mjn,
I'm expecting to see the tilt cab, or tilt front end from the windshield forward, as the next big innovation in pickup design. Someone will debut it and the rest will have to follow. Except maybe Dodge with it's in-line Cummins and excellent service accessibility.
I'm glad you have the V-10 because Ford is still in the experimental/ emergency/gotta do something phase with it's diesel. They need some kind of quick release on the cabs, like snaps, or velcro, or zippers to aid in the off and on process that adds 10 to 12 hours time to a simple repair. :confused2: Sheesh.
You do know that Ford used the 6.0 PSD up until last year in their commercial vans, don't you? Clearly, they had some issues with leaking gaskets, turbos etc. early on. No doubt. However, the 6.0 liter PSD had the least warranty claims of any Ford vehicle produced in 2006. Basically, about the time they got everything worked out, they were already replacing it.
Also, much of the problems were due to completely unqualified "techs" working on them. Most of the warranty claims were for the "same" repair being done over and over; which was the
wrong repair. My truck is a good example. It had an oil leak that seemed like it wouldn't go away. That is until I took it to a Ford dealership who had a mechanic who had attended classes from Ford and IH for working on the 6.0 PSD. I had some sort of skirt plate gasket leaking and none of the previous "techs" could figure it out or, quite possibly, didn't know how to replace it. Once fixed, over a year and a half ago, there have been zero problems with the engine or transmission and almost every time the truck moves it's towing close to 20k pounds.
I had a '96 Dodge with a 12v Cummins for 9 years prior to getting the '06 F350. I spent far, far more getting it to run really strong and it ate transmissions for breakfast trying to pull the same loads. It killed a Goerend transmission, Sun Coast tranny and 2 ATS trannies before I got rid of it. You want to talk about
expensive! Still, with all the modifications, the best the truck would run in the 1/4 was just over 15 seconds and it weighed just over 7200 pounds.
With about a tenth of the modifications to the engine and with a completely stock transmission, I've towed the same with the '06 F350 all across the country. It also ran the 1/4 in 14.2 seconds when it weighed in at 8100 pounds! I really liked the Cummins and the really low RPM torque it had, but the 6.0 PSD in a much heavier truck is considerably faster and has cost me far, far less to keep going. I completely expect the 12v Cummins I had to still be running fine at 400, 500k miles. It will take several more transmissions to get it that far, but the engine will go that far. I know for a fact the Ford 6.0 PSD won't cost me any more money for at least another 120k miles. It's still under warranty until 200k miles. And, to be perfectly honest, I'm not the type to ever drive a pickup or car over 200,000 miles. So, in my case, the 6.0 PSD is more powerful, gets better fuel economy (remember, the 5.9 Cummins had some serious mods) and will last me as long as I need it.
Oh, BTW, since I know the tech who worked on the skirt plate gasket, I had him check out everything on the engine and install ARP head studs. Blowing a headgasket is highly unlikely for it. And, he must be a magician too because the cab was
not removed from the truck at any point. Not knocking the Cummins by any means, but don't believe all you read on the internet about Ford 6.0 PSD problems.
