F450 Enough? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

DieselJunki · RV-Dreams Community Member

F450 Enough?

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

DieselJunki wrote:
When researching online it seems all you find are people with issues.

Just remember people will go online to vent about a problem before they will with no problem at all.All modern Diesel engines have some issues due to emmissions mandates brought on by the government.

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Wednesday 16th of January 2013 09:00:29 AM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Racerguy wrote:
DieselJunki wrote:
When researching online it seems all you find are people with issues.
Just remember people will go online to vent about a problem before they will with no problem at all.All modern Diesel engines have some issues due to emmissions mandates brought on by the government.

George (Racerguy) is absolutely right. Forums, especially owner's forums, attract people looking for answers to problems more so than trying to be part of a social community. As an example of how skewed that makes things look, over on SOITC (Suites Owners International Travel Club) there are probably less than 100 to 150 active participants, and some of them aren't really too active. However, as of May of 2010 when we bought our Mobile Suites, ours was the 5332nd unit that DRV had built. Now, the numbers are likely up over 6000 DRV units. So, where are those other 6000+ owners?

Perhaps they are not having any real problems at all.

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Wednesday 16th of January 2013 09:01:06 AM

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Wednesday 16th of January 2013 09:01:56 AM

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

about average......a little shopping for 5 min in the same mileage and I can buy it as low as 22k .........average of 28 to 32k

It should pull the trailer no problem .....you did not say whether it was diesel or gas.......at the price your buying I hope it comes with a warranty or do your homework and show him how much you can save buy walking away......5000 dollars buys alot of fuel!!!!!

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Katelyn,

I'm at work right now, so I don't have the time to do the research. I'll see if I can find the GVWR weights for the Estates models after I get home this evening. The F450 should be heavy enough, but the 15150 lbs weight is likely the empty weight. One always wants to go by the GVWR, or the weight of the trailer with all your stuff in it, to include the LP in the cylinders and any water in holding tanks.

I will say this right quick. If the hitch in the one truck is a ball in the floor of the truck, I would not use that kind of hitch on something as heavy as a Mobile Suites. Our Mobile Suites 38TKSB3 has a GVWR of 18500 lbs. If that hitch in the truck is a B&W hitch, it is only rated for 18,000 lbs. I suspect that for the weight that the Suites would be, a regular fifth wheel hitch or an air ride fifth wheel hitch would be better and stronger. The air ride hitch would be best if you don't get the air ride suspension and pin box from Trail-Air when you order. It is more expensive, but would be a lot better for a smooth ride.

Terry

dewwood · RV-Dreams Family Member

I do not remember the exact model years but I would not buy a Ford with the 6.0 diesel engine. They are a problem engine and the trucks with this engine will be much cheaper than comparable models with a different engine. Most any other Ford diesel is ok.

DieselJunki · RV-Dreams Community Member

I am looking at the diesels Lucky Mike. This is why I wanted to check with the forums as when looking I haven't found ANY 08' F450 Diesels below $30k and these are trucks with 70k+ miles on them. And I have even tried looking in all states. Perhaps I am just not doing my search right. Like I said I am quite green when it comes to vehicle shopping and appreciate any opinions and help. What website did you use to look them up?

Terry and Jo I thought that the ball hitch had to be there in order to put the (not good with terminology) big 5th wheel hitch over it? The reason I thought this was because on the Ford website when adding the 5th wheel hitch onto your truck it says you must add the gooseneck/5th wheel prep package. In the picture it looks like it's a ball hitch in the middle of the bed then you put the 5th wheel hitch over it.
If I am understanding this correctly even if the truck has that ball hitch in the back it might not be able to tow anything past 18,000lbs?
I am all about air ride. I do plan to get the TrailAir suspension and pin box when I order.

Dewwood I do believe it is the 6.7L diesel engines on the fords where the injectors have to constantly be replaced if I remember right. They also had the engine shudder issue. As of Aug 2012 there was no fix from Ford on the shudder issue.
The 6.4L engine had a problem with the regen process putting fuel in the oil (which we all know is BAD. I blew up my roller at work one day because there was fuel in the oil.). DPF deleted trucks do not suffer from this.
There are a lot of guys at work with some form or another of a 6L that have no issues at all. When researching online it seems all you find are people with issues.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Kaytlin.....where in Maine are you located

DieselJunki · RV-Dreams Community Member

Lucky Mike I am not in Maine at the moment. My address is my mothers so she can send mail down to where ever I am working at the time. At the moment I am in Manassas, VA and will be for maybe 3 more weeks.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

DieselJunki wrote:
Terry and Jo I thought that the ball hitch had to be there in order to put the (not good with terminology) big 5th wheel hitch over it? The reason I thought this was because on the Ford website when adding the 5th wheel hitch onto your truck it says you must add the gooseneck/5th wheel prep package. In the picture it looks like it's a ball hitch in the middle of the bed then you put the 5th wheel hitch over it.
If I am understanding this correctly even if the truck has that ball hitch in the back it might not be able to tow anything past 18,000lbs?
I am all about air ride. I do plan to get the TrailAir suspension and pin box when I order.

Katelyn,

I will try to keep this as short as possible, but I'm not sure that I'll succeed. A standard fifth wheel is attached to two "rails" in the bed of the truck that are attached to the frame itself. The two rails attach crossways in the bed of the truck and then the fifth wheel fastens into some slots in the rail, usually with the use of four steel pins. There is no "ball" associated with this style.

Now, the one you may be referring to could be this one from B&W, which is rated higher than the one I wrote about earlier, but is still only rated to 20K of weight. (Our Reese hitch is rated at 22K.) This one does refer to being associated with Ford. From my way of thinking, I prefer a bit more capacity in my hitch than what my trailer actually weighs. With our trailer being 18,500 lbs, the 22K gives me 3500 lbs of leeway. The 20K with ours would only be 1500 lbs of leeway. B&W's other fifth wheel hitches seem to be here.

The top one at that link is the first one I spoke of with a capacity of only 18,000 lbs. The shaded area of that top image actually attaches directly to the frame under the bed of the truck and a "shank" goes through a hole in the bed into that shaded part of the system. The one advantage to that system is that one can remove the fifth wheel and have a flat truck bed, should one have to haul other items and not want to mess with rails.

By the way, avoid any that use an extender adapter to go from a standard fifth wheel pin box to a single ball mounted in the bed of the truck. The forces exerted on that adapter can actually bend the upper frame of a fifth wheel. See below:

Now, Ford does refer to another hitch which is a 25K fifth wheel as an option or accessory. See here. However, it doesn't appear to have rails, so I don't know if it is a permanently attached hitch or not.

For a standard pickup with a bed with sides, TrailerSaver makes what is called the TS3. TrailerSaver's are air ride hitches which would not need an air ride pinbox. A number of folks prefer the MorRyde IS suspension system, which is now an option with DRV Suites, so if one went with the MorRyde suspension, the TrailerSaver would be a good hitch to still give you a smoother ride at the truck. (You can click on the small pictures to see larger ones at the TrailerSaver website. The drawback to the TS3 is that it appears to only be rated for 20K of weight.

Now, just for grins and giggles, here is a link to a dealership here in Oklahoma (our favorite one, by the way) that has a 2008 F450. While they speak of it having 67,000 miles, remember that that isn't a lot of miles on a diesel engine. The dealership is Diffee Ford in El Reno, Oklahoma and the link to the F450 is here.

I've been in touch with Alicia at Rolling Retreats to see if she can get me the GVWR weigh ratings on the Mobile Suites Estates. As I write this, she hasn't gotten back to me yet, so I'll have to wait to give you that information.

Terry

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Katelyn,

I heard back from Alicia at Rolling Retreats. She does not have any weights yet on the Mobile Suites Estates, but Slade will be at the factory this coming weekend to possibly bring back an Estates that they have ordered. Perhaps he can get some more information while he is up there.

I'll let you know as soon as I can find something to go by.

Terry

DieselJunki · RV-Dreams Community Member

That would be great! Thank you Terry!

chip · RV-Dreams Community Member

Im of the opion that Ford really goofed on the diesel engine from mid 2003 through I think 2009. Prior years with the 7.3 are bullet proof. International made em. I have heard that 800,000 - 1,000,000 miles possible. My son-in-law just turned 430,000 on his 7.3. I have been hearing that 2010 and up are doing very well and fuel consumption very good. I would really check out all info available before I purchased in that span. The engine change that Ford went through in those years would suggest they knew something was wrong... good hunting. Chip

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Oddly enough, on three different RV forums that I frequent, there doesn't appear to be any real negative stories about any of the trucks, including the Ford series of diesel engines. I've been on a Ford forum where there are some complaints, but those folks tend to be the ones that want to "chip" their engines for various reasons. Granted, there were some problems with the early 6.0 Liter diesels, but from comments I've read by owners, the later models don't appear to have an issue.

Supposedly, the early 6.4 Liter engines might have had some radiator problems, but I don't really notice a lot of issues with that on the forums either.

I remember that when we were researching for a tow vehicle, I was comparing the F450 with all the other brands, including the mini-Freightliners. Cost pretty much ruled out the Freightliners, and at the time, neither GM nor Dodge had trucks (even in the 4500 series) that would compare with the F450 with regards to GCVW. When a Dodge dealer was shown that his 4500 didn't have enough capacity, he started trying to bad-mouth the Fords. As a former salesman myself, I informed him that if he had to tear down the competition to make a sale, then he had a problem with his own product.

Terry

TheHarveys · RV-Dreams Family Member

It is known the some early F450's from 2008 (with the 6.4) had some issues with the cooling systems. However, Ford did come out with a fix for the issue and there are many Ford F450s with the 6.4 diesel engine that have much more than 100,000 miles on them. They do not get as good mileage as the 7.3, 6.0, or the current 6.7. I bought a 2008 F450 a couple months ago, and so far, I love it. It tows my 18,000 lb. Carri-Lite with an ease and comfort, my 2000 F550 could not approach. I did not buy this truck because it gets great mileage. I bought it because of its tow capacity and its comfort. The difference between the price I paid for my truck and the price of a new F450 will buy a lot of diesel and I could probably replace the whole drivetrain if I had to and still not get to the price of a new, comparably equipped F450.

I owned a 2000 F550 for several years. It had a 7.3. The engine was really good, but it also had it's issues. I kept up with all the recalls on that motor and, while I owned it, I replaced the injectors, (some failed) the glow plugs, (the engine was notoriously cold-blooded and I used the block heater for any night under 40 degrees) the transmission and many other parts. Most I replaced because I needed the additional strength and durability for towing my 18,000 lb fifth wheel. Some I replaced because, inside 150,000 miles, they failed. The F550 I owned was only rated for 17,500 lbs tow capacity. I was overweight in two areas when towing my Carri-Lite...GCWR and fifth wheel tow capacity.

One time I had a minor water leak develop in the windshield sealant. I noticed it one morning when I saw a puddle on the floor of the truck after a rain storm. Unfortunately, the water had run down the inside of the A pillar and leaked under the dash, ruining the body control module. Guess how many of those were available in the USA...if you guessed 0, you are right. I called all over the country and parts people all told me it was on infinite back-order as Ford was no longer producing them due to a shortage of electronic parts. My truck sat in the shop for one month before I had the idea to call some dealerships in Canada. I did find one out of a Ford dealer in Vancover, BC. I was able to get it shipped down. But that made me realize that the longer you keep a vehicle, the harder and harder it gets to find replacement parts for it.

The 6.0 had some issues in early 2003 when they first came out. However, statistically, the 6.0 is listed as requiring the least service and recalls of any diesel ford has used to date...
My father owned a 1-ton with the 6.0 for several years, full-timing towing a Titanium. He did not have any issues with his truck and only had to perform regular maintenance.
The jury is still out on the 6.7, but it appears to be a good motor so far.

My point is, there are good and bad motors with every iteration of Ford trucks. The same is true of any other manufacturer which you will see if you read the forums for those vehicles. There is no such thing as a truly bullet-proof motor.
As always, your best bet is to get informed and make your decision based on as much information as you can get...and whatever your wallet can stand.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
Katelyn,
I heard back from Alicia at Rolling Retreats. She does not have any weights yet on the Mobile Suites Estates, but Slade will be at the factory this coming weekend to possibly bring back an Estates that they have ordered. Perhaps he can get some more information while he is up there.
I'll let you know as soon as I can find something to go by.
Terry

Katelyn,

While they have not received any brochures or other specificaitons about the Mobile Suites Estates, Alicia did contact me yesterday to let me know that they got in a Mobile Suites Estates 39RESB3 to their business. According to her, the one they have is rated at 20,000 lbs GVWR. They have now posted some pictures and a description on their website. Since this is the first Estates that is close to us, Jo and I are going to Elk City tomorrow to see it and take some pictures of my own.

If I find out any more information, or see it in person, I'll try to let you know what I see that is new or improved.

Terry