All the old non-powerstroke ford's I've driven have been dogs, the 6.9's and 7.3's. 175 hp maybe but no power and smokers on hills. Sure it will pull a load but for every day driving the Ford I6 motors would beat them off the line and up a hill.The only truck my stock suzuki samurai used to be able to beat was my buddies 1989 F350 4x4 wtih 7.3 non-turbo. Now when towing, that is another story but my other friends had chev 5.7's and his current is the 6L. He has a landscaping company and you can feel the 4000 lb trailer/tractor behind but will still climb hills fine with the od locked out. The two engines are pretty close. When I tow his setup with the neigbours 4.6 L Ford it is noticable slower up hills but I don't hold up traffic, just makes the 4.6 spin pretty fast in 2nd gear. The 4.6 L ford was also fairly loaded when towing our JD 336 baler up some 8% grades, I couldn't get much over 30 mph not that you'd want too. The baler is heavier than the truck I believe, maybe by 1000 lbs? On the flip side, the 7.3 l ford will pull an 8000 lb haywagon load up the same hill at near the same speed but it doesn't seem to struggle at all.
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