F-350 6.7 dually

I drove a F-450 dually, 16 foot bed for several years. Loved it. It had the 460 EFI motor. I hear those Cummin's are un-stoppable. My uncle has one in a Dodge dually. He's proud of it.
 
I drove a F-450 dually, 16 foot bed for several years. Loved it. It had the 460 EFI motor. I hear those Cummin's are un-stoppable. My uncle has one in a Dodge dually. He's proud of it.

Yesterday we took a loaded Lariat 450 dually crewcab with the 6.7 diesel out for a test spin, it drove nicely and was very powerful. The engine was as quiet and smooth as a gasser, impressive. The dually 4x4 sits lower than the single rear wheel 4x4, which is nice.

I won't buy a Dodge since they renamed them "Ram" and the 2500 and 3500s are made in Mexico, no way. The 1500s are still made in Michigan though.
 
About 5 years ago, I went to a tractor/truck pull. They had a Street Stock class for 4x4 trucks, and only two trucks were in it.

The first truck was early '60s Ford with a tired 6-banger. It pulled the sled about 60 feet before the motor slowed down, and died.

The second truck was a new Dodge 3500 with the Cummins. It came off the line rolling coal, and moving fast. At the 200 ft mark, right in front me, there was this big "RUMPH" noise. The truck stopped and was engulfed in a cloud of white smoke. The auto tranny, probably a seven speed, had gernaded.

I know the guy wasn't planning on trailering it home, or spending $4k to get it fixed.
 
We have one at work that we use primarily to tow a 24' enclosed trailer (single car plus workshop). Transmission made it about 10k before it blew out a seal and dumped ATF all over our parking lot. Good thing it didn't happen on one of our cross country trips.

Also if you plan on towing anything with some weight I'd suggest rear air springs. From the factory the rear end squats like crazy without that much weight on it.

Biggest complaint from our drivers is the pathetic 25 gallon fuel tank, towing on the highway that gives you a useful range of only ~200-250 miles. In the midwest where it might be 50+ miles between gas stations it kinda sucks because you usually end up refilling around 150-175 out of an abundance of caution.

It is comfortable and quiet though...
 
Don't want to get into a Ford/Chevy/Dodge debate, but I have customers who own all three, and there isn't a one who hasn't had problems with the diesel engine/transmission combo. Sure, they can all be fixed - if your wallet is fat enough. Diesel is OK for my tractor and forklift, but I'll take the gas engine for the road.
 
The F-450 I drove was a 1990, a company truck. It had two Flowmaster mufflers next to each other under the bed. The exhaust system had a tendency to pack-up with un-burnt fuel/air during coast conditions. It made the loudest explosions I've ever heard from a vehicle. I became skilled at making the 'bangs' just to entertain my co-workers.

My 'magnum opus' occurred one morning during rush hour on I-35. Traffic was at a stand still, I saw I would be coasting to stop under the 119th Street over-pass. My passenger was just the sort of guy that would get a kick out of the experience, so I started the pack-up extra early. When we came to quiet stop under the over-pass, that thing detonated like a Howitzer being fired. Cars on either side pulled out on the shoulders to get away.

John and I were laughing hard; the other commuters were not amused. :oops:
 
Biggest complaint from our drivers is the pathetic 25 gallon fuel tank, towing on the highway that gives you a useful range of only ~200-250 miles. In the midwest where it might be 50+ miles between gas stations it kinda sucks because you usually end up refilling around 150-175 out of an abundance of caution.

Thanks Ross. Fortunately extended cab and crewcab diesel duallys use the 8' bed and have 37.5 gallon tanks, shorter bed diesels have a 26 gallon tank (5 gallons having been sacrificed to make room for the DEF tank). In any event if I buy one of these trucks I'll install a 50 gallon auxiliary tank in the bed, the less one has to pull a truck and trailer into stations to fuel the better. The F-150 Ecoboost I now use has the optional 36 gallon tank and it's quite handy as I get between 9-12 MPG when towing my current 24' travel trailer.


The truck I drove had a payload of 5425 pounds and I'd expect to run at most 4000 pounds pin weight from a 5th wheeler (probably more like 3000 pounds) and at most 900 pounds passengers, cargo and extra fuel, leaving me several hundred pounds grace on payload. But I'll keep the airbags in mind.
 
The F-450 I drove was a 1990, a company truck. It had two Flowmaster mufflers next to each other under the bed. The exhaust system had a tendency to pack-up with un-burnt fuel/air during coast conditions. It made the loudest explosions I've ever heard from a vehicle. I became skilled at making the 'bangs' just to entertain my co-workers.

My 'magnum opus' occurred one morning during rush hour on I-35. Traffic was at a stand still, I saw I would be coasting to stop under the 119th Street over-pass. My passenger was just the sort of guy that would get a kick out of the experience, so I started the pack-up extra early. When we came to quiet stop under the over-pass, that thing detonated like a Howitzer being fired. Cars on either side pulled out on the shoulders to get away.

John and I were laughing hard; the other commuters were not amused. :oops:

The Big Bang Theory in action. aka the F-450 Howitzer. Grinning and laughing reading this post. Funny as heck!
 
Our rowing club uses a '99 F350 6.7 dually, for our shell trailers, 45 ft galvanized , 4500 lbs, these are common with many of the large rowing clubs. Almost all the events are road trips, Boston, Philly, NYC, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, Oak Ridge.
 
Ford never used Cummins (they only used International light duty) in North American pickups, but of course used Cummins in Medium Duty Trucks like all the big 3 and you can even get them in International Med Duty.

They did in South America however as this history shows for the SD line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Super_Duty


Cummins has a new 5.0 V8 light duty (which is a new market for them) that Nissan is using in their heavy half ton.
 
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Cummins has a new 5.0 V8 light duty (which is a new market for them) that Nissan is using in their heavy half ton.

First reactions from serious towers are mixed, with many complaints about low payload, disappointing fuel economy and the lack of an exhaust brake. Maximum payload is rated at 2500 pounds and no configuration is given, I assume they refer to a stripper crewcab 2WD (evidently they make no regular cabs). The new aluminum Ford F-150 payload goes as high as 3240 pounds with 2WD 3.5 Ecoboost regular cab (3270 with the V8) and 2660 pounds with a 4x4 Ecoboost crewcab. And as experienced towers know (many from sad experience) many trailers will payload a truck out long before the so called "towing capacity" is reached. I expect people who tow a lot will stick with the Big 3.
 
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Just read that for F-150 fans Ford is coming out with a 3.0 V-6 turbo Diesel ( one they sell to Land Rover) around the middle of the year as pressure from the Dodge 1500 diesel option (selling well) and GM 's new diesel just out in their Colorado/Canyon half ton forced them to reconsider.
 
OK...Ford never used the Cummins. I said "in years", 'never' is a number of years.

The wiki article states the Super Duty started in 1998. It started at least as early as 1992.

1992 F-450.JPG
Here's a '92 F-450, badged as a Super Duty.
 
If you really tow HD maybe consider a good used ( much less electronics on the engine and de-rated) Medium Duty as you get can get the Cummins and all the HD hardware for a safe/reliable long distance tow as you aren't running near the max load capacity.

I do believe from reading the Ford 6.7 engine itself is made in Mexico so maybe the maybe a good used Medium Duty might be the choice ( for Tom) and you can add 4X4 capability in a few different ways.
 
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I think they were trying to establish the SD as their HD pickup line in 98 ( and it really helped sell lots of them) though with an entirely different cab/box so people new instantly what it was. They really beefed up the frame also as the weight really increased, and 06 got heavier still when the 6.4 came out as they increased it's thickness.
 
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Don't want to get into a Ford/Chevy/Dodge debate, but I have customers who own all three, and there isn't a one who hasn't had problems with the diesel engine/transmission combo. Sure, they can all be fixed - if your wallet is fat enough. Diesel is OK for my tractor and forklift, but I'll take the gas engine for the road.

Dunno. I know a number of people with Dodge trucks, with the 12 valve Cummins and 6-speed manual. Many of them have over 400K miles on them, with the engines or trans never having the covers off. At least one of them (who almost drives all long-haul, towing a horse trailer,with the truck) never even had a new clutch...

Those are the trucks, that after a nuclear war, I'd be looking for. Or maybe a Toyota Hi-Lux diesel. Those and the cockroaches will still probably be alive and kicking... :D

Regards,m
Gordon.
 
I agree Gordon, that the ones with the Std Trans will go even over 1 M miles as I have seen articles on them doing so with the original drive train. They do seem to rust badly in the salt areas as I have a 93 and the 95 engine compartment got really small so not nice to work on (much better than an earlier 98+ Super Duty though!) You have to lift the cab on a SD ( though less so on the 6.7) to do major work and probably the later Dodges also.

The Gretag 360 5 sp std was a bit weak in the 89-93 and the AT's aren't known to last, but are probably good on the latest 6.7 Cummins as they offer a HD AT for towing . They still offer a std trans but it's rated for lower towing capacity. i think the frame on the Dodge has caught up with the SD as the truck is now as heavy and advertized at 50K psi strength steel.
 
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