get a V10 it gets a little less MPG's but alot more power. IMHO its worth it!!!

 

There is nothing wrong with 3.73 gears especially for this guy bc he says its mostly a dd. My 2003 4x4 has 3.73 gears and it pulls my 24 foot gooseneck with 10,000 lb load on it just fine. Then ontop of it i get 14 or 15 driving the truck around empty

 

well all i have to say is my motor must be one of them "weaker" ones from the factory. When it was stock with 3.73 it was a total dog, the 4.30 really woke up the get up and go and the pulling power is so much better. Yes the truck was okish with 3.73 but like many many people on this forum have said the 5.4 should have had 4.10 or 4.30 only...

 

i wanna know where all u guys with the 5.4 get ur mileage from. i have an 08 with 22k and only get 11.4ish according to the dash.

 

I personally like the 5.4, I work for a small excavating company that has one truck in particular, an e99 F350 ext cab SRW 5.4 auto 2wd with just short of 340,000 miles. It was our main service truck since new always loaded with 4,000 lbs of tools, a welder, compressor and mostly pulling a 12k dump trailer. That 5.4 and a few other trucks with Thr same motor are worked very hard every day and usually ilde all day in 100* weather with no issues. The only issue any of our 99-04 fleet has ever had was one plug was spit and well the 340k mile truck went through 3 transmissions and is currently needing another rebuild but it will be taken to the auction next month anyways. In all I say the 5.4 is a very reliable motor! Just keep up with maintainence and you'll have no issues!

 

i drove the '99 5.4 in my sig pic for 5 years and loved the truck. it had factory 4.10's and i had 35's under it, and it couldnt get out of its own way. other than the lack of power it was a great truck, love the SD platform.. which is why i traded it in this spring for an '04 with a 6.0L. when it was bone stock, down hill with a tailwind i got just shy of 13mpg once.. city driving with the 35's was 9-11mpg. i blew two spark plugs while i owned it, other than that i had no major failures.

for a DD you won't tow with that you don't need to race and don't mind feeding... i say buy it.

 

my F350 in my sig with all the adon's i have i get right at 11.4mpg hand calculated by hand on ever tank. A little better when im on the highway which is only like forty to fifty miles top

 

For the cross-country trip:

My rig is old-school, no on-board mileage calculators anywhere. We calculated gallons used vs. miles traveled at each fuel stop.

As a rule, mpg varied according to terrain, however wasn't always as expected. Sustained flat-terrain travel sometimes wasn't as good (headwind) as mountain travel (what goes up must go down). Like I said, 15-16 was the average. Off and on we had 16-17 (attributed to tailwind or ?), down to 13-14 (womping up mountain passes and fueling before any downhill relief). 13-14 also applied if we had to spend any extended time off-highway for any reason.

The 5.4 is bone-stock. It's been reliably maintained, and as mentioned before, had a service and new filters just before the trip.

Other factors?

The rig is stock height, smooth exterior, with a cab-high Leer fiberglass cap. Probably more aero than a lifted truck.

Older, almost-ready-to-go-to-the-pile LT265/75R16E tires were continually kept all-four at 65psi. The mud-snow tread was worn to the point where they roll smooth on pavement, and it's been decided to run them out through the summer and get new ones in the fall.

New Les Schwab XD front shocks, new front sway bar bushings, and good rear shocks/rear sway bar bushings kept the ride sane over extended stretches of concrete highway expansion cracks and bridge/overpass joints. Some of it was pretty bad.

Ambient speed was 70-75 mph., depending on the state regs. I don't use cruise-control, yet keep a steady speed and let hotshots pass me (rather than the other way around).

I avoided hard braking, and used gearing to slow steep descents. I have rotors and pads (mainly the rotors) that are nearing end of life, and didn't want to have any issues with heat/warpage, etc. until I got back home.

Lastly, I treated the pedal like a trigger on the range...with a slow, steady squeeze.

 

Totally agree with this. My '07 with the "anemic" 5.4L and 3.73 gears has done everything I have asked of it, and done it well. We've towed well over the factory limits for hours on end at freeway speeds without a hassle.

Underpowered? You guys have never driven an original Volkswagon Beetle, have you?

 

I got an '04 F350 Reg Cab 8ft box,gone coast to coast in Canada hauling 26ft travel trailer with a loaded box,runs great.I put about 30,000kms/yr Believe i got 3.73 gears and fuel consumption is what i expected for a one ton.All is stock,got 265/75/16's
Just change the oil when ya should.

 

I have an '06 F250, 4x4, regular cab, 3.73 gears, stick shift, around 82k on the odometer. I just checked my record of fill-ups on Fuelly. Every single fill-up is either right around 12 mpg (local driving, lots of short trips and heavy loads) or about 16 mpg (highway, cruise set at 70). One tank where I did a lot of towing was down under 11 mpg; it's never been higher than 16.

I'd say the engine power is totally adequate. Nothing amazing, but hardly a dog, either. It drives about the same empty as it does with 4000 pounds of gravel in the bed; I towed 14k pounds with it one day and I thought it was too much weight for the chassis and brakes but the engine moved it just fine.

 

I'm with you on this one. My 05 got 13 once. 11.5 was the norm, all hand calculated as it didn't have a dash readout. Mine was more mixed driving and others might be all highway. Also cab configuration, 2wd 4wd, drive speed limit or go 90mph, dragging brakes, tail wind, headwind, etc..... All play roles.

 

My 2003 got around 13 - 14 for my daily driving (at the time, 35 miles one way, but mostly freeway and light traffic). I never got more than about 16 on the highway, though I did log 17.2 on a trip to Dallas one time. One time. I got between 8.5 and 10.5 pulling my 26' travel trailer. These were all hand calculated as well as I had no dash computer for it.

 

Iv pulled up to 12k with the truck in my Sig. I hand calculated mixed driving at 12 mpg. My speedo is still off because of the 35's. So I'd say maybe 13-14 mpg mixed driving.

 

I get mine mainly by driving style (grandpa kind) and the tires on my truck. The weather (mainly temp) effect it some. Also mine is a 6sp manual.... maybe that helps a little