Ford will offer an off-road ready option package for their 2020 F-Series Super Duty trucks.

It seems Ford F-Series Super Duty owners do more than just work with their trucks.

Ford introduced a new Tremor Package that will make their Super Duty trucks more off-road ready.

Both workhorse and adventure machine, the package is available for XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum F-250 and F-350 Super Duty with all-new 7.3-liter gas V8 or third-generation 6.7-liter Power Stroke® diesel. Tremor can be specified for 4x4 single-rear-wheel SuperCrew trucks with a 6.75-foot box; F-250 models also require the high-capacity trailer tow package.

Off-road upgrades start with a set of aggressive 35-inch-diameter Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac maximum-traction tires – the largest diameter tires available on a heavy-duty pickup – mounted on a set of unique 18-inch matte-finished black wheels. These tires, combined with a 2-inch front-end lift and shorter air dam, result in an impressive 10.8 inches of ground clearance, best-in-class water fording of 33 inches, and the best approach and departure angles of any Super Duty ever – 31.65 degrees and 24.51 degrees, respectively.

Additional hardware includes off-road running boards that tuck up next to the body for damage control, extended-axle vent tubes and the same beefy skid plates as fitted to FX4 models.

The 2020 Super Duty Tremor features selectable drive modes, which allow customers to choose the setting best suited to driving conditions. These include normal for around-town use, tow/haul for optimized performance under load, eco for enhanced fuel economy, slippery for icy conditions, and deep snow/sand for low-traction conditions.

Tremor will include an exclusive new rock-crawl mode, which is optimized to operate in 4x4 low and is enabled by the standard TorqShift® 10-speed automatic transmission. Tremor trucks equipped with the 7.3-liter gas engine have a 53:1 crawl ratio while those equipped with the 6.7-liter diesel engine have a 44:1 crawl ratio.

The Tremor Super Duty will also come with available Trail Control, currently found only in the F-150 Raptor and Ranger models.

Demographically, the F-150 has become a luxury vehicle, used by people commuting from the suburbs. The Super Duty has solidified its place as a reliable work truck. The off-road package will be a bit of a departure for the brand.

But the change seems to be influenced by how consumer lifestyles.

“A growing number of Super Duty customers use their trucks for more than work. They’re fishing, camping and towing boats on weekends and they go off-road, so we designed this truck specifically for them – more ground clearance, bigger shocks, bigger tires and more off-road capability,” said Todd Eckert, Ford truck group marketing manager. “Tremor balances what customers demand in terms of work with what they need in the great outdoors.”

Why now though?

Could Ford be feeling the pressure from Ram and Jeep?

The North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year Awards voted the 2019 Ram 1500 “Truck of the Year.” That recognition came a month after the Ram 1500 won the Motor Trend Truck of the Year Award. So far, sales of the 2019 Ram have been very good.

Jeep introduced the new Gladiator truck. It has earned a great deal of acclaim from consumers and industry experts.

Both of these vehicles tend to attract owners who enjoy driving off the beaten path. Ford has owned the full-size truck market for decades. The new Tremor Package could be the company’s way of winning market share in an increasingly competitive market.