Tow boss or f450 daily driving?

ThreeBigFords · Jul 18, 2016

F350 tow boss doesn't have the same rear axle as the F450, which, by the way is actually an S130, NOT an s110 as is widely believed. All one has to do is look at the tag on the axle.

The front wide track axles are the same except of course for the 10 lug wheels. If I were looking at lifting and running 35's, I'd opt for the F350 Tow Boss as the suspension and wheel/tire options are much better/easier to find.

jcain · Jul 18, 2016

110s were the old 450s

jcain · Jul 18, 2016

Tow boss gets a fancy differential cover. Haha

sootie · Jul 18, 2016

Thanks for the clarification

JRLott · Jul 18, 2016

TyCorr said:
Whats the led on top do? Just turn indicator?

They look good.

My old truck I want to do all white led lighting. Where do you get the leds and anything i need to stay away from?

Those are Ridgid D...something fogs...a bit overkill for turn indicators. The white line between the top & bottom is the turn signal that will flash orange.

Notneb · Jul 18, 2016

You talking about my lights Ty? Tops are Rigid floods, turn signals are the LED strips *white for running lights, then they turn to amber for turns*, and the bottoms are demon eye HID's.

gnxtc2 · Jul 18, 2016

Just to confirm, the Tow Boss F350 has 8 lug wheels and the F450 DRW has 10 lug wheels.

What is actual longer on the wide track front axles.....tubes or the adapters?

Billy T.
[email protected]

8WR_ZJ · Jul 18, 2016

Thank you for all the help guys I greatly appreciate the knowledge and suggestions on the tow boss question. I have decided to go ahead a purchase a 350 tow boss. I like the gear selection with my chosen tire size. I will be slightly deeper than a SRW wheel truck with the factory 34 inch tires. 1936 RPM at 70 mph DRWTB vs 1729 rpm at 70 mph SRW. Only issue I am having is the majority that I find are white. I am not to partial to white.

Notneb how much did youe headlights run you to get built? I am moving from a F150 with HId's and the stock superduty lights do not compare at all.

Notneb · Jul 18, 2016

8WR_ZJ said:
Thank you for all the help guys I greatly appreciate the knowledge and suggestions on the tow boss question. I have decided to go ahead a purchase a 350 tow boss. I like the gear selection with my chosen tire size. I will be slightly deeper than a SRW wheel truck with the factory 34 inch tires. 1936 RPM at 70 mph DRWTB vs 1729 rpm at 70 mph SRW. Only issue I am having is the majority that I find are white. I am not to partial to white.

Notneb how much did youe headlights run you to get built? I am moving from a F150 with HId's and the stock superduty lights do not compare at all.

$900, but there are cheaper versions from the same guy, I just liked this version the best.

Swampfox · Jul 18, 2016

jcain said:
You don't think your tow boss has an sr110 do you ? Or am I reading that wrong...

Reading it wrong. I did not want the larger axle so I went with the dana 80 in the f-350 tow boss.

Swampfox · Jul 18, 2016

gnxtc2 said:
Just to confirm, the Tow Boss F350 has 8 lug wheels and the F450 DRW has 10 lug wheels.

What is actual longer on the wide track front axles.....tubes or the adapters?

Billy T.
[email protected]

Yes that is correct on the lug question and not sure on the wide track.

tbsimmons · Jul 19, 2016

I guess I don't turn sharp, I have not turned locked to locked in either one of my dually's which is the reason the tow boss was not a big deal. Towing a triple axle trailer turning sharp is not a good idea anyways. That diff cover comes on all the trucks.
Just FYI to the OP, towing this weekend I tow about 65, 55 is the limit with a trailer here in CA., It was mostly top gear most of the time. Over some of the steep grades, I would lock out 6th. If I had 4.30's, it would have stayed in high gear (Reason to state this, my 450 started to slip the OD clutches and the TC Clutch because it would not downshift out of high gear towing my trailer). Again 3.73's are great. I towed with an 11 with 3.55's, not enough gear. I still think 4.30's are too much gear with the 6.7. To get bigger tires big enough to use the 4.30's, you need to be in the 37" range to have the same gearing as 3.73's.
Yes the axle is a Dana 80 in the F350.
Yes the lug count is 8 in a F350.

8WR_ZJ · Jul 19, 2016

So having the 4.30 gear set and towing at that speed the truck would not downshift to 5th correct? It would hold 6th and basically put the power to the OD clutches causing the slipping? I don't want 37's that is too tall. It would look great but to tall IMO. Well I could always tow in 5th. 3.73 gears/35" tires/65mph/.85 trans/ yeilds 1978 rpm. Thay would work fine plus when I am not towing I would get better fuel economy than the Tow Boss. Only thing i was liking about the tow boss was turning radius. Can you swap knuckles from the tow boss/450/550 setup to the non Tow boss F-350 front end? I wonder if the actual axle C is different dimensions?

8WR_ZJ · Jul 19, 2016

Question on price of a truck. I found an XL with pw,pl,vinyl seats, sync, elec shift tcase, rubber floor, upfitter switches, heavy duty floor mats. Dealer said they would do factory remote start and backup camera. Also do a linex spray in and B&W 25k turnover ball. 1265 was added to the price for the stuff I wanted installed. Total price is 42,165. Plus taxes and all the other stuff. Does this seems decent? Msrp on the window sticker is 54,185. I just got onto auto-trader and it seems like a fair price.

tbsimmons · Jul 19, 2016

8WR_ZJ said:
So having the 4.30 gear set and towing at that speed the truck would not downshift to 5th correct? It would hold 6th and basically put the power to the OD clutches causing the slipping? I don't want 37's that is too tall. It would look great but to tall IMO. Well I could always tow in 5th. 3.73 gears/35" tires/65mph/.85 trans/ yeilds 1978 rpm. Thay would work fine plus when I am not towing I would get better fuel economy than the Tow Boss. Only thing i was liking about the tow boss was turning radius. Can you swap knuckles from the tow boss/450/550 setup to the non Tow boss F-350 front end? I wonder if the actual axle C is different dimensions?

I am not saying that the truck will never downshift and cause slipping, I am just saying what I have experienced with my 08 and a low gear. I don't think my truck would downshift very often with 4.30's. It might over some of the 7-8% grades but not often. I am not out of 5th very much which with 4.30's would be high gear. This is towing a 18-20,000# 13.6' tall fiver so if your is shorter or less weight then yea it will stay in high gear.
Unless something changed I thought the axle tubes were longer. The only thing you gain with a tow boss is 3000# of GCWR, GVWR is the same at 14,000#. Not enough for me to care.

tbsimmons · Jul 19, 2016

8WR_ZJ said:
Question on price of a truck. I found an XL with pw,pl,vinyl seats, sync, elec shift tcase, rubber floor, upfitter switches, heavy duty floor mats. Dealer said they would do factory remote start and backup camera. Also do a linex spray in and B&W 25k turnover ball. 1265 was added to the price for the stuff I wanted installed. Total price is 42,165. Plus taxes and all the other stuff. Does this seems decent? Msrp on the window sticker is 54,185. I just got onto auto-trader and it seems like a fair price.

I usually use 15% off sticker for starting.
With the 17's close I think they can come off more.
The turn over ball, I bet the truck has the Ford hitch and gooseneck in it.

PABowhunter · Jul 20, 2016

I know the OP is looking at 2016 trucks, but does anyone know if the tow boss is an option on the 2017's? I didn't see it when trying to build a 2017 truck.

tbsimmons · Jul 20, 2016

I don't think it is. I have not seen it either building one either. I wonder if they got rid of it to push people to buy a 450.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

JRLott · Jul 20, 2016

tbsimmons said:
The turn over ball, I bet the truck has the Ford hitch and gooseneck in it.

Good point. I asked about installing a B&W turnover ball. Salesman said We can put a Ford ball in it. I told him if I had wondered about a ford ball, I'd have asked. He finally figured it out. Quoted me $750. I told him I'd do it myself for $450...or whatever it cost for a B&W to be shipped to the house.

TyCorr · Jul 20, 2016

JRLott said:
Good point. I asked about installing a B&W turnover ball. Salesman said We can put a Ford ball in it. I told him if I had wondered about a ford ball, I'd have asked. He finally figured it out. Quoted me $750. I told him I'd do it myself for $450...or whatever it cost for a B&W to be shipped to the house.

They are 475+shipping. Plus all the stuff you need. May have to cut a receptacle into the interior bedside.