Possible new owner questions on 08 F250 6.4L

[HSrider]

Guys I'm considering replacing my 06 F150 with a new 08 F250 6.4L CC, SB, 4x4 Lariat. And at this time it's for no other reason then the simple fact that my wife and I love the looks of the 08 Heavy duty Fords. So it would be a daily driver and for dirt bike use on weekends, maybe eventually get a toy hauler or nice enclosed trailer.

Am I crazy for doing this with current diesel prices?

Is there any concerns that I should be aware of with the new 08's?

Would I be even more nuts to buy a Southern Comfort model from the dealer?

Thanks for any input.

[CMB430]

Fuel prices are not hidden now, so that is something you will have to swollow if you purchase one. Mileage varies with each rig, so that is dependent on which vehicle you pull off the lot. I use mine as a daily driver, and love it. Though my sig has been shortened, if you look for my older posts, I owned all gas vehicles before this. I can not see going back to a gas. The power is great.

I have no idea what a Southern Comfort model is, but you can save a lot of money by looking at an XLT. Mine has dual power seats, and I hate leather, so it worked out great.

The final decision is if you and your wife can afford the payment and fuel costs. I wish you luck in your decision.

[Need me a 7.3]

Do I think your crazy? No, but you gotta remember that a fill up is gonna cost ya $200 if your buying #2 at $5 a gallon and your tank is empty. The one thing I would suggest is to step up to the 350. The main reason is resale, folks that want a 350 wont look at a 250, people that want a 250 will look at both a 250 and a 350. Price is about the same.

I assume the Southern Comfort is some sort of option package? When I bought my 2000 it had a Centurion package on it, it was an end of year holdover and I didnt pay for ANY piece that wasnt Ford on that truck.

[SmokeyWren]

So it would be a daily driver and for dirt bike use on weekends, maybe eventually get a toy hauler or nice enclosed trailer.

Big mistake is to assume that any ole diesel-powered pickup is going to be enough truck to handle any trailer you might decide to buy in the future.

A good commuter car makes a lousy tow vehicle. A good tow vehicle makes a lousy commuter car. So if you want one vehicle to do both jobs, then you have to compromise.

But before you decide, you need a good idea of which trailer you'll likely end up with.

One compromise it to haul the bikes in the bed and tow a medium-size tag-along bumper-pull RV trailer that's not a toy hauler - about 28 feet long. For that, the F-250 is probably all you need. Or even a tag trailer toy hauler would work of you keep the GVWR down to less than 10,000 pounds. Weekend Warrior makes a few of those in their superLite series with a GVWR of 9,000 pounds. Weekend Warrior SuperLite

But it sounds like you need a fifth-wheel toy hauler that can handle two dirt bikes and some extra parts and tools and fuel. So an F-250 is probably not enough truck, because the GVWR of the F-250 limits you to a gross trailer weight of a 5er to about 8,500 to 9,000 pounds.

An F-350 SRW has more GVWR, so that may be enough truck if you limit the size of the toy hauler to not more than a GVWR of 14,000 pounds. Weekend Warrior doesn't make a "normal" 5er toy hauler with a GVWR of less than 16,000 pounds, but they do make two SuperLite models with a GVWR of 11,000 pounds, so the F-350 SRW would be good for that trailer. Weekend Warrior SuperLite

Or if you spend the big bucks for a Hensley Arrow hitch, then the F-350 SRW can also safely tow a pretty big toy hauler tag trailer. Weekend Warrior makes a bunch of those, with GVWR of 11,400, 12,385, and 13,000. Don't try to tow any of those with an F-250, but the F-350 SRW is just fine for those trailers. Note that if you choose a 13k model, you'll have to replace your 12.5k receiver with one rated for 13k or more.

But an F-350 DRW with the TowBoss pkg is needed for the bigger fifth-wheel trailers up to a GVWR of about 16,500. Weekend warrior makes several fifth-wheel floorplans with a GVWR of 16,000 pounds which would be a good match for that truck. Weekend Warrior Wide-Body

And lots of nice toy haulers gross more than 16,500 pounds, so Ford makes the F-450 pickup for those. For example, the "normal" Weekend Warrior 5ers in both the Full throttle and WideBody series have a GVWR of 18,000 pounds.

In other words, if you don't want to be replacing this truck with a heavier-duty one in a couple of years, you need to decide now how much trailer you'll be towing.

There are several brands of toy hauler trailers. I used Weekend Warrior in the above discussion because they are probably the most popular. And if I were going to buy a toy hauler, it would probably be a Weekend Warrior.

[HSrider]

Thanks for all the input guys and I'll have to think this over a little more. I must say for what I'm going to use the truck for I'm starting to think it might be better to just stay with a gas engine especially after reading some of the threads here on the new 6.4L trucks. I think I would be highly upset and in jail if my new $50K truck was at a dealer for 2 or 3 weeks being fixed, I wouldn't be happy.

If I do move forward is there any particular job build # I should look for?

Thanks

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by HSrider

If I do move forward is there any particular job build # I should look for?

The difference in Job Number is a major difference in the truck in some way. In past years, it was only for the change in emissions tuning or hardware near the end of the calendar year. For 2008 you can read it yourself.

Right now, since about January, 2008, we have been under Job 3 of the 2008 model year. To see the changes in Job 3, download the last 2008 F-250 order guide from Sunrise Ford Fleet.

From about July until the Christmas/New Year holiday break in 2007, we were under Job 2 of the 2008 model year. To see what was included in Job 1 trucks, and what changed for Job 2 trucks, click on the following link and skip down to about page 11 and start reading until you finish about page 32. (Those are document page numbers, not the page numbers Adobe Reader says you are looking at.) https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckBBAS...atsnew2008.pdf ... Basically, they added some options for Job 2 that weren't available for Job 1. (That is a 2mb PDF file, so it will take awhile to download if you are on dialup.)

From the beginning of production of the 2008 models in January 2007 until the July 4th summer break in 2007, the trucks were all Job 1 trucks.

[ddduallyfan]

If you really aren't going to tow heavy, but love the looks of the new Superduty, get a gas job. The V-10 is pretty impressive but not easy to find.

[vinal]

Hi, I bought the black 450 dually lariat in dec,07. Completely loaded. Awsome truck, looks sexy sitting still. Mine has a 4:88 rear end. Big mistake. Capital B, Capital I, Capital G. ....BIG.... Mistake...Huge. When I hear people whining because their only getting 10.5 MPG, I would like to smack them. I average 8.2 to 8.5. Empty. I have never seen 10.
Nor will I ever. 12,000 miles so far, not getting any better. If your going to buy one, don't listen to anyone tell you that you need anything lower than 4:10's or better yet,
3:73's. Unless your going to be pulling 20,000 Lbs all the time. If you can afford the fuel, it's clearly THE truck to own.