing long trips. The lake we live next to has no marina and no public boat docks so every time we want to use the boat its trailered.

And like I said, we have a Prius that we have been shifting over to driving more anyway as gas prices go up.

Thats one of my hesitations with the F150 is towing fuel mileage. My boat is ~5-5500lbs on the trailer filled with gas. Obviously with a travel trailer you are pulling a large brick through the air, but I have been reading a lot on towing mileage and the 3.5 eco boost F150's seem to really get shit mileage when towing. The 250/350 with 7.3 seems to get 9-10mpg towing 5-6k lb loads. I understand nothing is going to get GREAT mileage when towing, but it seems crazy the F150 ecoboosts mileage goes in the shitter when towing... im sure because its in boost most of the time while towing and demanding a ton of fuel. The 7.3, from all accounts, just loafs along with 5k on the hitch.

Cubic inches. As much as I love my ST for heavy towing nothing beats cubic inches.

Just to follow up on this... not that anybody cares.

Selling the ST to one of the big car buyers at some point this week for 4k more than what I paid for it in February.

Ordering a Super Duty from Granger in Iowa for 2% under invoice. 4-5 months to get it, but maybe quicker, who really knows.

I will have a few things off the ST for sale here later this week once I get pictures taken.