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Feedback on a Ford F350
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Posted by: Ripsnort

Please, no Ford bashers today.

Ford Trucks have been VERY good to me over the last 27 years, and I've owned 3 of them.

I'm looking at a used 2001 F350 w/48,000 miles. Original owner was in B.C. Canada, car was auctioned to a dealer, dealer has it up for sale. (I'm in no hurry to buy, so HE will have to come to MY price)

It has a 5.4L Triton, which I know NOTHING about other than its a V8 and has roughly 260 hp. I plan on slapping an 11 ft. Camper and tow a small boat with it.

Did a Carfax on it and everythings clean, for that truck and the same year/model.

Any feedback from F350 drivers?

Posted by: Giz

those motors are very good pu motors and fuel mileage is lower than chevy but better than dodge sounds like a repo I would go for it if the price is right

Giz

Posted by: Ripsnort

What *can* I expect for gas milege with no load, no towing, highway milege? Not that it matters, the truck will be sitting most of the time. I'm using it for hunting, fishing, camping, and hauling stuff around. Most of the time it will sit.

Posted by: DeckSetter

Quote:


	Originally posted by Ripsnort What can I expect for gas milege with no load, no towing, highway milege? Not that it matters, the truck will be sitting most of the time. I'm using it for hunting, fishing, camping, and hauling stuff around. Most of the time it will sit.

I wouldn't expect more than 15-17mpg highway with an F350 and a 5.4. All in all they're a solid truck though. They've got pretty good torque, and I wouldn't think a camper and a small trailer would be any problem for it. My uncle has an extended cab 2wd, and seems to like it pretty well. He drives it to Florida and back every year with a big camper in the bed and pulling a pretty good size fishing boat. All in all, I'd give it the DeckSetter seal of approval...

Posted by: Grape Ape

I get about 16mpg(hwy) in the F-250 w/ 3.73's, but it's not a Super Duty, and I'm pretty sure a 99 F-350 would be. That means you might get a lower rear gear and a slight loss in mpg, to about 14. With a loaded trailer(usually a 16' car hauler), I've seen about 12.5mpg, even in the hill country of West by God Virginia.

With a serious load(over load) on a 9' tall box trailer(flat front), I've been forced to use drive and at 65mph, that's about 9mpg. That sucks, so I try to borrow my friends F-350 diesel for that trailer, as it still goes into O/D and scoots along at 70mph easily. My next truck will be a diesel because of that.

General towing isn't a problem though. It stops and pulls very well in general. Power is rated at 260 and torque is somewhere over 300 ft lbs. I can't complain a bit about the engine or even the transmission, as both have done an excellent job for about 108,000 miles now and no work has been done. I bought plugs for it about a week ago, but haven't changed them yet. The "wires" are a plug on coil design and won't need replacement until something burns out/fails. I was skeptical at least, about the 5.4L Triton until this truck reached 70,000. I seriously just wondered what would break, if anything. Nothing has as of yet, and I'm more than happy about that.

From time to time, I even have need to haul a boat(23' Chris Craft) that's no lightweight. Mileage is as good as it is with the car trailer and until you unhitch it, you almost don't notice it was back there. I took the boat to the new place about 3weeks ago and got about 14.5mpg. I expected 13, but hadn't gone that far with it in the past. So if you want it, it's surely going to be able to do the job you want it to.

Posted by: Ripsnort

Thanks for the feedback all! Will post some pics after Friday when I test drive it.

Posted by: RacingJason

I've hauled a loaded 4 car trailer (5th wheel) behind a 99 F250 2wd with a 5.4 and a 5 speed.(Only 3 cars but F'ing heavy ones) It towed that no problem making 65mph on turnpike in FL. The one complaint I have was how poor the mileage can be. 1 full tank to go to Miami and back to Orlando empty with no trailer. A friend still has the truck and it is going strong, Ford replaced the trans under warranty (wonder if that 4 car trailer helped ruin it!) and the brake system was in for warranty work too.
So you won't win many races with it (although I beat a ricer one day!), you'll rarely pass a gas station, and the manual shifter SUCKS, but otherwise it is a solid and amazingly comfortable/quiet truck for the size.

Posted by: Grape Ape

1 full tank each way, or 1 tank altogether? If it's each way, that's bad mileage IMO too, assuming a single 26gal tank. I can go 300 miles easily on one tank without a load, but I sure can't go 500 miles w/o a fill up. I'd hope the SD would though, since it's fuel tank is some 38gal.

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