Ford F450 diesel 4:30 gears

Gooding. R wrote:
Your 2009 F-450 should have a 6.4 in it. Ford stopped the 6.0 in 2008. Have you checked the VIN # to see what engine it has. The 6.0 should get around 10 to 13 MPG pulling a trailer. The 6.4 should get a little more.
I have a 2008 28ft E-450 class C motorhome with the 6.0 and I get about 13 to 13.5 MPG. and 12.5 pulling a toad.

The 6.4L is quite a bit less efficient than the 6.0.

With that trailer and those gears 6.5 to 8.5 "average".

What do I mean by average? When you tow that trailer from one end of the US to the other and run the numbers, that combo will get somewhere between 6.5 to 8.5 miles per gallon of fuel.


Some reading on fuel mileage of the 6.4 diesel.

Unfortunately the 6.4 gets the worst mileage of any recent diesel made and those gears don't make it any better. In short, this rig is going to burn a lot of fuel.

Agree. I have the same truck with 4:88 gear set. The stock fuel mileage empty was 9 Miles/gal, I made a few changes and went to 13-14 miles/gal. Also these trucks weigh close to 10,000 lbs with a full load of fuel and an average sized driver. Can't really expect Prius type mileage when driving a truck that weighs twice as much as a F150!
JMHO.

I wish captianjohn2008 would have said what he did to make his truck get that better mileage.

From what I know about these engines I would have to say he "Spartan-ised it. Is my guess correct Capt? And yes, it will help with fuel mileage that much!

I'm not a big fan of tuners when towing or trying to make things reliable but if I owned this engine I would definitely get a Spartan tuner. It's one of the few engines that make SUBSTAINTIAL fuel savings if you do a tune and delete the DPF. It will also make this engine a lot more reliable by getting rid of the BIG oil dilution problems this engine has. Depending on how many miles are on the stock rockers they already may be toast?

OP, this engine is very maintenance intensive. I mean big, big, big. You better get to know the maintenance schedule very well and stick to it or you're going to be sitting along side of a road somewhere.

Wait until you are about to go on vacation and the thing starts running like******a couple days before. You take take it to the dealer and they say cab has to come off, we will need it at least a week maybe two. You get it back, runs good for a few months, and guess what, needs to go back. This time its only an injector that leaked and caused the oil to overflow. Rear bed plate, one radiator, two more injectors, and crappy fuel mileage all in 34k miles. Thats what I got from my 08 6.4. Got rid of that piece of******as soon as the 5 year 100k mile warranty was up.

Wait until you are about to go on vacation and the thing starts running like******a couple days before. You take take it to the dealer and they say cab has to come off, we will need it at least a week maybe two. You get it back, runs good for a few months, and guess what, needs to go back. This time its only an injector that leaked and caused the oil to overflow. Rear bed plate, one radiator, two more injectors, and crappy fuel mileage all in 34k miles. Thats what I got from my 08 6.4. Got rid of that piece of******as soon as the 5 year 100k mile warranty was up.

I'm with you on this one... I've got nightmare stories from owning my 2010 6.4. 3 engine rebuilds here in 2 years, all under 50,000 miles. My dealer would have it for 1-2 months at a time. I kept thinking, this time she'll run forever... My service was impeccable. Not a grocery getter... Tow an 11,000 lb 5er. Do what everybody tells you to keep it running, coolant filter etc... or run to a 6.7, Ford or Ram or whatever. Good luck

Different engine but something to compare, I get about 10 on my 2015 F450 pulling a 35 foot toy hauler. Averaging 17-18 driving back and forth to work daily, about 38 miles total with 12 being highway, rest interstate.

Yep... I've seen too many 6.4PSD in the black box when something goes wrong and the driving keeps his foot into it.

Can't help you with the trailer brake question - but in terms of MPG you'll get 5 to 10. 5 into the wind, 10 with a huge wind behind you, and average 7.5. Those numbers are pretty good for any diesel truck combination pulling a 13k or better 5th wheel at 65 mph. Just no good way to get past the average of 7 or 8, especially with the 4:30. Some get a little more, some a little less, but most hit these averages.

Should pull really well though, plenty of torque.

Let us know what you get when you hook it up. What is the brake question, BTW?

4.44 gears on my 6.7 Cummins has averaged about 10 mpg but I have less than 3000 miles on the engine. I haven't seen a difference between hauling the truck camper alone or having my enclosed trailer in tow behind the camper. I keep speeds at or bellow 65 mph so it is the air I'm pushing with a larger frontal area. 14,000 lbs GCW with the camper and 22,000 lbs with the camper and trailer.