Towing with a Ford Lightning

I did a search and nothing good came up about people who tow with a ford f150 lightning. I am hoping to purchase one this week, test drove it today and loved it.

The truck has a 5000lb towing capacity. I'm only towing a ski nautique 2001 total weight maybe 3k. My only concern is at the ramp pulling out. Does anyone have experience with how this sport truck does as far as breaking loose to easy?

Thanks,
Eric

A sport truck such as the lightning with low profile tires will spin easily coming out of the ramp with the boat in tow. Launching will not be a problem but when you load the boat pull out with the load you may spin. If you use good throttle control and easy down on the accelerator you may not have a problem My 2 cents is not to purchase a truck like that if you plan to tow. It will pull your boat with no problem but it will spin out on wet pavement.

hemi is not to far behind those performance numbers, you should be fine (as long as it has a lim slip). You have to ease it up, dont hit the gas to hard. I experienced that tires play a huge roll at the ramp as well.

i have a 2001 and have a friend with a lightening, trust me, it will pull it out no problem. i had a 2 wd ranger that would pull that boat out no problem every time on the steepeest ramp ive ever seen

that's awesome. just the final encouragement I needed. Its an 00 with cold air, chipped, and magnaflow exhaust. Super quick. Im so excited!

My buddy has a sacked out v215 and a lightning, he has no problems... its even been lowered. A friend of ours has a full size f150 supercrew 4x4 and actually likes towing with the lightning more.

My brother's shop truck is like a 2002 F150 with a V8 & 5 speed. We've used it a number of times to put an 88 Prostar 190 in Elsinore quite a few times. The truck does it easily, but also spins the tires on the ramp easily too. Depending on how slick the ramp is that day, we had to use any of a few different tricks to get the job done........
really feather the clutch at low rpms, have a couple of guys in the bed, or use the boat to power up the ramp & shut it down as it clears the water.

ya, all the lightnings are automatic so no cutch to worry about just drag radial tires lol

there can be a huge difference from ramp to ramp. One ramp I load at I could pull out with about anything. the other one is steep with poor surface and sometimes I end up putting my 2500HD in 4wd to get the boat out without spinning. Think about the ramps your going to use and check and see what others are pulling their boats out with there and see if they have trouble.

you wont have a problem at all. just take it slow and dont spin the wheels. my '04 is lowered and has 400hp at the wheels and ive never had a problem. just remember to take the overdrive off when towing.

why is it that you take it off of overdrive when towing?

yeah, a hemi srt8 is close... hemi is what 385hp, sc 5.4= what, like 450? thats a big gap at those rpms

I think pretty much all manufacturers say to stay out of overdrive when towing. It's designed for gas mileage, not power & strength.

epic- a supercharged 5.4 is actually either 360hp or 380hp depending on what year lightning.

CWA- You must be talking about torque?! How often are the rpms that high when towing? maybe up a hill definetly not up a ramp at the lake, trying to pull the boat out. The most I have gotten up to is maybe 1500. Dodge does not have an srt8 truck.

So did you buy the lightning yet?!

I test drove the truck this weekend. I am buying it through a private seller so there is more BS work than getting it through a dealership. I am going to the credit union near me today to hopefully get approved for the loan today and if everything goes well I will have the truck by thursday

Cool, howd the truck drive? you get to really test it out?, what kind of condition is it in. keep us updated, and post some pics!

The truck drove great. The owner let me and my girlfriend take it out for a ride. The guy who owns it is a car collector. He has a 1940 custom Ford hotrod with a v8, a 1967, 1968, and 1970 chevelle, a porshe cayman S, this lightning, and a harley davidson. He is obviously a motorhead.

The truck is in amazing condition. The engine was clean and perfect. I brought my friend who is a certified ford tech, UTI grad with me to inspect the truck and he said the engine couldn't get any better for the age and mileage of the truck.

I will post pictures as soon as i get the truck in my possession.

Now time to go get the loan. Wish me luck

I pull with a 400hp Trailblazer SS 2wd. Never even spun a tire pulling the boat out.

Hey Eric: I used to tow my Air Nautique with my Lightning. It was lowerd with a ROUSH kit. The ride was a bit more bumpy after I lowerd it. I installed Air bag's for when I towed and that fixed it.

I had it chipped and a added a 10 pound lower pull from JDM along with a Mass Air and Air cleaner mod. It towed great. If you play with the overdrive so that you can keep the truck from adding boost you can save gas. Example if you just keep the truck in drive when you tow long distances or up steep hills the engine adds boost to get you going, This sucks your gas milage. By keeping the RPMs up by playing with the overdrive and the boost low you can save gas.

Do a big smokey burn out for us!

G- Any pics? I want to keep the stock ride height so that I still have a nice "comfy" ride. Do you happen to remember where you got that 10lb pull? And how much it was?

Ill do plenty of burn outs for you guys.

my friend used to tow his vlx with about 1000 lbs of lead with his stock, single cab, shortbed lightning. he would tow up to 3 hours away and had no problems. the only reason for upgrade was he needed more room for people and gear.

Eric: I got the pully the chip and the air cleaner as a kit from a place called JDM performance. It was supposed to boost the power up 100 HP. Yes it made a big differance. A few Hwy 280 runs at@ 150 MPH in a truck that looks like a brick to the wind. Pretty impressive IMO. I dont have any pick's

g- do you remember how bad the gas mileage was with your lightning?

dont go too nuts with the bolt on on that truck. The powdered metal rods are the weak link. 450hp to the wheels is about the limit before they start breaking. Just to warn ya. I have seen many go at about that number, with a good tune and all.

Eric: sorry I don't remember the MPG but I would say between 11 and 15 MPG.

I used to tow my old malibu with my Lightning..
I did the pully,Chip,MAF,T/B, Intake, dynoed 390/490 to the wheels.

I also lowered mine but installed air bags with a compressor for towing. I never had a problem pulling up ramps or tires spinning etc. I sold my for the lack of room, it always required a second car to follow me to the lake etc.

MPG without boat was 11-15, with boat under 10.

Go for it!

We're building a 750+ hp lightning right now.

3.4 Whipple and a totally built motor and gunnin for 28 lbs

i get like 10-15 mpg depending how i drive it. if you are going to mod it be careful and get a good dyno tune. those stock rods suck and will blow a hole in the side of the motor. i did a 5lb pulley, cold air intake, exhaust and an sct programmer (400 hp/500tq) make sure you get an oil seperator. it will save your intake from having a quart of oil in it. (i have an LFP)

tannner- that thing will be a beast!!

Yep take ifinallygota's advice about the rods.

Kind of why my buddy's truck we're building has had a JLP block assembly for the last year or so.

It was already a beast before the new blower and our recent fuel mods (VERYYYYYY EXTENSIVE... can we say custom sumped fuel tank amongst other things). We were at 485hp on a mustang dyno b4.

So i got the truck, I have yet to tow with it. Im currently broke as shizzzzz right now.

Here are some pictures...

Congrats on the new truck... but just be weary of any black GMC S-15's with ground effects that pulls up next to you at a red light and smiles...

Syclone's love Lightning's.....

Here is an old pic of a buddies old truck with a customer's boat behind it...

2manytoys- Those trucks are insane. Theres lots of trucks and cars out there that are faster than the lightning. The reason the Lightning appealed to me is because its a quick truck, with a 5000lb towing capacity, and an 800lb payload. Both of which I will never exceed so the truck really suits my needs.

Sean M that is an amazing set up! I'll take that boat!

Sweet man, I was thinking about it yesterday, and wondering if you ever got it..........
Nice truck, for a ford, just playin. Looks sweet.

Touche.. with the towing capacity and the payload.. my syclone isn't rated to tow anything and the payload is like 500lbs.... but it hauls enough ass to make up for it LOL

I love my Lightning!