I went back & forth on this when I ordered mine. Ended up with the 4.30. Was hoping to get the hydroboost... didn't happen. But I also figured the extra cost in gas would be ~$150/year. Not enough to worry about compared to the price of these trucks. Plus I have the 11,900 gvwr.

 

You must not drive much. My driving says about $650 a year price difference if going by 1 mpg. But truly not worth worrying about. Trouble for me is finding a 4.3 non-tremor.

 

No one is cutting a check for the difference in gas as one lump sum each year, so it’s a little silly to view it that way IMO. Same with fast food, Starbucks, or even snacks on road trips…no one views that as one lump sum.

 

You may not view it that way and it my be silly IYO but the additional costs add up to a specific number regardless of how it's viewed.

 

I towed 14k miles out of just over 20k miles with a 3.73 DRW. Grossing 3k+ over the GCWR all of those towing miles. I got consistently 1mpg towing or empty with 3.73s. I have never achieved better than 7.5mpg with the same load and a very similar truck with 4.30s. The truck with 4.30s weighs 300lbs less than the 3.73 truck did.

3.73s - Best mileage from 1 full tank of empty highway driving 70-75mph was 14.5mpg near sea level. Best towing mpg was 8.6mpg at 65mph. Average over all towing miles was 6.8mpg. Average over all empty was 12.3 until I had more miles then it went to 12-12.5mpg in the city. This truck like to go faster and it did tow in 8th gear a lot but 9th gear with no headwind on flat ground. The truck seemed more comfortable pulling my trailer around 70-73mph.

4.30s - Best full tank empty was 15.3mpg at 66mph from 6200ft-8200ft-6500ft. At sea level I get 13mpg empty. Best full tank towing same trailer at 65mph was 7.4mpg. Lifetime towing average is more like 6.2mpg. Lifetime average empty is 11.8. This truck does tow in 9th mostly but will shift into 10th quite a bit and stays in 10th on flat ground with no headwind. This truck is also comfortable at 65mph towing. It barely seems like its pulling any extra weight at 65mph until you hit a hill.

7.3/10spd with 3.73s would shift into 10th gear at ~45mph and 4.30s around 36mph. 50-55mph was the sweet spot for MPG having 3.73s and 31.5" tires. 40-45mph is the sweet spot having 4.30s with 31.5" tires.

 

You’re right, you wouldn’t pay the extra $600-650 in one lump payment.

For me it would be roughly 167 extra gallons of fuel per year. If I filled up 28 gallons per fill up, that means I stop 6 more times per year or an extra stop every other month. So every other month I would have an extra $100+ added to my fuel bill. Don’t know if that is important to some.

edit: quoted the wrong person.

 

Adding more fuel to the fire. I bought an 8-foot bed supercab 7.3 with 4.30 because I needed to replace a truck with a truck. This truck is nice and pulls great. It also runs good empty. If I just needed a four-door car with an open bed that could pull a small trailer I would go with the 3.73. The 3.73 will pull anything the 4.30 will pull. The 10 speed transmission will see to that. I ordered another truck this year and went with the 4.30 again. I was glad it was still an option. YMMV

 

I believe we all would like decent fuel economy but it is not on top of the list for owning a Super Duty truck at 7,000-8,500#. To some they will squeeze out a little mpg by traveling slower or just living in some areas where the posted speed limit is lower which helpsby default. If your not on a forum like this the average metro man walking into a dealership has no clue what gear is in the truck. So many are focused on the bling.

With that said 3.73 will do what the 4.30 can do fairly easy with the 10 speed transmission. I believe if you have experienced the older 4, 5 or 6 speeds transmission the 10 really is a game changer to level the playing field. Add on top of the hp/ tq the 7.3 is putting down to keep the power in a lower gear set. Hitting the button on the shifter is not that hard to grab a lower gear if needed and much easier than clutching and shifting all the time of the past trucks.

65 mph is a responsible speed when towing and just by dropping a gear can put you in a sweet spot for power. Here is what it looks like on the dash.

 

If you’re going to run bigger tires and tow, 4.30’s are a better choice IMO.

Yeah, yeah, yeah the transmission can help make up for the 3.73 gears and get slightly better gas mileage but it will be hunting for gears and it will have less gears available when towing.

 

I wish 3.08 was an option......

 

12,000# in the trailer and 2,000# camper in the bed. 3.55 with 10th locked out. 9.7mpg at 65mph and then 9.3 mpg at 65 mph up over the rocky top pass in Tennessee.



now running no camper and an empty trailer. 12.4 mpg running 75 mph and it holds that 10th gear just fine

 

The only time I liked driving my 3.55 truck, was when I was driving it empty down hill to Billings to trade it in on a 4.30 truck.

I will say, it did indicate 18.8 mpg on that drive cruising the speed limit. It makes for a great 7000lbs commuter car.

 

My first non-diesel super duty was an '11 F350 CCLB 4x4 6.2l/6R140 3.73. I live at 7,100' in N. AZ, and tow frequently. I drove that truck for ~ 180,000 miles pretty much trouble free after a recall for shift flare repaired the tranny at around 10,000 miles. Wonderful vehicle, but I sure flogged on it hard towing mountainous regions in the west heading many weekends to races, both moto and bicycle. We "always" had to get home Sunday night/Monday wee hours so everyone could make it to work/school depending on the passenger load. Truck was wonderful, ALWAYS got us home, never stranded, never missed school or work due to an engine problem. I could not say that for my CCLB manual tranny '89 7.3L IDI, '01 7.3L PS, nor my '06 6.0L PS diesels. Each of those had unexpected no-starts for a variety of reasons though out their lives related to modern diesel engine flawed designs.

I retired and replaced the '11 6.2L with an almost identical '18 6.2L with only one difference, the "slightly" improved better power of the refined post-2017 6.2L engine and the 4.30 gearing. I LOVE the '18 truck's increase in power and shorter gearing. I actually drive less aggressively now most times, the kids are gone, I travel to events towing at a more leisurely pace (most of the time), but it is nice to have less hunting of the tranny even while traveling the rolling hills of the west while hauling/towing. I am certain that I am down 0.5-1.5 mpg when running empty on level highways at 83mph in fully auto mode. But I also installed paddle shifting kit and I mostly drive in manual mode, and allow my engine to lug down up to ~10mph on easy hills in 5th or 6th when towing/hauling which helps fuel economy.

My only regret is the "frustrating" fuel pump failure/warm soak on this '18 truck, I am in need of my 3rd fuel pump at ~70,000 miles. And I am not too impressed with the Aluminum body, too easy to damage.
If I had to do it all over again in 2018, I would have kept the the '11 3.73, re-geared it to 4.30 in both diffs, and replaced/rebuilt components as they wore out into the 300K+ miles. I am on my last truck. I am jealous of those of you with the 7.3L (at least the good ones) but my '18 is rated up to pull up 16,500lbs gooseneck toy hauler trailers, and with the lower geared 4.30 and my more sedate towing speeds/urgencies now-a-days it is perfect.

I am shopping for slightly used (durable) horse trailer type aluminum living quarter toyhaulers up to maybe 19,000lb GVWR (over the rated 16.5 GCWR) for the longer duration adventures I find myself going on during these days of retirement and I have faith the 6.2L F350 CCLB 4x4 4.30 will do me just fine. But boy, if I ever wear out the 6.2L, I sure would consider a 7.3l gasser transplant if it were easy.

YMMV! ;o)

 

That is a great visual comparison of 10th, 9th, and 8th gears at the same 65mph speed. I have not driven a gasser superduty with the 10speed. But when I drive one of my ex-GF's '17 F150 3.5L ecoboost 10 speed autos, the continuous shift "hunting" makes me a bit, uhm, disgruntled/alarmed/annoyed..... hopefully these higher count 8 and 10 speed autos hold up well to long term hauling and towing.

 

I've driven some of our work trucks 2022 6.2 F350 srw 3.73 gears crewcabs loaded for battle weighing in at 11,000. The 10 speed really made a world of difference compared to the same 2013-2014 with 6 speed trucks weighing the same.