I have a friend that has a 2003 F250 with the 5.4 3.73 rear end and she tows horses all over the place. She would prefer the diesel, but it takes care of everything and does the job.


Rick

 

One thing to consider about the Super Duty over the lighter F150s is the size of the brakes. You can eventually get any load moving to traffic speeds, even with a tiny Mazda pickup. The trick is being able to stop that same load.

When I moved to Texas from Mississippi, I had a U-haul trailer loaded to the gunwhales (the gross towing weight was around 10k lbs) being pulled by my 1997 F150 with the 4.6L. I drove the entire distance with overdrive shut off and never got above 60 mph. Mileage was 6 mpg. The tranny never cooked off like I thought it would. I stopped very frequently and checked the tranny fluid for signs of burning, and it never seemed to even qualify as scorched. That little pickup did a mighty job, but I needed stopping distance akin to that of a freight train. I went on to drive that truck another 30k miles without any problems. I sold it at 146k miles and the buyer immediately drove it to Mexico without any problems except for oil consumption. I would attribute the consumption to some ring blow-by. I can only imagine the size of the ridge that has developed at the tops of the cylinders (it has to be at least .050").

My '03 Super Duty has superior braking power compared with the 150 that I used to own. Deisels are very strong pullers, but the gassers hold their own as well.

Since you already made your purchase, you may have noticed that the gasser is rather thirsty. Toss a load in back and you could easily cut fuel economy by 30-50%.

Good luck!

 

Very thirsty indeed . Thank god it's not my DD. I get to put the truck to the test here on Thursday. I'm towing my Jeep XJ out to IN, about a 350 mi trip one way. Sure the gas mileage won't be good, but I'm more concerned about ride quality and hauling power. I'll let you all know how it does! Thanks

 

That is true in most cases. He may not need a powerstroke, but I have 5 lawnmowers (okay, they are horses ) that weight over 1200 lbs each. Toting them in a steel six horse trailer with sleeper/tack room isn't exactly light. Of course hauling several 1200-1500lb bales of hay for them isn't exactly light either. I wouldn't recommend an SD, much less a dually unless you do a lot of heavy towing anyway.

The comments about the brakes are definitely key also. I remember pulling a two horse with tack room on a half ton 5.7l with overload springs added. Empty it was fine, but put the horses in and it required a lot of stopping room and they easily moved the back wheels around.

 

Yes for that kind of hauling the PSD is the way to go.

 

My dad has a 2000 SD F250 with the 5.4L. He hauls a 6000lb travel trailer, never goes slower than 50mph up the steepest hills & mountain passes. It accelerates with that load like its hardly there. Its a good towing motor and it DOES have a place in the SD line.

Think about it....for years and years what were the standard for 3/4 ton truck motors? 350-ish cubic inch V8s. Now all of a sudden we have 400hp diesels, and the mid-size V8 is considered a turd for a truck. For what the majority of people do with their trucks, thats not so.

 

Everybody hates the gasoline engines in super dutys. Everybody whines about the economical advantages of diesel, such as fuel mileage. Well, a lot of gasoline can be purchased with the extra $$ saved by not buying the diesel. Also, regular service will be much cheaper on the gasoline. Not to mention the fact that it isn't near as noisy or that it doesn't stink out people near as bad, or that they crank better on cold mornings. Sure diesel has its place, but for a large percentage of people that own them, it's an overkill.

 

Well I just got back yesterday from my off-road trip. I hauled my XJ (Cherokee) out to the Badlands in IN. I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the way the truck performed.

When I came to complete stops, or while accelerating, and going up hill I turned O/D off. While cruising I left O/D on. Getting up to speed was kind of slow, but not bad. I think there's so much torq when you turn the O/D off that it actually slows you down, but that's just my two pennies. It was nothing to cruise at 75-80 mph, usally did not take it over 75 though. I did not want to take any chances on blowing a tire on the trailer or frying a bearing.

Braking was not bad either, and yes I was using a trailer without brakes. My next major purchase will be a trailer with electronic brakes! Anyway, gas mileage varied. On the way out I was probably not much over 10 per gallon, but I was fighting high wind the whole way out. On the way back home I was probably closer to about 15 per gallon, and yes these are only guesstimates.

Another concerned I had was the total weight of the trailer pushing me around, and I was happy to discover that it was not an issue with the truck. Every once in a while I would feel it kind of push me, but was not bad at all! Again, the overall performance was good and I was happy to say the least.