1999-2000 F250 Super duty as daily scrap truck

Howdy folks, I currently own a 93 Chevy 1500 4.3 auto reg cab. She has been my money maker for the past 2 years. Throughout the years, I have have spent a total of 7k on repairs, parts, and towing. I have racked up 35k miles. I've contemplated for the past 2 months to cut my loses, sell, and move on. I have my eyes on a 1999 and 2000 5.4 f250 super duty reg cab. I have done my research and I think they are pretty reliable, however, what concerns me is the 5.4 v8 engine and mpg. I currently get 10mpg loaded/unloaded city. Unloaded, my Chevy weighs 4500lbs with me and a 420lb steel cage. The Super Duty would weigh 5774lbs unloaded.

My question is, what kind of mpg can I expect with an unloaded and loaded 1999 5.4 Super Duty? Does anyone here use this truck as a daily scrap truck? Is it possible that the Super Duty will get better mpg since its working less than my v6 Chevy and has a higher gear ratio?

Here is some info that may help:

Scrap is my job; I punch-in 7-9hrs a day
I scrap 60-70 miles a day
I have a garage that I store loads, so I don't overload my truck.
I do not tow scarp, only haul in bed.
I have a steel mesh heavy duty cage with doors(420lbs).
My scrap route has a significant amount of hills, traffic, and traffic lights.

My daughters 97 f250 with the 5.8 l v8 gets 15mpg unloaded and 12 loaded. She uses it for her daily driver since she is 16 and drives it back and for to school and the scrap yard. I on the otherhand part time scrap out of my 01 f350 diesel and get about 17 mpg no matter whats in the bed.

i would say go with the ford but i am a ford guy. you will probably get better mileage with the 5.4 but i thought the 4.3 chevy should do alot better then 10. if you do get the ford make sure you keep up on oil changes and make sure you ONLY use 5W20 i have had to replace alot of these engines that werent properly maintained. my only complaint on the 5.4 is the exhaust manifold studs breaking in the head and the manifolds rusting out, seems to be a every other week job for me but we maintain alot of fleet vehicles and see ALOT of 5.4s. the other thing on the 5.4 and other modular fords, 4.6 5.4 and 6.8 are the coils, there is 1 coil per cylinder and ford didnt design them the best so you may want to keep a spare on hand, they are a piece of cake to change, 1 7mm bolt and i wire connector. if you keep the maintnence up on it and treat it right you should easily see well over 200,000 miles on a 5.4

I have a 2001 F250 SD with the 5.4. Mines 2 wheel drive and Im probably seeing 12-14 mpg. It has plenty of power for sure. I don't think you will be disappointed. Good luck with your decision either way. Like JoeF said, they are notorious for coils going. One of mine dropped when I was fully loaded with about 15 miles left to the yard. She stumbled some, but made it none the less. Replaced the coil pack and plugs that day and so far, so good, knock on wood.

My brother used an '02 f150 crewcab 4x4 for scrapping for a while and he averaged around 13 mpg Canadian. That's around 11 mpg U.S. or so. Most of that was pulling a dump trailer. The truck had to work way too hard and that killed the mileage. As you aren't pulling a trailer, yours should hopefully get better mileage than that, even though the SD is heavier. His truck was around 5100 lbs. Mind you, I would think your chev should be getting better than 10 mpg too.

5.4 is an awesome engine. I might still have used spare coils around here somewhere, it's one of those things that Ford guys have learned to be prepared for. Other than that, the only other engine issue is the spark plug blowing out of the head, and you can use a helicoil to fix that if it happens most of the time.

5.4 Fords is all I ran right up until I got my diesel. Now I have an '01 Super Duty 7.3. Trust me though, with the price difference between gas and diesel, there are a lot of days that I wish I had a gasser instead.

I use a 04 f250 often. It has the 5.4

It can drink gas, if i get stuck in stop and go traffic, i can watch the needle bury.

I would not buy one for mileage.

Not to mention the thing sags with 2k lbs in the back. Buy a 1 ton if you want a real truck, and get a diesel and run alt fuels.

And i would expect better mileage out of a 6cyl.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by landmine

I use a 04 f250 often. It has the 5.4

It can drink gas, if i get stuck in stop and go traffic, i can watch the needle bury.

I would not buy one for mileage.

Not to mention the thing sags with 2k lbs in the back. Buy a 1 ton if you want a real truck, and get a diesel and run alt fuels.

And i would expect better mileage out of a 6cyl.

---

Yeah I expected better mileage too. My truck does have a tranny problem, TCC brake solenoid is stuck on. Sometime I can hear and feel the torque converter shutter. I suspect this is the culprit for such crappy mpg. But I've grown to accept paying $20-$23 for regular everyday because I do make good money. It wouldn't hurt though squeezing a couple of miles more per gallon, and saving 30 bucks more a week. What kind of mileage do you get out of your Super Duty?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

My daughters 97 f250 with the 5.8l v8 gets 15mpg unloaded and 12 loaded. She uses it for her daily driver since she is 16 and drives it back and for to school and the scrap yard. I on the otherhand part time scrap out of my 01 f350 diesel and get about 17 mpg no matter whats in the bed.

---

Thanks PartTimeScrapper. Your post is encouraging, 15mpg on a v8 is nice. However, assuming your daughter's truck is a reg cab, is has a curb weight of approx. 4300lbs. The 99' f250 SD has a curb weight of 5096lbs, a difference of 796lbs. So the SD would suffer a few mpg's due to its weight, I think.

my daughters truck is a extended cab long box 4X4. Not sure of the weight of her truck. Ill look at one of the scale reciepts next time I take it to the yard.

I dont track mileage to well.
best estimate is 10mpg empty with some highway driving

Drops signifigantly in traffic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by landmine

I dont track mileage to well.
best estimate is 10mpg empty with some highway driving

Drops signifigantly in traffic.

---

Landmine, I have a 1996 Chevy 1500 short cab long box 2wd with the 4.3L either something is different between the years but I get about 20-21mpg in the city. Though I am really careful with the pedal. If you are really getting that bad of gas mileage, I would be looking into what is wrong with it or if it is driving too hard. Just figured I would give you the information that I have,

James

my partner has 99 f250 superduty. he claims it gets 8 mpg but i have been in his truck often enough to know that is the extreme low end. i'd estimate he gets 8 mpg doing curb shopping, 12-14 mpg city and 16-18 mpg hw.

A little older, but I daily drive a 97 F350 crewcab dually with the 7.3 PSD.

For my money, if you're going to buy a truck to work out of, spend the money for the diesel. I've owned many gas trucks, and for a half ton that is used as a passenger vehicle, they're great. BUT, if you're going to carry a lot of load or do much towing, you cannot beat a diesel. This thing pulls like a freight train with 7000 pounds behind it...and it has 269000 miles.

When I was shopping for a crewcab, I really didn't look at the diesels, because they were priced higher than the gassers. However, after looking at a few gas trucks with 100000 miles, I quickly realized that most were worked to death, or were show horse tow rigs with lots of extras that really didn't do anything for the truck (running boards, cab roof spoilers, goofy eater-egg paint, etc) and priced in the diesel range. I was specifically looking for a 92/97 F 350 CCD.

Here's the thing, the gas trucks pretty much get about 10mpg with the 7.5, or 11 mpg with the 5.8 (empty). When towing that can drop to about 8 (7.5) and hope-there-aren't-any-big-hills-cause-we'll-never-make-it (5.8). Daily driving it to work I get about 16-17, worst ever was towing an enclosed 16 ft (6000 pounds) aerodynamic-as-a-brick trailer at 75 MPH with a result of 13.8 mpg. Bear in mind this is with a 4.10 axle (only ratio offered on the DRW truck that year) and a mild tune. Single wheel trucks usually get better, as the general opinion is that the duals cost about 1 mpg, and the single wheel trucks can often be found with 3.55 rears. I have read reports of 20/21 mpg on the highway with single wheel 3.55 trucks.

Ultimately, I bought the truck I now have (and love!) because the price was right, it had already had many things repaired, and the few minor things it needed were easily fixed. Upside of the 7.3 is that with any kind of care at all they will go 500K miles, and resale is better...even with lots of miles. In fact, I personally think that buying one in the 200K range is a good deal, as most of the potential issues have already been addressed...in my case, it had already had a Jasper trans installed, new glow plugs, injectors serviced, A/C serviced, BIG all aluminum radiator installed, came with a new CD with remote, 1 week old CB/weather radio, and a tuner.

They're not for everybody, but this one was good for me. I paid $2000 last june. I have less than $300 into it for repairs (radius arm bushings, axle pivot bushings, heater blower, window switch, dashpad (vanity), brake hoses (peace of mind), and have driven it 9000 miles.http://imageshack.us/a/img62/488/5l1...md3l5c5s54.png

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sprocket

Landmine, I have a 1996 Chevy 1500 short cab long box 2wd with the 4.3L either something is different between the years but I get about 20-21mpg in the city. Though I am really careful with the pedal. If you are really getting that bad of gas mileage, I would be looking into what is wrong with it or if it is driving too hard. Just figured I would give you the information that I have,

James

---

Your 96 Chevy is a SFI (Sequential Fuel Injection). My 93 is TBI (throttle Body Injection). My guess SFI engines burn fuel more efficiently than TBI engines.

Just wondering if the OP ever got his F250 or not?

i had a 99 f250 5.4 triton reg cab short bed i bout for $500 at 177k miles and drove till over 454k when i finally scrapped it great truck ate front tires though `