(Steel is heavier than tin),knock on the door's & hood's,you can hear the diffrence,my son was camping at blackhawk state park by rockford Il and they had a hail storm,the dodge's and chevy's all had dent's in the hood's & roof's,his 2003 f250 6.0 had "NOT" one dent nor did any of the other ford's in the campground,nuff said,you get more #'s of steel in a ford for your $'s than in the other's.

 

For those who may not know, we have my F250 w/V10 and my wife's '07 Suburban w/6.0. There are a couple of differences between the 6.0 we have vs the one in the trucks tested. I'll give you the info I have and let you decide for yourselves what matters most.

GM differences:
First difference is the HD trucks have de-tuned iron-block engines whereas the 1/2-ton pickups/SUVs have an all-aluminum "H.O." engine. Second difference is that the HD trucks have a 6-speed automatic whereas the 1/2-tons have a 4-speed auto.

Facts:
My F250 weighs about 1,000 lbs more than the Suburban. It also has the 5-speed Torqshift auto tranny vs the 4-speed in the 'burban. Both vehicles are 4WD and have 4.10 gears.

Anecdotal observations:
We have to make a dead turn (from a stop) onto a highway where the speed limit is 65 MPH. Of course, hardly anyone drives that slow as it's a rather rural area and just a few miles further south, the speed limit goes up to 70 MPH. So, when you hit the highway, it's "pedal to the metal" or get a car up your ***. Just a little ways down the road is a bridge. Both my truck and the Suburban get to the bridge going about 70 MPH. Considering the F250 has both a weight & power handicap, it's pretty impressive that it keeps up with the Suburban.

My thoughts:
We all know that gearing is critical to performance. Many only think about the gears in the axle(s) but it's important to remember the transmission effects the final gear ratio too. So, just like the "weaker" 5.4L w/6-speed auto in the Expedition beats the 6.0L w/4-speed auto in the Suburban, the "weaker" 6.8L w/5-speed auto in my F250 beats the 6.0L w/4-speed in the Suburban.

Now think about the 6-speed auto in the GM HD truck vs our 5-speed.

 

NoMo, that's exactly the point I was making. They are runing a 48% deeper first gear so even though we have a 15% deeper rear gear (4.30 vs 3.73) it makes very little difference. This goes to show that the V10 is litterally muscling its way through where the 6.0L V8 is using a hudge gearing advantage to gain leverage.

The cold hard fact is the torqueshift is flat out, out worked by the allsion. I'm not saying it's a bad trans, it's just shy a gear and it is certanly showing up on the test track.

 

This really make me feel out dated with my ol 4R100, lol!

 

And how does the tow-haul mode work out compared to the Allison?

The TS is really a six-speed tranny - one overdrive gear and 3 forwards, makes 6.

Somehow in the shift strategy, it decides which gears to use, I BELIEVE in the 1st "gear" or was it "2nd" (1st or 2nd being the "first" or "second" gear it shifts into, not what it really 1st or 2nd).

I wonder if they had the tow-haul switch on?

And, not to mention, I think Chevy has used a higher stall-speed TC in general...

 

I believe the Torqshift has 6 gears, but only uses 5. One set of 5 for "normal" mode and a different set (one gear different) for tow/haul mode. Either way, still a 5-speed.

 

we might not keep them ten years but a lot of us buy ten year old trucks.

 

SLE AND NOMO i agree with the fact were a gear short but were also 2 cylinders up ,52cubes more and 80lbft more torque and the 4.30s should have put us ahead to me it just doesnt look good as people always say there is no sub for cubic inches we should have kicked butt, it would be interesting to see a dyno graph of each motor and see if were really getting 362 hp i for one dont feel as if im getting all the ponies i paid for. trying to explain why u got beat is very difficult

 

sell you mine in 2 years=5years old, time for a new one

 

i'll pass, nothing made after 96 is worth having to me.

 

I think you are right. The truth hurts sometimes I guess. Oh Well,it is all my opinion only. I don't understand peoples thinking or lack of at all. We make enough money to buy new trucks every year for cash, if we wanted. But there is something about living within a persons needs, not wants. The purpose of us working is to put as much money in OUR POCKET. But that is outdated thinking I know.

 

I am surprised how well the GMC gasser is doing in these trials and next week they are doing grades and that will be very interesting for sure. A lot of talk about engine specs and weight and in a real perfect test every set up would be exactly the same weight but none of these articles ever do that and I guess that is another reason the V10 does so well against the new 08 PSD. Almost identical 1/4 mile times both empty and loaded and these are the same trucks, HP ratings very close and the diesel with a whopping 200 more foot pounds of torque but also adding 500 more pounds of weight.
I mean with those torque specs you would think a new PSD would out pull a V10 by a huge margin.............. but it doesn't, not until you get high up in altitude.
Back on gasser ratings, I read an article in Trailer Life where the new Toyota really spanks that new GMC 6.0 both towing and solo and does it getting 8.2 MPG towing versus GM's 7 MPG so it really shows you what gas engines can be made to do,
The Ford V10 is a great work engine but it could be made even better.

 

Remember that in the half-ton world, the 6.0 is mated to a 4-speed auto whereas Toyota is using a 6-speed. Even the 5.4L w/6-speed auto in the Expedition EL beat the half-ton Suburban with 6.0.

Always comes back to gearing and keeping the engine in it's powerband.

 

I think you hit it. That's why the V10 showed so much better with the trailer than empty. Even though the gears are not as good the V10 has a wider more usable power band. Since the torque covers a wider RPM range, holding at the perfect RPM is less critical.

 

Just remember, 98% of all Chevy pickups are still on the road......The other 2% made it home.