A Ford F-150 Diesel???

[SnoKing]

SnoKing, why are you are PAYING for an oil change??? Why not come by Ron's Shop and throw sum AMZ/OIL in it for I would guess the same $ you are going to pay to have it cone???

I have not paid for either oil/filter change, they were covered with Ford Pass points. I have enough for another oil/filter change and another oil/filter/tire rotate. So I am good for another couple years.

 

[EDankievitch]

Coming up on 25 k miles. About to take another road trip with a heavier trailer this year. The truck keeps going with the only issue to date being the faulty Nox sensor. I did like the way the truck was preforming with the bad sensor, my fuel MPG was much better by 2-3 mpg. Not that I’m complaining. I did discover that if you run the truck in Eco mode on a long trip it’s good for 1.5 mpg improvement over the normal mode. I’ve done a few 200 + mile trips in each mode. Eco is better. But Sport mode…. Much more fun.
I finally got the sprayed in bed liner installed. I thought the truck was quite before… wow! Quite a difference. Next on my list is to get the under side NHOU undercoated. Almost all of our company cars and trucks, while they have No miles on them rust underneath is the biggest problem. The wind here is constantly blowing in the salt. The oil undercoating is the only way to make things last here. It’s crazy you can find a car or truck that is spotless until you look underneath. Brake lines take the worst hit. The things you learn living on the shore.

 

[EDankievitch]

Back from the Keys, miles just shy of 29k. Trip this year was 3729 total. The trailer/ boat on this year’s trip was pushing 8600 lbs. about 1500 lbs heavier than my boat last year. first thing I noticed was the dealership had set up this boat trailer with too much weight on the hitch. Didn’t show it’s ugly head until I was on I 295 south of Jacksonville. That bridge was steep and things got strange on the decent. A 2500 series truck might not have noticed. Fuel MPG’s were averaging 12-13 towing southbound . I was going through 2.5 gallons of DEF every 48 gallons of fuel.
In the Keys I got 34-36 mpg hand calculated. Yes one tank 36 mpg. Speed in the Keys averaged about 40 mph with few traffic lights. A few years ago I got 28 mpg on one tank with my 2013 Ram on the same trip. Speed and stops kill fuel MPG’s.
Northbound I had a strong head wind I was averaging 9-12 mpg. Averaging 70 mph. I also was holding the transmission in 9th gear and 8th on the northbound trip to keep it from down shifting on hills in the Carolinas. I also re adjusted the trailer and reduced the weight on the hitch before I left Marathon which helped with the strange handling.
The bad… Ford has an over the air updating feature until this trip/ update the the only downside of updates was having to reset my settings, dash light levels, door lock settings, radio settings Bluetooth settings. Stupid minor things. Most of the time the updates made the truck better smoother shifting, better throttle response ect.. until this last one. This time my truck Nav display and radio would just lock up. It would ask to provide trailer information only I didn’t have the trailer hitched up. Then it wouldn’t allow you to change the screen. Ast one point the collision warning system went crazy and locked up the brakes in the parking lot. Only way to clear it was to shutdown and restart the truck.
Ford, like Ram has a recall for unintentional tailgate opening.. my tailgate popped open on I 95 in Delaware. I didn’t know it until another driver pulled alongside and let me know. The tailgate was bumping into the trailer hitch, tore up the release handle and back up camera. I’m waiting for Ford to make repairs to the tailgate under the recall.
All in all the truck did the job it was asked to do. I’m not going to do this trip again with this boat/ trailer again. Not that the truck can’t do the job but I feel it was too close to its limits. Ford rates the truck at 10,500 lbs towing capacity. The brakes did stop the load exceptionally well. And the engine did get things up to speed. I just don’t feel comfortable running that close to the upper limits. It’s not like my 89 W250 that was rated for 12500 lbs towing. That truck dragged well over 18000 lbs many times in the half a million miles I owned it. That truck just felt much more capable and I in control. This F150 was never intended to do that kind of a job. It’s better suited for local trips with this trailer and Home Depot runs as my daily driver.
The Michelin primacy tires are not up to the task, I doubt I’ll get much more than 40k miles out of them. A set of LT series Toyo open country tires are in my future. I still smile every time I drive this truck. Times I miss owning a Cummins powered truck. But this truck sure is trying hard to make me forget my 30 +years of Dodge/ Ram ownership.

 

[AH64ID]

What got interesting with too much tongue weight? How much tongue weight was it?

 

[Cummins12V98]

“The brakes did stop the load exceptionally well.”

No trailer brakes?

 

[EDankievitch]

If I had to guess it was close to 100lbs tongue weight. On the decent it started pushing the truck very squirming. I never felt out of control just not a comfortable feeling. The trailer has brakes on all axles. Disk brakes. There is a provision to lock them out when backing up. The trucks brakes are very good much better than a few GMC trucks I’ve driven. It’s reassuring that you can actually stop when you have to.

 

[AH64ID]

If I had to guess it was close to 100lbs tongue weight. On the decent it started pushing the truck very squirming. I never felt out of control just not a comfortable feeling. The trailer has brakes on all axles. Disk brakes. There is a provision to lock them out when backing up. The trucks brakes are very good much better than a few GMC trucks I’ve driven. It’s reassuring that you can actually stop when you have to.

Do you mean 1,000lbs? Even that doesn’t seem abnormal, as it’s 11.6% tongue weight. Boat trailers can run lower tongue weight and be stable, but they don’t have to.

 

[EDankievitch]

Yes, 1000 lbs. these trailers don’t have a weight distribution hitch. The trailer my brother in law had bought originally had a 28’ Greaty White boat on it with twin engine. His boat is 26’ with a single engine. His plan in a few years is to get a larger boat. Without that 2nd 250 Hp engine behind the axles, even with the boat moved aft it still had too much young weight. Ford says max you he weight is 500 lbs.

 

[AH64ID]

Yes, 1000 lbs. these trailers don’t have a weight distribution hitch. The trailer my brother in law had bought originally had a 28’ Greaty White boat on it with twin engine. His boat is 26’ with a single engine. His plan in a few years is to get a larger boat. Without that 2nd 250 Hp engine behind the axles, even with the boat moved aft it still had too much young weight. Ford says max you he weight is 500 lbs.

They also limit max trailer weight to 5,000 lbs without a WDH.

Sounds like you need to run a WDH vs insufficient tongue weight (which is unsafe).

 

[EDankievitch]

Or a bigger truck. I haven’t seen too many WDH setups for trailers with surge brakes like this trailer has. Like I said Last long distance trip with this trailer.

 

[EDankievitch]

It’s been a while since I added to this thread. This past summer my world came to a crashing stop. Thought I was having a stroke. It ended up being a brain tumor. I spent the summer recovering and fishing on my Brother in Law’s boat. Not how I planned. But I’m above ground, Heaven didn’t want me and Hell was afraid I’d corrupt the place. So you all are stuck with me. I just wish I knew how many dirty thoughts spilled out onto the operating room floor. The hospital staff said when i woke up my first words were had to do with Diesel engines. I did find it funny to call my wife John. Anyway my little red truck just passed 40,000 miles. I finally replaced the cheap SUV tires it came with. I went with a set of Toyo Open country HT’s load range E . Overkill for an F150 but I tow a lot and wanted extra stability the SUV tires couldn’t provide. I also against the dealership’s advice changed the transmission fluid and filter. Maybe someone here can answer this the dealership, and it doesn’t matter what brand recommends doing a fluid flush. Not dropping the pan and changing the filter. How does that really do anything for the transmission? My fluid was really clean but my filter had a fair amount of wear material. The filter on this ZF 10 speed gear is not like the window screen my RAM used. The material is more like an oil or fuel filter probably around 25-35 micron. That flush will not do anything to clean it. My shifts seem much smoother and fermer after the service. Like it was when it was new.
I still see 26-28 mpg around town and 29-31 mpg on the highway. I will say I’m driving a wee bit more aggressively these days. Bad habits sneak back when you drive through NYC. I have had the radio do some strange things but unlike my last Ram it always plays I just have to remind it what screen I want it to stay on. I still smile each time I get behind the wheel more so as I pass up the fuel pump and still have fuel for another adventure left in the tank.

 

[Topzide]

@EDankievitch, Glad to hear that you didn't get a pass for either destination! Sounds like the recovery was a good one! Plenty of new stories for the campfire times. Good to hear that the new ride is still treating you well. I never liked the trans flush thing. To me, it leaves to man things behind being forced backwards through the system. Let alone the filter media still holding onto debris from the system! Sometimes you have to trust what you know is the right thing for you and your truck. Enjoy the borrowed time left, you know your always welcome to give input and insight on the things you've done. Good health and times ahead!

 

[SnoKing]

It’s been a while since I added to this thread. This past summer my world came to a crashing stop. Thought I was having a stroke. It ended up being a brain tumor. I spent the summer recovering and fishing on my Brother in Law’s boat. Not how I planned. But I’m above ground, Heaven didn’t want me and Hell was afraid I’d corrupt the place. So you all are stuck with me. I just wish I knew how many dirty thoughts spilled out onto the operating room floor. The hospital staff said when i woke up my first words were had to do with Diesel engines. I did find it funny to call my wife John. Anyway my little red truck just passed 40,000 miles. I finally replaced the cheap SUV tires it came with. I went with a set of Toyo Open country HT’s load range E . Overkill for an F150 but I tow a lot and wanted extra stability the SUV tires couldn’t provide. I also against the dealership’s advice changed the transmission fluid and filter. Maybe someone here can answer this the dealership, and it doesn’t matter what brand recommends doing a fluid flush. Not dropping the pan and changing the filter. How does that really do anything for the transmission? My fluid was really clean but my filter had a fair amount of wear material. The filter on this ZF 10 speed gear is not like the window screen my RAM used. The material is more like an oil or fuel filter probably around 25-35 micron. That flush will not do anything to clean it. My shifts seem much smoother and fermer after the service. Like it was when it was new.
I still see 26-28 mpg around town and 29-31 mpg on the highway. I will say I’m driving a wee bit more aggressively these days. Bad habits sneak back when you drive through NYC. I have had the radio do some strange things but unlike my last Ram it always plays I just have to remind it what screen I want it to stay on. I still smile each time I get behind the wheel more so as I pass up the fuel pump and still have fuel for another adventure left in the tank.

Glad you made it thru your health ordeal. My 2021 F-150 Job 1 2.7L Twin Turbo now has a little over 25K on the clock and has been a good truck. I am up to date on all the over the air updates, unlike many other Job 1's(AKA early 2021's) that got stuck early on and not getting updates. I love the 12" display that does not look like a tablet thrown at the dash with bubble gum to hold it there. I intermix nav with Ford's onboard and Google Maps via android auto, play a route on my computer and send it to my smart phone. The performance of this little V6 still amazes me.

 

[EDankievitch]

The Nav system and the over the updates so far just work. That’s all anyone can ask for a product that just works as expected.
So far in my opinion Ford got it right. I hope Ram is listening and paying attention. Fancy and flash are nice but it needs to work day in and day out.

 

[EDankievitch]

3095 miles.. my last long distance adventure from cape may New Jersey to Key West Florida and back. No trailer this year so I could let the little pony sprint. Speeds below 70 she was delivering 34.8 mpg. Hand calculated. It was raining heavy our first day, all the way to Savannah Georgia forcing our speed to stay below 70. It’s crazy to see the dash display showing a range of well above 775 miles distance to empty. The fuel tank is only 26 gallons on this truck. Our 2nd tank we didn’t do as well but we were racing along at 80 mph, We still managed to achieve 29.4 mpg. Not too shabby for a 5500 lb full size truck.
I had made a few changes that may or may not helped with the fuel MPG’s. For Starters I switched to load range E tires for better stability when towing. The Toyo open country HT’s are much heavier than the Michelin primacy tires it came with. I also switched to 5-40 shell Rotella lube from the 5-30 that they specked from the factory. I’ve seen a few videos of these engines being torn down and I wasn’t pleased with the wear that I saw on the main and rod bearings on the engines in the videos. I feel the slightly heavier lube oil might offer better protection.
We had roughly 1000lbs of gear with us for the trip. That said I have had no complaints with the truck. I really wish that Ford had not discontinued this engine package so soon.

 

[Regcabguy]

3095 miles.. my last long distance adventure from cape may New Jersey to Key West Florida and back. No trailer this year so I could let the little pony sprint. Speeds below 70 she was delivering 34.8 mpg. Hand calculated. It was raining heavy our first day, all the way to Savannah Georgia forcing our speed to stay below 70. It’s crazy to see the dash display showing a range of well above 775 miles distance to empty. The fuel tank is only 26 gallons on this truck. Our 2nd tank we didn’t do as well but we were racing along at 80 mph, We still managed to achieve 29.4 mpg. Not too shabby for a 5500 lb full size truck.
I had made a few changes that may or may not helped with the fuel MPG’s. For Starters I switched to load range E tires for better stability when towing. The Toyo open country HT’s are much heavier than the Michelin primacy tires it came with. I also switched to 5-40 shell Rotella lube from the 5-30 that they specked from the factory. I’ve seen a few videos of these engines being torn down and I wasn’t pleased with the wear that I saw on the main and rod bearings on the engines in the videos. I feel the slightly heavier lube oil might offer better protection.
We had roughly 1000lbs of gear with us for the trip. That said I have had no complaints with the truck. I really wish that Ford had not discontinued this engine package so soon.

That's crazy good fuel economy. My buddy's only averaging 24 mpg out of his 2022 Baby Duramax. He does have a leveling kit with one size up tires so it would probably pickup 2-3 mpg stock. He's going to get a Bank's Pedal Monster as the engine has severe torque management.

 

[EDankievitch]

Aside from the lube and E rating tires this truck is 100% stock. I haven’t found a reason to mess with it.

 

[EDankievitch]

I’m sad to report that my trusted 2021 has met its end. I was driving into town and had a medical issue, lost control of the truck and went into the woods. The truck did its job protecting me from major injuries but in the end it’s not fixable. After 52695 trouble free miles my best friend of a truck is no more. It really sucks that Ford is not making more of these awesome trucks. My dealer has located a, what appears to be a suitable replacement. It’s even the same color as my old truck. Time will tell.
last month the wife and I just finished a Jersey to Key West trip in that truck. Averaging 31.5 mpg for the trip. I’ve never smiled so much as I did every time I drove that truck. I’m going to miss it. As for my health the medical issues is an after effect from having a brain tumor removed last year and is preventable with meds. I wish someone told of the risk last year and that I should have been taking the medication all along. Live and learn.

 

[Topzide]

@EDankievitch, Glad to hear that you came out pretty much unscathed! Sorry about the truck, but that's replaceable. Hopefully the one the dealer has found for you will be a suitable replacement and fill in where the other left off. Speedy healing!

 

[Tuesdak]

As for my health the medical issues is an after effect from having a brain tumor removed last year and is preventable with meds. I wish someone told of the risk last year and that I should have been taking the medication all along.

Sad about the pickup, but, as you see it's somewhat replaceable.

Get over to Mayo Clinic (out east or out west) or Barrow Neurological Institute here in Phoenix. Best (Barrow) and second best in the world for brain anything. Don't play with seizures and mediocre Dr's because having seizures somehow allows/triggers more of them. Apologies for the assumption of the condition as I have a front row seat to em. "Does this LB Crew Cab 3500 make my SO's Giant Service Dog look small? Yeah, No."