nihilus

And just so no more people get their panties in a bunch, the pickuptrucks.com test that will be published Aug 18 will include the F-350, Chevy 3500, and Ram 3500 - all with 3.73 gearing. Their will be another "King of Beast" shootout that is separate. This will have the F-450 and Ram 3500 with no limits - the nastiest of the nasty.

Ftruck150

Thanks for clearing that up, sorry for the confusion on my part. I just assumed the 450 was in the same class.

Also didn't realize there are two separate 450s. Would that be the difference between the cab+chassis you see used as rollbacks, dumpbodies,etc VS the regular looking crew cabs with a standard sized bed on the back like a 350?



Everyone on here seems to hate the last pickuptrucks.com test where the Hemi Ram out-towed the ecoboost

Dirttracker18

Don't get me wrong, I'd love an F450!! You know, in case in needed to tow my house around a little.

All of the test trucks are beasts.

nihilus

No worries, Ford makes it really confusing. Between 2008-2010 the F-450 was 10 lug and heavier duty than the F-350. From 2011-2014 the F-450 was simply a rebadged F-350 and it is why it lost the first "King of Beast". Now in 2015, the F-450 is again a 10-lug with heavier duty parts. The king of beast shootout gives more weight to braking and power where the F-450 is much improved. the normal 1 ton shootout that is coming Aug 18 will probably have the F-350 last place as it will share the same faults as the gasser 3/4 ton.
As for the commercial vs. normal stuff, The normal F-350 and commercial F-350 are EXACTLY the same. The commercial F-450 is only available in cab-chassis, but more importantly rated up to 16,500 GVWR vs. theF-450's 14,000 GVWR. A bit nefarious on Ford's part.

nihilus

Not sure if many here really hate on the Hemi - it is a strong motor.
Hill pull tests require horsepower, and the hemi simply has more. The eco gets the advantage at the higher elevations and the heaviest loads.


I get annoyed by these tests because they never test the 5.0 Ford. It would of probably been close to the eco as the transmission is a huge factor. The GMs have proven weak here - just look at what the 6.2L did up the Ike gauntlet - terrible.


As for the pickuptrucks.com review - I would say it was ok, but I am a little suspicious on how different the Chevy and GMC were in some of these tests. The Chevy and GMC had a 1.5 second time difference on the pull test. If the twins could have that much difference, so could the individual trucks with themselves. :p

acadianbob

This is a key point. How many of you tow at WOT and 4 to 5 thousand RPM? That's what the hemi needs to compete. Do a test where maximum allowed RPM is 2,500; where most of us tow; or even lower. Then see what happens. The naturally aspirated V8's would not be able to compete. The turbo's on the Ecoboost provide a huge lower RPM torque advantage. That's important because that's where you really need it; and the RPM where most of us tow.

nihilus

[MENTION=70292]ACA[/MENTION]dian - you keep saying 'need'.

Why no we NEED to tow at 2500 rpms? The Hemi and 5.0 get their power at higher rpms. What is wrong with towing at 4k rpm? I've done it and my truck was just fine. The correlation between powerband and engine longevity is weak at best.

Alcoloco

If my memory serves me right, the Ike Gauntlet tow between the Hemi and the EcoBoost the engine rpm difference was about 400 to 500 rpm. The 5.0 and Hemi will both tow comfortably at 2,500 rpm and lower.

nihilus

I'll just put this here:
http://special-reports.pickuptrucks....challenge.html

Basically,
Ford = Good all around performance, Ok ride
Ram = Ok all around oerformance, good rice
GM= Good on both

this was expected as the Ford is really the most dated. The differance between 1st and 3rd was very close. All 3 are great trucks.

I was suprised on how strong the Duramax was. The Ford barely beat it in alot of the tests. The ford did MUCH better in braking this time around.

smurfs_of_war

I love this. I just sit back and smile when somebody "gets it". The Hemi and 5.0 are designed to run like this. Read again- designed to run like this. You can run either engine at 4G all day long and it will just smile and keep going. It is in the design parameters and they are built to handle it. It's great that the eco makes it's power down low, but again... that is what it is designed to do. This does not necessarily make it a better engine, just different. The eco is a superior engine when elevation begins to play a big part- again- this is the purpose of the design. Strap a pair of turbos on the hemi or the 5.0 and suddenly they will become the superior engine in that area too. The eco is a great piece of technology, there is no denying that- however it is not the end all.

FWIW I guess, the Hemi never sees more than about 2200rpm pulling my camper unless we start pulling a grade or on the downside, and even then 3500 is the highest I have seen- and not for very long.

@nihilus