How are the Super Duty gassers?

[Sevensecondsuv]

Maintenance on a turbo diesel is what will kill you. Even the old 7.3s of the 90s (a very common engine in the most popular full-size truck) get real expensive real fast in my experience. It was just one $300 part after another. It wasn't that it broke any more parts than a ranger does, the parts were just insanely expensive, like what you'd pay for parts for a rare import or something. The 300-6 does a pretty good N/A diesel impression, are dirt cheap to buy and maintain, get real decent mileage, and run forever. It's my engine of choice for a work truck.

And I would agree with you about plows belong on 3/4 tons, but with one exception, being the TTB half ton Fords. Those stupid old trucks are tougher than any other half-ton made in the last 2-3 decades.

 

[Roadkill]

Actually maintenance on a diesel is not that expensive. LACK of maintenance is what gets expensive, as it does on ANY vehicle.

Yes, parts can cost more. Due to the fact that you are looking at parts built for a 3/4 ton or higher truck compared to a 1/4 ton. Parts that are built to be strong WILL cost more than parts that are meant to just exist.

My 7.3 has cost me less to maintain than my Mazda ever did, or for that matter even my Explorer.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

A lot of ranger parts (take rear shackles for instance) carry the same part number as F250 parts. The fact that they are full of 3/4 ton parts is what makes rangers so indestructable. The engine parts for the turbo diesels are what get expensive. That and the double cardan CV-style rear drive shaft was really stupid, expensive, and failure-prone. My buddy has an 87' with an injected 521 (started as a carb'd 460) and his truck has the same design simple one piece drive shaft that the rangers have. I like that style much better. I'm not sure if the turbo diesel got the CV shaft because it was a diesel, or because that was a change they made from 87 to 96, but it was a bad idea.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My Dad has an 04 F-250 with the 5.4L. He absolutly hates the thing. It doesn't even have 40K miles on it yet and he's already had to replace all four ball joints, a couple u-joints and the Warn manual locking hubs. Not to mention the two piece spark plugs are a PITA. The last two cylinder heads are literally IN the firewall, so there's no way to get at the plugs. Even if he could, supposedly you have to drill out the bottom half of the plugs and then vaccuum all the shit out of the cylinders. WTF Ford? And now, the trucks making a weird humming sound around 35mph. It almost sounds like a turbo spinning down. My Dad's thinking either the carrier barring or, worst case scenario, a tcase issue. And all this with a truck thats used as a DD to go the three miles back and forth to work. The most work the thing does is haul a flat-bed filled with hay several times a year and plow out my grandmother's drive way and ours whenever we get a decent snow storm. Unfortunatly its one of the worst built trucks I've ever seen.

'04 are still the 2v with only one peice to the spark plug... they look like any other spark plug. They changed the heads in '03 adding more threads which took care of the overblown plug blowing ordeal.

The only time they blew plugs was when they were replaced and either torqued too tight stripping them out or were not torqued enough. Torqued properly they very rarely give any problems.

For a modern vehicle getting to the plugs on a Super Duty is not bad at all.

If I got one it would be 3v V-10, much less to go wrong than with a remotely modern diesel and more than enough snort to do what I need done.

 

[MountainMike]

Gutless eh?! I would love to drive one with a V-10 to compare it to my old 5.4.

I drove one at work to haul a roof panel and it had some serious jam.

The new 6.2 should be pretty powerful too.

 

[seminaryranger]

I really like my F250 with the 5.4L And I have one of the heavier configurations, crew cab 4x4.

The 5.4L engine is decent on power. Just try to find one with 4.10 gears. Most of the F250 trucks with the 5.4L have the 3.73 ratio for some reason. I currently run 35" tires with 4.10 gears and am satisfied with the power, but a set of 4.56 gear certainly would not hurt anything.

My truck weighs just over 7000lbs empty, and I'm averaged 14.5mpg with factory 33" tires. Correcting for error with the 35" tires, I'm averaging a solid 13.5mpg. If I baby my truck, I can get 15+mpg out of it, but that's not much fun to drive like that and not very courteous in town riding for 1/2 mile with the clutch pushed in.

Towing fuel economy is poor. Towing 4000lbs gets9-10mpg and towing 9000lbs gets 8-9mpg real world. No, I can't see the fuel gauge drop. That would have to be getting like 1mpg, lol! Even at 9mpg towing, the short bed trucks will go for 235 miles before needing to refuel and that's still with several gallons left in the tank.

Best advise is if you're wanting a 5.4L Super Duty, find a 05+ truck with 4.10 axles. You'll get the 3valve heads, a coil sprung front axle that turns much sharper than the leaf spring equivalent, and the 5 speed Torque Shift transmission which is supposed to be pretty stout. And, 05+ trucks seem to have a lot less problems with the ESOF hubs in the front if you get one with push button 4x4.