My father-in-law is looking at getting a late 90's work truck with a flat bed. I told him the only difference between the 250 and 350 is just heavier springs. The only difference between the 350 and 450 I know is bigger wheels. What are the other differences? He already has a 94 250.

On a side note he is a chevy guy and even he knows who makes the best trucks.

 

Is he looking at a 99 or a 97 and older (there was no 98). If he's looking at a 99+ then there are some small differences. A dually in those years will have a D60 front axle, whereas a single rear wheel will have only a D50 front axle. Other than that the 250s and 350s are pretty similar. The 450 and 550s use a different bolt pattern, but are still 8 lug axles. The front will be a D60, and the rear is I think a Dana 135 or close. Its going to have 4.88 or deeper gears. Its not going to run down the road very fast and will suck the fuel. I run those almost daily, and the last trip I took in one of the 550s I got around 6mpg towing.


If he's looking at 97 and older then there are significant differences. The F250 is going to have a D50TTB front axle. The F350 will have a D60 front axle with serviceable bearings (unlike the unit bearings the 99+ use). The serviceable bearings are messier to deal with, but much cheaper. The F-Superduty (basically an F450) are available only in 2wd from the factory and use a 10 lug axle.

If he's looking at an F350 dually regardless of the year more than likely it will have 4.10 gears so fuel mileage won't be as good, but the towing capacity will be higher.

 

Thinks for the info. I thought these trucks used a sterling 10.25" then a 10.5" rear ends. I gave him this info and his other question was that he heard that you couldn't take the valve covers off because the motor was under the cab to much(7.3 or 6.0). That I doubt is true but I have never really even noticed.

To be specific the truck will be used for his farm work. He doesn't have a goose neck trailer yet but eventually will probably. But I say a 350 will do just fine for him.

 

The Sterling 10.5 replaced the 10.25 wit the '99 redesign.

Adrianspeeder

 

Only the 450/550 uses the Dana 135, the F250 and F350 use the Sterling axles.


The valve covers can be removed with the engine still in the engine bay. Theres not THAT little room. You will have to remove the intercooler pipes however to get them off. Though if someone can't handle getting those off then they need to stay out of the valve covers anyhow. The engine has to come out or the cab has to come off to pull the heads however.

 

Thanks Powerstroke73 for the help again. That is what the guy that told him that is what he would have to do for the valve covers. So I guess he just got them mixed up along the info by word of mouth trail. Its kind of odd though, you can take the valve covers off but not the heads. What gives on that?

 

Cab forward design for aerodynamics means either a longer vehicle or a sacrifice somewhere. Since they didn't want to have a longer vehicle, or lose cab room then the simple solution is to tuck the engine a little farther under the cowl. Now this means that you have room to lift some things off, but to remove the heads you need alot of height to get the tall head to clear the studs. Heck even the 92-97 trucks had the same deal. It hasn't really been easy, or even possible to pull heads on an engine still in frame since the 80s.