F250/350 vs. F450/550

["Susan Flagg" <janesmom@ecis.com>]

Well, I was going to stay out of this discussion except to reply privately,
but guess I'll throw in my 2 cents ;-)

Having determined that our F350 dually didn't have enough motor (was a mere
400), hubby decided to put in a rebuilt 460.  Long story later, the 460
motor has been rebuilt twice times in 7500 miles or so, and I drove it to
work before Christmas and blew it AGAIN..... (We should have shot and buried
the thing two years ago!!!!)

Last July we bought a '99 Ford F-550 crewcab and chassis, diesel, 4WD, 6
speed manual w/overdrive, and all the creature comforts.  Any of you
thinking these BIG trucks can easily be converted to "pickups" to carry a
slide-in camper, please email me privately...

The good news is this truck would tow our HOUSE (a very large house BTW!!!).
And, if I'd known two years ago that my husband would agree to buy this
truck, I would have gone ahead and ordered the LQs trailer he told me to
order at the time.  Hindsight is 20/20...

If you get the diesel engine in Ford F450s and F550s it's the PowerStroke.
I believe that is still an International engine, but I could be wrong.  The
Cummins engine is in the Dodge (which I've heard has been upgraded w/more
power for 2000).

Don't buy an F450 or F550 with the idea you can bolt a pickup bed on and
your slide in camper will fit (basically what the salesman told us....).  It
WON'T without a lot of adaptation.  They also don't make bolt-on hitches for
these trucks, so you will pay more to have the hitch adapted for the truck.
These trucks come standard with a 4:88 rearend.  Fuel mileage is not as good
as a 1-ton....  We are looking into gear splitter for ours.  You cannot get
F450/550 w/an aux. fuel tank from Ford.  Hubby took ours to Chico, CA and
had Transfer Flow add another 35 gallon tank so we have total 70 gallons.
On a bad day, that much fuel should still get me close to 700 miles!!!

Happy truck hunting.  I would be happy to email anyway privately re adapting
the F550 (assume it would be the same for a F450).  Good thing my hubby is
retired because adapting this silly truck has become his life at the
moment....  I just hope someday he'll be able to ride again so he can get
some enjoyment out of this project :-)

Sue in California

PS to Lovell--Our F550 stops just fine with the electric brake controller
:-)  You're right, it's an awesome truck!

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2000 19:46:26 -0700
From: "Kim Lemons" <klemons@wah.nu>
To: <Zaronica@aol.com>, <lth@thegrid.net>, <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Subject: RC:  Re: Re: F250 vs F350
Message-ID: <003f01bf58b9$65d64b00$0101a8c0@pavilion>
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My gosh!  Better either get a stick shift in that one (to improve the gas
mileage), or about an 80 gallon gas tank to get you from the driveway to the
next gas station....hehehe  <g>
   --Kim

-----Original Message-----
From: Zaronica@aol.com <Zaronica@aol.com>
To: lth@thegrid.net <lth@thegrid.net>; ridecamp@endurance.net
<ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Thursday, January 06, 2000 7:27 PM
Subject: RC: Re: F250 vs F350


>Most folks pull with trucks that are not really large enough for the job.
>Use the biggest.  Actually a 450 would probably and there is the
availability
>of the Cummins in the I think 450 Ford Super Duty.  That would be an
awesome
>truck.  The other problem is the stopping ability.  Lovell
>
>



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