I'm thinking about upgrading from my '04 F150 SuperCrew FX4 to a newer F250 or F350 diesel. My local dealer has a loaded '06 F250 Lariat FX4 crew cab with a Rancho lift (3" lift, according to their advertisement) and 325/65/18 tires. I've never owned a truck with a lift, so for those that have lifted trucks, how does a lift affect towing and hauling performance? I don't intend to pull anything too huge, and won't be doing a lot of towing...probably nothing more than a 3-place enclosed snowmobile trailer or an average size 5th wheel camper. I may put a sled deck on it (a platform to haul 2 snowmobiles over the box), which when loaded with sleds, would probably weigh around 1700 pounds. Should I be concerned at all about the lift in this truck, with the type of hauling/pulling I'll be doing?

They are asking $30K for the truck, with 25K miles on it. It's pretty loaded. Is this a fair price for this truck?

 

That set up should be fine for towing / hauling most anything like you describe. Make sure the tires are the proper rating like a 'D' or even better an 'E' if carrying heavy loads... don't know about a 5th wheel set-up so others will chime in.

 

Nice looking truck. There is a 05 F250 CC 4x4 6.0 here on a dealers lot with 44K on it and its a XLT and they are asking 22,500 for it. I would look at the tires like Pagnew suggested and make sure they are the correct rating for the truck. I would also ask the dealer to run a OASIS report for the truck and look for any turbo, EGR, or head gasket work on it. Not to scare you but my truck was at the dealers for three weeks while they sorted out some turbo problems and the truck I picked up in November has 127K on it and the turbo had never been apart prior to that. Just do alot of homework on the truck and dont be afraid to walk away from it if is a shop queen.

 

Thanks for the replies. I believe the tires are D-rated, but I'll need to double-check. I had planned to have the dealer run an Oasis report on the truck before I even take it for a test drive, and will definitely walk away if it has had much work done.

Does anyone know anything about the Rancho lift?

 

My stock F350 measures 41-3/4" to the center of the wheel well with 33" tires I am guessing that Rancho kit puts the F250 at the stock F350 ride height. I wouldnt worry to much about it I see lifted Super Duties towing all the time and as long as you have enough clearance on the bed rails I would not worry about it.

 

You're kidding right? You do know that there is almost no difference in F250 vs F350 with the exception of a higher spring rate. The only thing close to a noteable difference is that from 99.5+ the F250 got a 2" rear block and the F350 got a 4" block. The early 99 F250s like mine came factory with the 4" block in the rear. The ride height of all the Superduty line is the same. My F250 sits exactly the same as all of our F350s, F450s, and F550s at work.


With the addition of the larger tires (approximately 35s) you will notice a decrease in the towing capacity of the truck with the stock gears. The truck may have to downshift on some hills, especially when pulling a load. It'll also be hard to get a larger load going off the line. It'll do it, but it won't do it as well as it would stock. I can tell you that my truck with 33s and 3.73 gears (probably the same gears that truck has) takes a good amount of skinny pedal to get things moving when I've got 11k behind me. How big is this 5th wheel you're talking about? If its a good sized one you may have a little difficulty.

 

[QUOTE=powerstroke73;3538118]You're kidding right? You do know that there is almost no difference in F250 vs F350 with the exception of a higher spring rate. The only thing close to a noteable difference is that from 99.5+ the F250 got a 2" rear block and the F350 got a 4" block. The early 99 F250s like mine came factory with the 4" block in the rear. The ride height of all the Superduty line is the same. My F250 sits exactly the same as all of our F350s, F450s, and F550s at work.QUOTE]

No I wasnt kidding. I gave him the only information that I had at the time and I did not know that there was no height difference between the to because I have never parked my truck next to a F250.

 

Not to rain on your parade, but is a SD necessary if you are not towing that often or that much (depending on what you call an average 5th wheel)?

 

I think you just hit the nail on the head. Trust me, its not much fun paying $2.65/gal for diesel when gas is $1.69/gal. If I didn't have my gooseneck I'd probably down grade to an F150 with a 5.4L.

 

My truck is on 35s with 2-3" leveling/body kit front and rear and I Pull a 20ft bass boat. My last F250 was on 33s with no lift and I can't really tell a big difference. MPG are about the same towing... Same year F250 with 6.0L PSD

 

That's no fun. I rarely tow, but owning a big honking diesel is no different than owning a sportscar that can go 200 MPH. Is it necessary? No. But it sure is fun.

On a side note, I had a really bad experience a couple weeks ago. My 16 year old son found a car on eBay that he wanted and we went and looked at it in Knoxville and ended up buying it. He had not learned to drive a stick yet, so I drove the car home, and my wife drove the Edge. The car was a Subaru Legacy, and it is kinda' small. During the 170 mile drive home, I was disrespected by at least five larger vehicles, including a soccer mom in a Suburban, a teenager in a Frontier, and an old guy in a mini-van. Every time that this happened, I was travelling in the passing lane, exceeding the speed limit, and following the car in front of me at a safe distance. The larger vehicle behind me would get so close, and the three that I mentioned even went so far as to flash their headlights and drive erratically. the teenager in the Frontier passed me on the right and wedged his truck between me and the car ahead. This type of thing NEVER happens to me in the F250! NEVER! It happened at least 5 times in one day. Just thought I would share my experience. People are much more likely to "road rage" you when you're in a small vehicle.

 

Thanks for all of the replies, guys. The 5th wheel is a 26 foot camper. I don't know how much it weighs. With regard to the sled-deck that I mentioned in my original post, it is highly recommended that you haul those with at least a 3/4 ton. I've heard of guys hauling them with half-tons with air bags, but that's not something I really want to do (and it wouldn't work with the 5.5' box on my SuperCrew). Thanks again!

 

I had the dealer run an Oasis report on the truck. It looks like it's been in the shop twice...

FOUND TSB 07-21-9 TEST DRIVE VERIFY CONCERN CHECK CODES P0404 P0405 P1335 IN MEMORY RUN EGR TEST FAILED REMOVE AND REPLACE VALVE RETEST PASSED CLEAR C ODES AND TEST DRIVE OK

TEST DROVE WITH CUSTOMER VERIFIED SLIGHT CLUNK ON ACCEL FROM STOP REMOVED DR IVE SHAFT LUBED SPLINES TEST DROVE OPERATION NORMAL AT THIS TIME

Are either of these anything to be concerned about? Each of these trips to the shop happened when the truck had around 23K miles on it.

The dealer said it's a one-owner, local trade, from a guy who buys a new truck every couple of years, so I'm guessing he didn't get rid of it because something was wrong with it. I think I'm going to go take it for a test drive tonight. Having never owned anything larger than a 1/2 ton gasser, is there anything I should pay close attention to during a test drive?

 

Does the truck have the 6.0L? Do your research on this engine before buying.

 

Definitely. Thats the engine my work truck has... and its a POS nothing but problems.

7.3L Powerstroke or 5.9L Cummins thats the only diesels i care to own.