[FordWilly]

As I recall many years ago after complaints from gooseneck and 5ver towers to Ford about to little bed clearance, Ford gave an order option for lower bed height. I think I remember ordering my 1996 with a lower bed??? My 2001 and current 2011 dually 4X4's have stood much lower than Dodge and GM. I am happy with my duallys clearance being able to pull my trailers level with good all around clearance. My Dodge friends still gripe about low clearance and my Dodge neighbor still has his 5ver at a really stupid angle after trying many hitch adjustments. ---- On a couple RV forums I frequent the chat on the new 2017's is that the 4X4 models are really higher again causing concern for new potential buyers. Why is Ford going high again? And is there a order option to get it back to a good clearance height for gooseneck and 5ver towers? ---- Towing my trailers level is very important to me and that low back corner clearance caused by a high bed is nothing but trouble. This could be a deal breaker for many buyers.

 

[lari2001]

I just placed my order yesterday. I scanned every option and I never saw an option for a lower bed height.
I'm a little concerned too as my main trailer is a 5th wheel toy hauler, and I'm here to tell you, those 2017's are much taller in stock form than anything else I've seen.
I don't think there will be a need for air bags on this truck, I need the bed to squat as much as possible. Load the nose of the RV down now instead of moving everything to the back.
But I love the towing specs these 17's have. Amazing.

 

[FordWilly]

I just placed my order yesterday. I scanned every option and I never saw an option for a lower bed height.
I'm a little concerned too as my main trailer is a 5th wheel toy hauler, and I'm here to tell you, those 2017's are much taller in stock form than anything else I've seen.
I don't think there will be a need for air bags on this truck, I need the bed to squat as much as possible. Load the nose of the RV down now instead of moving everything to the back.
But I love the towing specs these 17's have. Amazing.

Congratulations. No doubt they will be amazing trucks. Did you order a single wheel or dually? I'm hoping that the dually will sit lower. I've been spoiled with my 01 and 11 duallys. The height was just perfect for level goose/5ver towing. I think some people many not understand why level towing is a must. Trailers high in the front tend to fishtail. When you stop on a fairly level parking lot and the trailer is still very unlevel, your RV refrigerator can be damaged quickly. RV refers need to be level when parked. When dry camping overnight while on a trip, and you stay hooked up, the wife gets testy when all the bacon grease goes to one side of the pan lol. ---- Also the DW says that if I get any higher truck I'll need to give her a foot up to get in. And the higher the bed the harder to reach over and pull out that full 5 gallon water or gas can or Honda 2000 generator. IMHO

 

[Sportscraft]

I don't think they had a lower bed option per say, just mid 99 they switched from using 4" blocks on the duallys to 2" after complaints from customers. People who had the higher trucks could swap them out after the fact. I had one customer that took even the 2" out! Also the 250s used a 2" block and the 350s SRW used a 4" block effectively giving you 2 different bed heights based on which you choose. Not sure what the 17"s duallys are using, but they definitely look taller, which is good for me, but not necessarily others.

 

[lari2001]

Congratulations. No doubt they will be amazing trucks. Did you order a single wheel or dually? I'm hoping that the dually will sit lower. I've been spoiled with my 01 and 11 duallys. The height was just perfect for level goose/5ver towing. I think some people many not understand why level towing is a must. Trailers high in the front tend to fishtail. When you stop on a fairly level parking lot and the trailer is still very unlevel, your RV refrigerator can be damaged quickly. RV refers need to be level when parked. When dry camping overnight while on a trip, and you stay hooked up, the wife gets testy when all the bacon grease goes to one side of the pan lol. ---- Also the DW says that if I get any higher truck I'll need to give her a foot up to get in. And the higher the bed the harder to reach over and pull out that full 5 gallon water or gas can or Honda 2000 generator. IMHO

I ordered a SRW. My toy hauler is a triple axle, so sway isn't really an issue. I was able to get the trailer level with 35lbs in my air bags on my 08.
I'm amazed at the towing and payload numbers on the 17's compared to the 16's. It's not even close. I like the stance but hopefully it's not an issue with my trailer.

 

[FordWilly]

OK. The DW and I are in Az. on an RV trip. This morning I stopped by the Ford dealer to see if they had any 2017's in stock to look, sit, measure etc. They had quite a few of them including 2 duallys. I brought my tape measure. At the back corner my stock 2011 dually measured 54" ground to top of rear bed corner. The 2017 dually measured 59" five inches taller than my 11. The 17 single wheel I measures was several inches higher than the 17 dually or roughly 8 inches higher than my 11 dually. Wow, what a huge height leap.

Now I got into a conversation about this issue with the fleet/order man and he tried to explain the 5ver/gooseneck towing height issue this way. He said that the new 17's have a much softer ride suspension that will allow a much greater "set down" when a heavy trailer is loaded down on that suspension. bringing it way down to the level point. --- Dont know how true that is or if it was just the salesman in him. The only way we will know for sure I think is by the new buyer feedback on this issue.

But even if he is close to correct there are still issues about the increased height to consider. Like the amount of trailer landing gear travel needed, or lifting a Honda 2000 generator over the high bed to get it out, jacking a truck camper super high for mounting clearance, etc. ---- So there is a lot still to be learned. IMHO.

 

[DENNY]

Unless the headlights swivel when the bed lowered you will be lighting up the moon not the road. Sounds like BS to me.

DENNY

 

[FordWilly]

Unless the headlights swivel when the bed lowered you will be lighting up the moon not the road. Sounds like BS to me.

DENNY

Hmmmm, interesting point on the headlights. Went back to that dealer again this morning with my tape. Spent about 30 minutes checking out the entire Lariat 4X4 dually again inside and out. Very nice truck.

Ok back to the numbers. My current 11 4X4 dually at the back corner is about 54"---- New 17 dually about 59". A diffrence of about 5". I had to guess at my 11's squat at about 3" more when I drop my big 5ver down on my Reese/Ford fifth wheel hitch. Using my same Reese/Ford hitch on the 17, the 17 dually would need to drop about 8 (5+3) inches to put my trailer king pin at the same height as I level tow at now. Right??? That would really need to be some soft suspension to travel 8 inches when the trailer is loaded on.

 

[Sportscraft]

5" extra seems a bit unlikely. Would the dealer just let you come in with your fifth wheel and try it out (assuming the one your looking at has the prep package). Seems like it not only might help them sell you a truck but also good info for future clients.

 

[FordWilly]

5" extra seems a bit unlikely. Would the dealer just let you come in with your fifth wheel and try it out (assuming the one your looking at has the prep package). Seems like it not only might help them sell you a truck but also good info for future clients.

Just learning what I want and what will work for me. King Ranch this time and 70 grand is a lot of money to spend if you dont totally understand what you are buying and how its all going to work for what you do. Anyway I only factory order all my trucks through my good friend in Fontana Ca.

 

[COBRAJET]

What you are measuring is not what Ford is advertising. The 2016 specs say the load floor height on a F350 SRW 4X4 is 37.7 inches off the ground. The DRW 4X4 is 35.6 inches…2.1 inches shorter. The 2017 info says the SRW is 37.9 inches and the DRW is 36.9 inches. There is only a 1 inch difference between the 2017 SRW & DRW. The 2017 DRW sits 1.3 inches higher than the 2016 according to Ford's literature. I can't imagine there being a 5 inch difference between a 16 and 17. 1.3 inches seems more like it with a more compliant suspension making up the difference. My 2016 DRW measures exactly as Ford says at 35.5 inches. I looked at the 17's before buying the 16 and did not see a big difference. I was trying to stay away from a DRW truck, but the GVW on the trucks stayed the same. The SRW is still at 11,500 lbs which makes hooking up a large 5th wheel or toy hauler a problem for me. The tow rating and combined went up significantly, but the GVW did not go up at all The truck lost about 250-300 lbs after beefing up drivetrain and going to aluminum. I like the new 28K combined, but don't know how you get close to that without busting out of the GVW in a single rear wheel truck. I had to trade my SRW for a DRW to keep under the GVW and Combined. My 2016 SRW KR 4X4 Longbed hit the scales at 8110 with the hitch in it and a full tank of diesel. By the time 2 people climb aboard (400 lbs) , a couple of pups and some gear the weight goes to 8700 lbs. That leaves 2800lbs of king pin weight…. likely 3100 in a 2017. Not enough for my fiver or any triple axle toy hauler I know of. Make sure you order enough truck. A SRW will have a hard time staying under it's GVW with a triple axle toy hauler hooked to it.

 

[COBRAJET]

It should be noted that the PAYLOAD numbers did not really go up that much on the 2017 trucks.

2016 SRW 4X4 Longbed: MAX PAYLOAD 3610 lbs. GVW 11,500 TOW: 15,700 COMBINED: 23,500
2017 SRW 4X4 Longbed: MAX PAYLOAD 3930 lbs. GVW 11,500 TOW: 20,600 COMBINED: 28,700

2016 DRW 4X4 Longbed: MAX PAYLOAD 6460 lbs. GVW 14,000 TOW: 23.5/26.5 COMBINED: 32,100/35,000
2017 DRW 4X4 Longbed: MAX PAYLOAD 6540 lbs GVW 14,000 TOW: 27.3/31.3 COMBINED: 36,000/40,000

The 2017 SRW enjoys a 320lb higher payload than the 2016. That's not a lot of margin for a 5K lb additional tow capacity in the form of a 5th wheel or gooseneck. That's only about 1500lbs more trailer based on a 20% king pin weight.

The 2017 DRW enjoys a 80lb higher payload capacity than the 2016. It can handle any pin weight of 5th wheel or toy hauler I know about…but the 2016 could as well.

I was hoping the GVW's would have been a little higher on the F350 SRW in order to stay out of a DRW. The extra 320lbs of capacity isn't that much. Its going to be hard to find a 20K lb 5th wheel trailer which doesn't put the weight on the kingpin that doesn't bust the SRW out of it's GVW rating. I like the new towing capacity and combined numbers…just don't know how you get close in a SRW without over loading the truck past it's 11.5K GVW.

 

[FordWilly]

What you are measuring is not what Ford is advertising. The 2016 specs say the load floor height on a F350 SRW 4X4 is 37.7 inches off the ground. The DRW 4X4 is 35.6 inches…2.1 inches shorter. The 2017 info says the SRW is 37.9 inches and the DRW is 36.9 inches. There is only a 1 inch difference between the 2017 SRW & DRW. The 2017 DRW sits 1.3 inches higher than the 2016 according to Ford's literature. I can't imagine there being a 5 inch difference between a 16 and 17. 1.3 inches seems more like it with a more compliant suspension making up the difference. My 2016 DRW measures exactly as Ford says at 35.5 inches. I looked at the 17's before buying the 16 and did not see a big difference. I was trying to stay away from a DRW truck, but the GVW on the trucks stayed the same. The SRW is still at 11,500 lbs which makes hooking up a large 5th wheel or toy hauler a problem for me. The tow rating and combined went up significantly, but the GVW did not go up at all The truck lost about 250-300 lbs after beefing up drivetrain and going to aluminum. I like the new 28K combined, but don't know how you get close to that without busting out of the GVW in a single rear wheel truck. I had to trade my SRW for a DRW to keep under the GVW and Combined. My 2016 SRW KR 4X4 Longbed hit the scales at 8110 with the hitch in it and a full tank of diesel. By the time 2 people climb aboard (400 lbs) , a couple of pups and some gear the weight goes to 8700 lbs. That leaves 2800lbs of king pin weight…. likely 3100 in a 2017. Not enough for my fiver or any triple axle toy hauler I know of. Make sure you order enough truck. A SRW will have a hard time staying under it's GVW with a triple axle toy hauler hooked to it.

COBRAJET ---- You are looking at a 2016 vs 2017 comparison. The height may have gone up in one or more following years since my 2011. My stock 2011 dually actual height measurement today is 54 on the drivers side and 54 1/2 on the passenger side rear corner. And I actually measured the 17 dually with a salesperson 3 times to confirm its actual 59" inch measurement. My concern is I want my 5ver to sit perfectly level as it does right now on my 11.

 

[COBRAJET]

My 2016 DRW measures almost exactly as your 2011 does. It may be .5 inches higher on both sides. Its new with little time to flatten out any springs. When I was looking at both a couple weeks ago, I really did not notice much of a difference between the truck I bought and 2017's that were on the lot.

 

[manowell]

What you are measuring is not what Ford is advertising. The 2016 specs say the load floor height on a F350 SRW 4X4 is 37.7 inches off the ground....

I believe the bed is close to 2" deeper, as well. Could certainly affect 5er clearance at the back.

 

[COBRAJET]

2016 is 20" bed depth. 2017 is 21.1.