Does the F-450 pickup have the same diesel like the F-250/350 Diesels? If so how come the F-450 has much more pulling capacity?
450 yes they have the same motor as the other f series. the increased towing capacity comes from the suspenson and stronger axels.
was reading the rest and was thinking gears, gears, gears. Factory specs on pulling ability all comes down to the ability to get it moving. Pulling power can be made with torque or gears. Then they (hopefully) add a big enough frame to support it and brakes to stop it as well.
Yeah, the axles in my 450 are massive. 4.88 are great for towing, horrible for highway mileage. also, the 19.5 tires, 10 bolt axles also help. As for stiffer springs, my ass. Put my 8000lb gooseneck on it, and it squatted a good 2 to 3 inches. Now running air bag overloads, inboard mounted, full custom leveling valves...oh yeah, and 22.5 Alcoa's. pulls like a train, and uses about as much fuel as a locomotive.
A radius arm suspension setup called "Wide-frame monobeam" is a wide solid axle with coil springs that increases the pulling capacity of F-450..Rear-leaf spring are kept 8 inch longer with carefully tuning with a fifth-wheel hitch which provides 24,500 pounds of pulling capacity...
You guys are also forgetting that Fords comm. trucks (cab and chassis and some pickup models) come through defueled. Check the HP specs. @ Fords web site. The new 6.7 is rated @ 400 HP but comm. trucks are only 300HP. Just my $.02
Towing capacity for me is based on cooling capacity, axle capacity, and braking setup. Due to HP detuned, larger wheels, and higher gearing adds to capacity. Our trucks are designed for the worst conditions, so driver attention to driving style is much more important then stated capacities. I towed a 5k trailer with a 2.5k trailer cap. truck very sucessfully for 3 years and never hurt the truck until I did an emergency stop and 35lbs in the rear tires allowed the tires to turn on the rims. A local guy pulls a 14k 5th wheel with an F450 with 35lbs air in the 4 rear truck tires because the truck is to rough. I told him I would not go one mile with that setup. I prefer SRW with 80psi in my rear tires.
