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Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks surge in strength and power
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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YUCCA, Ariz. -- At Ford's Arizona Proving Ground in the pancake-flat desert near Yucca, a strip of asphalt three lanes wide runs for five miles in a long oval lap.
The track, with banked curves at each end connected by two-mile straights, is normally used to test Ford vehicles in high-speed maneuvers.
On a sizzling afternoon in summer, however, we're rolling along Ford's roadbed for a different purpose: Trying to stop a heavy-duty pickup truck of one-ton variety while towing a bulky five-ton trailer rig.
It's a hefty load we're lugging and the laws of physics suggest that once this mass gets moving down the track it's not easy to rein quickly, although a quick stop could be a life-saving necessity in an emergency.
Our test truck -- Ford's F-350 Super Duty pickup for a four-door Crew Cab in plush Lariat King Ranch trim -- has dual rear wheels (DRW), four-wheel-drive (4WD) traction and the class-capping power of 355 horses as hitched to a 6.8-liter Triton V10 engine.
What's Super Duty?
That's Ford's descriptive for super-size F-Series work trucks with gross vehicle weight exceeding 8500 pounds.
A new generation of Super Duty designs for 2005 comes on reinforced chassis with stronger suspensions and beefy brakes, options for three big engines and overall boosted capacity to perform truck-tough chores with tow ratings climbing to the top of the class at 17000 pounds.
Ford's Super Duty line, with a staggering number of configurations for cabs and beds and chassis and powertrains, tops all competitive sales charts with the annual volume exceeding 350,000 units.
Records also reveal that 90 percent of Super Duty drivers tow a trailer and 70 percent of those who tow tug such loads that they add aftermarket trailer brake controls to manage truck and trailer brakes at the same time.
For the new Super Duty trucks, Ford offers for $200 extra a dash-mounted trailer brake controller installed at the factory in Kentucky.
We use the optional brake controller to help stabilize our Super Duty tow rig during emergency stop maneuvers on the desert test track.
And it produces dramatic results: While steering the truck in a straight line at 45 mph, we stand on the brake pedal and simultaneously make a sudden lane change, as if to veer around some object in the road.
The big disc brakes, aided by computerized link to an anti-lock brake system (ABS), take over to stop the truck while also coordinating brake assist on the trailer. And the new suspension -- braced on corners to keep the body riding right during quick-cut turns -- eases our truck through the do-si-do lane-change swerve with that trailer following in line.
Stopping such mass seems smooth, quick and stable, traits that could lead us safely out of harm's way.
New exterior styling for the Super Duty series looks as strong as the truck's performance figures suggest.
Up front these trucks present a macho face with massive chrome bumper and squarish grille set below a chiseled hood with bulging power dome.
There's a vague resemblance between new Super Duty trucks and Ford's light-duty F-150 pickups revamped last year, although the super trucks measure bigger in all dimensions and they seem more like a muscle-bound cousin after the steroids take over.
In size-wise sequence Ford's big trucks begin with the F-250 Super Duty, which differs from the light-duty F-150 because it rides on the stronger and longer Super Duty chassis and pulls from one of the three engines designated for Super Duty service.
Base F-250 Super Duty has the shortest wheelbase of the series -- 137 inches.
It installs a regular-size 2-door cab and carries a pickup box that's eight feet long.
Both rear-powered two-wheel-drive (2WD) and 4WD traction modes apply to F-250 Super Duty.
Cabin stretchers include SuperCab and Crew Cab, each with four doors and more room for riders or gear.
Rear doors for SuperCab have rear hinges. They close by tucking behind front doors and open in the absence of B pillars to provide a wide unencumbered space for entry.
On the Crew Cab variation, conventional front-hinged doors work in an arrangement resembling a four-door sedan.
With SuperCab and Crew Cab models, choices extend to the size of the back bed -- either a brief 6.75-foot box or the long box at eight-foot length.
Chassis differ from the F-250 Regular Cab because of the need for a longer wheelbase to accommodate longer cabs.
Next step up in size sequence leads to the F-350, which serves as the core of Ford's Super Duty series.
Gross vehicle weight rating of all F-250 Super Duty trucks comes to 8800 pounds, but the F-350 series begins at 10200 pounds and ranges through options of DRW and a diesel engine to 13000 pounds.
Super Duty trucks use gasoline-power engines in V8 and V10 sizes or a torque-monster Power Stroke V8 turbo diesel.
Ford's Triton 5.4-liter V8 with single overhead cam and sequential multi-port electronic fuel injection serves as the base plant, producing 300 hp at 4750 rpm and a torque measure of 365 lb-ft at 3750 rpm.
The Triton V10, displacing 6.8 liters, moves up to 355 hp at 4750 rpm plus torque numbers of 455 lb-ft at 3250 rpm.
Ford's Power Stroke Turbo Diesel, a 6.0-liter V8 with electronic variable response turbo-charger and hydraulic rail fuel injection, produces best-in-class 325 hp at 4750 rpm plus up to 570 lb-ft of torque at just 2000 rpm, while paring emissions and negating the noise of a diesel.
All three plants offer a manual six-speed ZF shifter or optional four-speed Ford TorqShift automatic.
Cabins have been revised with interiors that look more like a comfortable car than a working-class truck. Most use cloth fabric upholstery for seats, but leather comes with Lariat, and packages include deluxe King Ranch and the special edition Harley-Davidson with a flame paint job.
Despite powertrain and structural upgrades for 2005 Super Duty issues, Ford maintains most price points at last year's level, with the MSRP starting at $22,390.
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| Vehicle Specifications: |
| 2005 FORD F SERIES SUPER DUTY TRUCK Specs |
| Description: |
Super-size pickup truck |
| Model Options: |
Super-size pickup truck |
| Trim Options: |
XL / XLT / Lariat |
| Wheelbase: |
Reg. Cab: 137.0 inches, SuperCab: 141.8 inches 158.0 inches, Crew Cab: 156.2 inches 172.4 inches |
| Overall Length: |
Reg. Cab: 226.4 inches, SuperCab: 231.2 inches 247.4 inches, Crew Cab: 245.6 inches 261.8 inches, Cargo box length 8.0 feet 6.75 feet |
| Engine Size: |
SOHC 5.4-L V8 Triton, SOHC 6.8-L V10 Triton, OHV 6.0-L V8 TD Power Stroke |
| Transmission: |
Manual/6 ZF, Auto/5 TorqShift |
| Drive: |
2WD Rear, 4WD |
| Braking: |
Power 4-disc/ABS |
| Airbags: |
2 (front) |
| Gross Weight: |
F-250 SWR: 10000 pounds, F-350 SRW: 11400 pounds, F-350 DRW: 13000 pounds |
| Towing Capacity: |
F-250: 17000 pounds, F-350: 16700 pounds |
| Price: |
$22,390 to $38,365 |
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