Been a while guys .... I'm considering trading in my truck for a 14 or 15 F350 or possibly an 09 or 10 F350. Here is my dilemma, I only drive 10 miles to work and 10 miles home. As of right now even on a cold day the truck reaches normal operating temperature by the time I get there. I don't like driving anything other than a big diesel truck and it has been that way for about the past 5-6 years. Will I have more problems than benefits from these newer trucks? I also need one to pull a large 5er to the desert, not just because I want one.

P.S. My dad has a 2010 Lariat and never had a single issue with it other than the terrible fuel economy. SoCal so super strict emissions and to be honest I would rather have a smog legal truck that I don't need to worry about anything with.

 

Constant short trip, light load use is bad with emissions controlled diesels. You will likely have issues with constantly interrupted DPF regens, the dreaded "drive to clean" message, and significant fuel dilution of the oil on a 6.4 and I don't think a 6.7 will be much better in that kind of service. These trucks really need a good percentage of highway use to allow for uninterrupted regens.

Honestly for that use you would be better served with a gas engine and an appropriate axle ratio to give the towing capacity for the times you need to tow. If you do try to get a diesel to survive that service you will need to be very conservative with all maintenance items like oil changes to help avoid issues. You will also need to use a monitor to track when a regen starts and drive around until it completes to avoid more problems.

 

As said above, go with the 6.7.

The 6.4 trucks are great, but the main limitation downfall is the emissions system is really only good for long trips and highway driving.

 

The 6.7 still has a DPF and still has to do regular DPF regens. How will a 6.7 do better in this application where it will have difficulty completing a DPF regen?

 

The 6.7 uses diesel exhaust fluid and less egr and a few extra years of experience in the tuning to make it a lot more suitable for daily driving.
I love my 6.4 but I would have got rid of it a long time ago if tuning and deletes were not an option.

 

DEF is only used by the SCR and has no effect on soot production. Less EGR I'm not sure on it's effect on soot. Either way the DPF still needs to regen regularly and 10 mile commutes aren't going to give it an opportunity to do so since it will reach regen temps about the time you're pulling into the parking lot.

 

Using SCR allows the use of far less EGR, which in turn produces less soot. It is a far nicer emissions system.
That being said, it is still an emissions system, complete with DPF and burn off cycles, so no, 10 mile trips are no good for it.
10 mile trips are barely enough to warm up the engine at all.

The 6.7 emission system is more refined though, it will tolerate more daily driving than the 6.4 system. The 6.4 engine was the first generation of DPF filters on the exhaust, and it does work, even almost perfectly under the right conditions, but I would say the 6.7 emissions system is superior. But again, superior does not mean it will handle 10 mile trips either.