Ford 7.3 Godzilla Engine

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by Badbart56

If it won't out-perform my 6.7, why would I want it?

I like diesel engines and have had several BUT with the higher fuel prices disproportionately affecting diesel owners and the markups on trucks i can see where a 7.3 would fit the needs of some rv owners.

if you tow primarily in the south and don’t have mountains to deal with regularly or only tow occasional then why not?

especially if your buying a truck every two years or so… why spend 95k on a truck with a $1 or more a gallon for fuel if you only tow once a month

my truck sits parked for a month at a time …i use my other vehicles for daily drivers
i’m not saying a diesel isn’t a good choice for a long term vehicle but there are people that change trucks frequently and something like this fits the bill and gives more payload

[JRTJH]

This is just my "personal decision on buying a new truck with the 7.3L gas engine" so I wouldn't expect my conclusions to be the right answer for someone else in a different situation, but here's what I decided to do:

I have a 2015 F-250 Lariat 6.7L diesel that has 67K miles on it and has no problems, new Michelin tires, 9 more "free oil/filter changes at 5K intervals (45K miles of oil and air filter changes before I have to pay for an oil change). The truck is, as far as I can tell, in perfect working order. It is at the top of GVWR when we tow our Cougar XLite, but I'm not overweight as long as I pay attention to what DW loads forward of the trailer axles. (actually, what she tells me to load in the trailer).....

I looked at trading this truck on a new F250/350 with a 7.3L to "avoid owning a diesel".

Here's the costs for me: My truck has a premium trade in price right now and is worth as much as I paid for it new. $54,000. A new, comparably equipped 7.3l has an MSRP of around $76,000. That truck is also "at a premium" so there's no "discount off MSRP" if I buy it locally. That means it would cost me $22,000 for the "privilege of buying a non-diesel truck" to replace my diesel which has nothing wrong with it and runs perfectly.

For me, I decided it was in my "best interest" financially, to keep what I have that's paid for, keep my $22,000 in the bank and "let Ford find another buyer for their "best in class truck" that I might want from a curiosity perspective, but certainly don't need from a towing or driving perspective....

So, thanks, but no thanks, when we were driving home from town just yesterday, I remarked to DW that "our truck rides as good now as it did when we first bought it back in 2014." She smiled, said, "Yep and these new tires are a lot quieter than the old ones too".....

So, ain't nothing wrong with owning a 7 year old truck when it does everything you need it to do and has 9 more free oil changes (and they fill the DEF tank at every oil change) before having to pay for oil, filters or DEF....

My oh my, life is good, eh ????

ADDED: The free oil/filter/DEF changes are a "perk" that Ford gave me after the Customer Satisfaction Repair program to replace the DEF/SCR/Sensors/catalytic converter on my truck when it failed and it took them 3 months to find parts to fix it. So, that "10 free oil changes" amounts to around $140 each or $1400 total.

[Kaptn Krabby]

I'm currently waiting for a '23 F250 with the 7.3 GODZILLA, 10 speed trany, and 4.3 rear ratio. This should pull anything I would ask of it! This is all good news from people who know!

[danvanvb]

I bought my F-250 w/the 7.3 a year ago and have 21K miles on it with about 2-3k towing my Jayco trailer. I love the truck and the towing capacity it has. We live in low land in Virginia Beach so as someone mentioned earlier we are not pulling in big mountains (although pulling it to TN, Afton Mountain in Virginia was the biggest height we have climbed and it wasn't bad). I do really like the truck for those interested. It is my daily driver.

[rlh1957]

I wonder what your fuel mileage would be towing at 65mph?

[danvanvb]

Easy answer there. Very consistent 7-8 MPG towing the Jayco in Tow mode. About 15 around town and maybe 18 highway not towing. She does like her fuel.

[NH_Bulldog]

I am in a similar situation; Daily driver, 19,000 miles, 9 months old and about 10,000 miles towing. I get 9-10 mpg towing at 70-75 mph at 7,000 lb trailer weight. I get 14-16 around town unloaded and 18-19 on the highway unloaded. I rarely use tow mode or cruise control on the highway.

With my X-Plan and Private Cash Offer discounts I could have picked up any one of 7 new diesels collecting dust on the dealers lot for a song, but chose to order my truck instead. Maybe it’s a regional thing, but given a variety of factors, a diesel just wasn’t for me. Several of my family and friends despite having been “diesel guys” for years have found that today’s gas trucks are more than capable. Where I am, gas is $3.09/gallon compared to $4.99/gallon for diesel.

To add a bit of clarity, I am not knocking diesels, nor am I knocking any vehicle brand. I am just sharing my personal real-world experience and how the 7.3L Godzilla with 10 speed transmission works for my situation. YMMV.

[RollaMo]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

For me, I decided it was in my "best interest" financially, to keep what I have that's paid for, keep my $22,000 in the bank and "let Ford find another buyer for their "best in class truck" that I might want from a curiosity perspective, but certainly don't need from a towing or driving perspective....

This is the number 1 reason that would keep me from trading also.
Once a vehicle is paid for, it is much harder "emotionally" to talk yourself into trading on a whim.
All those new fancy gizmos don't catch your eye near as much as they would if you were making payments on a current vehicle.


My Sierra is "paid for" too, so it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

[danvanvb]

Our trailer weighs about 12,000 pounds and is 40' long. Fully loaded we are about 400-500 pounds under GVWR. I am somewhat surprised that the fuel economy (if you can call it that) is this good.

[danvanvb]

Originally Posted by RollaMo

This is the number 1 reason that would keep me from trading also.
Once a vehicle is paid for, it is much harder "emotionally" to talk yourself into trading on a whim.
All those new fancy gizmos don't catch your eye near as much as they would if you were making payments on a current vehicle.


My Sierra is "paid for" too, so it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

We didn't have that luxury. When we traded in our Keystone 31RE for the Jayco my F-150 was not able to safely pull the additional weight of the Jayco.

[Robear]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

My brother has a 2022 GMC Sierra 3500 with the 6.6L gas and a 6 speed transmission. Gas mileage around town is the same as mine, but when he pulls his Fuzion Impact 367 his mileage drops to 4 mpg with a good tailwind. We are doing the Great Lakes Circle Tour this summer so it will be interesting to see how big of a hole it makes in his wallet……

Hello Bulldog, the Great Lakes circle tour sounds interesting. Could you please elaborate some on the details of a trip like that. Sorry for getting off topic. Thanks! -Robert

[rlh1957]

Originally Posted by sourdough

I don't know (remember) how the Ford works but in the Ram you can "lock out" gears buy selecting a gear manually and limit the tranny to that range of gears, ie; if you select 4th it will go up and down but not past 4th. If you want to lock out the OD gears you can set it to 6 (or whatever you choose) to keep it in that range. I'm not aware of any option to selectively lock out random gears. When doing this manually you are no longer in D but selecting gears.

Yes my 2019 F350 trans works the same way and can be manually selected the same.

[RollaMo]

Originally Posted by danvanvb

We didn't have that luxury. When we traded in our Keystone 31RE for the Jayco my F-150 was not able to safely pull the additional weight of the Jayco.

Oh, I understand that.
I was in the same boat a couple years ago.

We knew we wanted to move from our Jayco travel trailer to a 5th wheel.
I also knew my 1/2 ton Silverado was not capable of anything more than we had with the Jayco.

So, I traded a "paid for" Silverado for a new 2019 Sierra 2500HD.
Got a good trade for the Silverado (just before all the crazy truck/supply chain shortages).
Then aggressively paid on that new truck to get it paid for in time to purchase the new 2022 5th wheel.
Smaller 10K max 5th wheel, so the 2500HD is within specs.

Hopefully, we are all set now and no new truck or camper needed for quite a few years.

[notanlines]

Why does the idea of manually shifting an automatic transmission that you paid good money for remind me of those people wearing their baseball caps on backward? Just asking…..

[danvanvb]

Originally Posted by notanlines

Why does the idea of manually shifting an automatic transmission that you paid good money for remind me of those people wearing their baseball caps on backward? Just asking…..

Notanlines I hear you. I have 2 gears I use, D and R.

[NH_Bulldog]

It might be a generational thing? I grew up on manual transmissions (my first Chevy truck had an inline six and 3-speed manual on the column; “3 on the tree”). Up until my last truck a few years ago, I always ordered with a manual transmission. Getting older now and pumping that clutch in stop and go traffic isn’t feasible any more (I don’t know if you can even order a manual anymore?). Anyway, maybe the younger generations never having had to deal with multitasking, clutch, shift, accelerator, steer, etc. think it’s cool, especially without actually having to physically shift? Probably dating myself, but I miss the high beam button on the floor….

[danvanvb]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

It might be a generational thing? I grew up on manual transmissions (my first Chevy truck had an inline six and 3-speed manual on the column; “3 on the tree”). Up until my last truck a few years ago, I always ordered with a manual transmission. Getting older now and pumping that clutch in stop and go traffic isn’t feasible any more (I don’t know if you can even order a manual anymore?). Anyway, maybe the younger generations never having had to deal with multitasking, clutch, shift, accelerator, steer, etc. think it’s cool, especially without actually having to physically shift? Probably dating myself, but I miss the high beam button on the floor….

NH Bulldog you are the man. I may be a junior member (don't know how to get a promotion) but my first was a 66 Chevy C-10 Stepside with an inline 6 and "3 on the tree". I wish I had that truck in my garage right now. My wife has a new Jeep and thank goodness she opted to get the auto tranny. Oops I mean transmission

[RollaMo]

I also learned to drive in a Chevy "3 on the tree"

[wiredgeorge]

My Dad owned a milk delivery company and we had two trucks. One had 3 on the tree and the other had a floor shift with no synchronizers; both were early 50s and I think one was an International and one a Chevy but it was so long ago I can't recall. He let me learn to drive when I was about 12-13 years old and the truck is the one with no synchronizers; not sure if it was designed that way... I learned to shift double clutching everything and recall first gear would get you to about 5 mph so it wasn't used much except starting on a hill. I had early 60s Biscayne with three on the tree and kind of liked driving that better than a floor shift. Last stick shift owned was my wife's Mazda. It was from the early 201Xs as I recall. She learned to drive many years ago with a stick and when she wanted to buy a new car I talked her into the manual transmission model after a hail sale and we got thousands off as it was the only one they had on the lot and seems folks didn't want a stick. She was trying to pull it into the car port and the drive is severely downhill and she got it right up against the edge of the car port and tried slipping the clutch to back up and of course crunched the car port edge. Of course the Mazda (I think it was a 6 model) wasn't damaged but sold forthwith in favor of yet another Crown Vic. The Mazda quality was not there anyway....

[FlyMartin]

I love my Godzilla F-350. More payload due to the gas engine being lighter than the Diesel. Lots of power, lower initial cost and lower service costs. There's lots of room under the hood (Unlike the Diesel). And Gas is $0.60 cheaper per Litre than Diesel.