Bought another truck

[Bowhunter01]

Hope I made a smart move. Found a 99 F550 dump and a big 20 + 5' equipment trailer for sale locally and bought them both. Thinking about selling my gooseneck trailer and making the ford my main work truck. It will take some of the heat off my poor old dodge. The ford has 133K miles on it, and a 9' dump body with the double contractor's tool boxes right behind the cab. Should be able to keep all my saws, tools and equipment right on the truck, and leave it hooked to the trailer most of the time. The trailer is a kruger dual tandem deckover with a 25,925 lb gvw. I'll probably tag it at 20K, and it should haul my bobcat and about 4 attachments. I think it will be a good set up, just got me second guessing myself about spending the money.

 

[Mikecutstrees]

Thats cool, I think having vehicles without payments is the way to go. f-550 is a good truck. You have your class A CDL I assume as well.. what kind of work do you do with the skidsteer?.... Mike

 

[Bowhunter01]

I've got a small tree/landscaping/grading service. I do a fair number of removals, stump grinding, some pruning. I use the loader for most jobs, either to move logs, grind the stumps, grade yards or gravel driveways, move debris piles, etc. I also do some brush mowing with the ammbusher. Clear out shooting lanes, overgrown lots, etc. That is one cool attachment.

Yeah I got my class A several years ago so I could pull my gooseneck. I've got the air brake endorsement on a B license, but not A. Got to play by the rules here, the local dot is no joke.

Trying to get this new equipment set up for my business is a little expensive. All the state taxes, tags, inspections, dot inspection, repairs and upgrades are adding up! The purchase prices were OK, but man I didn't really think too much about the other costs, though I've been through it before. Should be a good set up though, when its all finally on the road.

 

[371groundie]

are the tool boxes under the body or behind the cab? i have dreams about a diesel ford with backback boxes and a dump body.

lets see some pics!

 

[Bowhunter01]

Sure, I'll get some pics. It has the boxes that mount behind the cab, kind of like a utility body. They go the width of the frame, and are as high as the cab. The cab protector on the dump bed extends over the top of the boxes. Two doors on each side, has 3 full width shelves inside, and some hooks to hang ropes/extension cords on. Almost as much storage as some bucket trucks have. I'm glad to have that much storage, and still be able to dump. Wish it was 4wd too, but oh well.

 

[STLfirewood]

I have a 1999 F-550 also. I love the truck but I'm not happy with the power or MPG. Coming from driving Cummins Dodges the Ford is way behind. I do like the way the truck handles weight and the way it drives. The brakes also seem to really get the job done. I just don't like bogging on hills and 8-10mpg loaded.

Scott

 

[Mikecutstrees]

I like my F-450 but I'm not super thrilled with it either. MPG sucks as was said above. They no longer make the 7.3L international engine so my next truck probably won't be a ford. I do need something 4wd though. Maybe a Fuso. I'm happy with mine so far. almost have the body ready to be sheeted on that..... Mike

 

[Bowhunter01]

I haven't hauled anything with the ford yet, I just did get it through inspection. I painted the dump bed and I'm in the process of getting it lettered. I'm partial to the cummins too, but I have learned my lesson about adding power. You have to pay, a lot, to play! I've broken a lot of parts on my dodge, and now I'm finally happy with it and I'm leaving it alone. I don't really plan on modifying the ford. If I need to replace the clutch, I'll put a heavier towing clutch in it. We'll see how it does. I know I won't be winning any contests with it, she's taching 2300 at 60 mph, and she grinds pretty bad going into second gear. I haven't checked the fuel mileage either, but I'm sure it isn't great. The disc brakes are awesome though, I think they will help out a lot when I'm towing. The drums on the back of my dodge don't do much.

 

[STLfirewood]

I haven't hauled anything with the ford yet, I just did get it through inspection. I painted the dump bed and I'm in the process of getting it lettered. I'm partial to the cummins too, but I have learned my lesson about adding power. You have to pay, a lot, to play! I've broken a lot of parts on my dodge, and now I'm finally happy with it and I'm leaving it alone. I don't really plan on modifying the ford. If I need to replace the clutch, I'll put a heavier towing clutch in it. We'll see how it does. I know I won't be winning any contests with it, she's taching 2300 at 60 mph, and she grinds pretty bad going into second gear. I haven't checked the fuel mileage either, but I'm sure it isn't great. The disc brakes are awesome though, I think they will help out a lot when I'm towing. The drums on the back of my dodge don't do much.

You must have 4.88 gears like I do. I run the same RPM. The only reason I have the f-550 is because it comes in 4x4. If the strok gies it will get a cummins swap. y second gear was grinding also. I drove it like that for 12k miles. The throw out bearing went out and I had to pul the tranny so I had it rebuilt. It needed a new Input shaft (very common on the ford 6-speed). Total rebuild was $1575 for the tranny with the new input shaft. Without it would have been $1250. That was from a quality rebuilder not a shade tree. I bought the clutch and had a shop do the install. I have installed a 4" exhaust and a new air filter intake setup. That increased MPG 10-15%. I have touched anything else. Good luck with your truck.

Scott

 

[STLfirewood]

I haven't hauled anything with the ford yet, I just did get it through inspection. I painted the dump bed and I'm in the process of getting it lettered. I'm partial to the cummins too, but I have learned my lesson about adding power. You have to pay, a lot, to play! I've broken a lot of parts on my dodge, and now I'm finally happy with it and I'm leaving it alone. I don't really plan on modifying the ford. If I need to replace the clutch, I'll put a heavier towing clutch in it. We'll see how it does. I know I won't be winning any contests with it, she's taching 2300 at 60 mph, and she grinds pretty bad going into second gear. I haven't checked the fuel mileage either, but I'm sure it isn't great. The disc brakes are awesome though, I think they will help out a lot when I'm towing. The drums on the back of my dodge don't do much.

You must have 4.88 gears like I do. I run the same RPM. The only reason I have the f-550 is because it comes in 4x4. If the stroke gives it will get a cummins swap. y second gear was grinding also. I drove it like that for 12k miles. The throw out bearing went out and I had to pull the tranny so I had it rebuilt. It needed a new Input shaft (very common on the ford 6-speed). Total rebuild was $1575 for the tranny with the new input shaft. Without it would have been $1250. That was from a quality re-builder not a shade tree. I bought the clutch and had a shop do the install. I have installed a 4" exhaust and a new air filter intake setup. That increased MPG 10-15%. I have touched anything else. Good luck with your truck.

Scott

 

[Bowhunter01]

That price for the rebuild isn't as bad as what I was thinking. If something breaks I'll have it rebuilt and put a heavier clutch in it. I'm spending more than that on trailer brakes right now .

Glad your intake and exhaust helped, I may do that in the future. I know it has helped keep my EGT's down a lot on the dodge. I don't really see where a tuner would help this truck, it might give it some more torque, but the gears are so low that she's in 5th gear by 35 mph. Couldn't go any faster than 65 unless I drove it off a cliff.

What intake and exhaust did you go with?

 

[STLfirewood]

I bought an air raid intake used off ebay. The exhaust was also off e-bay it was new but one of the cheaper ones. It works fine. Good enough for a work truck at least.

Scott