New F 350

[Ridgewalker]

Nice truck!

The catalytic converter on that truck is easy pickin's for a bad guy with a battery operated sawzall. That just happened to a friend that went into Wal*Mart for about 20 minutes recently.

 

[CumminsLuke]

Care to state for the record the SPEEDS you operate at...

Well it was all interstate, so you are looking between about 65 mph with a max of maybe 72 mph. Course the Illinois trip was slower as they limit truck's and trailers to 55 mph on the interstate. I was surprised by the mileage of that trip, but as I said, it was VERY windy. Of course we are talking some pretty heavy loads. Our trailer goes 8,000 lbs empty, and the trucks we were hauling go just a little over 7k a piece.

 

[chh]

I talked to a local equipment dealer last week that has an '08 F 350 diesel he uses as a delivery truck and his personal truck. With the amount of towing he does he is averaging 9 mpg overall. His best tank empty on the highway was 12 mpg. The '06 F 350 diesel he traded in on it was set up the same as the new one, it would get 18 mpg on the highway and his average was 15 mpg. He loves the power but is very dissapointed in the fuel mileage.

 

[Builder]

I talked to a local equipment dealer last week that has an '08 F 350 diesel he uses as a delivery truck and his personal truck. With the amount of towing he does he is averaging 9 mpg overall. His best tank empty on the highway was 12 mpg. The '06 F 350 diesel he traded in on it was set up the same as the new one, it would get 18 mpg on the highway and his average was 15 mpg. He loves the power but is very dissapointed in the fuel mileage.

Everyone seems to be dissappointed in the new 6.4L diesel fuel economy. I think the problem is that it's a very heavy truck with only a 5 speed transmission that doesn't lock in lower gears and the 6.4L torque sweet spot RPM's are too high.

 

[AKfish]

My neighbor bought a '07 F350 last summer and went all around the western half of the U.S. with his wife and kids in a 9 1/2' cab-over camper.

He likes the power -- tells me it has 2 turbos -- one for low rpms and one that kicks in at higher rpms.

But, it sucks at fuel economy... Best he's ever got on the highway with no load at all; is 15mpg.

My '03 Dmax gets 19 around town and last fall on a huntin' trip up north with a couple of other friends and gear, etc. we got 23.7mpg on a 500 mile leg back home. Drivin' 65-75. I was drivin'... one of the other guys was drivin' earlier and got nailed for 84 in a 55 -- he was closer to 90 than 84... heh, heh. Had to detour a spell and drop in to the cop shop to pay the fine.

The new rigs have the latest air pollution technology that has a separate "burn chamber" in the exhaust system that dumps raw fuel into the chamber to burn off the accumulated soot at something like 1,700 degrees...

Really clean, no soot, very little odor and no smoke. Thing kinda makes a "swooshing" sound even when it's just idiling.

But, man, they destroyed the fuel efficiency.

I'd be lookin' real hard at a big gasser for my next truck with the mileage and fuel costs (not to mention the up-front expense) of the current diesel trucks.

AKfish

 

[slaveToHorses]

Everyone seems to be dissappointed in the new 6.4L diesel fuel economy. I think the problem is that it's a very heavy truck with only a 5 speed transmission that doesn't lock in lower gears and the 6.4L torque sweet spot RPM's are too high.

That's a bummer about the new 6.4L. Mine is an 06' with the 6.0. Fortunately I am not planning on getting a newer one. Are you sure about the 5 speed? Mine is a 6. It seems well matched to the motor.

 

[Builder]

That's a bummer about the new 6.4L. Mine is an 06' with the 6.0. Fortunately I am not planning on getting a newer one. Are you sure about the 5 speed? Mine is a 6. It seems well matched to the motor.

Unless it's a manual tranny, it's a 5 speed. Torqshift has always been a 5 speed.