F550?

[dstig1]

A wide front end F-550 is the sharpest turning truck on the road. They’ll way out turn a F-350 of the same wheelbase and I’m comparing coil spring 350s. If you go pre 05 to a leaf spring 350 the difference is even more drastic. A F-550 does get bad mileage. It’s getting 8-9 unloaded. The worst thing about the 550 is the ride quality absolutely sucks. If I’m not towing over 15k I’d just assume drive my 350 for the better ride quality. The F-550 has vastly better brakes over the 350.

I don't think anyone, anywhere has ever uttered THAT phrase!

 

[4570Man]

I don't think anyone, anywhere has ever uttered THAT phrase!

The F-550 literally throws cups out of the cup holder. My 3500 rides much nicer and my class 8 Volvo on air ride rides much better.

 

[Hay Dude]

My F-350 & F-550 were horrible riding trucks. But the 550 turned really tight

 

[4570Man]

My F-350 & F-550 were horrible riding trucks. But the 550 turned really tight

Until the 550 gets at least a ton on the bed it rides like it’s on blocks. The 3500 is a much smoother ride.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

At least you can put a good load on the F-550 dump bed without a CDL. Dropping to a 350 dually doesn’t change the CDL part much. My 350 dually GVW is 14,000 which puts it solidly over 26k with my 14k trailer. My 1999 350 was 12,500 which is still over 26k with a 14k trailer.

Put farm plates on it and you don't need a CDL, at least in the PNW.

 

[Fields_mj]

Put farm plates on it and you don't need a CDL, at least in the PNW.

Honestly, I might look into that. About half the time I'd be using it would be for farm type work. I'm not opposed to getting a CDL, especially down the road. I turned 50 this year, and I might be in a position for early retirement in another 5 years or so. The F550 with a dump bed and a CDL could be an income stream at that point (plus a tax write off).

 

[Fields_mj]

New or used?

Most definitely used. Something in the '99 to '10 range. '99-'02 I'd plan on keeping the 7.3 and probably put a chip in it. My stock 2000 7.3 has all the power I need, but with a lot more payload I can see myself wanting more ponies and TQ. If it came with a 6.0, it would just depend on what had been done to the engine as to whether it would get repowered or not. '07-'10 would absolutely get a repower on day 1. Its just a question of what Indiana will allow me to put in it. I need to do a little research there before buying anything. I've been told that Indiana is pretty lax in regards to emissions requirements, but I've never dug into it to know for certain. If repowering with a 5.9 isn't an option (both for regs and cost), I would likely limit my choices to the '99-'02 models.

My F350 rides WAY better than the '93 that I had, but my Camry rides better than both by a LONG shot Ride quality is irrelevant for this decision. Even with a really good turning radius, the truck would likely be too big to fit into almost any parking space. Short of using it to haul equipment and volunteers to a disaster site, I'd either be moving equipment or material, or on my way to get equipment or material.

On the subject of ride quality, would air bags help with that, and would those be an option for a 550 dump truck?

 

[EddieWalker]

A year ago I was looking at F350 trucks and bigger to deal with the cattle at my other farm. I needed to tow equipment back and forth too. Then one day I got a call from a neighbor with an offer to buy my cows and rent my land. Accepting that offer changed everything for me. I realized that I really didn't like dealing with cows, or working on two different farms, and there was no need to buy a bigger truck and trailer.

My current needs involve less hauling, more trips to Lowes and the lumber yards. If I can avoid a trailer, I do so. I'm getting by with a F150 5.0 engine, but it's borderline and at 175,000 miles, it's just getting older.

Everyone I know says to avoid diesels if you don't need them. I've talked to enough people that have had issues with their exhaust systems, and what it cost to fix them, that I've decided on a gas engine.

My dream truck is a flat bed dually. I just like the look of them, and I think they would be ideal for hauling pallets of material. But I've also realized that it's not what I really need. My current thought is a F250 long bed with the 7.3 Godzilla engine. I know Ram has something comparable that I'll look at before buying, but either way, I think that's going to be what I end up getting.

 

[Fields_mj]

A year ago I was looking at F350 trucks and bigger to deal with the cattle at my other farm. I needed to tow equipment back and forth too. Then one day I got a call from a neighbor with an offer to buy my cows and rent my land. Accepting that offer changed everything for me. I realized that I really didn't like dealing with cows, or working on two different farms, and there was no need to buy a bigger truck and trailer.

My current needs involve less hauling, more trips to Lowes and the lumber yards. If I can avoid a trailer, I do so. I'm getting by with a F150 5.0 engine, but it's borderline and at 175,000 miles, it's just getting older.

Everyone I know says to avoid diesels if you don't need them. I've talked to enough people that have had issues with their exhaust systems, and what it cost to fix them, that I've decided on a gas engine.

My dream truck is a flat bed dually. I just like the look of them, and I think they would be ideal for hauling pallets of material. But I've also realized that it's not what I really need. My current thought is a F250 long bed with the 7.3 Godzilla engine. I know Ram has something comparable that I'll look at before buying, but either way, I think that's going to be what I end up getting.

I've been running a diesel for a little over 15 years now. The comments about maintenance largely apply to the '07 and later vehicles. That's tied directly to changes in emission standards that took effect in 2007 and resulted in most engines requiring DEF. The comment also extend to Fords 6.0L just because it was SO problematic. The heads on that engine were weak, and the studs were undersized. It had a couple of other issues as well, but blown head gaskets was the biggest issue. I've met people who spent more repairing head gaskets than they spent on the truck to begin with.

The 6.9 and 7.3 IDI engines were tanks as was the 7.3 PSD. The only reason those were more expensive to work on than a gas engine was because the components are stronger and built to take more abuse. Kind of a "get what you pay for" thing. The work itself wasn't so bad. The IDI engines had plenty of room to get to things under the hood. The PSD is a lot more cramped, but no more so than anything else in its day. While I really like the old ford engines, the 12 and 24 valve Cummins beat them in every way hands down. Kind of ironic that all of those engines were built within about 50 miles of each other... I've known a few engineers who work on the Cummins engine. I asked one of them once what made their engine better. His answer was that the Navistar engines were designed and built to use in trucks. A truck engine spends a limited amount of its life running at wide open throttle, and doesn't see conditions where the are maxing out their HP or TQ for extended periods of time. Conversely, the 6BT is an industrial/agricultural engine and was designed to spend its entire life running balls to the wall. Put an engine like that in a truck, and it will run forever (or at least until the EPA ruins it). I'm not sure if this is true for the current Cummins or not, but up through the last model, they were still using the same block that they were selling to Dodge back in the late 80s.

 

[EddieWalker]

I looked into buying a used diesel truck. The older Fords and Ram trucks seem like the best things out there, but I don't want to spend my time rebuilding anything, or wrenching on it. Prices are horrible, but just about everything on those trucks are worn out. They need new interiors, seats, body panels and all of the running gear replaced to be reliable. For me, I'm going to pay what it costs to have something that I don't have to work on, wonder what will break next.