7.3L VS. 6.7L PSD

mountainkowboy wrote:

Lantley wrote:

mountainkowboy wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

Payload on a 7.3 F450 should be very high since they were only available as a Cab and Chassis truck. Good luck finding one that's in half decent shape since most of these trucks had massive utility beds on the back of them.

They were available in all configurations, cab and chassis, super and crew cabs, with and without beds.

From the Ford towing guide they only list cab and chassis.
I imagine some aftermarket outfitter would equip them with a bed . But it appears from the guide they were available from Ford cab & chassis only
2002 Ford Towing Guide

A 2002 F450 was available from Ford in all cab configurations and in 2 and 4 wheel drive, we had them at work, and they were ordered from Ford fleet sales.

The 1999 through 2007 Ford F-450 Super Duties were available in all cab configurations as chassis cabs, but were NEVER produced or completed by Ford as production pickups.

In early 2001, projected for model year 2003 or 2004, Ford had considered producing an F-450 pickup, but then cancelled those plans early on... at some point in mid 2002.

It wasn't until model year 2008 that Ford finally got around to producing an F-450 pickup, but this pickup, and every F-450 pickup made since, is actually based on an F-350 pickup frame, not on the true F-450 chassis cab frame.

For every year that the 7.3L engine was produced, the F-450, in any and every cab configuration, was only available from Ford as a chassis cab, with a true chassis cab frame.

Any F-450 with a factory pickup bed of a model year prior to 2008 was originally built by Ford as chassis cab, and later modified in the aftermarket with a pick up bed.

Pickup beds do not just bolt on to chassis cab frames. There are appreciable dimensional differences in frame width, cab to axle distance, and axle to end of frame distance between a chassis cab frame and a pick up frame... and these differences are only part of the reasons why the beds don't just bolt up. The frame shape (straight rail versus kick ups over the axle), hole location, rear shock orientation, especially road side, as well as fuel tank and rear suspension hanger locations are also different between the pickup frame and the chassis cab frames.