Most major fleet vehicals are fords, 'round here the power company, phone company, fed-ex and most of the larger contractors only use fords for "light" duty vehicals(pick-ups and vans) and some use heavier duty also(line trucks, dump bodies, ect.). These are what folks depend on to make their livin'(myself included). I've always thought this fact alone says more than any words can.

 

does UPS trucks have 300 inline sixes in them?
thats what i was told.

 

I'd also heard that the smaller delivery trucks that UPS uses for home delivery have the Ford 300 cube 6-banger. In my experience with major fleets, Ford & Chevy are equally represented. The phone company, power company, cable guys and city, county & state fleets all have a mixture of 1/2 T, 3/4 T and 1 ton GM's and Fords. If you want reliability, long life, low maintenance, low RPM "grunt", AND don't care about fuel economy then you'll never find a better gas powered in-line engine than the 300. Personally, I wouldn't take 6 cylinder home unless it was stuffed up my a** and I couldn't extract it. If the only choice I had in a pick-up truck was a Ford 6 or a small block Chevy, I'd take the "mouse motor". It makes better power, uses less fuel, has 200,000 mile reliable (if properly maintained) and doesn't sound like a farm implement when you install a low-restriction exhaust system behind it.

 

For the most part, Ford and Chevy are equally represented......EXCEPT when it comes to Wreckers. Ford trucks are used almost 2 to 1 over Chevy trucks, and almost 3 to 1 over Dodge. Secondly, the 300 six Ford is DEFINITELY (in my opinion) one of the most reliable motors ever built. My dad has one in his 89' Ford van with over 225,000 miles and it starts and runs great everytime you hit the key. I would choose the 300 six over ANY small block chevy in a 'heartbeat'......Don't get me wrong, I have respect for some chevy's, but nowhere near the respect I have for the 300 six!!!!

 

Go to the rough areas. Western KS wherever. #1 Truck is always a Ford. Occasionally the gas companies and the big ranches will try a Chevy or Dodge. It amazing how short those trucks lifes are. Yea, if you live in the city and haul grass clippings, you can get by with a chevy. And thats the only place you'll see more chevys than Fords.

 

I work at an aviation re-sale place, and the only tug that actually works there, without any problems, is the one equipped with the 300 six. I've seen it get it's front wheels up in the air, by some "dude" who thought it had NO troque compared to his Z71. I told him to floor it, well... the rest is history. It left four tire marks from the duallies in the rear, and got the front wheels up, about 1 foot. If he had a better take off, with no wheel spin, he could have REALLY gotten them up far! This isn't the first time I've seen this either!

Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300HD I-6
SROD 4speed
Blue & Silver

 

I would assume for a dualie 300 I6 to get the front wheels in the air that it must have a creeper gear and a very low rear end ratio. I remember 25 years ago as a pump jockey starting the wrecker with it in creeper gear. The starter would just roll the truck out and fire the engine at the same time. Don't know what engine, or for that matter, even if it was a Ford.

 

Well the gas pedal has about 6 inches of travel in it, and it only has two gears, reverse, and forward. :-) The top speed for first, is around 35 mph. The reason it got it's tires up in the air, was because of how short this thing is! ;-) It's under 3/4 the length of my truck. I think it looks pretty cool...

Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300HD I-6
SROD 4speed
Blue & Silver

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 21-Jul-00 AT 03:47 PM (EST)[/font][p]I worked for a crop dusting business for a while
and all the pickups were fords. All of the heavy
hauling trucks(booms for fertilizers and a tank on the back for spraying, were chevys and gmc's. We had to order a crate engine about once a year for
them but the fords kept right on going. I was riding shotgun when one of them threw a rod out on
the road, scared the cr#p out of both of us. We also had a ford F-250 auger truck diesel and never
had a lick of trouble from it, although the interior smelled of exhaust fumes. That probably
was because of the 18 inch hole in the windshield
that the auger pipe passed through.

 

 

FEDEX uses ford,chevy,and frieghtliner.the smaller vans are ford e-250's.they hold up well if they are the older body style.their small box vans are made by utilimaster on ford and chevy frames,the fords all have 300 sixes and the chevys have 4.3 sixes.ford must have changed the way they build their motor mounts for the sixes because they only last 15,000 miles now,and the oil pan gaskets push out of the oil pan at about the same time.ford reimburses us for the repairs but provides the same parts,so in 15,000 miles its the same thing all over again.the chevrolets have required virtualy no repairs and the ones they have had were not repetes like the ford.one plus for the ford is it has less front end parts to lube.this only makes a difference if you don't have a good air-powered grease gun all the zerk-fittings on the chevy can get your hand a little tired.even with less parts the ford front end still has to be rebuilt more often.on the larger box vans they are still built by utilimaster on ford frames and they hold up a lot better than the smaller versions.now on to the super dutys they are still built by utilimaser but on chevy and frieghtliner frames.the chevys after about 2 years would leak on the water pasages on the intake,that was about the only problems we had with them.the frieghtliners on the otherhand were a rolling flop.the only good thing about them was the cummins engine the rest of the vehicle was junk.when the truck arrived it came with a box full of parts for us to upgrade.any other vehicle would be fixed at the assembly plant,but not frieghtliner.if parts are defective it would make sense to install the new parts at the factory instead of shipping them out with the truck for the owner to install.

 

Fed ex likes Chevy thats why they're #2 behind ups who uses fords they know what runs and they don't have to buy tow trucks to bring in all the broken down chevies John