Just so you know...You're all drivng Powerstrokes

[BigRigTech]

I know the local ambulance fleet has a crap load of 6.0's, no problems with them as they follow the Ford maintenance schedule religiously and they use Ford filters and fluids to boot....My buddy works for Ford, he swears up and down that if you do it "Ford's way" you will have a good experience with your 6.0....The biggest EGR failure cause they see is people using the wrong coolant and mixing it with the Ford stuff - causes a sludge to form in the cooler tubes - plugging them off and ruining the cooler.

 

[Brianedwardss]

As said, ULSD helped cure the 6.0 egr valve failures that were almost an every 3-4 month thing in our service truck.

 

[DragRag]

I know the local ambulance fleet has a crap load of 6.0's, no problems with them as they follow the Ford maintenance schedule religiously and they use Ford filters and fluids to boot....My buddy works for Ford, he swears up and down that if you do it "Ford's way" you will have a good experience with your 6.0....The biggest EGR failure cause they see is people using the wrong coolant and mixing it with the Ford stuff - causes a sludge to form in the cooler tubes - plugging them off and ruining the cooler.

Don't care what your buddy says or thinks. I have had 3 6.0's in my fleet on many trucks, and I will never own another. They eat injectors, the turbos go bad, the egr's are crap, and I even had one that got a complete new engine at only 2000 miles. Wow those 6.0's are just wonderful, never again. i love my 6.9's and 7.3's and even the 7.3l powerstrokes are great. I prefer the idi's though with the very low repair bills, and good economy. I could honestly care less about my guys having power at the finger tips.

 

[david85]

Just a note. You do not have to remove or lift the cab to access the turbo on a 6.0. It is tight for sure but so is the factory IDI ATS turbo. (scars on my firewall prove it). It seems the ULSD has helped cure some of the 6.0's initial ailments regarding the EGR coolers failing as well.

I personally love mine which is now at 117k miles and returning better mileage in a 8000lb truck than my 93 does at 6500lb. Getting tired of all the uneducated 6.0 bandwagon bashing.

My current total non maintenance item repairs for the 6.0 have totaled $0.00.

Well if that was directed at me (cab removal remark), I will say that I'm aware that its possible to do with the cab in place but if dealers are saving time removing the cabs I have to wonder just how easy it is.

I'm happy for you if your truck is doing well, but at only 117k miles I would expect nothing less no matter what diesel we are talking about.

 

[Agnem]

It's interesting to note that the article chooses to ignore horsepower and torque figures for the 7.3 IDI and 1st gen PSD. And yea, I agree. All that fancy wizbang stuff on the Scorpion, and the only thing good the marketing people can think to say is that it has piston cooling jets. I could have had a nice opportunity to look at some of these motors, as they had cut-aways at Carlisle, but I digress...

 

[BigRigTech]

I know a few more 6.0 owners, no issues there....But these are not fleet vehicles and they are maintained as per the schedule....I would own a 6.0 and put it in a 97-back Ford but I would delete the EGR - no smog testing here so no need for it. We are almost at the point with diesels in the light truck market that no one will buy them....Too much hassle for the cost...Wait until the new Duracrap or 6.7 are off warranty - they will be on car lots dirt cheap!...If I bought a new 250 or 350 today it would be gas.

 

[6.9poweredscout]

I think the prime time for diesels pickups was mid to late 90s, now they're all overly complicated junk. Ill say it untill it happens, international needs to come out with a one ton and show the light truck market how its done!

-Jon

 

[david85]

I sometimes wonder about how well a minimalist work horse could sell these days since there would be no competition.

Start off with a simple open channel ladder frame,

Hange solid axles on both ends,

Power with a mechanical diesel engine,
Mechanical wide ratio transfer case,
Manual transmission ideally a 6 speed (see where I'm going here?)
Manual locking hubs, etc...

Still use powersteering and brakes though, probably hydroboost.
Ball screw steering box (no rack & pinion)

Drop a body shell on it thats mostly bolted together instead of welded (where reasonably possible) so things like box sides can be removed to be repaired instead of having to junk the whole thing.

If it were up to me, I'd use stainless steel or hot dipped galvanized steel for the frame and space frames, 1/8" aluminum for the skin (or composite) and the front end composite like the big rigs.

Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

 

[international]

I sometimes wonder about how well a minimalist work horse could sell these days since there would be no competition.

Start off with a simple open channel ladder frame,

Hange solid axles on both ends,

Power with a mechanical diesel engine,
Mechanical wide ratio transfer case,
Manual transmission ideally a 6 speed (see where I'm going here?)
Manual locking hubs, etc...

Still use powersteering and brakes though, probably hydroboost.
Ball screw steering box (no rack & pinion)

Drop a body shell on it thats mostly bolted together instead of welded (where reasonably possible) so things like box sides can be removed to be repaired instead of having to junk the whole thing.

If it were up to me, I'd use stainless steel or hot dipped galvanized steel for the frame and space frames, 1/8" aluminum for the skin (or composite) and the front end composite like the big rigs.

Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

Only people with common sense or in need of fleet would buy them. They would have to be inexpensive compared to the competition and "young kids and city boys" wouldn't buy them be cause of the "cheap" stigma.

Unless they sold for a TON of money, then everyone would want one.

Either way the marketing sucks for 'em.

 

[6.9poweredscout]

Sigh....this era sucks, all the vehicles are JUNK, people are retarted. If its not cushy and quiet they won't buy it. I don't think we'll ever have a REAL truck ever again.

-Jon

 

[gatorman21218]

real trucks have door buzzers!

 

[The Warden]

Power with a mechanical diesel engine

As much as I hate to say it, mechanical diesels have gone the way of mechanical gas engines...emissions rules simply won't allow them, and I don't think there's any chance of that changing.

I have a feeling that the next 5 to 10 years for diesels will be similar to the late '70's and early '80's for gas engines...manufacturers are looking for ways to cut emissions at the expense of power and fuel economy, using the general population as guinea pigs. As time goes by, they'll start to figure things out and make improvements, but for now, I think it is the Dark Ages for diesels

I just wish we'd look to the Europeans for diesel technology and emissions regulations...seems to me that they're handling things much better there than here...

 

[towcat]

....... I could honestly care less about my guys having power at the finger tips.

ditto.
up until '99 the brakes on a F450 still outmuscled the chassis. with the '99 and up F450's and F550's, it wasn't uncommon to see service trucks and towtrucks wadded up due to drivers using the throttle too much and blowing past their braking capability. towtrucks that have done high speed rollovers leave much carnage.

 

[Dave7.3]

I just wish we'd look to the Europeans for diesel technology and emissions regulations...seems to me that they're handling things much better there than here...

What you don't know is the same cars and trucks over in Europe making the 50-60mpg figures are made by the SAME American car companies!! Ford for example has a separate European division for a reason.

Why don't we see them over here? Two words: EPA Regulations.

Hence we are stuck with trucks/cars that get 1/4 of the mileage. In fact, you can't even import these vehicles from Europe (believe me, I would if I could) because of the EPA.

I know the EPA does alot of good work to keep crap out of the environment, but how can you balance those numbers at all? Doesn't make sense to me to produce 4-5 times as much fuel to do the same job burning up that many more resources. I would think all of the extra resources consumed to produce the extra fuel would negate the heavy emission controls to start with.

 

[trackspeeder]

Well if that was directed at me (cab removal remark), I will say that I'm aware that its possible to do with the cab in place but if dealers are saving time removing the cabs I have to wonder just how easy it is.

I'm happy for you if your truck is doing well, but at only 117k miles I would expect nothing less no matter what diesel we are talking about.

Removing the cab is easy after seeing how its done. Figure 45 minutes to an hour to lift that sucker. The huge plus is you can work like a gentleman. No leaning over the fenders hoping not to scratch anything. Walk right up to the heads, turbo, or anything else.