Ford 6.4 diesel

[F350]

I don't know if it's because I'm almost always hauling or towing, but for the last 13 or 14 years of driving diesel pickups I've never seen anywhere close to what a lot of people report. With my '96 Dodge I averaged about 11 and I average about the same with my '06 PSD. My trucks are 4X4 with dual rear wheels, but I've heard some say that they get over 20 mpg with similar setups. Being that I am friends with at least 4 or 5 guys who own GM diesels who get about the same mpg I do, I really have to question some of these wild claims. One of my employees bought a SRW F350 with a 6.4 PSD that is bone stock and he's never seen above 9.5 mpg in almost 2 years of ownership. I'm not sure a crew cab DRW 4X4 F350 with a 6.4 would get over 13 mpg in mixed driving if it was being hauled on a trailer. LOL He says that the dealers he's taken it to and other owners report the same. The absolute best MPG I ever got was one tank in my '96 Dodge when I ran nearly 400 miles with cruise set at 55 mph with no load or no trailer. I got 14. something that tank. Me thinks there is a lot of hot air floating about when it comes to the fuel economy of diesel pickups.

My best w/ a 1995 SRW F350 (7.3) was 21 mpg hand calculated. I was unloaded and cruising at 60 miles per hour. I got 18 - 19 mpg routinely when on cruise and unloaded.

 

[Diamondpilot]

My trucks, both 6.0's 4x4's with 3.73 gears, can do 23 mpg on the highway unloaded. I can get in the 16 mpg range towing my ,7,000# tractor/trailer and in the 13 mpg range towing my 15,600# boat.

Both trucks average right at 16.5 to 17 mpg between fill ups with no towing. That is hand calculated.

Both trucks have Quadzilla chips, MAC intakes and filters, and 4" exhaust. Without these add-on's they were averaging 13 mpg and 18 mpg was the best they could do on the highway.

I drive by the tach and take whatever speed it gives me. The sweet spot is 1,900 rpm on the 6.0 so that give me 79mph on the highway.

My neighbor has a 2007 Classic Dmax 3500 4x4 SRW and when its running, been sitting for 2 months now with bad injectors, it will do 21 with no load. He pulls a 14,000# 38' 5th wheel and he finds it will get 12.5 mpg at 63 mph. Any fast or slower it drops off. He has no mods what so ever.

Chris

 

[davygp38]

So, my thinking is this. I have a F250 super duty V10. I just ordered a Gatormade 20+5 elite 22000 tandem dually Gooseneck. I do not put more than 3000 miles a year on a truck tops. The V10 has plenty of power to pull the trailer, and my TLB ( about 12000 combined.) But I do need a the dual wheels of a 1 ton.
I plan on getting a full size BH, and a small dozer, down the road. I do not need the fuel economy, as much as I need the power, of a diesel to pull my trailer, on those occasions when I am hauling a 15000# backhoe. I think I should be able to get a 6.4 superduty, reasonable, especially if the new 6.7 turns out to be a game changer. So even though fuel economy is an issue, it might be offset some what, if I can get a good deal on a used 6.4.
Do you fellows think, my reasoning is sound?

 

[Dargo]

So, my thinking is this. I have a F250 super duty V10. I just ordered a Gatormade 20+5 elite 22000 tandem dually Gooseneck. I do not put more than 3000 miles a year on a truck tops. The V10 has plenty of power to pull the trailer, and my TLB ( about 12000 combined.) But I do need a the dual wheels of a 1 ton.
I plan on getting a full size BH, and a small dozer, down the road. I do not need the fuel economy, as much as I need the power, of a diesel to pull my trailer, on those occasions when I am hauling a 15000# backhoe. I think I should be able to get a 6.4 superduty, reasonable, especially if the new 6.7 turns out to be a game changer. So even though fuel economy is an issue, it might be offset some what, if I can get a good deal on a used 6.4.
Do you fellows think, my reasoning is sound?

Yup, sounds reasonable to me. I'm jealous of your trailer. I has one just like that and one almost the same except only with single tandems. Foolishly I sold the dual tandem because it was harder to jockey around in tight areas. Now my lightest piece of equipment is over 10k. I'm pushing the limits on my trailer now. My frame, decking and supports are the same, but I miss the 10k axles and duals. Running 10psi over max now in tires to keep them up. If not, I'll roll them off the rim in tight turns.

 

[mnfarmr]

So, my thinking is this. I have a F250 super duty V10. I just ordered a Gatormade 20+5 elite 22000 tandem dually Gooseneck. I do not put more than 3000 miles a year on a truck tops. The V10 has plenty of power to pull the trailer, and my TLB ( about 12000 combined.) But I do need a the dual wheels of a 1 ton.
I plan on getting a full size BH, and a small dozer, down the road. I do not need the fuel economy, as much as I need the power, of a diesel to pull my trailer, on those occasions when I am hauling a 15000# backhoe. I think I should be able to get a 6.4 superduty, reasonable, especially if the new 6.7 turns out to be a game changer. So even though fuel economy is an issue, it might be offset some what, if I can get a good deal on a used 6.4.
Do you fellows think, my reasoning is sound?

Sounds good to me.

 

[thompsjk]

I test drove a 2010 F250 Crew Cab XLT 4x4, short box with the 6.4 liter diesel last week. It was a GREAT engine. Plenty of power, pretty quiet, especially while in motion and really good acceleration. The problem as I see it though was the fuel economy. I averaged about 13.4 mpg according to the computer in a 30 mile or so mix of city and non interstate highway driving. At that level of fuel consumption, I could not justify the purchase of a new truck with the 6.4 liter diesel. I'm a little disappointed with the fuel consumption of my current truck and would consider a diesel as long as it offered the same or better fuel economy empty and noticeably better economy with a load. The 6.4 as I tested it doesn't seem to be able to provide that, so I will look into the new 6.7 and the new duramax as both of them are said to offer large improvements in fuel economy. I've heard people getting better economy with removal of the dpf as well as with the use of programmers, but even the 18mpg that thompsjk doesn't seem to be as good as current cummins and duramax owners are getting, or even what 6.0 power stroke users are getting. Not to mention that I've heard dealers are finding ways to find out if the programming has ever been changed and are using that as a ground to deny warranty claims. I pay a lot of money for a new truck so that I can have a warranty and would not do something that would risk that warranty coverage. I know for me, at this time I will be looking at something other than the 6.4 power stroke if I choose to upgrade my truck.

I have owned a 02 and a 05 Duramax, I averaged 18 to 19 MPG with the 02 and 17 MPG with the 05. I live in South Mississippi and last summer, me and my family went to San Antonio I got 20 MPG out of my 6.4 running 70 to 72 MPH. I normally don稚 drive that slow but my dad was in his 06 Duramax and does not drive fast, he got 18 MPG on that trip. You need to keep in mind how different people drive. If I take off slow and drive 65 to 70 I have got 22+ MPG but that痴 not how I drive. My accelerator sees the floor often. Another thing to keep in mined on the new diesels with DPF痴 the MPG fluctuate a lot from one tank to the other due to the number of regen cycles per tank. So no regens in-between fill ups = good MPG, 1 regen = not so good, 2 regens in-between fill ups = horrible.

 

[pitt_md]

I have an 08 6.4 F250. Its by far the best truck I have ever owned. It's my first diesel and also first 3/4 ton so take that for what it's worth.
I pull a couple big Quarter horses around a lot and drive it to work (40 mile round trip). I am not overly impressed with the fuel milage but I just love the truck. No problems but only 20K so far.

 

[davygp38]

I have an 08 6.4 F250. Its by far the best truck I have ever owned. It's my first diesel and also first 3/4 ton so take that for what it's worth.
I pull a couple big Quarter horses around a lot and drive it to work (40 mile round trip). I am not overly impressed with the fuel mileage but I just love the truck. No problems but only 20K so far.

I'm glad to hear it, cause I just priced a 2011 F450,XL and an F350 XL, Dually, and I would have fell down, if I was not sitting. With a $12000 trade in the the payments were $906 per month, and $845 per month respectively, on a 72 month plan. I was thinking $500-650 tops. Fellas, I am not doing bad, at all, even for New york state, but I ain't paying that for a new truck.

 

[RollingsFarms]

I'm glad to hear it, cause I just priced a 2011 F450,XL and an F350 XL, Dually, and I would have fell down, if I was not sitting. With a $12000 trade in the the payments were $906 per month, and $845 per month respectively, on a 72 month plan. I was thinking $500-650 tops. Fellas, I am not doing bad, at all, even for New york state, but I ain't paying that for a new truck.

i agree with you 100%. two things are going to happen when i go to buy my next truck. 1) that price that's on the sticker.....that's coming down. way wayyy down. in fact, we aren't even going to START negotiations at the sticker price. we'll start them at the dealer LIST price. then he's still going to have to come way wayy wayyy down for me to buy it. either that or give me one helluva trade-in, and i don't mean $500 more then what KBB says trade-in value is. i mean add several thousand over what KBB says it's worth PLUS come way wayyy down on the rediculous price of the new truck. or 2) i laugh at him and tell him to keep his 50K truck and i'll keep driving my one that's paid for and he won't be spending any of my money.

 

[Dargo]

i agree with you 100%. two things are going to happen when i go to buy my next truck. 1) that price that's on the sticker.....that's coming down. way wayyy down. in fact, we aren't even going to START negotiations at the sticker price. we'll start them at the dealer LIST price. then he's still going to have to come way wayy wayyy down for me to buy it. either that or give me one helluva trade-in, and i don't mean $500 more then what KBB says trade-in value is. i mean add several thousand over what KBB says it's worth PLUS come way wayyy down on the rediculous price of the new truck. or 2) i laugh at him and tell him to keep his 50K truck and i'll keep driving my one that's paid for and he won't be spending any of my money.

In another life I worked as a sales manager at a dealership. I would literally bring out the cost of the vehicle, true cost, not some bogus cost, and would then negotiate as to how much the customer thought was fair for the dealership to make on that particular vehicle. If the care was easy to replace and common, about any profit was fair. If it was a new model and hard to get we simply negotiated what would be fair. It generally made for a much less adversarial buying process and I never sent the dang sales person back a dozen times with some bs offer. I don't play that game.

It worked well enough for me to start my own business with what I made from the dealership selling more cars than it had before. After I left, twenty years ago, they went back to their same way of playing games and their sales have never been the same since. Maybe I'm just too dumb, but what's so hard about doing things that way? Customers know the dealership has to make some money. Why not just cut the games and, if the customer wants to buy that vehicle, just negotiate a fair profit which translates into a fair price?