There are many medium duty Ford diesel trucks to choose from. These trucks are very useful for industrial uses, such as for carrying construction materials, or for use in farming or ranching environments. They also feature a very good towing capacity.
The first generation, built between 1999 and 2004, was comprised of the F250 and F350 “Super Duty” models. The engines offered were either a 6.0L Powerstroke V8 or a 7.3L Powerstroke V8. These trucks come with either a 6 speed manual transmission or a 5 speed automatic transmission. There are three different cab options offered: Standard, which provides room for 2 to 3 passengers with two doors, SuperCab with seating for 5 to 6 passengers with 2 smaller rear doors, and the CrewCab, which has four full-sized doors and room for 5 to 6 people.
The second generation of medium duty Ford diesel trucks saw many changes being done, both to the exterior design of the truck, as well as to certain other components, such as the engine and the transmission. As the Ford Motor Company discovered that the majority of trucks in this category were also used for towing on a refular basis, the overall towing capacity was increased as well. Other changes included a higher amp alternator, thicker frame, upgraded high-quality disk brakes and an upgraded transmission.
In this generation of used trucks for sale, there are 2 transmissions available. The standard M6OD 6 speed manual transmission and the heavy duty TorqShift 5R110W 5 speed automatic that includes a feature called tow/haul. This helps increase control when towing larger loads on steep grades and maximizes the torque that is available. It also uses engine breaking when descending, in order to greatly extend the lifetime of the brakes and improve control of the vehicle. Ford also included a power take-off that lets the vehicle provide direct engine power for accessory equipment. The estimated towing capacity for the Ford F350 Super Duty truck is 19200 lbs, which is more than other trucks in its class.
From 2008, the line up was redesigned, making it the third generation. It features a new 6.4L Power Stroke V8 Diesel engine. This new generation includes the models Ford F250 Truck, Ford F350 Truck as well as the new Ford F450 Truck Super Duty. The overall body of the truck was changed slightly as well. Ford also introduced a “Rapid-Heat Supplemental Cab Heater” available on its line up of Super Duty trucks and automatic transmissions. This is useful in the colder months of winter, as it quickly raises the temperature in the cabin to a comfortable level, until the engine itself warms up enough to be able to do it.
The Ford F-450 Super Duty truck comes with the optional High Capacity Trailer Tow package, which increases its gross combined weight rating to 33 000 lb as well as the towing capacity to 24 500 lb.
Overall medium duty Ford diesel trucks have always been a great choice, due to their durability, their towing and payload capacities and innovative design features.
Tags: Ford Trucks
Ford Motor Co. has earlier unveiled its all-new lineup F-Series Super Duty truck lineup. The latest lineup will be couple with the biggest pickup production ever made by the automaker.
Ford’s redesigned version of huge pickup trucks will have their debut. To add extra charisma to Ford Super Duty trucks, the automaker has added towing capacity, refined suspension, innovative tailgate, 6.4-liter diesel engine and other exceptional features.
Some analysts expressed their impression about the debut of the latest Ford trucks.The Super Duty is incredibly important for Ford because, not only does it represent some pretty serious volume for them, (but) it’s also quite profitable. Of course, these days, every launch is critical for Ford.
On one side, some analysts have noted their concerns regarding the risk of economic environment for selling commercial trucks. Others are also saying that Ford is only left with little choices so the automaker opted to upgrade Super Duty trucks to bring back its footing in the market.
Ford Super Duty has outsold other heavy-duty trucks. Ford has sold about 750,000 heavy-duty pickup trucks. Further, the sales of Super Duty accounts for 40 percent of the overall F-Series sales.
The biggest challenge with the 450 was making it a legitimate pickup. The challenge with a pickup truck is providing excellent ride, excellent handling and excellent stability — both empty and fully loaded. It’s tough luxury.
General Motors, Ford’s rival, is also releasing new models of heavy-duty pickup trucks. Hence, to make a good competition, Ford is releasing its mighty F-450. It can be recalled that Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup parts have already established its standing. As a fact, F-350 was given a best-in-class payload and weight ratings. To boost further what F-350 has achieved, the automaker is giving F-450 a towing capacity in excess of 24,000 pounds and a payload capacity in excess of 6,000 pounds.
Tags: Ford Trucks, Heavy DUty Trucks, pickup truck
More than half the workers who make seats for F-Series Super Duty trucks have lost their jobs at Johnson Controls in Shelbyville, Ky., a United Auto Workers official said.
Letters went out to 114 workers last week telling workers they were laid off immediately, said Tim Arvin, bargaining chairman of United Auto Workers Local 2926.
Until last week, the plant employed 217 workers earning $19.56 an hour, he said.
“We understand with the economic status of the country right now, it is a business decision that had to be made,” said Arvin, a 32-year-old production worker.
Only one shift, instead of two, will make seats for F-250, Ford F-350 and Ford F-450 trucks when Johnson Controls resumes operation Aug. 4, he said.
Johnson Controls spokeswoman Debra Lacey did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The supplier layoff arrives as Ford Motor is cutting production at the Kentucky Truck Plant from three to two shifts, which will result in the layoff of between 300 and 350 workers by late August.
So far this year, Kentucky Truck workers have manufactured 133,497 Super Duty trucks, a 35 percent drop from production logged during the first six months of 2004 and 2005. But those were boom times for truck sales.
Now production cuts mirror the stunning drop in truck sales in recent months, triggered by rising fuel prices. The layoffs at Kentucky Truck will leave that plant with roughly 3,300 union workers, down from a recent high of 4,700.
Often times, people decide to purchase a large truck to haul very heavy loads. If that is not your intention, and you’d like to purchase a truck to drive more like a car (with quick, quiet acceleration), you may want a gasoline engine.
There are three main benefits to this:
Gas engines run smoother
Fuel is easier to find
Gas engines start easier in cold weather
If, however, your intent is to use your truck for towing, you may want to consider a diesel engine.
The three main benefits to this are:
Good fuel economy
High mileage
Better for towing
Now, the price of a diesel truck is very high, but it very well may be worth it. They have many benefits, and could very well save you a good deal of money in the end. Benefits vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. You can compare these benefits below:
Ford
In 1994, Ford introduced its international engineered power stroke diesel. This pushed the 3/4 ton and 1 ton truck market to where it is today. Before this, the big one inch gasoline engines made these poorly built diesels barely considerable. Over 70% of super duty Fords were sold with the optional 7.3L V-8 diesel engine from 1994-2002. Because of this engine, Ford became one of the leaders in diesel trucks.
Dodge
In 2002, Ram didn’t have enough power with the 245 HP 9.5L, so Dodge promised more powerful engines for the 2500/3500 platform, and they definitely followed through on their promise: the 2500 and 3500 Dodge Ram Heave Duty trucks are the newest ¾ and 1 ton trucks on the road.
The new base engine is the 5.7L gasoline V-8, which revives the well-known, historical Hemi name, as it is the most powerful engine of the group at 345 HP.
Chevrolet/GMC:
Coming standard with GM’s 6.0L gas engine V-8 are the GM 2500/3500 twins Silverado HD and Sierra HD. The engine is ideal for ¾ ton trucks where towing isn’t a concern. Based on Chevrolet’s venerable big block engine are the upgrades that start with the 8.1 gas V-8.
Diesel trucks have proven to be:
Efficient with mileage
Great for towing
Easy on maintenance
Also, you won’t need to get them tuned up nearly as much as gasoline engines, because-unlike gasoline engines-diesel engines do not have spark plugs.
If you need or want to haul heavy loads frequently, you should probably stick with diesel, since you can get better mileage (diesel trucks are built to go 250,000 miles more). Because of all these reasons, although diesel trucks tend to cost more, they will end up being well worth the money in the long run.
Tags: Diesel truck, Ford Trucks
The Ford Escape has been thoroughly updated for 2008, reinforcing the character and appeal that have made it America’s perennial best-selling small sport-utility vehicle. The improvements nearly cover the spectrum, and inject a new level of refinement. The Escape’s standard safety features are upgraded significantly for 2008.
We’d call the Escape a little truck among small SUVs. Its new styling deliberately invokes Ford’s larger, truck-based Expedition and Explorer sport-utilities. Escape’s ride height and seating position are a bit higher than competitors such as the Honda CR-V, and it can tow up to 3,500 pounds, which is substantially more than most other vehicles in the class.
Yet the Ford Escape still delivers the advantages of unit-body, car-based competitors such as the Honda CR-V. Its smooth ride and agile handling make for enjoyable driving, and its compact dimensions make the Escape easy to park.
The base four-cylinder is adequate for all-purpose driving while the V6 offers quicker acceleration performance. All variants, including the V6 and Escape Hybrid, deliver some of best EPA mileage ratings in the class. All, including the gas-electric Hybrid, are offered with either front- or all-wheel drive. For the most part, the Hybrid drives just like a conventional gas-only Escape. It’s a well-executed package. It offers better fuel economy and lower emissions but demands little additional effort or knowledge from the driver.
The new 2008 Ford Escape still provides comfortable seating for four, or five in a pinch, but with noticeably more headroom than in pre-2008 models. Folding the rear seats opens a good sized cargo area with a flat floor, and space behind the seat surpasses that in the trunk of the typical sedan. Interior storage options have improved considerably. The finish is more upscale and pleasing, and feature function and switches are among the best.
Safety features that were extra-cost options on lower-trim models are now standard across the board, including Ford’s Roll Stability Control system. Escape now sets the class benchmark for safety features.
There’s a Ford Escape model for most tastes and needs. They range from a decently equipped, four-cylinder Escape XLS 2WD for under $19,000 to the leather-upholstered Escape V6 Limited 4WD, with premium audio, navigation, dual-zone auto climate control and reverse sensing for about $30,000. Dollar for feature, Ford Escape prices have dropped considerably the past few years. The premium for the Escape Hybrid has also decreased. It’s now less than $2,000 more than a comparably equipped Limited.
The Ford Escape remains one of the more appealing vehicles in its class, regardless of price, and certainly one of the better values. Those shopping for a small SUV should put it on their short list, especially those who appreciate its big-truck styling.
Ford Motor Co. said on Friday it would slash output and delay a new version of its top-selling F-150 pickup truck due to a deepening slump in U.S. sales it warned would weigh on results this year and next.
Ford said it would post a deeper loss for its auto business this year and warned it would be difficult to avoid a loss in 2009. That was a weaker outlook than Ford offered just last month when it abandoned a long-held goal of returning to profit by next year in the face of record gas prices and plummeting sales for trucks and SUVs.
The warning weighed on Ford stock and bonds. Ford shares dropped 7 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.
The risk of continued losses raises the prospect Ford could be forced to raise liquidity, possibly through a deal with billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who owns almost 6.5 percent of Ford and has offered more capital for its restructuring.
“This is a tough situation,” said David Healy, an analyst with Burnham Securities. “They are probably going to do more financing. They might even take money from Kerkorian.”
The struggling No. 2 U.S. automaker raised $23.5 billion in 2006 by pledging almost all of its assets, including the familiar Ford blue-oval logo, as collateral. But that financing was based on a turnaround plan the automaker now says has been thrown off track by the steep downturn in the U.S. market.
LOWERS FORECAST
Ford lowered its forecast for industrywide U.S. auto sales this year to a range of 14.7 million to 15.2 million vehicles, including medium and heavy-duty trucks. That was down from Ford’s already reduced forecast of 15 million to 15.4 million.
In response, Ford said it would cut third-quarter production by 25 percent and fourth-quarter output by up to 14 percent as it throttles back the output of big trucks and SUVs that consumers are increasingly shunning.
Ford also delayed the launch of its new F-150 pickup truck, pushing back by about two months the first sales of the redesigned version of its best-selling vehicle. It said it was taking the unusual and costly step because it needed to sell down inventory of the current F-150 model.
“As gasoline prices average more than $4 a gallon and consumers worry about the weak U.S. economy, we see June industrywide auto sales slowing further, and demand for large trucks and SUVs at one of the lowest levels in decades,” Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in a statement.
Ford said that its finance arm, Ford Motor Credit, would suspend dividend payments to the parent company this year because it expects to post a loss due to the collapse in the auction values of used trucks and SUVs. Those resale values are a crucial component in the way that Ford Credit and other finance companies set the pricing for auto leases.
Ford Credit may need to write down $1.1 billion because of falling values of off-lease vehicles, Lehman Brothers analyst Brian Johnson said in a note for clients on Friday.
KERKORIAN IN FOCUS
The developments mark the first significant setback for Ford since Mulally took over as chief executive in 2006.
Ford lost $2.7 billion in 2007 and $12.6 billion in 2006 and the cornerstone of a restructuring plan Ford calls the “Way Forward” had been a return to profitability by 2009.
But Mulally and Ford have both won an endorsement from Kerkorian, a billionaire investor with a long record as an activist investor in the U.S. auto industry.
Kerkorian, who has invested about $1 billion in Ford, disclosed on Thursday that he had taken a 6.49 percent stake in the automaker. That represented a bigger bet on Ford’s turnaround and came despite more than a 25 percent drop in Ford shares over the past two months.
Kerkorian, Mulally and Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. met earlier this week to discuss Ford’s turnaround strategy, a meeting the company described as positive.
Ford said it would provide more detail on the changes to its restructuring plan when it announces second-quarter financial results in July.
In the meantime, the company’s lower production will cut revenue this quarter and next because Ford, like its rivals, books sales when vehicles are produced and shipped to dealers.
Healy said the production cuts would likely reduce Ford’s pretax results by about $1 billion.
“It’s what I call the perfect storm in the auto industry,” he said. “Overall sales are down but the mix has changed rapidly.”
The company’s shares were down 44 cents to $5.88. Ford’s bonds with a 7.45 percent coupon due in 2031 fell to 62.25 cents on the dollar, down from 65.5 cents on Thursday, according to MarketAxess.
Tags: Ford US sales
Ford Motor Corp., the third largest automaker around the world, boasts its stable reign in the truck sales. In the past two years, the automaker sold over 900,000 F-Series pickups. Said figure is 800,000 more per year for the past 8 years. In the past 30 years, no other carmaker has established sales of 800,000 – only Ford.
Doug Scott, Ford Truck Group marketing manager, said, “We’ve accumulated more than 40 awards for F-150 over the past two years. We simply know truck customers better than anyone else.” Scott added, “Leveraging Built Ford Tough and our unrivaled heritage of durability and reliability earned through consistent day in and out performance for Ford Truck customers during the past 58 years is crucial to the truck team’s offense-based game plan.”
Ford F150, best-selling truck in the F-Series, is deemed the bread-and-butter of the company. In its introduction 2004, the automaker flaunted its parts diagram for Ford F150 pickup, which is designed to produce a powerful car that can withstand difficult demands of towing. This year, Ford brought back the Harley-Davidson F-150 and Super Duty versions. Subsequently, it also delivered new chrome packages for both models. The models are also given Sirius Satellite Radio and 20-inch wheels.
According to Todd Lenz, F150 marketing manager, several Ford vehicles like the F150, are already employing flexible powertrain. As a fact, F150 uses a E85 Ethanol, which allows owners to use domestic produced, renewable, inexpensive, and clean alternative to the conventional petroleum-based gasoline. The drawback though is that there is scarce supply of E85 pumps.Ford is considering building concept trucks that utilizes several Ford F250 pickup parts plus other groundbreaking parts and accessories to come up with better trucks. These new vehicles are expected to be displayed at the upcoming North American auto shows.
“Innovation has long been the key to Ford’s success with trucks,” Scott concluded. “While our competitors play catch-up we’re continuing to anticipate the features that matter to the consumer and get there before the other guys do.”Ford trucks are untouched by the ongoing market shift to small, sleek, compact cars. According to auto analysts the secret behind its success is the focus on quality and innovations. The marketplace has long been convinced of the quality of Ford trucks. This is the reason why, for several decades now, Ford is amassing a hefty truck sales.
Tags: Ford Trucks, truck sales
Report that up to 12% of carmaker’s salaried staff may be involuntarily laid off follows bonus payouts.
News that Ford Motor Co. is planning to lay off as much as 12 percent of its U.S. salaried work force by the end of July came as a blow to employees at the automaker’s world headquarters.
In discussions with more than a dozen Ford salaried workers Wednesday, a picture emerged of a work force on the edge and hungry for more information.
One 14-year Ford veteran said she had three phone conversations about the layoffs before arriving at work Wednesday.
“I get to work and a co-worker kind of whispers to me, ‘You’ll tell me anything as soon as you know anything, right?’?” said the woman who, like the others, asked that her name not be used because she feared losing her job.
“People are texting like mad,” said another woman, who has worked at Ford for seven years, as she emerged from a Michigan Avenue restaurant wearing a Ford ID.
As The Detroit News first reported Wednesday, a human resources executive in Ford’s sales, marketing and service division said the cuts will be involuntary and are expected to affect about 10 percent — but potentially as much as 12 percent — of the company’s salaried work force.
Ford would not confirm the figure, saying only that details are still being finalized. Ford says it will release those details in July and hopes to complete this round of downsizing by August.
But other Ford managers told The News that they have been instructed to plan for cuts in the same range. That could put more than 2,000 white-collar workers at risk of losing their jobs this summer.
Several workers said they want to know how Ford will decide who goes and who stays. They also want to know if the automaker will provide any financial assistance to those employees it lets go.
Spokesman Mark Truby said the company offers a financial package for involuntary layoffs that provides severance pay based on years of service, as well as other benefits. He said these benefits will be extended to workers affected by this round of layoffs.
One salaried worker in Ford’s product development division said news that this round of cuts will be involuntary was hard to swallow, particularly in the wake of the big bonuses Ford paid out just a few weeks ago.
“A month ago, everybody was feeling pretty good. Now, there’s a lot of disappointment,” he said. “They’re not treating us like the hourly people. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
Ford is planning more voluntary buyouts for blue-collar workers as it struggles to match its U.S. factory output with shifting consumer demand.
“We hit the wall, I guess,” said one 15-year veteran. “What makes it so scary is that it’s not like there’s a whole lot of places to go look for new work.”
Analysts say the cuts are necessary to ensure Ford retains sufficient liquidity to fund its ongoing restructuring effort.
Analyst Nathan Spunt of Fitch Ratings said the cuts are bound to be painful for workers and their families, but said he is encouraged to see the company taking steps to respond to what he called “a difficult economic environment.”
“It’s very quick,” he said. “It shows they’re doing what they can to preserve liquidity.”
Even some of the workers who could be affected by the downsizing are encouraged by the steps Ford is taking to keep its turnaround from stalling.
“We’ve had enough good news to be optimistic,” said Michael Kelly, who works in product development, pointing to Ford’s surprise $100 million first-quarter profit and new vehicles launching later this year. “But it makes you think, ‘Gee, I’ve got to work even harder. I don’t want to be one of those 12 percent.”
