The constant regeneration drove me absolutly insane! 99% of my driving is short trips or around town, so once it started to regenerate, I was usually where I needed to be and shut it off. I like how the morons at ford say that once it starts to regenerate, "Drive it around at highway speeds for 30 miles or so." Well I don't have that kind of time or money to waste to take a 30-40 mile joyride every 200 miles. That is absolutly the dumbest thing I have ever heard. So needless to say I got a spartan setup and that fixed all my problems. I hear everyone say how their stock chevy's and dodge's get 17 to 20 mpg no problem. So how can the mileage be so drastically different from one company to another? I am a ford man to the end, but it sounds like they should have done a little more research before putting these trucks on the market.
From what I've been told by the guys who tow RV's for a living is that the Dodges and Chevies get about 1-2 mpg better than the 6.4L Fords due the aggressive DPF re-gen strategies that Ford is using. But all makes are doing poorer in the mpg department than they used to. Some of it is probably due to more displacement and more power, but most of it is due to the re-gen cycles and emissions stuff. Thank you tree huggers.
The constant regeneration drove me absolutly insane! 99% of my driving is short trips or around town, so once it started to regenerate, I was usually where I needed to be and shut it off. I like how the morons at ford say that once it starts to regenerate, "Drive it around at highway speeds for 30 miles or so." Well I don't have that kind of time or money to waste to take a 30-40 mile joyride every 200 miles. That is absolutly the dumbest thing I have ever heard. So needless to say I got a spartan setup and that fixed all my problems. I hear everyone say how their stock chevy's and dodge's get 17 to 20 mpg no problem. So how can the mileage be so drastically different from one company to another? I am a ford man to the end, but it sounds like they should have done a little more research before putting these trucks on the market.
Thats correct the Dodges and Chevy's get about 2mpg better, however, one of the main reasons is due to weight. Pull up the specifications for CURB WEIGHT of each truck and you'll understand why the difference. You would need to put 2 four wheelers in the chevy to make it equivalent in weight to the Ford. This is comparing the same type truck like 3/4 ton SRW axle etc. The Dodge is about 700lbs lighter than the Ford. You just can't have more of everything so you need to decide if you want more truck or more mileage. Weight definitly comes at a price when considering fuel mileage. The Chevy will get the job done but man it can't handle the higher weights like the Fords can. I don't have experience with the Dodge but we do have newer Chevys and there good trucks but hooked up to the same load you can definitly tell the difference. They have enough power but the trailer feels more like it controls the truck than the truck controlling the trailer.
__________________
01 Supercrew 4x4, 5.4 eng, 160K Awesome Truck
08 Dark Stone F250, 6.4, 3.73, 4x4 Lariat, Job3
ATS Color Matched Street Flares
Eaton Elocker "front" / Truetrac Limited Slip "rear"
Banks Ram Air Intake
Spartanized 75, 150, 210HP
Mine has now been regening about every 200 miles, doesnt matter if its highway or around town 200 miles. This past time I had just reset the lie-o-meter coming of 150 miles on the highway to a 55 mph 2 laner. This is when I've been getting the best mpg's avg 16-17. Averaging a good 16.5 when regen starts and mpg's drop to 13.5 this is bad every 200 miles I'm dumping that much fuel out the tail pipe, think I'm gona get the Sparten.
To boot it regened on the return trip.
that's really interesting, never knew about the weight difference. These trucks are unbelievable when it comes to towing, and I know you can't have the best of both worlds, but it just seems to me like technology has gone nowhere in the last 15 years. Sure there are more electronic gizmos and do-dads, but my '92 7.3 had 300,000 before she tossed her cookies; and my 2000 powerstroke has 240,000 and still runs great. They both worked hard and pulled everything they had to pull; and got way better mpg's than the 6.4. Don't get me wrong, I absolutly love my 6.4, I guess I just expected a little more for $45,000.
Just chiming in. I just bought a 2008 with 35,000 miles on it. I don't know much about the history on the truck other than the OASIS which was really clean. It does have 37's on it and I just checked my MPG with a tank of 75% city and 25% highway. Ended up with 11.9. The truck doesn't have a tuner on it and has the DPF. I haven't got a clue if it did a regen - nothing that I noticed on the dash. I was hoping to see 12-13. I am going to look into a Spartan once the 310 is released. My 2006 Dodge 3500 dually 4X4 would generally get 16-17 with the same week's driving so I am bummin' a little.
Thats correct the Dodges and Chevy's get about 2mpg better, however, one of the main reasons is due to weight. Pull up the specifications for CURB WEIGHT of each truck and you'll understand why the difference. You would need to put 2 four wheelers in the chevy to make it equivalent in weight to the Ford. This is comparing the same type truck like 3/4 ton SRW axle etc. The Dodge is about 700lbs lighter than the Ford. You just can't have more of everything so you need to decide if you want more truck or more mileage. Weight definitly comes at a price when considering fuel mileage. The Chevy will get the job done but man it can't handle the higher weights like the Fords can. I don't have experience with the Dodge but we do have newer Chevys and there good trucks but hooked up to the same load you can definitly tell the difference. They have enough power but the trailer feels more like it controls the truck than the truck controlling the trailer.
sawtooth, where did you get that info? I tried to find it (so I can point it out to my Dodge-luvin' buddies), but couldn't really find the Ford weighing more...
sawtooth, where did you get that info? I tried to find it (so I can point it out to my Dodge-luvin' buddies), but couldn't really find the Ford weighing more...
Ford shows their curb weight but GM hasn't in the past. I think cause their embarrased that there truck is so light. I'll try to find a review or something showing the weight but you have to be careful as there are alot of misprints. For example one truck will be a diesel weight and another will be gas. Big difference here. The best way to tell is to take your truck to scales. If you know someone with the same type truck have them weigh as well. You'll be amazed at the difference. The frames and front ends on the Fords stand out. You can peep underneath to see the difference. I believe last time i checked the GM, 3/4 ton, SRW axle, crew cab, 4x4, diesel came in around 6400lbs while the same in a Ford was 7500lbs. The Dodge is about in the middle.
If you think about it GM has promoted better fuel mileage over the past decade and has been successful. They have done things like lower the truck to reduce underside air turbulance, go with smaller / lighter tires, and reduced the vehicle weight. All this is great but it comes at a price which is a less capability off road, crappy looking tire / wheel packages that make the truck look weak, and weaker frames thus causing more squeaks and rattles. My 2001 F150 Crew Cab was so solid when i sold it at 160K that my friend with a 2000 low mileage Chevy was amazed. So much in fact his next truck will be a Ford. He babies his truck and it sounds like its made of plastic when off road. Anyway thats been GM's direction and one i just don't like but i'm sure some do.
__________________
01 Supercrew 4x4, 5.4 eng, 160K Awesome Truck
08 Dark Stone F250, 6.4, 3.73, 4x4 Lariat, Job3
ATS Color Matched Street Flares
Eaton Elocker "front" / Truetrac Limited Slip "rear"
Banks Ram Air Intake
Spartanized 75, 150, 210HP
Last edited by sawtooth; 06-30-2009 at 01:14 PM.
Reason: edit weights
The last road test comparison I've seen in one issue of any magazine was on the 04 model year Ford, Chevy, and Dodge. All were crew cab 4wd's except the Dodge which was a Quad cab 4wd. GM weighed about 1000 lbs less than the Ford and Dodge weighed 700 lbs less than the Ford. Surprisingly the Ford out accelerated and out braked both of the competitors. And not surprisingly both of the competitors got better fuel economy.
In my part of the country (northern Indiana) the guys that tow the RV's out of Elkhart county were mostly Ford 7.3 and Dodge Cummins with a manual trans. In the last few years I'm seeing more Dodge and GM diesels than Fords. From what I've been able to gather it's due to the fuel economy and the 6.0L engine problems. That shift began to seem noticeable in 2006. And the guys that switched from Ford to the other brands have not yet swithched back to Fords and may never until Dodge or GM lays an egg like Ford did with the 6.0L. All of the brands are getting worse fuel mileage than before, but Ford is still the lowest and with fuel prices being what they are and Ford's reputation still smarting from the 6.0L problems it'll likely stay that way for awhile. Ford has stated that they want to be the greenest manufacturer on the planet and as a result they have the most aggressive regeneration strategy of the Detroit 3 and that undoubtedly contributes to poorer fuel economy.
This forum is owned and operated by Internet Brands, Inc., a Delaware corporation. It is not authorized or endorsed by the Ford Motor Company and is not affiliated with the Ford Motor Company or its related companies in any way. FordŽ is a registered trademark of the Ford Motor Company.
2008 F250 PSD Crew Cab 4x4, X-liner, 
