Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 08 ford super duty

I'm still driving my 93 NA IDI too. Just had to put $500 into the suspension. Needs IP, injectors and probably a new tranny this year. But it still works and gets the same milage as the new ones, but with only 185 hp. 2nd gear up the pass towing @45 mph, but dollars/mile its a bargain. I can deal with it for the $$$ for now.....

Everyone I know that has had a 7.3 has liked them. There seems to be a developing interest in components for upgrading the 7.3s as well. Definitely one of the best looking trucks Ford has made.

Only have owned one diesel truck and that was a 93 gmc sierra with the 6.5 turbo diesel. 19mpg on the highway and lots of power.Hauled over 6000lbs of hay with no problems and pulled strong. It was just a PITA trying to start the thing in winter or cold weather. Even when it was plugged in.

Maybe POS walmart batteries?

A 6.5 turbo...Blech!!

Big rigs can see 250k miles in 2 years. They very do often run over 500 hp but the difference is 1850 ft lbs of torque.


Now days a 475 hp big rig is considered small-ish horsepower with the 550 CAT and 565 Cummins being very popular with O/O.

Right now for the amount of pulling I do, my gas 6.0L 2500HD will do fine. All I pull right now is a 27' bumper hitch holiday trailer, but someday I will need to buy another horse trailer when I find the cash for a second horse and third horse

One thing the big rigs are teaching me, though, that you can dial up the horsepower, but there is a wear penalty. I just bought a used tractor with a Detroit 30 series at, IIRC, 370 horses. Those engines are running a million miles without any major issues on a regular basis. The same motor dialed up to 450 or so tends to be brought in for overhaul between 700 and 800 thousand. FWIW, Dutch.

detroits are nice. Very cheap to fix. Atleast the older ones were

CAT is the best nuff said!

to bad there isnt one in a pick up

if they would id be all over it!

I might even buy two

I seriously doubt your friend has seen "alot" of 5.9s with a cracked block. There was an issue with the Cummins blocks for the model years '98-'01. They are commonly called a "53" block as thats the number stamped on the block. They had thinner water jackets and SOMETIMES developed leaks.

There were only about 100K of the "53" blocks made and they weren't all found in Dodge trucks.

So how exactly do you figure the 6.7 block (which hasn't been out for 2 years) is better than the 5.9? The 5.9 has been virtually unchanged for something like 40 years. Lets talk again in about 40 years and see how the 6.7 compares.

The infamous "53" block which was cast in Brazil was in production for a couple of years in the late 90's & had issues with cracking at the back of the block. This has not been a problem for many years. Haven't seen or heard of any cracks between #3 & #4 cylinders. My understanding was it was confined to the water jacket behind #6 cylinder & occurred mostly in trucks that pulled heavy........

BTW: 105k on my 500HP '03 & I just performed the first engine related repair today. Replaced the waterpump

My understanding was that the 6.7 Cummins is a bored and stroked 5.9 block , at any rate I have alot of faith in Cummins to produce a good engine.

There are lots of the 5.9 s in Case-IH and other farm tractors and it is real common to see examples with over 10000 hours on them with the engines still humming along like a sewing machine....and those are much more stressful hours than running a pickup truck down the highway .

I noticed a 96 Dodge dually on a used lot the other day.......it had 550000 miles on the clock and didn't look bad at all......started right up and sounded good , no smoke and ran smooth . The dealer that had it said he was using it to haul cars back and forth to the auctions.

There are shiploads of big trucks on the road these days with well over 500 horse , if any thing they tend to outlast the smaller motors and get better milege

The big cat engines do last as long as anything else. My point was that if you take a smaller motor like the Detroit 30 series, and "dial up" the HP, there is a life penalty. FWIW, Dutch.

Dutch; I think you're right, and I think you also suffer lower mpg as you increase power. If I recall correctly, the Dodge/Cummins in '91 with a 5 speed had around 160hp and they got around 24mpg on the highway and lasted forever. A '97 with a 5speed had (I think) 225 hp, and got around 20mpg on the highway. For '06 or '07 that same block is up to 360hp and the mileage is worse. Is this a trend that happens just because most of us want more power?
I'd rather buy one with less hp and get better mpg myself, and I'm running up to 16k-17k pounds sometimes...but most of the time I'm empty. FWIW, at those weights I'm getting 11mpg on the highway in my '06 Ford diesel
My Ford is only good for 14-16 on the highway empty, and I think that stinks. It's got the 5 speed auto w/3.73's, so when I hear about guys getting over 20mpg with one, I have to wonder if they check mileage the same way I do...

I run a 5.9 Cummins in the 06 Dodge, and if I "play nice", I can get 19, sometimes 20 mpg. If I stay under 70 mph (with the towing gears, too). Last week, I ran a delivery (sans trailer), up into the high country. Even with 400 gallons in the back and some gravel roads, she came in at 18.5 for the trip (291 miles). I'll take that.....!

My standard hauling rig is 1,000 gallons of water on the trailer, and 400 gallons in the back of the truck -- should be about 20K CGVW, and the extra horses are nice. Loaded like that, I run about 12 mpg, and can keep up with traffic under nearly all circumstances.

Anyway, the abilities of these modern diesels are just amazing, though 14 mpg empty would torque my shorts..... FWIW, Dutch.

An engine with more power capability doesn't necessarily always mean it gets worse mileage. but you can certainly drive it that way.

My truck's mileage did not change when I went from a 330 RWHP chip setting to a 500 RWHP tuning program--unless I constantly keep my foot in it.

What took down the mileage in my truck was the 5" lift and 35" tires. That cost me a couple mpg, but I expected that.

Don't misunderstand my post---I wasn't refering to Dodge or Chevy diesels, as I've had a '97 Dodge and an '03 Silverado, and they both got better mpg than this Ford. It's got just under 19k miles on it and the best (empty, highway) mileage I've gotten is 16 mpg. That's level freeway at 70 using the cruise control. I think that sucks.
I'm thinking the difference is in the engines, as the only other difference I can think of is the Ford weighs a few hundred pounds more.