2017 Ford F-150 Features All-New 10-Speed Transmission

For the 2017 model year, all Ford F-150s equipped with the new, upgraded 3.5-liter V-6 EcoBoost engine (now with 375 horsepower and 470 pounds-feet of torque) will also get the industry’s first 10-speed transmission. 

The current Ford six-speed center-console transmission offers Tow/Haul, Sport and Normal settings that can change shift patterns up and down more aggressively, hold gears longer, downshift quicker and provide better grade braking. The new transmission will have the same three modes but will be smarter, faster and better able to include a wider range of towing, hauling and empty-driving parameters — not to mention it also has four more gears.

The new transmission will have one of the lowest 1st gears in the half-ton segment (Ram has a 4.71:1 1st gear in its factory eight-speed) and offer three overdrive gears, with its 9th speed having the same ratio as the previous transmission’s top 6th gear. 

The transmission gearing readout remains inside the tachometer but now shows a stacked 1 through 10, instead of the previous 1 through 6, continually identifying which gear it is currently in.

The new 10-speed transmission offers several new technologies and features. The transmission offers: 

• a wider top-to-bottom gear span with closer gear spacing
• an integrated start/stop program and standard electric pump
• the first Ford transmission not to use any cast iron for weight savings
• a smarter shift logic that allows for wider control of power over a wider set of situations
• a computer controller that uses more than double the previous amount of coding
• a new 10-speed that has six clutch packs and four planetary gear sets 
• a 1st gear ratio of 4.69:1; 2nd: 2.98:1; 3rd: 2.14:1; 4th: 1.76:1; 5th: 1.52:1; 6th: 1.27:1; 7th: 1.00:1; 8th: 0.85:1; 9th: 0:68:1; and 10th: 0.63:1

The new transmission is essentially the same length as the previous six-speed it replaces, but it won’t add any additional weight to F-150s equipped with the new engine and 10-speed. F-150s can be ordered with the new powertrain now. 

Cars.com photos by Mark Williams