I wish ford would of atleast put in a granny low first gear to make take off possible.you don't know how many times i had to slip the clutch when i was pulling that trailer.Here's what i want for my next truck 80-86 f150 4.9l c6 and 4.10s

 

Ok so here is my story. I have a 88 f250 225k miles, 2wd, 351, c6, 3.55 gears, and stock tires. I also have a 90 f150 4x4, 300, e4od, and 3.55 with 32 inch tires that was KNOCKING!!!!(sounded like a diesel going down the road and I got it that way and still put another 25k miles on the engine)

So I pulled my 16 foot trailer loaded with my 601D and 5 foot bush hog which I figure this setup weighed in between 4k and 5k pounds with both trucks. So both being worn out the 88 had problems on hills and the engine seemed to start heating up more then the 300 under load. The f150 had no problem and I even pulled up a decent hill in overdrive(might as well try it to see how it works). I don;t know of any other trucks that you can let the transmission shift and keep going at 1k rpms pulling an empty trailer up a hill.

After having a landscaping business and a 300 I never want to go back to a v8... opps just got a f250 with 7.3 idi. A six cylinder has a better balance to the engine and has more bearings keeping everything in line properly. Someone said you have to get a 351 to match the torque of a 300. On paper this is right but in real life you will have to get a 400 to match torque at low rpm and it will have to be a 400 big block not a 351w stroked so that is will stay in temp under load. Now with that said a 400 weighs a lot more then a 300. I have never seen a truck over a 1 ton that had a 400 in it. I don't think I have seen any trucks over a 3 ton that had a 460 in it but I have seen SEVERAL 12 ton trucks running a 300 I6. They have a lot of gears behind the engine to get it moving but think about how much heat that engine is producing moving 24k pounds geared at about a 4:1 final drive.

The moral of this thread is to each his own and if you want to be able to pull 1.5 to 2 tons around but mainly use the truck for driving around town a sbf will do just fine. If you want to get in to pull 5k plus regularly get a work horse.

 

Ohh well, im sure there are plenty of 300's that didnt go without a fight. I would have loved to find a truck that that had been turned in under the program and been able to get some parts.

I love my 300, the only thing id trade it for is a 7.3 diesel. Even then im not sure.

I pulled alot of weight over the summer, everything from about 1500lbs to 8000lbs, 10 hours a day, 5 sometimes 6 days a week. 100+ degree temps, hours of stop-n-go traffic, Max A/C all the time. The truck never complained once.

 

I agree completely. The 300 is an amazing engine. I agree also with the 7.3. The baby strokes I don't have much to say about. Much good anyway. Given the choice I am afraid I'd have to choose the Cummins. But as an old trucker.....I love those Cummins engines.

 

i think we all agree with that

and id only go cummins in a newer truck, in a 2003 or older the caterpillar engines were still engines...good ole 625hp c16 cat 2300lb-ft of lean mean torque

thing i dont like about cummins is a 425hp ISX and a 550hp ISX have the same torque ratings

anyway

its a cryin shame people are sending 300s through the cash for clunkers program...hell the truck may be gone but i bet that engine still runs damn fine, and we are starting to run out of 300s as is we dont need them being thrown away like that when they could be sold to someone who will use them

 

I enjoyed my Cat engines too. My last truck (Not mine, but I lived in it so... you know) was a 379 Pete with a C15. When I quit trucking the ISX was a new engine and they had loads of problems. My brother has been driving a T-600 with an ISX. He has lots of problems. Not like my last N14.....The thing was a monster....

Back to the 300. In 1987 I bought a 1983 F-150 off of my dad. It had the 300 six and an Automatic. He serviced the thing meticulously and I did as well. I drove the wheels off of that truck. Pulled my 28' camper with it all over the country, various boats, and God only knows what else. In 1997 she finally she finally got smoky and noisy so, I parked her rusty butt in the yard. In 1999 I married a 1998 Chebby truck (my new wife owned it) and it left her stranded one day 30 miles from home. I borrowed a trailer, threw a battery in the used up/blown up old Ford and towed that Chebby home. She was rod knockin' like a diesel....and never complained.

I sold her 2 months later to some college professor who was wanting to haul some wood for $1000.

She had 429,000 miles on her. Same engine, 3 transmissions, a ton of starters and alternators.

 

I agree! It is getting tough to find a Ford truck in the boneyard too. I think people aren't throwing stuff away like they used too.
I'm looking for a rusty 1995 4X4 supercab, I can throw my 4X2 body on.......Nobody has anything, but I am patient. I'll wait.

 

It has always seemed to me that it is hard to find one of these F series in the "yard" that was just worn out. Most have collision damage on them. There just isnt very many of these F series in the yard--especially in the South and West areas of the country that doesnt use salt on the roads. And this is even more amazing because almost one million of these F series were made each model year!!!

 

would the 4.9 get some decent gas mileage while pulling or get bad?

well i know people that think the 4.9l is crap for towing but what i read is that the 4.9l will be screaming if your towing something big but it is good for the engine.

a v8 would be nice for towing cause it can do it with ease but then again the v8 is crap after you go over 150,000 i think i read and like you said the 4.9l you dont have to take apart as often.

and yeah i like my 4.9l cause i got 31's on it and getting 19mpg.

i just recently put f250 leafs and a class 3 hitch on my truck cause i only had a class1 when i bought the truck. and yeah didnt ford make HD trucks with the 4.9l and like they even put them in the f350.

 

I've had two F-150's with the 300's and both were complete dogs. I loved the engines and thier simplicity but they needed to be in front of a more stout transmission and lower gears.

If my '86 4x4 had 3.55.1 axles or lower instead of 3.08's, I would never have bought the '88.

Tim

 

phoneman, according to my '91 brochure, trucks with 3.08 gears also have the "economy" cam, both 4x4 and 4x2, as well as trucks with 2.73s.

Why is the 300 have so much torque? because of the long stroke and how the cam is set up. While being an inline six has advantages, that's not WHY it has a lot of torque. The chevy 4.2 in the trailblazers feels like a v6, no low end. The cylinders don't care which way they're going. But generally speaking, I6s are set up for low end torque.
I used to have an old Jeep with a EFI 4.0L I6. That thing was a BEAST. I want another one.

 

If a cummins came if a ford, id have one. I only picked the 7.3 to stay true to ford.

Around here you can find atleast one of these trucks in an abandonded lot. And there are rows and rows of them at the local yards. But not as many of the Fords as there are Chevys haha.

 

working for a peterbilt dealer we work on any truck that comes through from ford f-800? to volvo freightliner and everything else and have personally driven at least one model of truck from every different make i can honestly say the only truck id ever own/drive is a peterbilt...in 04 when cat went accert their engines were constantly in the shop then after a few years and MANY recalls they got that figured out now with the pollution control units they put on its back to that...we sold a BRAND NEW pete 389 (replaced the legendary 379) and in 20000km it had a blown engine in it...and i swear there is a new cat recall every couple months at least

sorry end of my


but that sounds like one beast 83 haha, typical 300 though, engine long outlives the rest of the truck

 

It's my personal opinion that the 300 is gone becuase of that reason alone. Ford is a smart company and they could have made the engine more economical, better feeling or what ever. But, when your engine is destined to out live the truck body and last for generations, you can't sell and service as many trucks.

If you could mount this engine in front a decent tranny and stout gears without sacrificing longevity and MPG's , you would never sell me another V-8.

Tim

 

Also another thing in the mix, was kinda stated earlier, the inline six has a nice torque overlap, that is why cummins are such good towing motors, I was trying to find the pie graph from years ago that showed it with the power overlap. They were also used for YEARS in the UPS trucks, with the great old NP435, also stated is their use in all sorts of ag equipment, all our old irrigators were I6's, they are not a revvy motor, they are a torquey motor, they also used to be used in sprint cars @ I70 race way near KC. The 7 main bearings almost guaranteed 3-400k miles. My first engine I rebuilt was a chevy 235 I6, great motor also, and chryslers slant six, their design is simple and efficient and balanced and smooooth! My first 1966 Ford F-100 had a 352 that was tired, I dropped in a 300 from a newer truck that had according to the old farmer about 150,000 or so, I put another Zillion miles on it through high school and 6 years in the Corps, still wouldn't die. They are in my opinion, Fords best motor.