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F150 FX4 EcoBoost


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#11 SLOJET

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 03:55 AM

I went from a 1/2 ton platform to a 3/4 ton platform. I would NEVER go back down to a 1/2 ton platform....just speaking from the safety perspective.


I haven't had a 1/2 ton in over ten years so I have forgotten how soft they can be. Good to get some perspective....

Just got a call from the guy saying he sold the truck so I'm back on the hunt. 2011 EcoBoost QuadCab FX4 Lariat with every option and only 3k miles and he dumped it for 31k. Somebody got a good deal.
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#12 2wiresDave

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 04:00 AM

I have a 2011 super crew F150 ecoboost. I had my new Hawk installed 2 weeks ago. I have the Firestone airbags and BFG AT with the E rating.

My experience is limited but the 125 mile drive home had me average around 18 mpg's and that was with a extremely heavy head/cross wind that was gusting to 35-40 mph. Around town I am at 15 mpg with tons of stop and go. Took the camper off the other day - today did a 300 mile round trip cleaning out my 3 season cabin and towed a trailer that was loaded and the bed of the truck with a mattress sticking up out of the bed - 18 mpg's. Towing a 16 1/2 foot fishing boat on the same trip I saw 17 mpg's. Unloaded trips at 65-70 mph's see 18-20 mpg's and 55 -60 sees the mileage creep up into the 21-22 range.

The truck seemed to handle the camper very well. The truck gets varied mileage depending on the weight of your foot. The truck has serious power and the interior is beautiful. I think that the bigger selling feature is that the truck is a powerhouse that will give you great mileage if you baby it, and you have to pay but it will make you smile if you want to get on it. Ford may have screwed up by calling it "eco". I think they were more concerned about making the truck palatable in an unsure economy and gas futures. They could have called it powerboost or something and marketed it that way and people would be impressed maybe to a higher degree?

Nice truck and for me to have gone to a 3/4 ton for maybe 20% of the lifetime miles of the truck hauling the FWC would have been overkill to me. I understand the 3/4 ton argument and it surely has merit....
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#13 SLOJET

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 04:27 AM

Hey thanks for the real world report. That was a pretty good pitch for the truck....you're not helping my decision making process! :lol: Ford has really kicked it up a notch, they have super nice interiors these day. Don't forget to post some numbers when you get a longer trip under your belt with the camper.

And congrats, that's a sweet setup.




I have a 2011 super crew F150 ecoboost. I had my new Hawk installed 2 weeks ago. I have the Firestone airbags and BFG AT with the E rating.

My experience is limited but the 125 mile drive home had me average around 18 mpg's and that was with a extremely heavy head/cross wind that was gusting to 35-40 mph. Around town I am at 15 mpg with tons of stop and go. Took the camper off the other day - today did a 300 mile round trip cleaning out my 3 season cabin and towed a trailer that was loaded and the bed of the truck with a mattress sticking up out of the bed - 18 mpg's. Towing a 16 1/2 foot fishing boat on the same trip I saw 17 mpg's. Unloaded trips at 65-70 mph's see 18-20 mpg's and 55 -60 sees the mileage creep up into the 21-22 range.

The truck seemed to handle the camper very well. The truck gets varied mileage depending on the weight of your foot. The truck has serious power and the interior is beautiful. I think that the bigger selling feature is that the truck is a powerhouse that will give you great mileage if you baby it, and you have to pay but it will make you smile if you want to get on it. Ford may have screwed up by calling it "eco". I think they were more concerned about making the truck palatable in an unsure economy and gas futures. They could have called it powerboost or something and marketed it that way and people would be impressed maybe to a higher degree?

Nice truck and for me to have gone to a 3/4 ton for maybe 20% of the lifetime miles of the truck hauling the FWC would have been overkill to me. I understand the 3/4 ton argument and it surely has merit....


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2001 Hawk on a 2009 4WD Dodge 2500 Diesel.

#14 Vic

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 06:36 AM

Nice looking 99 - but I have a thing for white 99 Ram diesels.

I am actually looking at the same dilemma and have the same issue - truck is great for hauling the camper but less so for driving around town the rest of the year and parking at work.

For 32k you can come close (by a couple of grand) to a new 2500 Ram 6.7 Diesel 4x4 at one fo the high volume dealers. Or for 32k you could really refresh your 99 and get a nice daily driver and still be money ahead. That is kind of where I am leaning right now with mine.

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#15 SLOJET

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 03:28 PM

Glad to know I'm not the only one! It's hard to part with these old 24 valves, they have their Achilles heel but once they are dialed in, they are hard to beat. It's of course, much cheaper to keep it, but I figured out that over the past few years I've spent nearly as much on maintenance as I would have on payments. Trans rebuild, VP44 Pump, all the big ticket items. That's the killer. I've even debated parting it out....I would get way more out of it. Whoever gets it will get a dialed in 2gen though, with alot of new parts. Thanks for the info on the dealers, I may have to make a few phone calls, the 4th gen trucks are nice.

Nice looking 99 - but I have a thing for white 99 Ram diesels.

I am actually looking at the same dilemma and have the same issue - truck is great for hauling the camper but less so for driving around town the rest of the year and parking at work.

For 32k you can come close (by a couple of grand) to a new 2500 Ram 6.7 Diesel 4x4 at one fo the high volume dealers. Or for 32k you could really refresh your 99 and get a nice daily driver and still be money ahead. That is kind of where I am leaning right now with mine.

-Vic


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#16 pods8

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 05:01 PM

Thanks for the info on the dealers, I may have to make a few phone calls, the 4th gen trucks are nice.


I haven't tried it personally since I haven't been in the new truck market but I'd try giving trucar.com a try. You pick the year model and also can dial in all the options you want and it tells you what some local dealers would offer the truck for. Then I believe if you enter your contact information they'll pass it onto these dealers who will contact you in regards to this price/deal. Not sure how well it works but seems okay at face value and would knock out a bunch of the initial haggling.
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2003 Dodge 1500 quad cab 4x4 5.7L Hemi auto w/ ride rite air springs and 1999(2000?) Hawk

2007 Dodge 2500 quad cab 4x4 5.7L Hemi auto and slowly progressing build.

FYI: I've got a bunch of extra 14ga wire in red and black. Its a thick jacket 41strand wire (likely MTW wire) verse typical 19strand automotive wire. It has good flexibility but factor in the thick jacket. I'll ship out 100' coils for $18 (I can go 50' of ea for that too) if anyone is in need of wire.

#17 SLOJET

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 06:16 PM

I'll give it a shot. I'm stuck in Knoxville, TN for work right now so I went and test drove a Dodge 1500 with the hemi. Nice rig, ride, and great power and going out the door for 26,900. They didn't have any gas 2500's but I may give that a try.


I haven't tried it personally since I haven't been in the new truck market but I'd try giving trucar.com a try. You pick the year model and also can dial in all the options you want and it tells you what some local dealers would offer the truck for. Then I believe if you enter your contact information they'll pass it onto these dealers who will contact you in regards to this price/deal. Not sure how well it works but seems okay at face value and would knock out a bunch of the initial haggling.


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#18 bsharp007

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Posted 02 December 2011 - 06:56 AM

I think those are pretty accurate figures regarding the difference in gas costs between the two trucks but there is also a big difference in the base price between the trucks which adds a lot to that $600 difference. If the difference between the 2 trucks is 10k (and I think I'm being conservative) then for the next 10 years the difference would be $1600 a year.





Great article, thanks! It sounds like it would be no problem powerwise for the truck, even in the mountains which is where I gravitate to. I'm real curious to hear how the newer trucks handle with the camper. I notice it's on the Dodge but only cause I can't see out the back windown anymore. Otherwise, you'd never know it's there and I even have one of the Thuren suspension kits on it which softens the ride with a lighter spring rate in the rear.

It's interesting when you run the math what little difference a few miles per gallon makes. I drive around 10k miles a year.

Dodge CTD - 10k miles at a conservative 17mpg = 588 gal a year. At $4.35 a gallon for Diesel that's $2558.82 a year in fuel.

Ford EcoBoost - 10k miles @ an optimistic 20mpg = 500 gal a year. At $3.90 a gallon for gas, that's 1950.00 a year. (I'm being generous to the Ford here...)

So $600 a year to have the capacity of the diesel is a pretty fair trade in my opinion. Of course for those that drive two or three times that amount it starts to become more compelling.






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#19 pods8

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Posted 02 December 2011 - 04:35 PM

I think those are pretty accurate figures regarding the difference in gas costs between the two trucks but there is also a big difference in the base price between the trucks which adds a lot to that $600 difference. If the difference between the 2 trucks is 10k (and I think I'm being conservative) then for the next 10 years the difference would be $1600 a year.


Devils advocate though is the diesel holds a higher resale so it knocks down that aspect some.

That said I bought a gasser still.
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2003 Dodge 1500 quad cab 4x4 5.7L Hemi auto w/ ride rite air springs and 1999(2000?) Hawk

2007 Dodge 2500 quad cab 4x4 5.7L Hemi auto and slowly progressing build.

FYI: I've got a bunch of extra 14ga wire in red and black. Its a thick jacket 41strand wire (likely MTW wire) verse typical 19strand automotive wire. It has good flexibility but factor in the thick jacket. I'll ship out 100' coils for $18 (I can go 50' of ea for that too) if anyone is in need of wire.

#20 camper357

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Posted 02 December 2011 - 06:22 PM

The newer F150s are plenty stout to haul 1500lb campers around. I cannot comment on the ecoboost. Do you research and compare the tow/haul capabilities of a new half ton truck to the 3/4 ton and 1 tons from the mid-nineties that had similar payloads with rear drum breaks and weak automatic transmissions. I don't think anyone would tell you that the 3/4 ton trucks in the mid-nineties were not adequate to haul 1500lb campers. I give credit to the manufactures of marketing the need for 400+hp and 500+lbs of torque.

What truck you should buy boils down to how often you are hauling your camper. If you are leaving it on full-time and/or plan on pulling a heavy trailer or boat in conjunction with your camper then buy a 3/4 ton. If the truck is your daily driver and you won't be pulling heavy loads, then buy a half-ton with the correct gearing and you can actually enjoy driving your truck.
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