Been seriously considering getting a new truck because my wife wants my current ride. She has a loaded 13 F150 FX4 and wanted something different. I was able to convince her to take my truck which is a lift F250 CCLB and I would get a Dually. Was shopping for a 350 until I noticed the prices for a 450 were comparable. Wanted the additional payload capacity.

I just ordered a new tractor that'll be here the third week of February along with a 15' batwing. In order for it to fit on my current trailer 25+5, I'll have to put the loader over the neck which would be really hard on my 250. With the 9900 lb rear axle on the 450 it won't faze it at all. My current tractor fits fine with the loader on the deck but the mower is much smaller and the physical size of the tractor is smaller as well. I'll prolly end up selling a couple trailers to buy a longer one anyways to make things easier.

Anyways, stopped into the dealer, my neighbor is the service manager and introduced me to the head guy and sales manager. Told him I wanted to order a truck and he did right in front of me as he was ordering a few other SD.

Heres what I went with, just about every option
2017 F450 lariat magnetic
Ultimate package with tow tech bundle
Led lights and retractable steps
Supplemental heater and engine block heater
Inflatable seat belts, all weather floormats
Fx4, gooseneck prep, blis, dual HD alternators
Up fitter, garage door opener, console vault

I had built it several times on the ford website like we all have and the dealer came up exactly where I was. Talked about my trade and he was right where I thought was fair and thinking so that was easy, now the hard part of waiting!

Going to be shopping for a new 110 gallon slip tank and 30 gallon engine drive compressor for the truck and I'll be set. Here's what I'm running now. Reason for the upgrades was I spent 15 tractor hours and 50 gallons of fuel mowing 23 acres of pasture for the last time. With the new equipment I should be able to knock that down to 5-6 hours max and 15-20 gallons of diesel.

Love seeing everyone's new trucks.

Brett

 

Congrats on the order Brett! Shopping for accessories helps with the wait...

 

Congrats the wait will be worth it. It's does give some anxiety along the journey. I'm happy I can finally see a big like at the end of the tunnel. Your truck build looks awesome.

 

I've been following along with the thread that has the 3" shank for the receiver. That'll prolly be on the list for sure!

Lots of great trucks to get ideas from

Thank you. Excited for sure

Brett

 

My thread is going to document the process of ordering my truck AND tractor for those that are interested. I currently have a 2014 JD 5055E cab tractor with a h240 loader. It's tier 2 and thought it was the cats meow for taking care around my place and the occasional mowing job. I bought forks, mx7 shredder and a frontier bb3284 box blade. Added a grapple and diverter valve a few months into owning it.

Now for the problems, it's been in the show 8 out of 18 months, approx $20k in warranty work and the dealer has put about 50 hrs on it trouble shooting all the issues from assembly. Dealer has been great and I'm staying with them. I'm trading in the tractor, loader and box blade.

I ordered a 5100E with cab, H260 loader, frontier bb4296H hydraulic box blade and mx15 batwing shredder. Added lots of extras to the tractor to fit what we're doing. I'm hoping it'll take care of what I need and I'll get the reliability out of it. It's assembled in Augusta Georgia va India so that should help.

Between the truck, tractors and if I buy a new trailer, I think I'll be eating ramen noodles for a few years.

Brett

 

Nice Tractor too!

 

Did you think about the PTO for the truck? It's only $280. I found one compressor that is 70 CFM (HUGE) but cost $10,000. With dual alternators it might be impossible to mount an engine driven compressor. I just need to find one under $1500. For $280 I'm getting the PTO and figure out what to do with it later. I CANNOT be added later.

 

I thought your username looked familiar...I've seen your thread over on TBN.

 

I won't ever use any pto powered equipment. With the 30 gallon compressor I can get around 24 cfm @90 which will be plenty for me. I hope you get some thing figured out for it though

Yeah. That's me. It's been a nightmare but I'm excited for the new tractor. Not the extra money it's costing me but I really think I'll be getting a tractor in a totally different league than my 5055

Brett

 

Considering a hyd dovetail trailer. Tandem dual 12k axles. Prolly a trail load 36'. Does anyone have any experience or input? I still have several months to sell my current one and order if I cannot find what I want.

What says ther experts? It'll be for the tractor and batwing or anything I want to haul

Brett

 

Brett, you and I do similar things. I mow technical areas for my city...steeply sloped reservoirs and landfill caps. I run Kubota machines...I find them to be more reliable and a better value than Deere. I mow with a 6' flail mower and completed a 30 acre steep slope landfill in about 38 hours. The Kubota uses about a gallon per hour when not regenerating.

By the way, trim level for trim level the 350 dually has more payload capacity than the 450.

 

Mans that's some slow going mowing but great fuel useage. I would think there's something wrong with mine if it burns less than 3 gal/hr. My 5055e has been a huge headache. I keep checking out the kubotas, but haven't found any that I love or even like. The ergonomics could benefit from getting some users to design the cab. I tried one out but had to lean way forward to reach the after thought of a loader control valve. I just didn't care for the way things were laid out and they felt light. That would be the easiest to fix. Checked out the m5.95 and 105 I think and one other model. I really liked the case farmall c110 but ended up staying with Deere. Love the fit and finish and the ergonomics fit me to a T.

As for the truck, looking at them side by side the 450 will fit my needs better. It has a huge over kill rearend and the tires to make me feel comfortable to put a little weight on the pin. I don't remember what the price difference was but I think it was around 4K. To me, I'd rather have the 450 and the tighter turn radius instead of kicking myself for not getting exactly what I wanted.

That side slope mowing will get the pucker factor won't it?

Brett

 

Serious sideslopes need serious mowers. Had an opportunity to take a couple of laps around a large city reservoir with a Steiner all wheel drive mower with doubled wheels. Had to drive it on a yaw to stay on the hill but it could still make uphill u turn on that side hill. True pucker power but only because of my lack of experience with the mower. I love playing with machines.

 

When your tractor makes your superduty look small, you have the right size tractor. I just sold my Kubota diesel

 

Deere has better paint and generally better ergonomics. I'm a tall person so the longer reach actually works fine for me. It is very slow mowing because of the slopes! Pucker factor can be very high at times, not so bad at other times. Mowing the dams at the reservoirs is straight up and down work...I don't know of any machine that could side-hill it. My tractors are nothing special - run of the mill Kubotas (2). But they have been flawless in their reliability. It is completely a side business for me - I'm an IT manager for 40 hours a week - but I use some of my vacation time, weekends, and evenings to do the mowing business.

As for the trucks, (back on topic!) the 450 looks better I think. I like the front fender flares and the larger rims, and even the rim design. Both the 350 dually and 450 use the same rear end and axle (Dana M300) but the 450 has slightly thicker axle half shafts. Because I commute in the truck as well, I appreciate the lower rear axle ratio availability on the 350 - I chose the 3.55 over the 4.10; both of which are lower than the 450. The tighter turning circle would be nice, though.