I am looking at getting a 01' SD SC 4x4 with the 5.4l. In fact I may pick it up Monday. I have a few questions though. I currently have a 99' 150 SC 4x4 and routinely get 15mpg with it. The best I seem to get is 15.7 and that is with driving to and from work. 50 miles total, no stop lights, all highway. From what I have found on the boards is the SD I'm looking at would get me about the same. Would this statement be correct? Another question I have is I see that Ford had some bad cast engine blocks, this was reported in the Blue oval news in July. This truck I am looking at was born in mid June 2001. So I would presume that the engine would have been built probably is month before, May? but am not sure since I didn’t look at the build date on the engine. Should I worry, or did they catch the engines at the factory. I drove it overnight Friday and this morning started it up cold and did not notice any smoke coming from the tail pipe. And after driving it 60 miles still no smoke, that I could notice anyway. And lastly This truck has Firestone Steeltex RS4 tires. How many miles could I expect out of these tires? A friend of mine has the all terrain's and has 70,000 on them and they still have tread. Thanks for your replies.

 

Well, I can help with the tire question, other's will have to help with the engine ones. (now if you want to ask how the diesel will do in that truck...... ) One comment I can make about the engine is: if you have the 5.4 in your F150 and you only get 15mpg then don't expect a MUCH heavier truck to do any better. Realalisticly it will probably do worse. Maybe if you got a manual transmission it might do about the same.
I've got the steeltex RS4's on my truck. I've not had any problems with them but have heard a couple of people complaining over on the diesel board. But a couple out of 15k people isn't bad. Right now I've got close to 30k on my tires and they have about 3/32 wear left. So I've been looking at new tires. Really like the Michilens but the price difference between them and the steeltex is shocking, to say the least. And the Michilens don't have any type of guarantee of how many miles they will last either. (I'm compairing only e-rated tires here) As far as someone getting 70k on the steeltex RS4, I really don't think so. Is your friend running an e-rated tire??? Most people using this tire will be towing something. I'm towing a 30' travel trailer with my truck. For what this tire is used for, I'm quite satisfied with it. Would have been nice not to have to replace them quite so soon though.

 

Thanks for replying Tina. I don't plan on towing anything with the truck. Mostly just for commuting to and from work. I did do an informal estimate on mileage when I drove the truck this weekend and use 1/4 tank of fuel and went 100 miles. Now this was from 1/2 tank to 1/4 and from what I have usually found is the last half goes faster than the first, so I figured I got roughly 14mpg on an engine with 160 miles on it. If I can get that now and maybe increase to 15 when broken in I will be pleased As for the tire deal, no my friend has the load range C tires on a Chevy. I did go to the Firestone web site though and see that the R4S tire has a 3 year warranty down to 2/32 of tread. I didn't see any mileage restriction though?

 

I have an 00' F250 SC 4x2 5.4l 5sp 4.10 LS rear.

On the average I get 15.5 mpgs in mixed city/highway driving..
The best mileage for a tank I've gotten is 17.8 which was mostly highway driving..
I drive with a pretty light foot and check the mileage on every tank..

I find it unlikely that you'll get 15mpgs average if your getting 4x4 and automatic tranny.. Expect to be in the 13 or 14 range in mixed city/highway driving..

 

Unless you are screaming down the highway at 80+, I see no reason to not get 15mpg with a 5.4L & 4x4. My F30 (see sig) got 14.8 on a recent trip to Dallas. I get around 12 in town... 10 towing my 7k+ lb fifth-wheel.

The OEM tires last so long because the rubber is very hard. The problem is that hard rubber has poor traction. Of the 15,000 members that Tina referred to, considering the "modifiers" and those that got the ATs, I'd guess that less than 25% are running the R4S. And, there's been more than just a couple of failures. Reading about the other failures on ambulances, RVs, trucks, and motorhomes, I figured our lives are worth the money for tires that aren't [as] suspect. My R4S tires were gone with less than 3,000 miles on them... then again, I am a "modifier" too.

 

I don't have a problem with the Firestones. I had a set of AT load range E's and got 44k on them before a deal on some R4S's came along. I still had 1/8 tread left on the AT's when I gave them up. They do get a little slippery when wet though. The R4S's have been good. Prolly great street/hwy tire. I'm at 24k now and have about 3/16ths or so left before the wear marks. They'll prolly go 40k +. I will prolly get the Firesones again. (I have a conection to a dealer that does take-offs for Ford dealers... most tires are $75ea)

My opinion on the Firestone tires is this: Ford has sold over 1 million Superduty trucks. Most have Firestone tires, some have Generals. Then there are the few who have changed to other brands. So, the majority are driving on Firestones. So, which tire do you think you are going to hear about failing the most?? Firestone. Lets wait 3 or so more years when most of the Firestones have been replaced with other brands and see how the failures compare. I'd be willing to bet it would be a similar ratio. BTW.. My tires were made in Canada not the trouble prone Decatur, plant.