Do you have a favorite in terms of behavior? If so which and why?

 

Just throwing in my .02. I’ve always been a toyota guy, ‘06 tacoma, ‘14 tundra, 17’ tundra. I tow a travel trailer about once a month with a 1300lb tongue weight. My ‘17 tundra towed it (pulling) with ease however you knew it was there. Especially on windy days and thats with added airbags and a robust weight/sway distribution setup.

Traded the tundra in after 90k of reliable service for a ‘26 f350 lariat with the 7.3. Best decision i could’ve made. The truck drives like a dream but more importantly the new towing experience eliminated any safety concerns. I now tow my travel trailer with my atv in the bed and can’t tell anything is behind me. I ditched the WDH too. Over 2k in towing mileage and its been great.

Absolutely love the new truck! Going with the gas option also gave me the extra payload i needed for a future truck camper too. 14 mpg overall, NO complaints there.

 

I think the Electronics in the 23+ are not as good as years before. The screens can be a bit laggy, and my Android Auto/Car Play will shut off religiously when I pass a a cell tower.

I think Ford started buying their electronics from Englishmen based out of Pakistan.

 

Part of it is driver impression, part of it is the role each of my trucks take. Just for clarification, both trucks have 3.73's, too.

My 2023 7.3/R140 is my work truck, and it's 4WD. I carry 800-1000# of crap in it every day. The 2025 6.8/R100 is the grocery getter/Twin Family Truckster, it's 2WD. The 6.8/R100 is far easier to drive around town because it's docile, it shifts better/cleaner, but has plenty of power to get going, or haul the occasional load of dirt or something. I just drove it from Dallas to Las Vegas, and it's a good highway truck as well... and, again, the R100 shifts better, even on the highway. Why? I think it's the smaller motor... but that is just a guess, I would have to drive a 7.3/R100 combo to see if there is any real difference... that is, is it the motor? ...or the transmission? Driving the same route in the 7.3/R140, the truck works less... handling hills with no problems. That is not to say the 6.8 struggles, but it does have to take it's shirt off once in a while and get to work.

The 7.3/R140 is a handful. Part of that is the weight of the truck, but coupled with that, is that motor... that never gives up. I'm on the brakes as much as I'm on the gas... which is far different than the 6.8. It carries speed (or momentum) far greater than the 6.8/R100 combo... even empty. I noticed that the day I brought it home, and compared to either my 2009 V-10, or my 2018 2500HD gassers.

A good example is, when I back into the driveway. I don't have to touch the gas on the 7.3 to back it over the gutter hump, and up my sloped driveway... even with 800# in the back. The 6.8 is a different story... I have to seriously put my foot into the gas to get it over the hump, and a bit less gas to get it up the driveway. I opine that if I didn't hit the brakes at the top of the driveway, the 7.3 would drive itself right through the house into the backyard.

After driving the 6.8/R100 for 2 weeks, I flew home and hopped into the 7.3/R140. The trucks are the same, minus the 4WD part, and as soon as I pulled out of the driveway, I again noticed how truly different these two truck's engine/trans combos are... there is a lot more going on with the R140. It takes more RPM to drive the R100 transmission than it does the R140.

And, again, the question arises... is it the transmission, or the motor? Obviously, it would be a combination of both, but I would be curious to drive the 7.3/R100 combo, just to see how different they are.

 

Good summary, I agree that the 7.3/140 feels like an unbroken stallion that you need to hold the reigns firmly (brake pedal). If you don’t keep your foot firmly on the brake pedal it’s going to power thru whatever is in the path like it isn’t there.

 

Torque is a beautiful thing.

Not a gasser, but ... before Christmas, I pulled not one but two vehicles out after both went off the roadway and got stuck pretty good. I just got the 26 F350 6.7L about 2 months ago. Not my first diesel, though.

As I went to pull the first one out, all I did was take my foot off the brake. Never touched the accelerator. Pulled it out like it was on rails just by idling.

 

Well... and I've driven my share of diesels. The 7.3/R140 reminds me of a diesel in many ways, the way it pulls... sort of like a mini-diesel...

 

This does not reflect my experiences at all.

 

Agreed. In fact, my experiences with using the screens in my '26 F350 Platinum are better than in my '21 F150 Platinum.

 

Unfortunately, I can't add any critical analysis, criticism, suggestions, or comments other than - the transmission in my 2024 7.3L F250, Lariat with 23K miles, does what it's supposed to do when it's supposed to do it. I can over ride the auto function with the "M" button, it works like its supposed to. In fact, my truck has been two years absolutely trouble free, bullet proof, no rattles, squeaks, moans or groans or symptoms of pending issues. It has proven to be reliable and well built. It has been off road, towed my RV, driven 1000's of empty road miles and picked up the groceries. I have to imagine that there are tens of thousands of big Ford truck owners that are having similar experiences. (Ps - this is my second F-250, the first was a 2018 PSD and it was equally as capable and trouble free)

 

The 2025 specs for the transmissions from ford, different years of the same transmission MAY have different ratios I have not looked. look at the ratios between them on page #2.
The 10R100 has lower gearing over most of the gear ratios
1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10 and even reverse. These lower gears may help a similarly rear end geared truck feel more peppy than the same engine with the 10R140. That said the taller gears may be beefier so the trade off has been made for the higher output motors.

link for the 2025 specs below.


https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/con...ical-Specs.pdf

 

the gear ratio difference is very small, around 2% on the first few gears then after that, virtually identical.

 

And that's another interesting question. I've never dug down enough to see what the gear ratios are between the R140 and the R100... certainly they are different. My question is... now that they are sticking the R100 behind the 7.3, is... are there two different R100's? One for lighter duty (say, my 6.8 XL,) and the heavier, higher GVW trucks (including those with the 7.3?)

 

I did, first 3 gears a little deeper on the r100 than the r140, otherwise they are all very close, even the first 3 still close, can't answer if they will change anything inside them just to suit one zilla vs the other, can't see why they would try to pick fly poop from pepper as that would sound expensive and complicate things unnecessarily

one would think less mass and moving bits to spin etc. in r100 is as big or bigger part of why they may feel more peppy than just having slightly deeper 1st 3 gears? but add it all up, with shorter stroke and bit more compression ratio...seems like an overall approach applied to get the zing to the wheels imo

 

GM and Ford HD transmissions are extremely similar for the 10 speeds. Both just scaled up their lighter duty designs.