F-350 or F-450?

[texasstroker]

I have looked over this thing till I can't read no more, looking for details on the 350's vs the 450's.... I have a Dodge with the 6.7 and all of the deletes and tuner. Truck hauls what I need, but tired of cam codes every 300 miles while loaded and going back to Ford.

I hual a 15-klb LQ horse trailer and a 20-klb hay trailer and need a truck with a hauler bed on it. The weight numbers above is loaded trailer numbers. I like the 19.5's on the 450, but think I only need 4.10 gears.

By the looks of what I am seeing here, Ford has most of the bugs out of the 6.4 now. Poor ol' Dodge is still working on theirs.

[RRonning1984]

The 6.4 is proving to be a heck of a truck.

[texasstroker]

Stock or doing the deletes and tuner? I did the whole deal on the Dodge at 20-k miles and have been thru a hand full of codes, turbo clean out, transmission fixes and now another code. All within another 21-k miles.

Just sick of having to reset the codes every 300 miles. Stock this truck is sluggish and piss poor mileage, with the toys the mileage is good and power is great.

Just trying to figure out if the 6.4 is the way to go and either 350 or 450..... Or find a pre07 Freighliner FL60 or International 4400.

[dzchey21]

check how much insurance is on a 450 before you buy...

[RYAN SHAE]

I am a dispatcher for a trucking company. We have hotshots which are basicly 1-1 1/2 ton trucks that pull 35-40ft flat bed trailers all day, every day. The basic rule that we go by is 1 ton truck limit 16,500lbs, 1 1/4 ton 20,000 lbs, and 1 1/2 ton is 24,000lbs.
This is from a company that has been around for 30 years hauling sucker rods and pipe in the oilfield. They came up with this system because it seemed to be the best way to keep from tearing up transmissions and breaking frames. So, with you 20,000lbs trailer, I would say go with the F-450. Its just a little more truck and a lot less headaches for you. Now I am talking load weight which does not include the empty weight of the trailer. If you are talking about a trailer that weighs 20,000lbs total including the empty trailer weight and the load then subtract the empty trailer weight from the overall weight and then apply it to this system and it may change it down to the f-350.

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Last edited by RYAN SHAE : 10-31-2009 at 08:19 PM.

[orng1]

I'd get a 450 so you don't under your needs. The 6.4L is turning out to be a good motor now that a few tuning details have been worked out.

[texasstroker]

Insurance is NO PROBLEM, since my Dodge is a 3500 C/C truck with a hauler bed I had to go with a commercial policy so it is going to be the same price.

One plus for the Dodge is the c/c trucks have a 12,500 gvrw in lue of the 10-k or 10,500 that regular 1 tons have.

My OLD insurance man screwed me good, in 08 when I was buying a new truck we was wanting the neew 450 and was going to get the regular pick up bed, but was told that we still needed a commerical policy and we needed to stay with a F-350 or Dodge 3500. So I bought the Dodge since it had a higher GVRW compaired to the F-350, went to insure it and found out that we still had to have a commerical policy because it came from the factory with NO BED!
Needless to say, he is no longer my insurance man.

[diesel daddy]

I always say I dont have to tow 24500lbs but I can if I want to. So that is why I bought the 450 with the heavy duty towing package. Most days I dont get anywhere near my max however I know I can when I need to

[elibenson]

I tow a gross combined weight of close to 45,000 lbs on my F450 on a regular basis. It isn't even sweating when you do it either. Mine has 4.88's though. I used to pull the same trailer with a little less on it (40-41K) on a 2003 6.0l F350 daully, and it was never a problem either. Braking power was less with the 350 than my new 450 though.

The current F350 and F250 frames and axles are identical. The dual rear wheel ones have the same axles too, just a different offset on their hubs and such. Same brakes, same size wheels, etc. The difference is basically on paper. One is rated to legally carry more than the other.

The F450 and F550 are basically the same thing too. The are sisters like the F350 and F250. Now the F450 and 550 are *much* different than the lower 250 and 350. They have a Dana 110 axle instead of a Dana 80. It is a serious axle. It is as big as my 'medium duty' truck axles. My wheel chair bus (international 4700) and an old international S1600 don't even have axles like that. Same with the front axle (4x4), it is massive too. I believe that the frame is strengthened over the F350 too. The tie rods and drag links in the front end are as big around as my wrists. They have bigger brakes, and they run real medium duty tires. They run at 110psi. They are meant to go down the highway.

[diesel daddy]

Originally Posted by elibenson

I tow a gross combined weight of close to 45,000 lbs on my F450 on a regular basis. It isn't even sweating when you do it either. Mine has 4.88's though. I used to pull the same trailer with a little less on it (40-41K) on a 2003 6.0l F350 daully, and it was never a problem either. Braking power was less with the 350 than my new 450 though.

The current F350 and F250 frames and axles are identical. The dual rear wheel ones have the same axles too, just a different offset on their hubs and such. Same brakes, same size wheels, etc. The difference is basically on paper. One is rated to legally carry more than the other.

The F450 and F550 are basically the same thing too. The are sisters like the F350 and F250. Now the F450 and 550 are *much* different than the lower 250 and 350. They have a Dana 110 axle instead of a Dana 80. It is a serious axle. It is as big as my 'medium duty' truck axles. My wheel chair bus (international 4700) and an old international S1600 don't even have axles like that. Same with the front axle (4x4), it is massive too. I believe that the frame is strengthened over the F350 too. The tie rods and drag links in the front end are as big around as my wrists. They have bigger brakes, and they run real medium duty tires. They run at 110psi. They are meant to go down the highway.

agreed god bless the 450 super duty