G'day For those of you in the USA with f250's how do they hold up over time? I'm considering buying one over here in aus to use as a tow vehicle to shift my buckets between jobs. Trailer all up is about 3.5ton and then I could put a digging bucket in the tub. My work is agricultural irrigation related so I might only go to work for a few hours and then shift to the next job. Currently it's a few trips to shift the gear which is costing me time. My truck and float (lowboy in USA) is suited to shift around the tight tracks I get sent down so upgrading my float to something bigger will then mean more walking on my diggers. So I'm looking at a 2015 lariat f250, I've been told that with what I'm trying to tow the truck won't hold up. I'm looking at keeping this thing for around 5 years minimum. What are your thoughts? Cheers
3.5 metric ton should be no problem with a F250. I don't know what packages you guys down under are offered but there are upgrades to towing and suspension that ups the capacity, available here in the US. If you are looking at a F250, that will be a single rear wheel truck (I assume, not sure what the configurations are down under). Personally I would go with a SRW F350 and up the towing capacity. My truck is a 2013 F350, 4x4, SRW, crew cab. Currently it has 35K miles and no problems. The 6.7 is a hoss of a motor and does everything I need it to do without modifications. Tow a 14K gooseneck trailer on occasion moving a skid and attachments from site to site. Carry a full Weatherguard large box (filled to the brim) and a 90 gallon off-road tank plus all the other crap in the bed. Last time I scaled empty it was 9K lbs there a bouts. There are several options available in the US and if they are available in Australia I would spec it - FX4 package, brake controller, up fitter switches and factory gooseneck hitch.
i have a pair of them with half a million miles a piece on them, if you look after them they hold up just fine. My dually has pulled combined weights over 25,000Lbs tens of thosands of miles and it currently has 433,000 miles on it
I've got an F-350 SRW and F-550 that I've grossed at close to 30,000 pounds with each. Mechanically they have held up fine. As CM1995 mentioned, the dual rear wheel will give you more legal capacity but it will also add a tremendous amount of stability to the truck towing heavy loads. My F-350 with singles is a white knuckler with overweight loads. Dual rears make it a breeze to tow. One thing Fords don't like is salt, they seem to rust faster than the other American brands. I don't think that's a problem where you are though.
Pane,I'm using a 09 F350 crew cab SRW Lariat. Its done pretty well.My last one ,a 97 7.3 DRW did 12 years of pulling my Line Boring rig. Cost me 1500 bucks in that time. The 350's are better geared for towing.