2006 Ford 550 4D 4x4

[Koa Man]

I got tired of waiting for Dodge to come out with a F450/550 equivalent and bought a 2002 Intl 4300.

 

[HBarlow]

One of our fellow TDR members who is a contributing editor to the TDR magazine and a good friend (he will remain nameless here) said it best. When I made an admiring comment about the Ford F450/550 trucks at a TDR rally in Kerrville, TX several years ago he said, "yep, a nice "medium-duty truck" with a 3/4 ton drivetrain. " He was absolutely correct. The Ford F550 uses the identical engine and transmission Ford installs in a F250. And, truth be told, the Ford F450/550s are not truly "medium-duty trucks. " The Ford does offer higher load capacities than our Dodge 3500s and for that I am envious but it is not a medium duty platform.



In the RV transport industry where I am currently "hanging out" I have heard a number of tragic horror stories about drivers who purchased new Ford trucks with 6. 0 Navistar engines to deliver new travel trailers. To make long stories short, the owners rapidly put thousands of miles on their shiny new Fords. They experience numerous and repeated minor problems causing trips to the dealer and down time which means lost income. The obligation to make truck payments continues during periods of downtime putting him at risk. Then the engines experience catastrophic failure just after their warranty expires and the driver is facing a $15,000 bill for engine replacement!! Many of them have their trucks repossessed by the lender and some have even filed bankruptcy. I have personally run into several.



Dodge trucks don't have as much space as Ford crew cabs and some prefer the styling of Fords over our Dodge Rams but there is only one real truck engine in the light duty truck/heavy duty pickup truck market and it is a Cummins.



I am not a Ford hater. I owned and enjoyed several Fords before I decided to buy a turbodiesel. Fortunately, I made the right buying decision. My Dodge-Cummins now has 275k on the odometer and is holding up very well and the fuel mileage it returns far surpasses the Ford and Chevy.



Harvey

 

[GWBourne]

to bad it has the 6. 0h no under the hood! :-laf

thats why i am pricing out an F750 with a cummins 8. 1L (i think it was 8. 1) and a 7+1 man transmission.



cant go wrong with that. 47k with the few options i wanted to include no bed. i can make my own.

Grant