After almost 5 years and 100,000 miles, I traded in my 2009 F250. I loved that truck. I custom ordered it in January of 2009 and took delivery in late Feb. It was an awesome and kind of rare truck. I loved the 6-speed manual transmission. You don't see too many of those floating around these days.







My truck was a beast. Though only equipped with the 5.4L engine, it did have 4.10 axles. The manual transmission helped wring every last ounce of power out of that thing. This was the only vehicle I have ever owned that I did not shell a drivertrain component. Trust me, I run my trucks hard in the dirt and on the road. The Super Duty is truly tough.



Seriously, it was built like a tank. A day after I bought the truck, even before I put floormats in it or a pair of sunglasses, I rolled her across the CAT scale. Two real solid axles, and a man-sized cab, touted just a tick or two over 7000lbs.




I put this thing in the mud and in the dirt from not quite day one, but from about day three... lol! I stuck this truck more times than I could count on two hands before I even got rid of the factory tires. Which were utter junk. But still, you gotta try out the 4WD!






That's the thing about the Super Duty - it begs to be modded. Well, maybe yours doesn't and that's just the voices in my head, but the voices said something about an ICON 2.5" lift. Who am I to argue. At less than 25,000 miles on the odometer, it was time for a change in altitude.






This next pic was with the ICON leveling system and 285/75/18 Goodyear Wranger MT/R Kevlars. Those were the best tires I ever owned. 35" tall and 11" wide, they were great and very well rounded. Wet road, mud, towing, highway; the only thing they didn't like was loose sand but that was probably more with putting a heavy truck in the sand with mud grips at 70psi.





I guarantee I stuck the poo out of that setup numerous times.






Those Goodyears lasted almost 50,000 miles of my mayhem. They are excellent at smokey burnouts in front of your buddy's house. When they were all used up, I decided that I wanted a wider tire. I kept hearing great reviews about the Nitto Trail Grappler. So I mounted up a set of 35x12.5R18 on the stock wheels. They looked beefy. It really changed the whole look and stance of the truck.





Those were the most muddin-est tires I've ever run. But they were heavy. I lost over 1 MPG after installing these tires. I don't know if it was the extra width or the weight or both, but that little 5.4L felt it both in performance and at the pump. I now had a true 10MPG vehicle.

I ran that setup for almost another 50,000 miles. I managed to get it airborne a time or two, stick it a few more times, and just generally thrash it good.







Fast forward to around May 2013.

The truck seemed like it was down on power and big time down on fuel economy. It didn't throw any codes, it had all routine oil and filter changes. Air filter was good, plugs good. You could be in first gear with the clutch fully engaged out in the pasture, and hold the accelerator to the floor. It would not even spin the tires in dirt! The clutch was not slipping. It would eventually build RPM and get going but it had very poor bottom end power below 3000RPM. Something was not right! My mileage was down to the low 8's!

I can rationalize and cite gas prices and poor city maneuverability and the fact I could only fit in a few select automatic car washes, but I traded her in near the end of June 2013. I picked up a new-used 2011 F150 4x4 with the 5.0L. It's way faster and gets better mileage....

... but it ain't no Super Duty on 35s.



Here is the last pic of have of her.



I'll miss that truck. If the new owner finds this thread, I'd be curious to know what was causing the power loss at low RPM.

Thanks for all the help this forum has provided. I recognize some of the old names. You guys take it easy.

 

Looks like you had your share of fun with it. Trucks com and go. I have 100k on my 5.4 and she is still holding at 13mpg. If I see that kinda drop. I would be digging in to it. Good luck with the little brother.

 

I remember seeing pics of your truck and always thought it was sharp looking!

 

Sorry to see her go.

 

I know you will miss her..but I am sure you will like the new ride as well.

 

Congrats on the new truck. Like you I downsized from a Super Duty to an F150 and couldn't be happier. I hope you will still be making videos with the new truck!

 

sorry to see your old truck go, i remeber when you first put the level kit in etc and i said man i love that truck. Just dont tell my F350 i said that, LOL

 

did you try to check things or you just got rid of her? I wonder what was going on with the no low end power?

 

Sad to see her go. But here is to modding a new truck!

Now where are the pics of the new rig!

 

I hate to see her go and also wonder about the low end power loss. Mine did the same thing and it ended up being two bad coils. No codes or anything popped up and it lost 2 mpgs and had no power at all. I replaced the coils and it ran like new. Congrats on the new truck though!

 

Loved the look of that truck, but i hope for the new owners sake he doesnt find this thread...lol

 

Sounds like your cats were starting to plug up.

 

I like the fact that Ford charged you $ 1.66 / gallon of gas when you bought it.
If you could only get that deal now..................

 

Or his Youtube channel!