2008 Ford Super Duty

[dano8696]

Any tought on the new 2008 F350,450,550 SuperDuty Chassis???

Below is a pic of a new Mass DCR Unit on the chassis

http://firenews.org/mass/MassDCR2-2.jpg

[ctxffman]

the headlight / turn signal is upside down. Hope the 2008 is better than the previous years. Lets hope the new 6.4 L diesel is more reliable then the 6.0 L is. The 6.4 L almost died due to a squabble between Ford and Navistar.

There is an issue now with it shooting flames out the exhaust pipe. although cool to see that, it's wasn't designed that way.

Read on a website that's it's easier for a technician to remove the cab from the chassis to work on the engine.

My next truck will be a Chevrolet.

[firepiper1]

My next truck will be a Chevrolet.

Buy a Ford and store it in the garage. That way, when the company goes out of business 10 years from now, you will have a collectors item. Sorta like an Edsel.

[svmech17]

the headlight / turn signal is upside down. Hope the 2008 is better than the previous years. Lets hope the new 6.4 L diesel is more reliable then the 6.0 L is. The 6.4 L almost died due to a squabble between Ford and Navistar.

There is an issue now with it shooting flames out the exhaust pipe. although cool to see that, it's wasn't designed that way.

Why did Ford and Navistar have a squabble? Was it related to the flames?

[PumpGuy]

Navistar and Ford are squabling (?) over warranty work from previous model years. I understand that Ford had what they felt be be excessive warranty claims on the last deisel engine series they got from Navistar. Also that Navistar has been slow, or unwilling to pay there portion of these cliams.

There was an article in USAToday several weeks ago about this if anyone is up to doing a search.

I also herad thru the grapevine (Meaning a rumor ) that the engines Ford does have from Navistar have been desinated for ambulance chassis production, and won't be available to the buying public. Ford had refused to take any more engines from Navistar, and is possibly looking for another supplier.

[ctxffman]

http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/news...8sdrecall.html

[dano8696]

WOW - check out the size of the flame

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v36MCcRPRTc

[mcaldwell]

I'm sure it's as sound and stout as the last generation, but for the record, I HATE the look of the new front end.

Those lights are hideous. Especially compared to the 05/06, which was quite sharp IMO.

[npfd801]

Navistar and Ford are squabling (?) over warranty work from previous model years. I understand that Ford had what they felt be be excessive warranty claims on the last deisel engine series they got from Navistar. Also that Navistar has been slow, or unwilling to pay there portion of these cliams.

There was an article in USAToday several weeks ago about this if anyone is up to doing a search.

I also herad thru the grapevine (Meaning a rumor ) that the engines Ford does have from Navistar have been desinated for ambulance chassis production, and won't be available to the buying public. Ford had refused to take any more engines from Navistar, and is possibly looking for another supplier.

Word from the IH guy at our dealer meeting was this - the 6.0L presented more warranty problems than Ford wanted, so they expected IH to cough up some money. Trouble is, Ford modified the base IH engine to their needs, with the express notification from IH that they would not be providing an engine warranty if they did so.

IH is also more than happy to continue 6.0L production for the E-series chassis, but with the vastly reduced production numbers and the current contract for pricing of the engines expiring, IH wanted more per engine due to reduced production as the 6.4L was taking much of the market. Ford refused to pay the higher engine price, hence no more 6.0L for the E-series market.

I think the 6.4L is in the same situation as the 6.0L, where Ford is modifiying the IH engine with their own turbos and such.

The sad reality with the new Ford is the packaging of the engine under the hood is so incredibly tight, you will never put anything aftermarket as far as underhood generators, etc. in there, at least for a reasonable cost if at all. I can only imagine what the labor costs to departments will be for major service work after the warranty runs out. I would be looking very hard at the GM product for my fire apparatus in the same weight class, or IH's MXT rig if the pricing for a "working" version is reasonable.

[fordfreak1978]

what is wrong with ford modifing an IH engine with their own turbos and such, look at the 7.3l diesel, i would say that that is the best diesel engine ever put in a pick-up to date, bar none. Ford put that engine in the f-series pickups for 17 years, i own a 2002 1 ton dually with a 7.3 and it is a heck of a truck. if you want to talk about a bad track record w/ diesels, lets talk GM. The modified 350 diesel, the 6.2l, and the 6.5, which was the only halfway decent engine. The duramax would be their crowning achievement, if it wasn't built by isuzu. Cummins makes a heck of an engine, but it is put in a truck that requires a new front end every 40,000 miles under towing conditions. besides, come the 2010 year they are redoing the super duty, so it will accomidate the 7.2l cat! that will be my next truck.

[npfd801]

There is nothing wrong with Ford making the 6.0L fit their power requirements. What is wrong is having mutually agreed that IH will not be held liable for warranty issues due to Ford modifications, and then Ford expecting IH to keep sending them engines when Ford decides to quit paying for them...

We have three Ford's with Powerstrokes, regardless of the problems that the 6.0L had, ours with the 6.0L is by far the best of the three, lots of power, great drivability, etc. The two 7.3L units are fine as well, but not as good as the 6.0L.

With the new motor, we couldn't configure the chassis the way like - with underhood generator... It just won't happen on the new ones.

[jay5019]

I'm sure it's as sound and stout as the last generation, but for the record, I HATE the look of the new front end.

Those lights are hideous. Especially compared to the 05/06, which was quite sharp IMO.

The lights may be funky on the 08 Fords but the new Chevy's are even uglier. I dont think the ford is that bad but with dodge now making 4500 and 5500 series they have caught my attention.

[UFDFF15]

We have three Ford's with Powerstrokes, regardless of the problems that the 6.0L had, ours with the 6.0L is by far the best of the three, lots of power, great drivability, etc. The two 7.3L units are fine as well, but not as good as the 6.0L.

I agree with you, out of our 5 powerstrokes the 6.0's are by far my favorite to work in. What are the issue's that Ford is having with them? WE have yet to experience and engine based issues with ours and one of the is going on 3 years old now.

[whitesox4life]

IMO Ford just needs to go to Cat and tell them to build an I-6 for them. My old FD just took delivery of their 08 F450 medical/rescue truck and it is not only hideous but the engine sounds like crap compared to the previous ones. I will stick with my Pre-08 models of ford super duties. For a new grass / medical / light rescue truck, i will go with a dodge before all the rest. just my 2 cents.

[SSHANK42]

I agree with you, out of our 5 powerstrokes the 6.0's are by far my favorite to work in. What are the issue's that Ford is having with them? WE have yet to experience and engine based issues with ours and one of the is going on 3 years old now.

We have a 2 year old 6.0 with 103,000 miles. Besides 2 cracked heads, a blown turbo or 2, high pressure oil lines that run the fuel system blowing apart, not wanting to start and numerous sensor going bad it has been a good truck. This engine has cost us more to repair than most of our 7.3's combined.

[NewJerseyFFII]

what is wrong with ford modifing an IH engine with their own turbos and such, look at the 7.3l diesel, i would say that that is the best diesel engine ever put in a pick-up to date, bar none. Ford put that engine in the f-series pickups for 17 years, i own a 2002 1 ton dually with a 7.3 and it is a heck of a truck. if you want to talk about a bad track record w/ diesels, lets talk GM. The modified 350 diesel, the 6.2l, and the 6.5, which was the only halfway decent engine. The duramax would be their crowning achievement, if it wasn't built by isuzu. Cummins makes a heck of an engine, but it is put in a truck that requires a new front end every 40,000 miles under towing conditions. besides, come the 2010 year they are redoing the super duty, so it will accomidate the 7.2l cat! that will be my next truck.

We have a 2002 Dodge at work with only 25,000 miles on it and it is on the 3rd front end, 1- fuel pump , auto trans work etc. The only good part of the truck is the Cummins diesel motor, we also have a new 2007 F250 4x4 pickup truck with 1,000 miles on the " 6.0 diesel " which is very loud but very powerfull !..

[svmech17]

sounds like lemons, every manufacturer will have them. Then again lemons can still ruin reputations. For instance my department will not consider Ford vehicles at all. Especially since our Jeep and GM vehicles have been great. It doesent bother me much since i owned a ford "lemon" explorer.

[SSHANK42]

sounds like lemons, every manufacturer will have them. Then again lemons can still ruin reputations. For instance my department will not consider Ford vehicles at all. Especially since our Jeep and GM vehicles have been great. It doesent bother me much since i owned a ford "lemon" explorer.

We don't like the lemon taste. My EMS system has purchased all Ford's except one for the last 25 years or so. Our next will be a Chevy.

[medicmaster]

When we replace ambulances, we rechassis a box once before buying a new one. We had two scheduled for rechassis this summer, and have been informed that the manufacturer cannot get us an E-Series chassis due to the engine change. We could get a gas engine, but that would be inefficient. Ford does not have any timeline for when or if a Diesel E-Series may be available.

We dug deeper and talked to our local Ford dealer. They confirmed the E-Series problem, and said that they have been notified by corporate not to sell any Super Duty F-Series trucks until the exhaust problems have been fixed.

Me thinks a great deal of fire trucks and ambulances will be built on GM chassis in the future...

[LRFPD60]

Medicmaster you are correct. The EMS service I work for is going to Chevy(GMC) with all of our new purchases because of the Ford situation. We had all but maybe 6 or 7 of our 30+ ambulances switched over to Ford from Chevy because of local warranty work. Now we are switching back and is causing a lot of headaches. We were trying to get a standardized fleet but now it will be a hodge-podge again for a few years.