Ford’s New Off-Road Muscle

Does the new Tremor package have the competition trembling?

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Words by Perry Mack

4WD off-road options have been available since trucks were developed in the Second World War and then put to use in civilian life. But in the last ten years, with the rise of the Wrangler, manufacturers have put more focus into offering dealer prepped off-road trucks. Is the new Ford Super Duty Tremor worthy of being crowned ‘King of the ‘Off’ Road?

Our favourite half-ton trucks have always been those that included an off-road trim package. A few factory added options that will help the truck get the job done and then take you out to play on the weekends.

We recently gained a new appreciation for heavy-duty off-road trucks with the introduction of the 2020 Ram Power Wagon. Recent upgrades have made this truck a solid choice for a lot more folks. The challenge with the Power Wagon is a lack of powertrain options. There are a couple of exterior and interior colour choices and a few accessory options, but the powertrain and cab remain the same.

The Tremor is an option package for both the F250 and F350 Super Duty trucks. With a simple pencil stroke (and an extra $4000 USD cash) you can make an XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, or Platinum a worthy off-the-beaten-path heavy-duty truck right off the dealer lot. Just a couple bumps as you drive over the curb with a smile as large as the great outdoors.

Right off-the-lot, the 2020 Tremor has a lot to offer. You can choose between the all-new 7.3L gas V8 for a solid 430 hp and 475 lb-ft of torque, or the 6.7L Power Stroke diesel pushing out 475 horsepower and a staggering 1,050 lb-ft of torque. Both engine options get a smooth shifting 10-speed automatic transmission generating a 53:1 crawl ratio for the 7.3L gas and a 44:1 crawl ratio with the 6.7L diesel. These choices are great. I hate to throw the Power Wagon under the bus, but it is offered with only one engine choice, the 6.4L gas V8 generating 410 hp and 429 lb-ft of torque.

You can’t get the Tremor package on every Super Duty, but you can get it on the ones that count – 4WD, single-rear-wheel, 6.75’ bed. The F-250 diesel models require the high capacity trailer tow package.

What does the Tremor package include? Working from the bottom up, Wrangler 35” tires on 18” wheels, a rear stabilizer bar tuned for off-road, and 1.7-inch twin tube dampers to reduce bounce and body roll. A shift on the fly locking rear differential and a limited slip front, Raptor-style fixed running boards, plus beefy skid plates to protect the under body.

According to Ford, approach and departure angles are 31.65° and 24.51° courtesy the two-inch front lift, smaller air dam, and 35-inch tires.

The Heavy Duty 10-speed transmission has selectable drive modes – Normal, Tow/Haul, Eco, Slippery, and Deep Snow and Sand and now you also get Trail Control (first featured in the 2019 Ford Ranger) with the new Rock Crawl mode. Trail Control is like cruise control for off-road, similar to Toyota’s Crawl Control, but when we reviewed Ranger we noticed Ford’s is much smoother.

If you’re aware of the Ram Power Wagon’s features, you may have noticed there are two things the Tremor doesn’t have, components that can dramatically improve traction when the going unexpectedly gets ugly. A front locking differential and a disconnecting front sway bar. While we can appreciate the advantage of a front locking diff, we also recognize the disadvantages and believe the front limited slip differential is actually a better choice in the Super Duty.

The disconnecting front sway bar is really the Achilles heel keeping the Off-Road crown out of the Tremor’s reach. Wheel articulation in uneven terrain is the difference between traction and winching your way out, and as of this writing there is no aftermarket product out there to adapt the Tremor. The Ramp Travel Index (RTI) on the Power Wagon vs a similarly equipped Tremor shows that the Power Wagon is superior. We would be happy to get out and manually disconnect the front sway front bars when the conditions demand it, if an aftermarket option was available. The Power Wagon also has a smoother ride off-road with a coil-sprung, five-link solid-rear axle, which the Super Duty’s solid rear axle and leaf springs can’t match. You could argue that the simpler Super Duty is more reliable, but you can’t argue that the ride is better over uneven terrain.

There is a plus to not having a disconnecting swaybar. This is a tall, heavy, lifted truck, and the primary function of a sway bar is to keep the truck from leaning too far, especially if that means leaning to the point of tipping over. A disconnecting front sway bar on a truck like this is not for novice off-roaders.

We see the lack of a locking front differential and sway bar disconnect as minor prices to pay in exchange for the engine options, towing, and payload offered by the Ford F-250 and F-350 with the Tremor package. Looking at the F-250 as a more direct comparison to the Power Wagon, both the 7.3L gas and 6.7L turbo diesel will let you tow up to 6,800 kg (15,000 lb) off the hitch and 9525 kg (21,000 lb) with a gooseneck trailer, compared to the Power Wagon’s 4690 kg (10,340 lb) max hitch capacity. The Tremor Super Duty max payload with the 7.3L gas V-8 is 1900 kg (4,210 lb), a staggeringly superior number to the Power Wagons 753 kg (1660 lb) max payload.

In addition to payload and towing superiority, Fords claims a 33” water fording depth. While most of us will never test this, there are others who have lived through floods that will consider this feature particularly appealing.

Adding the Tremor package to a Ford Heavy Duty creates a very welcome alternative to the Power Wagon, especially if your life needs the maximum muscle to tow and haul.