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Looks like that truck does not have an e- locker in the rear as there is no dial. What is the gear ratio. If you haul a lot get the 4.30 gears! Or you will regret getting rid if diesel. I dont own one of these yet. Will be ordering in next 6 months. Gasser with 4.30 gears is best. I had a 2012 f150 that if you held the tc button down for 10sec it would disable all traction aids and you could let her rip. Tcase I am fairly certain is all manual. Most likely cable actuated. I would say yes on the 2low. I am sure others will chime in. I want to switch back to Ford also. Someday soon!

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I would order what you want. I was going to order in 2015 and bought a ram. Look where I am at now. Its only 6-8 weeks and rebates are good here in Ohio on 2017s. I am sure they are good where you are too. Get the 4.30 gears in either variety of engine and good to go. Order a c&c and use the money that you would use for the gear swap or delete on a good truck body for the back.
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I believe headlight on with wipers is the national law now, So I dont think that can be disabled in any vehicle any more. I know traction control can be turned off, but dont think RSC can be, I know something disables on mine, but only when in 4lo, id have to go look.

 

Some answers to your questions
1. Yes, traction control can be disabled, either off, one push of the button, or Sport Mode, which is two quick pushes. They allow you to do burn outs, donuts, full throttle control. I know cause I need to be able to be the one controlling the throttle.
2. Headlights are tied to wipers when on. This is a safety feature. Not a biggy. My truck is a lariat ultimate, so it has auto lights and auto wipers amongst other things. They work great.
3. And 4. Manual tease, manual linkage for the transfer case, so yes you are shifting it, therefore, with manual hubs, you can leave hubs off, and you still have 2 wheel drive low range for backing, pulling, without the front end binding.
5. I am at 8600 Km, no other issues. What trim level is the truck your buying, it looks like an XL or XLT? I would custom order to be sure Yalu get all the things you want. Otherwise you will be going up a trim level to get certain things and that means more cost.
6. That truck picture doesn't have the e-locker on the dash. I don't know if you can get them in a XL, XLT with a manual t-case for sure. So, this is why I say custom order.
7. I would echo others on here about axle ratio. If your getting a dually, gas motor, I would definately opt for the 4.30s, especially considering going from diesel to gas. Not being mean, but if your only towing the 10,000 lb trailer, why dually, or do you load the truck as well? It's not even going to notice it back there.....

 

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I would not trade my cummins for a gasser!!!

I did get rid of my 14 megacab cummins for a 17 Platinum 6.7 however.

 

Order an F350 6.2 with 4.30's which come with the e-locker. My biggest regret of my last 6.2 after coming from 20 years of diesels was the not ordering a truck with 4.30's. My dealer wanted 3k to swap gears so instead I put that money towards the order of my current truck.
I ran a 2012 deleted Cummins G56 for 2 years and I miss that truck for everything except running around town.

 

1. Yes, you can. Low range shuts everything completely off. In 2WD or 4-Hi, you can quickly shut off traction control with a single press (no more throttle being cut off) and by holding for 10 seconds you can "turn off" stability control as well. It doesn't full turn it off, but makes it intervene only in extreme situations. It will definitely let you pull a donut in a snowy parking lot. A gas dually won't be doing burnouts, simply doesn't have the power.

2. The headlights will turn on 10 seconds after the wipers are turned on, and turn off 60 seconds after the wipers are turned off. No choice here. But it really doesn't matter since these trucks have day-running lamps which runs the headlights all the time you are in Drive. However, the Ford does not illuminate the headlights when you unlock the truck, like the RAM does. Just blinks the flashers and turns on the parking lights. There is also a program called FORScan (free, but requires a bluetooth OBD2 adapter) which allows a lot of programming changes. You could likely disabled day-running lamps and possibly disable the headlights on with wipers feature. Many of us here use FORScan.

3. The manual hubs / manual shifter combination you are looking at is truly manual. However, there may be a solenoid in the transfer case that prevents shifting into 4-low unless neutral is selected first. But when you pull the lever from 2WD into 4HI, you are truly moving a mechanical linkage and pulling the truck into 4x4. Nothing electronic other than a switch which detects this and puts a 4HI light on your dash.

4. With the manual hubs, you can leave them unlocked and put your truck in 4-Low to have extra power to move your trailer around in 2WD. Nothing else to purchase.

5. Not too many 'invasive' safety features. The seat belt light will flash and a chime will sound if you or the front passenger doesn't buckle up. Eventually, the chime will stop. There is also a way in FORScan to disable the chime. As we mentioned, stability control is *mostly* defeatable. These Fords are equipped with a "black box" which records a variety of truck parameters, such as speed, RPM, steering wheel angle, brake pedal input, etc. Nothing is *transmitted* but the info is continuously stored and overwritten. In the event of a crash, the last info frames are stored, and police can review what is on there to see what the driver was doing just before and at the time of the crash. The aluminum body is doing great, no worries there.

People have mentioned the lack of a locker...no locker is available in a Ford dually, period. Only an optional limited slip. Those of us who bought duallys seem to be fairly impressed with this limited slip. Previous versions have barely worked...this one seems to perform as advertised.

Although you're looking at a regular cab dually, which is lighter than an extended cab or crew cab dually...I'd still be wary of the 3.73 in a dually. Its a heavy vehicle. The 4.30 would be better. This truck will have an incredibly high payload, though.

Good luck.

 

How easy or hard is it to add upfitter switches and the LED headlights from the higher trim trucks to a XL?

I'm playing around with the build & price on Ford's site right now. Not sure if I want to go that route though...

 

I think I found your perfect Ford!


I do get it though. I like simple and don't feel I need a car or truck to do everything for me. But that's why I partake in AACA events and drive a Fiesta with crank windows and a manual transmission. I wouldn't lose thousands of dollars in order to gain a simpler truck. At some point, you could spend the money to restore and modify an older truck to meet your needs. There was an article I read years ago that talked about the pleasure of restoring an old truck to factory fresh for less money than it cost to buy a new one for light duty work. You could take the same approach for a 7.3 or something.

 

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The upfitter switches cannot be added to a 2017 truck. It used to be very easy and about $125 on the previous generation. But Ford says they cannot be retrofitted as before on the 2017. In reality, you probably could but the cost would be prohibitive. They are located in the roof now, and you would need a whole new roof console, and the harnesses and relays which are located elsewhere.

As for the LED headlights, there are people who have converted. You need a harness and the lights. I think the user is FDNY136 who is quite knowledgeable on this topic. Here is a thread that is helpful:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...en-to-led.html

As for cost, I'm thinking its in the $1-2k range? Keep in mind, that is only the headlights. On trucks equipped from the factory with LED headlights, that includes taillights, 3rd brake light, and license plate lamps as well.

 

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