F-550 Questions
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Joined: Feb 2003
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F-550 Questions
Hello there!
I’m thinking on a new way of living and at this pint I’m only doing a little homework before I decide to do something. I’m originally from Guatemala and the type of the business will be import and export of various things and one of the ways to transport this is crossing Mexico with an F-550 and a 44’ long race trailer (need to be enclosed). On the way to Guatemala I’ll haul two small used cars and on the way back (where the money is) I’ll haul different things that will not exceed the weight of the cars. The distance between N.C. and Guatemala is between 3500 and 4000 miles one-way. The weight of the trailer loaded will be around 15K. Now the questions:
1. Do you think a 550 is too much of a truck?
2. What wheelbase the truck have to be?
3. Is there a pick up conversion for this wheelbase from Centurion or another company?
4. How long will you expect the truck will last under this highway conditions, I know this depends on the maintenance but just an idea 100K, 500K miles?
Any feed back will be really appreciate and thank you in advance.
I’m thinking on a new way of living and at this pint I’m only doing a little homework before I decide to do something. I’m originally from Guatemala and the type of the business will be import and export of various things and one of the ways to transport this is crossing Mexico with an F-550 and a 44’ long race trailer (need to be enclosed). On the way to Guatemala I’ll haul two small used cars and on the way back (where the money is) I’ll haul different things that will not exceed the weight of the cars. The distance between N.C. and Guatemala is between 3500 and 4000 miles one-way. The weight of the trailer loaded will be around 15K. Now the questions:
1. Do you think a 550 is too much of a truck?
2. What wheelbase the truck have to be?
3. Is there a pick up conversion for this wheelbase from Centurion or another company?
4. How long will you expect the truck will last under this highway conditions, I know this depends on the maintenance but just an idea 100K, 500K miles?
Any feed back will be really appreciate and thank you in advance.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,914
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F-550 Questions
I would suggest that you look at the F-650 instead. The F-650 parts will be easier to come by should you break down in Central America. With the F-650, the engine choices also get larger and as I remember correctly CAT has a large presence in S. America so this may be a good option for you as well. The wheel base of the rig I would let the trailer manufacturere recommend that. The longer it is the better the hiway drive but too long makes for difficult close manuevers. Properly maintained a rig like this will go 500,000 miles. You may also want to invest in a dual fuel filter as some of the diesel in Mexico is not always the best. Fancy conversions of the F-650 are available and some of them I've seen are quite plush.
