I've got a buddy who just bought a loaded, brandy-new, extended cab, diesel F550 with a dump body for his lawn care business because he was routinely overloading his F350, especially during snow season with a sander. It's too early to tell how the 6.4 will hold up, but it is a little on the thirsty side. In his case, I think it was a tremendous waste of money because he will never recoup the cost of the diesel option. One of my salesman had a 6.0 F350 which was POS. Even after a stud job he kept having issues with the heads lifting and went through, IIRC, 3 turbos and had several other recurring issues. He was told by the dealer that Ford came out with a bulletin advising owners not to let their 6.0's sit at idle for periods of minutes.

From a strictly financial level, unless you're racking up 25K+ miles a year or routinely carrying/towing near the max capacity, the diesel is never going to pay for itself. Unless you drive it for a decade or more.

I buy diesels for all of our delivery vehicles, but for my salespeople the engine choice depends on a lot of factors. Size of their territory (how much driving they need to do) being a critical one since much of their driving is done well under max GVW. My eastern MA saleswoman has a '04 2500 with the 6.0L gasser and 240K on the odo. Still looks new and it's been meticulously maintained. But when I replace it next year she'll be getting an oilburner since I'd be able to get 3 or more years out of the diesel at 40K miles/year. And at 40K miles per year, the diesel would have paid for itself (strictly speaking to fuel costs; 12 mpg actual observed mpg for the gasser vs. about 16 mpg for the Duramax) in about 4 years. So if you do 20K/year, you're looking at about 8 years for that diesel to pay for that $6-8K upcharge. Once again, that's strictly speaking to fuel costs. If you're hauling 2,000 lbs.+ on a regular basis, the beefier running gear comes into play.

We love our diesels for a number of reasons, and if it's worth that extra out-of-pocket money to pay for it, then go for it. But it can be hard to justify on financial level. And if you want reliability, don't go chipping and propane injecting it!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I think that within certain limits, you can chip it. I and many others have done it. Just don't get some "Canned Tunes" or something from Bob's Bar and Grill and tunes.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Fair point. I'd chip my personal truck, but if it's a dedicated work truck I'd leave it alone. At least while it was under warranty.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Being that I have been denied warranty (I can't complain since it is fair, IMO) and that I know techs that make it their life's mission to hunt down scum like me who mod their truck (Not sure why), I would NEVER recommend doing ANYTHING until the warranty is up.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

The 7.3 is a fantastic motor. We rolled 300,000 in my friends 1999 F250 original motor and turbo. People **** all over the 6.0/6.4 but the fact of the matter is they are still up the task than the of towing whatever you want and they actually make more power and torque than the 7.3. My dad has people ask if said F2/3/4/550 has the "junk motor" in it, but then they proceed to buy it. I've driven all of them, I like for trucks I think Cummins is the best motor but in the worst chassis. The D-Max had its issues as well. I think the F series is the best of the three. Darn good motors, darn good trucks. I voted with my wallet last year and bought an F250.

$30-40,000 for an F550 dump won't be anywhere near the 6.7 trucks. You could probably spend $70,000 on that truck.

Well I'd get the gas motor, because the truck will see less than 10k miles a year, so fuel mileage isn't a big concern. Also I don't think that putting a few tons into the bed will stress the gas motor that much, thats not really that much weight.


But towing is, I just don't think the gas motor even the V10 will have enough balls to pull a 15k pound machine and trailer combo up any grade. I want to be able to hold 60mph with the AC blasting, not stuck doing 40 with my foot to the floor.

The point of the truck is that I want to buy my uncles CAT 304 when he sells it in a couple of years, so if it can't tow the CAT their is no point in getting it.

Ford is kind of dumb with this truck though. If you go up one to the F650 you can get whatever engine you want, a Cummins or even a CAT. They should offer the Cummins in the 550 as well.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

That's so they can keep the big boys separate from the wannabees. There are a lot of service items that the mechanics at the Ford car/SUV/pickup dealers don't deal with and the commercial owners have different needs than your average Jane and Joe customer.

Interstate Ford here in Hartford isn't like your standard Ford dealer. They only do the big stuff (at least for sales). They were also a Sterling dealer so it was kind of funny seeing the medium duty Cummins and their Dodge cabs sitting in a Ford commercial lot.

I'd think the gasser would be fine. How often are you moving the CAT from site to site? If it's once or twice a month, I could endure quite a few 40mph with my foot to the floor, with the AC on, uphill grades before that additional $7500 for the Powerstroke even enters my mind.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Just something to think about the new 2011 Duramax in a regular cab 8'bed PU does 0-60 in 5.85 seconds.

Drool.

X 2!

Would never own a Doh A Max!

Seeing as how screwed up they are that they have to be kept on life support, I can't think why I would either. They don't deserve to be alive. And before anyone says it, I used to be a GM guy.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Ambulance use is extreme stress on an engine. Sometimes fast idling for very long periods to keep equipment charged, engine stop to WFO many times a day, no cool-down periods and sometimes no shutdown for 12 hours a day. This in all weather conditions including the 100 deg heat here recently. A busy ambulance can get more than 50k miles a year.

Until this year almost all ambulances used Ford diesels in heavy F450 box trucks. All this has given me respect for the Ford diesel engine, any one of them. We have one new unit with the latest engine but it is too soon to tell if it will be as reliable as the older engines. We also have one new unit with the Chevy Duramax diesel. I like it better because it is quieter and smoother but it does not have the power of the Fords.

My opinion is that you can't go wrong with the Ford diesel truck, any model. But what do I know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S70oTnsucU
I want a diesel because they sound cool! I got the little motor with my current truck, on the next one I'm going all out!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

You got me there!

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I know it sounds nice, but that pull is not that impressive. Trackmobiles typically shuffle four to six cars, and while the biggest ones have Cummins NT series engines, most you see in service have Detroit 4-53 NA's.

Do they still make a regular cab longbed?
Regardless, GM still can't build a dually bed that looks like it belongs behind the cab. A few nice razor-sharp lines up front, then this melted blob stuck on the rear.