Ford's Frontal Area Spec

[pitman44]

Originally Posted by DocBrown

Note that frontal area in the chart is defined as the area exposed to wind resistance. In other words it's not the entire front of a travel trailer. On a truck without a cap and towing an average size trailer that would be a bit less than 60 sq ft.

From the shot the OP posted it appears the frontal area is the combined area of the trailer AND the truck.

[mass-hole]

Not sure if anyone saw this but Andre over on TFLTruck put his F150 into Thermal Protection Mode:

https://tfltruck.com/2021/06/video-f...sed-to-happen/

[SkyBound]

It sucks you're having those issues. I'm not trying to disagree by any means - I truly believe you - but I'll just chime in that I have not had any similar issues with my truck. I pull a 7K trailer with a lift kit and big tires on the truck, into headwinds, up hills, high temps, never any problems. I sit around 14,000lb combined, and the truck is rated for 17,100lb combined. I'm usually in the lower altitudes though, never above about 2500 feet.

Never had a problem with engine cooling - the only thing that I keep an eye on is transmission temps. I do have a light bar behind the grill that partially impedes airflow, but I'm not sure it would even make a difference if I got rid of it. The hottest I've ever seen the tranny is 225*F and it's after a hard pull up a big hill... settles down to low 200s promptly. I figured that's pretty damn hot but the analog gauge needle doesn't even move towards the hot limit when it's up there. I guess they are designed to run that hot.

I usually lock out 6th gear and run about 1800-1900RPM in 5th and that yields perfect towing speed with nice torque available. I also only run 91 octane which helps in the hot temps to prevent the computer from retarding timing and costing power. I've tried towing in 6th and the engine lugs and would rather be in 5th anyway. The extra RPMs help with cooling too, circulating fluids faster.