2011 Ford F-450 SD
By Thom Cannell
I’ve been in a drag race before, sometimes watching the lights on a pole between the lanes turn from red to green and other times watching a similar sequence above an intersection. I’ve towed heavy things behind my semi’s tractor and in the bed of a pickup truck. However, I have never been in a race dragging over thirty tons of axle-mounted steel behind me. Yet there I was, throttle to the floor of a spanking new 2011 Ford F450 as it bucked and shook its way down hard packed mine debris with a 39-ton, 78,000 pound Caterpillar front end loader hitched to my back end. Though I detest using the word, it was...AWESOME!.
Super Duty trucks, specifically the F-250 and F-350 versions, are a staple of America’s work force. Gas engines power the fleets where low acquisition price and lighter towing needs make the torque and longevity of a diesel an unnecessary luxury. Private owners of Super Duty trucks are a passionate group, and if you are a Ford Super Duty customer it is likely that you have an ardent interest in these Ford’s latest Super Duty trucks which are now in showrooms.
We pulled 10,000 pounds and hauled a thousand pounds using both gas and diesel power, rode shotgun for an uphill-downhill maxed out 24,400 pound F-350 tow, and slid around and over some gnarly rocks in an F-250. The 6.7 diesel debut with 390 horsepower and 735 pound feet of torque got a bump to 400 hp/800 pounds while to deliver 18-20% better fuel economy than previous Super Duty diesels. Its companion 6.2-liter short stroke gas engine makes 385 horsepower and 405 pound-feet of torque, 85 hp and 40 lb.-ft. greater than current 5.4-liter engines. It boasts 15% improved fuel economy.
The diesel, the first Super Duty truck engine built and designed by Ford, uses a Compacted Graphite Iron block for better strength, 30,000 psi third-generation Bosch common rail fuel injection (currently using five of a possible seven injection pulses), and a new Honeywell single shaft turbocharger.
Our travel through mine property, now recycling mine tailings into gravel and crushed rock for construction, took us through a pit of mud deep enough to reach the floor pan and viscous like axle grease. With just a bit of power and momentum we traveled through uneventfully.
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http://fordbuyersguide.theautochannel.com/news/2010/08/27/493651.html
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