i am sure this has been asked before, so here goes again. looking at two trucks, one 450 pickup and one 450 chassis cab. for someone who tows a trailer everyday that my current 350 can handle, (not really good though) should i go with the pkup or cc. i don't pull it very far maybe 20 miles at the most but it is a lot of weight. last time i weighed truck and trailer i was at 40,000. also its all country roads in flat south texas. will the power reduction make a big deal with 430 gears vs more power and 410 gears. thanks

 

I looked at ordering a 450 when I ordered my 350 cab and chassis. After I contacted my insurance agent it made my decision easy. My agent told me anything over 14k GVW was considered commercial and my premiums where going to double. Like you most of my hauling is short distances so I decided to stick with the 350.

 

40'000 lbs, what you hauling, low bedding the cotton picker in your avatar? If you are at 40k can you get farm plates on 450 or even a 550? I am thinking truck for the hp, but the issue will be for that weight what axle ratio can you get in the truck versus chassiscab.

 

my trailer has 750 gals of diesel, 1500 gals of water, 250 gals of spindle grease, plus enough parts to keep 4 pickers running for 3 months. i know its too much for a pick up but i need to pull it in and out of fields and my 4700 international just spins out. thats the reason i love fords solid front axle

 

I have a chassis cab 450 and also have 410 gears in it. I haven't towed anywhere near that much weight, but it does great for me. I may be wrong, but I think the chassis cab has a bigger rear axle than the pickup does if that makes any difference.

 

I don't know why Ford doesn't clearly state the differences between the pick up and chassis cab and why the hp/tq is different. There are other differences too. Why can't they explain so people don't speculate.

 

Remember the truck has a 4.30 whereas the CC has the 4.10. Although I think you can get the CC with a 4.80 as well. The truck has the higher HP / TQ as well. I believe the advantage to the CC is the payload capacity, not necessarily the towing capacity. The CC has the larger brakes like the old 450's.

I'd ask this - do you use the truck for much more than just the 20 mile trips with the trailer (i.e. daily driving, etc.). The truck will be a lot more comfortable for the everyday use than the CC.

 

well thats another point i had. i am wanting to believe the pickup 450 will serve me just fine but i have read about the bigger brakes and axle on the cc vs the pkup and i begin to wonder. now i know the 2 don't even come close in comfort. pkup is king ranch with everything vs cc xl vinyl everything. biggest difference is new cc with flat bed vs used pkup with 8000 miles same price. picking a truck is harder than naming my son!

 

pulling that much get the 450/550 with the 4.30 gears and the high capacity trailer towing package. That will give you a 35000lb GCVWR which will put you closest to what you need. Meaning you can tow it safer and stop it when you need to. I have not put mine to the test yet but can tell that it will pull much better then my old 6.0 and that truck did just fine with 35000 lb.

I will put mine to the test in the next week - maybe I can give you more insight then. It will me stressed to the max and will be pushing limits. I'll let you know how it does with 35000 lb+ GCVWR in tow.

 

You are way over even for an F550. If you are dead set against a class 6 truck, at least get a F550 with the high capacity towing and I would get the 4.88's too. Your truck will be downshifting too much otherwise. All the class 4-5 diesel trucks have max of 300HP, & 660TQ now. It has something to do with EPA. An F450 pickup has a actual class 3 rating which allows it to retain the full power of the pick ups. The F450 pickup has a F350 frame, weaker brakes and smaller axle than the cab/chassis trucks. The rear axle of a F550 with the high capacity package is rated for more by itself than a whole F450 pickup is! Don't waste your money on a F450 pickup or even a F450 cab Chassis. Truthfully an F550 with the HD options is light for your application.

 

it sounds worse than what it is. i pull the trailer fully loaded maybe 20 miles a day for 6 months. sometimes its above 55 mph but mostly 40 and under. i have never had a problem stopping since i upgraded my trailer brakes to disk brakes. i even set my brake controller to 5 and if i put it at 10 it will throw me through the windshield. but the rest of the time the truck gets treated pretty rough (rough fields, extreme idling, driving on the shoulder of state roads ect. ) i will buy a new truck and go straight to the field and get it dirty in the first 50 miles

 

If those brakes ever fail though you will be wishing for more truck. I have had over 25000 lbs behind my old 2005 f550 and had the brakes fail on the trailer (wiring issues) and had to pull it with no brakes. It help up fine and had no troubles hauling it down when needed. The braking system on the chassis cabs is pretty impressive.

 

well i have had the brakes fail before(cotton stalk ripped the wires out) and still hauled the trailer with my 350. worse part was it messed up my brake pads from the heat. that was the factory brakes and from then on i use wagner extreme duty and never had any more problems when the wires get ripped off