I thought this would be go to post on the 6.0 forum also.

To much Power?
I know this sounds crazy, but when is enough, enough? My main concern about this new motor is; Ford is cranking so much HP and torque out of the motor that the life of the motor has to decrease by a lot. Who really has a trailer that the 7.3 or the 6.0 cannot pull? Is it all just a marketing plan for us to buy another truck from them, since all are trucks are going to be inadequate the moment the ad's on TV begin to run.

Someone on an outdoor sports forum posted "Now that every gun manufacture is making bigger calibers and faster more powerful bullets, I assume that killing a Deer with my 30-06 is only going to make him half dead. Now that my 30-06 is so obsolete"

When will ford come out with another motor like the 7.3 that will have plenty of power and last a long time? Not all of us can afford to buy a new truck every time Ford, Dodge, or Chevy want to change their marketing strategy. Enough is enough.

Martin350

Font fixed - BigF350

 

By and large, and we here at FTE are just a small pitance of the total consumer market, The consumers have asked for more power. Yes, those of us that are realists admit that there's plenty of power under the hood of our 6.0's and 7.3's to pull or haul most anything within reason down our highways. But, take for instance my brother'n law. He works for a local construction company. Quite often he needs to haul an excavator to and from job sites. Tonage is just near 13,000 for the trailer package. After two GM and one Ford 3/4 ton small and big block gas rigs, His diesel is outlasting them all. An engine and drive train that's built for more power and heavier loads, will outlast that which isn't.

One of the other driving forces are towed RV's. They're getting heavier because the consumer is demanding more features. Nice amenities weigh more. I have a ten year old camp trailer, A 25' Coachmen Catalina Lite. Weighs in dry at less than 4,800 pounds. If I want to make the next step up to a 28' or 30' trailer, I'll be adding nearly 4,000 pounds to the tow weight. (one TT trailer I'm looking at is 10,000 dry) And there are other trailers that weigh much more. Out west here, with hills that slow even the least underpowered rig down, we demand power to the wheels to keep our speed up. Cattle haulers in my area, constantly load to more than 15,000 towed weight. They need more power to get things rolling safely.

I don't blame the manufactures for answering the call of the consumer. The consumer wanted the Corvette, the Mustang and what ever Mopar could offer to go faster. It is a battle between the manufactures for sales. Without auto sales, they'd go under. And without the requests of more power from the consumer, we'd all be driving some sort of Hybrid not powerful enough to haul a family and two dogs let alone some camping gear.

Are our new diesels unreliable? Less so than the 7.3? OK, there have been some head gasket issues, and more electronics issues than on any other engine type, but as for durability, I don't know that the rotating assembly of the 6.0 or 6.4 is even being taxed. There aren't as many of them on the road, and time has not allowed many to excede hundreds of thousands of miles like that of the 7.3 yet.

I plan on getting more than 350,000 miles from my 6.0. I kept my last truck for nine years, the one before that for ten. You're not forced to buy a new one every three years. You're really not.

Oh, and if you really don't need all that extra power and towing/hauling capacity, the Super Duty has a little brother called the F150.

-Steve

 

I understand the concept of supply and demand, and I don't disagree with you on some of the points you made. I too want to keep my trucks for 9-10 years or longer if they're still running. I just think the time and effort they (auto manufactures) put into getting these ultra high numbers is a misdirected focus. There are several other areas that need to be improved other than just the horsepower and torque ratings. Are they just racing to put out a product that will keep them at the top of the list, regardless of the testing results? The 6.0 may be a good example.[/font]The rotating assembly may not be under great amount of load, but without a head gasket, O2 sensor, water pump, or computer system the truck isn't going to go anywhere but to the shop. think the 7.3 were a great start, if you have a good foundation to start with generally you end up with a good sum.I’m not saying that all advances with automotive technology should stop; it just needs to put out a good reliable product. Something that is well thought out, tested, and the test results should be close to error free. I don’t see them doing this. I see them trying to get there product out first, then trying to make all the repairs after the people have spent their money.No you don’t have to buy a new truck every 3 years, unless the last one you bought doesn’t work anymore. I have been fortunate others have not (Knock on wood) with my 2 Fords and one Dodge diesels. All of them run good to this day and can pull anything around the ranch safely. Unlike the little brothers F-150, Chevy 1500 or Ram 1500 none of the three would manage a 4-horse trailer, water tank, or a 24 ft trailer safely.

Just my 2 cents.
Martin

Font fixed - BigF350

 

sorry my reply is all one paragraph that is the only way I could get it to submit. Not sure what happened.

 

ok, I would read that, but PLEASE make your text slightly larger, I cant read that. btw, there is no such thing as too much power, some of us want 1000hp diesels that can be used for daily work. especially me.

 

I think Mickey Thompson's quote, "too much horse power is almost enough", is the best way to describe our desire for power.

 

Do what you want with your own trucks. Everyone likes to tincker, but when the automotive Co. start putting out inferior products just to get the numbers they want or need to stay on the top of the rating list. Then it's time to say enough is enough! This is just not Ford, most auto Co are guilty.

 

Brings up a good point....

According to the 2006 F650/750 spec guide they use up to 230Hp & 620ft/lb rated 6L Powerstroke in the F750 that has a GVWR of up to 33,000 and a GCWR of up to 80,000. I would assume that its a bit doggy at full load. The engine is also governed to 2800 rpms. And according to International the service intervals are much longer too (10K Oil/20K Fuel/300K Coolant). I would also assume that with the derating it will last longer as well.

I am not knocking my 6L, but I would have to think that most of the issues (head gaskets) would be related to the extra HP that Ford has mandated, if 230HP will haul 80,000 lbs around it should do just fine for 23K. Heck the 4.5L in the LCF is rated at 200Hp & 440ft/lbs and will move a GVWR of 19,500 and GCWR of 26,000.

Just my 2 cents...

Chris

 

Thank you Chris in texas. Great information

 

I have 3 7.3's,each of them have well over 300k on them and I have all 3 cranked way up.Two of them are manual trans ,one is auto trans. As far as durability the auto has alot less problems and a little more power than the manuals.The only thing the auto doesn't like to do is push a heavy load backwards(blows pump in tranny every time)As for the manuals,they are awful hard on clutches and transmission input shafts and throwout bearings.Other than that I love 'em and I work the*%$#@ out of them 6days a week in my hot-shot buisness...

 

Martin, I won't dissagree with you a bit. All of the auto manufactures are guilty of pushing the quality control limits to the brink. In the world of manufacturing there's an amount of failure expected. Maybe that limit is set too high with the big three. I am quite happy with my truck though.

Fastford59, What manual transmission is mated to your 7.3's? I have the ZF6 with my 6.0. Love it! And from my research it's used in trucks up to 26,000gvw. Fords, GM's, Volvos... When the clutch goes, I plan to upgrade to the F450 clutch/disk/flywheel set.

-Steve

 

All i know is they are 5 speeds,I haven't checked any of the #'s