I am thinking of buying a 550 soon to haul my skid steer and I am curious what you guys think of this truck. I would buy one with a dump bed on it as I move a lot of material often. Thanks
Just my humble opinion, but after parting ways with a '08 F-450 w/6.4L PSD, I wouldn't touch a new one. Have had a host of 7.3s and there are some good 6.0s I'm told. But it seems as if Ford doesn't have this ULSD thing worked out yet. Otherwise, like the truck.
I have two Super Dutys, including an '02 F-550. I've been VERY disappointed in the reliability of both trucks, and the competency of all the Ford dealers in my area. The service history of my trucks is shameful and the treatment I've had by the dealers worse yet. I owned Fords exclusively for 20 years, there will have to be some major changes in how they design their trucks and service them before I'd consider another. When the trucks work, they do it well, but the down time I've accumulated is pretty ridiculous. One season my F-550 was down for a total of 15 weeks for various warranty items. I've got a list of things posted at another site, I'll copy them to here later today.
Steve is right, most Ford dealers aren't oriented to trucks like that. I'd look closely at a M2 Freightliner with a small Cummins for what I suspect would be similar dollars. My Freightliner dealer treats small truck owners like dirt, but at least they can fix them.
Thanks for that guys I have read other things about that truck and also heard problems with them. I guess I will use my Peterbilt 335 dump truck.
That would be a better alternative, I have a 08 F450 and we have a 08 F550 so far I am not impressed at all. We have a fleet of 15 trucks ranging from a 92 F250,7.3l idi to the 08 F550, strictly Ford Diesel fleet, the 08's are giving us constant problems. If I were you and I enjoyed driving the Pete and it wasn't too big to get to any job I would stick with it.
The Pete is fine. I was just looking for something smaller but my F350 with a dump trailer will do for smaller projects.
stay the heck away from the 6.4 our 08 450 ate its motor with 20,000 miles on it and was in the shop for 4 months.....rediculous.....
thats terrible
we have a 2003 with a 7.3 in it....pretty neutral in my opinion. Yea it has had its problems, drips a spot of oil about the size of a post-it note every night, had to have some tranny work done, 4 wheel drive SUCKS in a truck like that....but then again it is a truck and there will be problems in any truck that is too small for what you ask of it we have a service body on ours...we are really asking a small truck to do medium duty truck work....then again i plow for a township that has 3 550's with heavy plows AND heavy wing plows on them, fully loaded with salt every time it snows and they love the things...its all in who you ask
Wow seems like the new trucks have more problems
Ryder trucks I recently bought a 99' Freightliner FL70,Cummins,Allison trans,120k miles. All maint. records since new for $12,500. Try to find a used medium duty truck in decent shape for that price. I will be pulling my g/n trailer with CTL,about 19,000lbs. That would max out a 550. Just remember you will need a Class "A" CDL.
wow thats a nice deal
Included is a 30 day warranty OR 10,000 miles,whichever comes first. Kinda hard for me to pass up a deal like that.
what are you going to use the truck for?
Pulling my 26' g/n trailer with T320 and mulcherhead for landclearing jobs. I'll post pics later
thanks
I have 2 F-550's a 99 and 00 with 7.3 that I love. We do most all of our own work on them, but other than normal maintenance we don't have much trouble with them. I have a couple of freightliners a M2 and a FL70 they are good trucks as well. Just like equipment I feel as thou preventative maintenance is very important in maintaining a diesel this is just my opinion. I have a couple of buddies that have had a 6.0 and a 6.4 in fords and were as happy as with there 7.3's hope this helps.
It sounds like you've changed your mind but if you do buy a ford i would stick with the 7.3. I have a 99 F250 SD and a 1998 E350 cube van. Both have 7.3's and i love them.
Thanks for that. I am still thinking if I really need it right now. Still open to suggestions and ideas.
If I were in the market for an oversize pickup, I'd be looking at the Dodge 4500/5500 or one of the Jap cabovers if I had to have 4x4. If I didn't need 4x4, I'd be looking at a downsized heavy truck like Freightliner or IH. In my opinion, Ford has to get a handle on their engineering, reliability and service before they'll get my business again.
Dodge good point never thought of them. If I buy something I want to stay in the size range of a F550 because because I have a F350 then my fleet jumps up to my peterbilt 335 and then up to my tri-axle trucks. Looking for something in between my 335 and F350. Anybody have any thoughts on that sterling bullet? Thanks again for all the good insight.
kinda surprised about the hate towards ford's heavy duty truck line. we have a '08 F-550, other than one recall trip to the shop it has been fine. we have been using it as our nurse truck for our sprayer. plenty of power to pull 2,000 gallons of water and mini bulks of chemicals. F-550 + 20,000lb goose neck trailer + H20 + chemical + extras = 26,000lbs. maybe we are lucky, or arent working it hard enough? i run a '01 F250 as my personal truck and have a '06 Chevy 2500 as my company truck. I think the ford is a better truck. no experience with dodge. seems like the neighbors that tear the crap out of their dodges get along better than the ones that are babied... Sterling... we ran a fleet of sterling tandems, unfortunately mercedes is no longer going to carry the brand and wont sell it to anyone. we are a little lost on where to go for our tandems. always liked our sterlings. we are worried about parts/service into the future. word from our sterling dealer was mercedes said that each dealership had to anty up a million to get to keep the parts/service of sterling trucks, they passed.
thats funny you say that...when i bought my new dodge the dealer also sells fords..he said every truck (especially the 6.0's) that come in for service are usually babied fords...the guys that run them hard, tow heavy, haul heavy, and use a work truck as a real truck don't have problems with their powerstrokes....but the guys that baby them seem to have more problems then not
The Dodge and the Sterling are virtually the same truck. Of the domestic big 3 at the moment I think the Dodge is most reliable. Earlier models have had transmission problems, but they have introduced a new automatic which is warranteed for nearly 200,000 miles. It also has the 6.7 Cummins which is a redesign of the proven 5.9. As KMB83 mentioned, Sterling will cease production in March and only dealer stock will be available. I have a friend who had a fleet of Ford wreckers and he's switched to alternate brands, including a Sterling Bullet which he is very pleased with it for both reliability and fuel mileage. The reason I mentioned IH and Freightliner is they both offer trucks in the same GVW range. KMB83, better find some wood......quick!
IH has always had wiring problems. From the mid 80's to the newest 7700 series! The company I work for bought a brand new IH 7700 6 axle, and it took a month back and forthe to the dealer to get it right. It kept overheating. hen the engine suffered damage to the overheat problem, and the dealer and factory were not going to warrenty the work, staing that the driver should have turned off the engine at first warning. He did but the computer didn't record that the truck sat for 2 hours not running. Many time it was taken in, and the computer didn't show the engine overheated! Needless to say they warrentyed the work, and were very appologetic when one of the techs took the truck out and it overheated on him, and the computer didn't show the truck had "flashed" it was hot!
on that sterling deal, legally they have to carry parts for 15years. or at least that is my understanding. but our service dealership is going to be farther away. we ran into a situation where we had a '96 Louisville the radiator fan bearing went out. took 5 weeks to find the part. Ford legally had to fix it (being 11years old). but man that was a very long time. some of those sterlings wont be traded till 10-15 years from now, i guess it depends on much maintence they need. kind of a rock and a hard spot. old trucks no parts, new trucks & new emissions....
I test drove a bullit thing was awesome. But I think with sterling not around anymore would worry me. But the dodge is the same truck so...
Wow didnt know sterling was going out of business. I would feel uncomfortable with them gone and having one of their trucks with service. I guess everyone has good experience with the dodge.
I would wait to buy a dodge too! They arent doing the best right now either, they are teetering on the edge. Thats assuming that the heavy trucks are a part of the car and light duty trucks.
the dodge trucks are heavily discounted as well....come to think of it, all are. seemed like they got hit the hardest on mpg on there trucks, the hemi advertising didnt do a lot to squelch that fire. back when gas was $4.00+/gal the local dealership was gauranteeing $2 gas for 3 years or something ridiculous. doing the math it wasnt as great as a sucker would be led to believe issues that i think of when i hear dodge: price -normally the cheapest of the 3 engine - they do good on powerplant fuel efficiency - they had/have some real gas hogs resale - seems like there trucks do the poorest on held value transmissions - still hear horror stories interior -personal opinion, but the interior is less polished (debatable as good or bad) exhaust - they sure do sound nice with the proper exhaust arrangement
I have never found dodge to be the cheapest. There resale has always been good. Right now they are doing employee pricing with 0% financing, so now just may be the best time to buy one.
Well guys I priced out trucks the past few days and crunched numbers. I am able to do it but it leaves my budget short. No new truck right now for me. Thanks for all your great input.
If you looking for a good used truck, Look to the Ford L series either 8000 or 9000! There are millions of these trucks single axle with enough room to mount a 12' bed! Most will have an L10 Cummins, or any thing but (I personally hate) 3208 Cat! Never could like a V 8 with only 170 HP Brand New! Way under powered for the configuration, and they are PM dependant! Run an oil change 500 miles over, and that engine will be a problem from then on!
Im suprised no one has brought up the Gm 5500's. I think those are good trucks. Duramax is a good motor, allison tranny is good. Ive drove some and think they are great. The turning radius on them with a 10' bed is about the same as my regular cab 2500hd.
the 5500's are not "REALLY" in the same class as a 550. their more of a light medium duty than a true medium duty. The ride is harsh their much taller than the 550 but they will turn on a dime.
i have a 4500 chevy 4x4. so far it has been an amazing truck. the ride is rough when empty but it wasn't built to be empty. it is definitly a medium duty truck. the truck is definitly an overachiever. i couldn't agree more that they are in a diffrent class than the F550. good luck,
I know they both have a 19k gvw and the 5500 is twice the truck that a 550 is. I was just bringing it up since no one else has yet.
Oh and I couldn't stand how much the mirrors shook on the 4500/5500 drove me up the damn wall. but on the upside with the 6.6 and the Allison auto she had ZERO problems keeping up with traffic. Granted the one I spent 5,000 miles in was a VERY high end trailer hauler, leather air ride seats with ostrich inserts, air ride cab conversion and air ride rear suspension, dvd navigation wood inserts everywhere it was a VERY Nice unit. You can actually see pictures of it here http://www.westernhauler.com/ under GM trucks half way down the page its the white one with the red bowtie in the grille and the tan and cream interior. For the money talking brand new trucks i like the dodge 4500/5500 over the GM and ford offerings and i was a DIE HARD blue oval fan for ever. But for a couple of bucks more the international 4300 is much more truck for the money. Optioned with the 330 HP DT570 and the allison 3000 series 6 speed, exhaust brake, TRUE big truck S cam air brakes and factory air ride just more truck for your buck.
Good thoughts guys that I will have to keep in mind down the road.
a f550 is a plenty big enough to haul what ever your heart desires