New to the forum. Trying to read as much as possible on the 2009 F450 before buying. I have found a few good threads on reliability and warranty issues of the 2007 & 2008 but not on the 2009. The 07 & 08 treads have made me think twice about the 09 truck. Please direct me there if I have missed them.

Seems there are reliability issues and problems trying to get them fixed through warranty. A fleet manager told me yesterday to stay away from the truck for now and wait for the Cummins? They run all Fords in the fleet now. A user on here with the same setup seems to have great results.

I want the truck to put a 4500lb truck camper on and tow a small boat. I know this truck has the highest truck camper payload in the bed rating. The Chevy 3500 and Dodge show 3000 or so lbs. I won't be running it nearly as hard as some of the other users on here but I am concerned with buying a truck of this or any value with what seems to be a problems.

I know that many run large truck campers on the 350's and 3500's all day long and in fact I have been too for years. I like the extra margin of breaking capacity and payload this truck seems to offer and I plan on using the setup much more in the near future than I have in the past.

Another question: Seems there is a difference in payload capacity and what weight of a truck camper can be used. I see in the glove box that the F450 states is can carry a truck camper of 4500lbs but the general payload is 6000 something. The dealers are giving me mixed answers on that questions. Seems to me if Ford took the time to put a piece of paper in the glove box stating 4500 lbs max for a truck camper that it would be 4500 lbs, not 6000 something.

Thanks in advance for any direction/help.


Brent

 

Brent,

My thought on payload of 4500 pound camper versus 6000 pound overall
is if you slide a 4500 pound camper in there add LP, water and all your camping / travel gear, your gonna be close to the 6000 pound rating of the truck.

 

Thanks for the reply Ron! I think my total rig weight will be 4500 lbs with everything on it. It's base weight is 3300 lbs and then all my extras come to about 4500.

 

I think the camper rating may be based on the camper's weight and center of gravity, if you had a 6000 lbs camper it may be more difficult to get that in the bed correctly. Payload includes the occupants of the truck, so if you've got 4 - 5 people in the truck you could be pushing 1000 in occupant weight, then 4500 camper weight, then the weight of wood, your hunting rifles, hunting dogs, your fishing gear, the tongue weight of your boat, etc.

 

Ace, that makes sense to me too. The dealers seem to think otherwise but math is math. One dealer manager walked away from me when I asked him about this and his math did not add up. His calculations exceeded the GVWR.

Now for the reliability/warranty questions . Still have not heard from any current users of the 09 F450 on this?

Forgot to mention in the first post that I have driven this truck twice and above and beyond it's paper specs this truck looks and drives great. I usually stay focused on the utility of a vehicle but this truck has an unspoken draw to it......

 

I would also like to hear some stories, good or bad, on the 09 F-450. I'm picking my new one up this wednesday. I couldn't find anything that would come close to the towing capacity of the f-450.

 

Ponyboy, let me know how it goes. Have you seen any info on any of the other forums out there?

How much are they up there converted to us?

 

Haven't heard much about them yet. That is why I was hopin something would come from this post. Up here the MSRP was $80,000.00 canadian. Down there I'm not sure what they list at. Good deals on a Ford right now, they probably knocked $20,000 off the sticker price.

 

I have one and so far love it. Plenty of power. Only get 13.5 mpg though on a good day. Could be the 4.88 gears.

 

Yep, I'm sure it has to do with the wieght being up higher an roll-over concerns. Pheneyk, that is way better than I get with my 250 with the 373's.

 

Did all 07.5+ F450s come with the Widetrack front end or was/is it an optional extra? I have a friend with a white F450 KR CC 4x4 with the widetrack. It is a stunning-looking unit that makes you stop and stare.

With the widetrack and huge stock brakes 14.5 and 15.5" F/R it's also very safe.

If I needed more than a 3/4 ton then I'd be driving an F450.

 

All 05 and up F450/F550 came standard with the wide track axle. The narrow axle is NOT available on the F450/F550 series.

 

I have A 2008 F450 with A lance camper on it and pulling A 20' inclosed trailer behind it. haven't had any problems with it, I did regear it to 3:73 to help out on fuel. I had 4:88 gears in it stock.

 

Thanks for the info everyone.....F250Wheels, how many miles have you put on your truck?

 

It's two years old with only 13000 miles. I allso put air bags on it, you don't need them to hold A camper weight, at 30 PSI they help in making it ride better on cal. concrete freeways.