Your statement is ridiculous. Ford stopped offering a manual transmission diesel because not enough people bought them. Now that diesel pick up trucks must meet emission requirements, every chassis/engine/transmission combination must be separately certified.

If the demand for manuals was as great as you think, they would be in production.

 

Those of you who believe IFS is ideal for a King Ranch Kandy *** Super Duty need to visit Cody, Wyoming. Half the registered vehicles here are diesel pick ups and most are high trim models and most of those are used on ranches and farms.

When I moved here, I tried to buy my 2005 F250 XL FX4 locally because I didn't want to roll into the dealer for warranty/service with a truck bought from someplace else. There were no trucks matching my criteria in four contiguous states. They were all Cowboy Cadillacs.

I've seen more Lariats and King Ranches with horse **** ground into the fancy carpets, heavy duty winch bumpers and dented exteriors than you could count. People up here use expensive trucks as work trucks.

I'd estimate 50% of the diesel pick ups in Wyoming are Ford, 25% Dodge and 25% Chevy/GMC.

There are very few low-line trucks like mine. And I had to go to my friend's dealership in Southern California to find it. I prefer to clean mud and **** off my rubber floor covering. I may be the only one in a 150 mile radius!

 

They have a better ESOF design. I've got it on my 2005. It's called manual hubs and transfer case.

 

Maybe the problem is trying to satisfy a customer base that is too broad with just one model line - the superduty.

Car companies target the car market with many different models and model lines. Why are they using just the superduty line to target the whole truck market?

Maybe it would be better to have a seperate model line like the Lincoln pickups that has all those luxuries and car like amenities and add a heavier duty suspension package to the Lincoln, then trying to add all the luxuries and car like amenities to the superduty line.

This way all those ranchers that prefer to grind horse crap into a King Ranch carpet over an XLT carpet can have there fun with a heavy duty Lincoln pickup.

If you can afford to beat up a King Ranch model then you can afford the higher price that would be associated with a Lincoln line of pickups. This way Ford can run the Lincoln line at a profit and it doesn't affect the Superduty line pricing.

Just look at FTE and you will see alot of people saying that the current Superduty line pricing is getting too far out of reach for them, especially the diesel option. The more options and configurations you add to a model line the more the price goes up, even the base price.

 

My '07 is manual also. I prefer it over any automatic system. Haven't found one yet I could not break.

I am just saying this for the guys who do get ESOF and end up switching to manual hubs.

 

the difference in ride between the 05 and newers vs the early superduties vs the 97 and earlier style is insane. Everytime I hop out of my truck into an 06 it blows my mind, that said we have all work trucks so the solid axle is a good thing for us the carry weight and need to last riding like a truck is not a problem for us and its what i want out of my truck but ford offering a 250 that offers people something different like ifs ride quallity other than a badge, a block, and ratings seems like a great idea to me. More choices is better.

i doubt we'll see boxed frames but theres always some improvements to be made and im sure those are in the works

and a bullet proof 4x4 system would be great

 

The changes Ford has made that I don't care for are dropping the manual trans for the 11's. After I read about that and learned it was too late to order a '10, I used Autotrader and found a used '06 with pretty much everything I wanted - 5.4, 6 speed manual, manual t-case, locking hubs, rubber floors, roll down windows, manual locks... just a plain jane truck. I keep my trucks for many years and I hate how trucks have become big cars with all the accessories and power everything.

I hope they do not change the Superduty chassis anytime soon because I like straight axles, high ground clearance and how stout the frame and driveline components are. The ride is not anywhere as good as the '00 1/2 ton Chevy I had but my F 250 is a heck of a lot more truck.

 

Subscribing

 

It irritates me that people buy into the marketing. Newer isn't better. I'd buy a brand new mid 96 7.3 or 12V Ram with manual trans if I could.

Twin I beam has been used for 50 years because it works. Why mess with it? Ask you local repair shop how many ball joints and tie rod ends they do on IFS f150s and silverados compared to twin I beam.

As a former auto engineer, I hate to say it but I feel in some ways cars and trucks are getting worse. Mandated things like stability control usually mean cost reduction elsewhere.

I consider the GMT900 truck to be case in point. I did a lot of transfercase work with the GM truck as well as Ford and Dodge trucks. Myself and most of the other engineers think the GMT900 (07-) is crap compared to the GMT800 (99-07). The interior has more cheap plastic, the body panels seem thinnner or at least flimsier. The box has less metal in it. No manual trans. Magna designed tcase to replace the NPG design. People on gm-trucks.com have bumper chrome that is rusted in 6 months. On the plus side it does have some more hp, cylinder deactivation (if you consider that a plus) and mostly 6 speed auto instead of 4.

The point of this GM example is that despite the things I mentioned, people generally love it. They love it for the things that don't matter like better steering wheel audio controls. Or better blue tooth compatibility.

I could say the same about F150. I think the F150 died after 1996. It became a grocery getter. Although people complain about how primitive they are, I'd take a 1995 (no OBD-II) with 300 6 cylinder and twin I beam over a 4.2 with IFS any day of the week.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not totally against progress. I think ecoboost is great. There is a lot of good new technology, but there is a lot of cost reduction going on as well.

For my last rant, what's up with the 2011 dually? The box is obvious cost reduction. It looks like a regular box with a plastic wash tub stuck on it. The 2010 DRW box looks so much better.

 

^excellent points and input! They brag about technology and new gadgets but the quality has gone down. Cheap flat press molded plastic dash? Yes lets do that! Undercoating? WTF is undercoating? Think cheap cheap cheap guys.

 

I couldnt agree with you more on your comments about the GM trucks. I have friends and family that are ASE certified mechanics and have been for years and they have pointed me towards the super duty.

I work for GM and thought i would never own anything but a GM truck but next month im ordering a new super duty! I'm a careful buyer and i've been doing research for months, reading post on here, reading reviews, comparing differences between the GM HD's and super dutys, and i really think that at this point in time that super duty is the way to go for a good solid truck heavy truck.

I could come up with a whole page of differences and things i like better about the super duty but thats a whole other thread

 

I think we should separate different issues here.
1. the looks is cosmetic thing. Seeing how much popularity are gaining Priuses and Cubes with their body styles -I keep my mouth shut.
2. Comfort is something Ford traditionally lacked. My 99 model having huge cabin has very tiny storage box. No door pocket, only change storage on the dashboard pocket. This is designers negligence IMHO, but they have been getting away with it for generations.
3. Modern power-plants are probably the highest issue for me. I just spoke with tow truck driver, who loves 300HP Mercedes engine in his mid-sized tow truck. Ford is about 20 years behind the Europe in power-plants designs.The 25 mpg Sprints are on the roads for second decade. Would be more of them available in US with pickup body -Supeduty might get hit hard. Now Isuzu is taking huge part of the market.

 

I think the sheet metal is in dire need of a makeover. One of the many reasons that Ford is the world's truck leader is because the SD and the F-150 have different identities.

Solid axles, manual hubs, and locking rear axles plus all of the other goodies that Ford builds into these awesome beauties is what makes them stand apart from Dodge and GM.

 

Kajtek those sprinter motors arent that great. Ups keeps most of their vehicles 20/25+ years, te first batch of sprinters we got didnt make it 10years/150k miles before the maintnance got out of hand.

The cost per mile was higher than almost anything else we had even 8.1L workhorses with 3x higher gvwrs

 

I heard that Mercedes diesel engines don't last in US. Part might be that US is the only country that routinely wants automatic transmissions, while rest of the World runs on manuals. This way or the other those engines reportedly make over 2 millions km, or 1.5 mil miles before need for a repair. Just not in US