I'm down grading my 3/4 ton Chevy and buying a slightly newer smaller truck. I owned a a 97 4.2 that didn't last 80k miles and i owned a 91 4.3 that was more or less gutless . I'm looking at a 08 Stx ford f150 with a five speed and a 09 Chevy 1500 with the 4.3 and auto . Im going to be pulling a 17 ft grizzly and 15 foot aulmacraft and the occasional small utility trailer. I was looking for real world data or opinions mpg etc ?

I would hold out for a small 8 cylinder myself. Had a 01 4.2 f150 that I did not do much towing with but only got around 17 mpg with it and you could feel the power loss when the a/c was running. I thought it would be great on gas but I was wrong...You may not need the extra horses towing such a light load but it is nice when passing other cars with the trailer back there.

Chevy 4.8 v8

I think you will find that the newer trucks with the 5 and 6 speed transmissions will pull better than either of your previous mentioned trucks.

My brother had a chevy with the 4.3 and it pulled his 17 foot Cajun around with no problems. He said he got about 19 on the highway and about 13 towing.

Speaking of 97 F-150's my grandparents have one with a 4.6 that has over 500,000 miles and is still running! Back to the topic on hand though I would say go with the Chevy 4.3 and try and find one that has a tow/haul package. I like the way the Chevy's are geared better than the Fords. And I work at a Ford dealership so I don't normally reccomend Chevy's but in the case I would.

Not sure if you are getting a 6 banger because there cheaper, but the 5.3 gets better fuel mileage. Not sure on the ford but it is probably the same. I put 330,000 miles on my old 4.3 and it was still running great when i got rid of it. It only got 17 hwy, 13 city and 8 towing a bass boat. My 5.3 gets 20 easily on the hwy and 13 pulling the boat.

That's my main reason , i really want a nicer newer truck. I just really don't feel comfortable paying 15-20k for a used half ton with around a 100k miles is all . I been a Chevy owner for ever the only reason i was even considering a ford is i really dont like autos and that's the only five speed i can find within a 150 miles , i still have my z71 for local drags but it gets only 12 mpg with no load .

You should talk with Monty at Moritz. I paid about 20 for a new ext. cab from him. He could probably find you a good deal.

eww, drove all the above today and for sure not getting a ford anything . The 4.3 was ok but night and day with the 4.8 and 5.3 now i just have to find exactly what i want lol

I have driven two trucks with the 4.3L and two with the 5.3L. Never owned a Ford. Honestly, if I was buying a used truck today, and it wasn't one of the newer ones with the variable cylinder trick (that's only available on the V8 models), I'd get the 4.3L and not look back at all. The two trucks I had with the 4.3L were both fantastic, towed a 12' enclosed trailer and 17' Triton glass boat with no problem at all. I got 18-20 on the highway and 15-16 in town.

The 2004 Silverado with the 5.3L will leave that old 4.3L in the dust and it's been flawless since I bought it with 40k miles, but I wouldn't hesitate saving the cash and getting better gas mileage with the 4.3L. My 5.3L gets 17 highway and 15 city and 14 towing my 17' Triton.

I don't know how the Ford V6 tows, but I've owned a Dodge V6 that could barely pull it's own weight around and got 14 mpg highway and couldn't believe the difference between that 3.7L and the Chevy 4.3L that I traded in for it. Never should've traded in that 2000 Silverado...but I love the 5.3L I've got now. Don't think you could go wrong with either.

For the record, in the Chevy lineup, I'd go with either the 4.3L and get better mileage or the 5.3L and get the increased hp, torque and cast iron block. I've never heard of many issues with the 4.8L, but that's just my $.02.

What year are you looking at? 5.3 is a solid engine and easy to work on.

I've got the Ford 4.2 and tow with it fairly regularly. I can't even feel my 16ft boat behind it. When I get up around 5000lbs tandem axle box trailer I won't be winning any races but I've never felt like it couldn't do it. I've got a Cold Air Intake but I can't be certain it really helps the horsepower much. Gas mileage isn't really any better than a v8 though. I got it because its what I could afford new when I was 20 and I've driven it for 80,000 miles without a hickup.

I have never owned either the 4.2 or the 4.3 V6 models but i do know that it makes a huge difference whether it is a manual trans or an automatic trans when getting a V6 in a truck. I test drove some Ford Rangers 11 year ago and wanted one with a V6 instead of the 4 banger. I test drove two, both had 3.0L V6 motors but one was auto tran and one was manual. The manual transmission was a big difference in acceration. The auto transmission just felt like it wanted to shift before the rpms reved up and was just really sluggish. I opted for the manual and it was a great truck. I would think the same would apply for a bigger V6 in a 1/2 ton truck.

The 4.3L has been around for a long long long time, is tried and true. My brother had a '93 we drove in hischool and college, it was a great truck, not ment for heavy pulling, but it did just fine. If you drove 60-65 on the hwy it would get 22-23 pure highway and got 17 or so in town.

I would never buy the small v-8, they generaly get worse milleage than the bigger one so it is a sacrifice all the way around.

matt

The 4.3 gm is a great motor. Its basicly a 350cid with 2 cylinders lopped off. There are a fiew hickups with it though. Its a 2 piece composit intake maifold with the weirdest injection system. They call it spider injection. Its basicly an unseperatable harness of fuel injectors, that is inside the intak manifold. Basicly, if you have a problem with one injector or a cracked fuel line, your tearing down the top half of the motor, and replaceing the hole package. Thy are prone to the back 2 cylinders running ritch due to them starving for air.

Now here is the fix for that;

The marine intake manifold for the 4.3 is a one piece. Cast (if I rember correctly) manifold. You have to convert it to a mpfi system. But there are pleanty of write up and info on this. Wynjammer makes a cyntrifical supercharger, simmler to the vortech system. It will make about 8 to 10psi of boost. They have great customer service and is a complete kit. These 2 systems will up your fuel efficency by about 5% so long as yu an keep your foot out of it. And it will bump your power up to 300-325whp and more than enough torque to tow what to v8 trucks can. Enough that the 4l60e trans will have trouble keeping up.

In any case, what your looking for in any gm tow vehicle is a g80 and gt5 code in the glove box. Pop open the glove box and there will be a data plate in there with a ton of different code. They are the option codes (rpo codes). G80 is gms locking rear differental, no one tire fire with that code. Gt5 is the gearing of the diff. Gt5 represents a 4.10 gear.

Dont forget the six cylinder Tundra. I hear its ok.

I had a '98 with a 4.3l Vortec v-6 in it, and that thing was a great little engine. It was my work truck, and mostly just ran around town. But I had a deep crossover tool box loaded with tools, and a ladder rack on it with a 28' extension ladder, a 12' step, and a 6' step. it got between 15 and 18 mpg running that way. I could strip the ladders off and get around 19mpg on the hwy. I used it to tow my boat and it did just fine with that too. Many times I'd be driving to the deer lease on Hwy 35, headed south, and all of the sudden it'd just fall on it's face for no apparent reason. Then I'd look down and realize I was doing 100mph, keeping up with a pack of fast moving cars, and the computer had shut if off.

Since driving that truck, and putting over 265k miles on it before selling it, I will state with utmost confidence that the 4.3 Vortec V-6 was the best V-6 ever made, bar none.

If I were looking at newer trucks, I'd be looking at the 5.3 LS motor. The 6.0 is great for power, but the mpg's are notably worse than the 5.3. The 4.8's are good too, but the 5.3 is the best of both worlds. In fact, I am getting ready to buy the stuff to swap a 5.3LS into my 85 3/4 ton Suburban. My old boss swapped an LS6.0 into his jeep, and that thing will break driveline parts at will. he can say, " here goes the front drive shaft", push on the gas hard enough and you'll hear a POP. He is now looking to upgrade to one ton axles.

The LS Engines are awesome. Reliable, efficient, and make some great power. Even more with some minor modifications. Plus that you'll get the peace of mind knowing that Chevy doesn't change their platform every other year in search of something better (like ford does), because they already have the best out there when it comes to gas engines.

Might try looking at the new 5.0 302 360 hp 385 tq Ford p/u I have one and will put it up against the other brands,got me a hemi the other day if it hadn`t hit rev limiter would`nt caught me... Bill

Well there are 2 different 6.0 truck motors chevy put out. There is thr LQ9 and the LQ6. The 6 is worth 300hp give or take. The 9 is worth 375hp coser to 390hp in the silverado ss. When backed up by th 4L80E, its a force to be reconed with

The SS had the 4L65E. The 4L80E came in 3/4 ton and up. I've got 266k on a Sonoma ZQ8 with 4.3. Only issue was with the intake manifold gasket.

The awd ss has the 80e. Possably 60e-hd. Any of them are 4 speed trans though.

The 65e is the heavier duty 60e.

Im just not sure why we are debating chevy's past big v-8s fords new 5.0 v-8 and transmisions used bo back up chevy 3/4 ton v-8s when the OP asked about one chevy and one ford v-6.

Id go with the 4.3. Personal preference, i have had and used one and had good results, it has been in production for over 20 years in some form or fashion, the bugs are worked out.

If you want towing power then get something else.

Out of the two you listed I would go 4.3

matt

I've had a 4.2 Ford and a 5.3 Chevy both single cab the Ford was standard not only did the big Chevy v8 get better gas mileage it had power when I needed it if your getting a v6 get an ecoboost other than that your goin to get the same gas mileage think about it. Big motor pulling small truck is more power out of the same size truck that the v6 will struggle doing compared to the v8.