Hello all i have been away for awhile.....I have had a interesting year so far......Last April i got my F350 DRW KR fully loaded. What a great truck it WAS compared to the 02 i had for 16 yrs. In February i was in northern Idaho at my cabin and rolled Woody down a ravine and totaled the truck..... thank God for the truck and airbags....made me sick, but the wife and i walked away unhurt physically, mentally still some issues for both of us, thats some scary ****.
Anyway i ordered a 18 F450 DRW KR in Magma red with the 2 tone, here are some observations and questions comparing the 2 Trucks.

I know a lot of people say they wouldn't get a 450 because its weight rating is lower, i did a lot of research on this, the curb weight of the 450 is heavier than the 350 (bigger suspension???) .....i believe that this is the difference. I can tell you the 450 is a way stiffer ride than the 350 and the spring over loads are way bigger, i haul a 5k camper (Host Mammoth) and thats the first thing i looked at. Also I still have the original sway bars from the 350.... i put on Hellwig big rig sway bars front and rear on the 350 for sway control and looking at the original 350 bars compared to whats on the 450, hands down the 450 is bigger.

The turning radius on the 450 is exactly what everyone said ....its the cats ***!!!! ALL FORD TRUCKS need this!!!!! Maybe Ford is listening ....yeah right!!

The mileage is unexpectedly higher with the 450 with taller gears, i cant explain this, it makes no sense. My average with the 450 is 13.5 MPG still on the first tank. I never got over 12.0 MPG with the 350.

The 360 degree camera is....... OK.... its cool but the resolution on the monitor needs to be improved, the 3 things i use the most on the camera system is the camera for the bed, the trailer hitch camera and the front grill camera. The down fall to this system is you cant access it while your driving (to check the load in the bed camera) you have to stop, if im stopped i can get out and walk around the truck it would be nice to be able to access the bed camera to make sure all covers are still covering and to make sure everything is riding OK while moving.

The Magma red....ROCKS.... at night it looks black, in shade it looks blackish purple and in the sun it varies from dark brown to black cherry red it just depends on the amount of sun and the angle at which you are looking at it......i have had a ton of people ask what the color is, they just love it, and the interior has grown on me, they switched the colors from 17 to 18, on the 18 the saddle (orange ) is the main color with the brown is the accents.

Now the questions

Does the 450 have the TPMS i can not find the screen that displays it ?? maybe the 450 doesnt have it ??

The tranny has a pretty loud whine at 55mph (my wife even asked what the noise was) and only at 55mph, is there a differance in the 450 vs 350 tranny ??? And the tranny seems to run about 208 * unloaded highway, 75 mph and 71* ambient air. Is the noise and temp normal ???

Injector noise in the 450 is way louder than the 350.....and most of the noise is when your driving and seems to be the passenger side, at idle its good and quite. Im guessing that all injectors are different and have there own noise characteristics????. Do they still do the old buzzz test or equivalent test for these new motors????? Should i get them checked out???? or trust the ECM self diags to flag me if something is wrong??

All in all i am real happy with the 450 and i would buy it again........but hope i wont have too. I plan on keeping the shinny side up on this truck!!!!

Pat

 

Wow. Glad you guys are ok, sounds like it was a terrifying experience. I can't answer your questions, only have a 350SRW, but thankful you survived.

 

Thanks it was!!!!! i always said that if that happened to me id **** my pants.....didnt happen... lol..... but i bent the **** out the steering wheel hanging on.

 

I just bought a 2018 450....love it. TPMS is not available on the 450. I have too noticed some gear whine at some speeds. I attributed this to how quiet the engine is and I can hear other things. Time will tell. My transmission temps are like yours.

 

 

Thanks for the write up! I am deciding between the 450 and 350 currently and it's helpful to get some real world feedback on the differences.

 

The tight turning on the F450 is very useful parking, and especially backing a trailer.

 

The springs are the same??? I didn't know that. I thought for sure the 450 had heavier springs. Shocks? Not so much.

Sam

 

Same springs (computer selected for front). Same shocks. 6000lb springs up front (max selected). Same 480/1200/2152 lb/in deflection spring packs in the rear. Same frame and body (plus front fender flares on the 450).

 

I did some driving this weekend in the TN mountains with the windows down. The whining that I'm hearing at times in my new 450 is the tires. They are incredibly loud for a non mud tire.

 

 

I'm at 80 front and 70 rear now. I'm thinking about replacing these with some 245 toyo 920's.

 

 

Good to know. Thanks for the info. I do like the look of the 608, but I want to stay quiet. This truck will be making a lot of long trips with our 5'er. I want it as comfortable as possible.

 

Pic with your 608z's? That would be my choice of tire for the 450.