Hello everyone. I am a self employed electrician and I currently work out of a 2008 E350 SD 6.0 with a 12' Utilimaster Trademaster body. It has been a very reliable vehicle with none of the dreaded 6.0 issues I read about. My business has grown and so have my vehicle needs. My GVW is 11,500 and its just not enough. I've narrowed my search down to a few options, one of which is an f550 with the 6.7 engine and a 14-16' enclosed service body. Does anyone have any experience with the f550 6.7? How is the cost of ownership vs. my current 350 chassis? Any trouble with emissions? I typically drive 15-30 miles one way for work daily with some days up to 50 miles one way. truck idles to warm up but does not idle at the jobsite. Please tell me your opinions and experiences. My other options are all cabover trucks and they look awful and are uncomfortable to drive. Thank you in advance.

 

We have a '19 F-550 with a flat bed. We use it in our business as a delivery vehicle. Almost all of its miles have been towing a 24' or 40' (mostly) gooseneck. We bought it new the first part of '19 and currently have about 35-40k miles on it. Aside from regular maintenance & a recall it hasn't bee in the shop for anything. If you're not towing really heavy I would recommend the 4.30 gears. That's what we have & it does great pulling our trailers. The GVWR on the 40' trailer is 26k and we load it down quite regularly. The fuel mileage is about 8-1/2 MPG towing interstate speeds. not a lot of data to share but just what we've experienced. Good luck!

 

I'm just about maxed out on my gvw right now. I carry about 3500 pounds of materials and equipment. If I had a higher gvw I would carry more.

 

You probably would be better off with a Transit 350. Thats if you do not have any heavy towing needs because I believe they are fairly limited there.


Just off the top of my head but a 550 is 19,500 gvwr and I believe the truck would be around 7,500 lbs before upfitting it.

 

The bodies made for the transit just aren't wide enough. My body is 96" inside width. The Transit bodies are 86". Not wide enough. I would buy another e series with the gas 7.3 but I think mileage will be awful

 

I know someone with an '18 and '19 550. I'm not familiar with the 6.0 but I would think maintenance costs to be about on par with the 550. The usual stuff like oil and filters. The 550's also have a CCV filter that needs periodic replacement. It's possible that brake components and tires could be higher on the 550.

 

Gotcha. As long as you can get your 15-30 miles one way on the highway to let the 6.7 emissions system do its thing regularly you should be fine.

Maintenance cost of adding in fuel filters every 3 oil changes and $30 more oil every oil change.


I would skip the diesel if not towing and go with the 7.3. Quite a bit of cost and power reserve in the 6.7. But then you have to run 4.88s.

 

Pretty sure mine has 4.30s. Couldn't imagine the RPMs on the highway with 4.88's.

 

What do you think mileage would be with the 7.3

 

Have you considered a Utilimaster type step van, similar to a Snap On Tool truck, or a UPS or FedEx commercial delivery van, enclosed, caged, secure, with low step in height for working in and out of, and optional roll up door and lift gate, with more space efficient engine packaging than a conventional cab, and more useful interior height?

If you like Ford, the F-550 - F-600 equivalent (and actually superior in many ways) is the F-59.







The Ford stripped chassis is gasoline only.

If you want diesel, then consider the Freightliner Custom Chassis MT series, that is equipped with a Cummins.

Freightliner Custom Chassis MT Series

 

9-12 would be my guess. 4.88s is what is going to kill you. You can get the 6.7 with 4.10 gears.

You may have to settle on the 6.7 cost.

You could go to a 350 but I think you would be limited to a 9ft bed, maybe there is a solution that is close to your 12 ft need. That can be had in the 6.2/3.73 in a dually.

Someone on here just built the truck you want but in a 350 and I dont know if he was able to get to 12’. I’ll look.

 

Here is the thread.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post20101622

 

I would do an Eseries cutaway as you mentioned.

https://www.ford.com/commercial-truc...commercial-vhp

Gets more moderate gearing and lighter axles compared to the 550. Pretty high gvwr options and I would try to stay under 14,000.

Looking at the drivetrain parts on those looks like they are designed to last forever.

 

In a more direct way to answer your questions, sounds like you need an ecosport........

We currently have 3 2WD 550's and several 450s. The 450s have boxes on them, 16ft and are gasoline powered (cause the equipment bolted in the 16ft box are gas). Plenty of room, even have the "mom's attic" for the single cab. I don't care to drive them.

Two of our 550's are 17's, 6.7s crewcabs with 11ft flatbeds, the other is a 15, single cab, V10 with 11 flatbed. With this truck if you ride over a dime on the road you will feel it, jarring ride without weight.

I'll only talk about the powerstoke ones now.
Both cabs are comfortable for XL's with power group, Bluetooth, steering wheel controls.

The one is 19.5 GVW/4:88 gears and has about 90K. Truck is used heavy towing/hauling. The truck sits alot at our wearhouse. Other than regular maintenance, and one set of steer tires, it's been trouble free. It is one current problem I'll talk about later. The ride is bouncier the the other 17.

The other is basically my daily driver. It's a 18K, with 4:30 gears. Currently about 240,000 miles, 7600 hrs, 3000 idle hours. I travel all over the country with this truck often over 45K with my largest gooseneck trailer. It's been a good truck, 3 set of batteries, 4 set of tires, 3 fuel tanks, on 2nd set of brakes. Other than 7500 oil and fuel filters every 15K, it's been/is a great truck. Normally we replace at 200,000, I believe it will be 500K on this one.

​​​​My normal weight is 11K with 240 gals of fuel, and rides extremely well even when both my drop tanks are empty.

I've personal own 17 SD's since 99, currently have a lariat tremor, I prefer the 550 overall for comfort (sounds silly, right)

The only defect I've found is the fuel tank collapsing under heavy loads, when you are only getting 3 MPG for long periods of time. (Grossing over 40K).

The 6.7 is a solid motor, same with the 6 speed. Currently only have 3 350's with the 10 speeds and have been fine with 16K trailers, so I can't comment on the 550's with 10 speeds.

 

The mileage will be horrendous