DANIELS, West Virginia — It takes 10 miles for Interstate 64′s elevation to drop 1,300 feet from the 2,765 ft. summit of Sandstone Mountain. Five of those miles have a reported westbound grade of 7% – and it’s all downhill.
That’s a hell of a lot of faith resting on the brakes of a vehicle we’d only just climbed into 10 minutes before – especially when it’s got 12,000 lbs. (5,442 kg) of trailer tacked on behind it.
We’ve been invited here by Ford to see for ourselves how their refreshed Super Duty F-Series pickups fare against the competition in a heavyweight tow-off.
Visually the trucks haven’t changed, but they’ve had a mid-cycle tweaking to bump up both power output and towing capacity.
The emphasis for the 2015 Ford Super Duty F-Series trucks is on strength durability over comfort and refinement.
Lesley Wimbush, Driving
Ford’s reworked 6.7-litre Power Stroke diesel, used across the Super Duty lineup, now puts out 440 horsepower and a stupefying 860 pound-feet of torque, up from 400/800 respectively. It’s the same engine, but with a new exhaust manifold, more efficient fuel injectors, and larger turbo-charger. There’s an available 6.2L gasoline V8 for both F-250 and 350, but the power bump is concentrated on the diesel engine only.
It’s enough to move Ford to the front of the tow rating wars with a maximum conventional tow rating of 8,618 kg, and max 5th wheel rating of 14,152 kg. This is in direct response to Ram’s laying down of the gauntlet with their maximum towing capacity increase to 13,608 kg from 10,319.
“Ram forced us to up our game on the towing,” said Scott Paddy, a Ford powertrain engineer who rode shotgun during our F-350 run.
Second place is not a spot that Ford occupies comfortably, after 38 consecutive years as the leading pickup truck brand. And in the Heavy Duty segment, towing capability is everything.
Mike Levine, communications manager for Ford Trucks, estimates that 90 to 90% of their Super Duty customers use their trucks to tow.
The interior of Ford’s new Super Duty F-Series trucks has all the creature comforts. From slab-bottomed chairs and the ottoman-sized centre console upholstered in thick cowhide, the interior is a very nice place to be.
Lesley Wimbush, Driving
Therefore, the emphasis is on strength and durability over comfort and refinement. Which is not to say that the big Ford’s cabin is devoid of creature comforts – the slab-bottomed chairs and ottoman-sized centre console are upholstered in thick cowhide, and even branded if you opt for the King Ranch trim. There are adjustable foot pedals, running boards that automatically deploy, and enough nooks, crannies and door pockets to contain all of your mobile necessities. The great expanse of chunky dashboard appears to have been hewn from a single slab of solid vinyl – it’s square and blunt without a swoop or curve in sight. By comparison the Silverado and Ram seemed sleek and modern, although the Ram’s cloth seats did scale it down a notch. MyFord Touch infotainment system is available as an option, and though it’s been re-worked to improve its user-friendliness, it’s still needlessly convoluted with a frustrating learning curve
Throughout the course of the day we compared the F-350 back-to-back with competitors Ram 3500, and Chevrolet Silverado 3500 HD, pulling identical 12,000 lb. (5,443 kg) trailers up and down the I-64 switchback, eyeing the “runaway truck” ramps with some trepidation.
Control is the most important thing with this much weight behind, and using the engine to brake not only maintains more confidence-inspiring stability, but saves wear and tear on mechanical brake parts. Billowing smoke and the stench of burnt brakes followed more than one passing tractor-trailer, and the churned up sand on the runaway ramps was evidence of their frequent use.
2015 Ford Super Duty F-Series
Lesley Wimbush, Driving
Thanks to the larger turbo-charger, the engine exhaust braking has been improved. We liked the confidence-inspiring way it kicked in at a single tap of the brake pedal with Tow/Haul mode selected – the Ram’s was more hesitant, requiring several jabs.
The driver can selectively lock out higher gears while towing – but its steering column stalk selector I found a bit fiddly, and the Tow/Haul mode seemed to handle figuring out the proper gears to hold quite well. The six-speed TorqShift transmission receives a beefier torque converter to handle the 6.7-litre engine’s bigger power output.
The route featured long stretches marked with expansion joints, over which the F-Series and Silverado were more settled than the Ram, which tended to surge forward and back.
Only those holding valid commercial driver’s licences were able to drive the F-450 hooked up to a massive loaded flat bed totaling 15,422 kg (34,000 lbs.) but I opted to ride shotgun with Pete Lyons, a Ford engineer specializing in diesel and large gasoline engine calibration.
The big boy of the Super Duty range has a stronger frame, bigger leaf springs, shocks and stabilizers, and beefier brakes. All F-450s are equipped with PTO (power take off) providing for accessory equipment such as plowing – optional on the F-250 and F-350 models.
2015 Ford Super Duty F-Series
Lesley Wimbush, Driving
The 6.7L Powerstroke’s output is the same, but its calibration is unique to the F-450.
While all three competitors handled the heavy loads and steep inclines competently, the Ford consistently pulled away on the uphill stretches.
This was interesting when considering that Ram had just that morning released their intent to comply with the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) truck-towing standards – the first large truck manufacturer to do so. However, Ford has said they will not retest until the next generation of Super Duty trucks is launched, although the all-aluminum 2015 F-150 will comply with the standard when it arrives later this year. Without standardized testing, consumers are forced to rely on manufacturer’s claims reached using their own selective testing methods.
While the customer is the big winner in these heavy duty horsepower wars, since all three of the top competitors are excellent performers and unlikely to back down, it does raise the question: where does it end? With torque numbers and tow capacity approaching that of professional big rigs, it’s likely that more people will opt to perhaps make two runs in a heavy duty pickup rather than dealing with permits or paying commercial tractor-trailer costs.
It will be interesting to see what the next round of refreshes brings.
2015 Ford F-250 Super Duty
Lesley Wimbush, Driving
The Specs
Type of vehicle Heavy duty pickup truck
Engine 6.7L Powerstroke Diesel V8, 6.2L Gas V8 (F-250, F-350)
Power 440 hp/860 lb.-ft. (Diesel), 385/405 (Gasoline)
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Maximum Conventional Towing Capacity 8,618 kg (F-350 4×2 and 4×4, F-450 4×4 with 6.7L diesel)
Maximum 5th Wheel/Gooseneck Towing 14,152 kg (F-450 Diesel)
Maximum Payload 3,292 kg (F-350 4×2 Diesel)
Pricing Starts at $34,421 for base F-250 up to $77,897 for F-40 Platinum
