a psd owner admitted he wishes he had a cummins

[Bandit1]

i was filling up at a flying J last mon night after a long day of hunting in WV when a guy driving a 2001 f350 PSD crew cab dually pulled up to the pump pulling an empty approx. 25ft empty gooseneck car/ramp trailer. i asked him if he liked his truck and he said flat out "nope, i have 3 of them, one went back to the dealer cause the engine blew up and the other 2 get 6. 5 mpg. " i couldnt believe that and then he said that he wishes that he had gotten the cummins and was thinking about changing because he heard that we got aroudn 18mpg, and i said well close i figure mine up quick and i got 17. 8 but i was hammering it pretty good since ihad just gotten my DTT upgrade and was getting use to the new found power. at least he was honest about all 3 of his POS PSD's, wish all of the "other diesel" (Duracrap and PSD) owners were this honest, jsut thought everyone would get a kick out of this one.

 

[Chaw]

That's not the norm. A 95 PSD 2wd auto we had got about 14. 5 in the city empty. My brothers 02 F350CC 4x4 SRW get's about 15. 5 city and a best of 16. 8 hwy so far with only 5000 miles on the truck.



My Dodge 3500 4x4 gets 16. 8 to 17. 3 city and about 19 or so hwy if I drive sane.

 

[Johnboy3]

Honesty. That's a strange word over here I noticed.



The motor blew up?



A good friend of mine just bought a 02 PSD. He's been driving a 00 Cummins for the past year or so that he bought new. He kept the Cummins for a shop beater. I asked him which one he liked better, he said the PSD would flat out stomp the 5. 9, plus it rode nicer. I could list all the problems he's had with the Dodge, but I won't.



Some folks get a bad one every once in a while. But three of them?

 

[Bandit1]

3 lemons shocked me as well, but i am not going to argue with the owner when he is bad mouthing something that he bought.

 

[Bad340fish]

The Company I work for has quit using PSDs accross the country due to high maintanence costs. Its cheaper for us to purchse and maintain a 4700 International with the 466 in it than it is to use the SD fords since they drop parts left and right when loaded right at GVWR. With Internationals Quanity over Quality idea we now have some nice freightliner trucks we are testing out. We have 4 4700s here the 2 2000 models have spent more time in the shop in the last year then the 95 and the 97 put together. Great Quality there guys

Clark

 

[Johnboy3]

The Freightliners are sweet trucks. There are a few new ones floating around here and I really like them alot.

 

[COBRAJET]

Is it even possible to get 6. 5mpg??? My PSD below has got a low of 9. 0 grossing 23K towing a very large frontal area 5th wheel in a 30 mph headwind. The truck was getting a serious workout in drive with a lot of boost. Usually it is 10. 5 to 11 with the trailer and around 16 empty at 68-70. My 96 got 16 in town and 19-20 on the freeway at 70mph. . an F350 CC 4X4 with 3. 55's.

 

[R.E. Miller]

COBRAJET,

Of course it is possiable, you know how it works when guys talk. Like a guy I hung out with a few years ago said after buying a 99 PSD crew cab 4X4, "My 96 cummins dodge was just junk, brakes never worked, always in the shop, low on power... " but he said that after regularly jumping the 3500 and starting it at WOT when cold... oh yeah and he drove it like a nascar all the time and I am telling the truth.



Of course on the same note he replaced the engine in his 99 PSD with 50,000 on the clock beacuse of those WOT starts, forgotten filter changes, and ultimately a shot air filter destroyed it. But as you guessed, he said that he PSD that he loved up until this point was now a POS engine too. Yeah right, like any engine right now has the ablity to perform it's own service and treat it self right. You just have to laugh sometimes. If I had a truck that was diesel and built in the last 10 years and it got 6. 5 MPG I would fix it my self or take it to the shop. You could buy another engine as a spare with all that extra money that you would spend on fuel in a year.

Russell



P. S. Cobrajet I went to your pictures and saw that stuck photo series, sorry, I hate seeing that nice truck though!

 

[Pit Bull]

A buddy of mine has a 91 PSD F250 4x2 that he has 280,000 miles on and he beats it to death. he has the passenger window taped shut, etc. You get the idea. He likes it the worse it looks, I think all of the diesels including PSD are much better than Gas, for the long run. I got a Dodge Cummins because it is a better engine in a better looking truck. I know that this is my story, but I am sticking to it I know there are strange people out there that feel the same way about Fords.

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

My dad has an 01 PSD Ford Crew cab LB SRW. It pretty, rides great, gets good mileage and is quiet. I also turns like an oceanliner and I'd put money on being able to drag it off like a screaming toddler.



It just is not as much truck as I have. If you want a grocery getter its great. If you earn your groceries pulling heavy trailers get the CTD

 

[Bad340fish]

7MPG

Its possible lol. The truck I metioned in the above post got about 7 on average. BUT it got the crap driven out of it. I drove it for a year and put nearly 40K(thats alot if you consider 5 days a week 8-5 only) on it. It ran at about 14. 5K on average and I had wieghed it in at 17K before(all on the truck no trailer). It was a 97PSD auto(bad choice on the trans there). The fleet fuel service we use averages the mileages at each fillup on the bill. That truck got 7mpg 99% of the time. That was all hard city and highway driving at up to 150-200 miles a day. So yes its possible to get that poor of mileage, but you gotta drive the crap out of it to do so. The truck I drive now is a 97 IH 4700 with the DT 466E wieghing in at about 35K and it gets 7mpg lol.



Not ragging on the PSD just pointing out that its possible to get that bad of mileage. The first load I pulled with my dodge was a very very unaerodynamic open trailer. I got 9MPG on the highway!! That trailer was so bad with the air I unloaded the 4000lb truck I was delivering and STILL got 9mpg on the way home.

Clark

 

[Champane Flight]

Interesting

I have found something interesting in my travels. The guys running mostly flats and rolling hills swear by their PSDs. At the same time to guys running mountains like their CTDs. Go figure.



I have driven both(Son being a Ford salesman UGH)And the PSD is a nice truck. However found some things I could not live with in it. Road noise,mirrors are nice but funnel air and bugs into cab and driver runing with window down,power is good,but does not seem to hang in there when hitting 6 to 8% grade like the CTD. Excellent acceleration though. The autos seem to hunt quite a bit,typical I guess for an auto. And the handling is just OK on the pavement. On the dirt its like any other Ford "EXCELLENT!"This is the strong point for Ford pickups in my opinion. We have two 2001s at work and we run 70-80 all day on dirt roads and they are very stable. These are well maintained dirt roads mind you.



I respect everyones choice in driving what they want to. After all they are paying for it. But,I have been a Mopar man before the CTD and will be for a long time.



I have run with several PSDs and they seem to go just fine. When I hit the mountains they seem to fade a little and at the pump I seem to spend a little less. But all in all a good truck for the most part.