2011 F-450 with 196,000 miles/hot shot trucker

[The_Mad_Norsky]

Fast Lane Trucks just posted new video over on YouTube.

Titled A Day In The Life of An Independent Car Transporter.

Neat video, thought it would be of interest to us towing folks here.

Couple highlights from the video:

A) operator has 196,000 miles on his 2011 F-450 now

B) when asked to grade his truck for how it has worked for him, he gave it a B. Seems he is running on his fourth rear differential, having ground the previous three to pulp.

C). operator also complained about the "Death Wobble" the truck exhibits, and stated he has trouble putting 20,000 miles on any set of front tires for the vehicle.

Operator states with four cars loaded on, truck and trailer he is running at about 36,000 pounds.

[Jarlaxle]

ksss wrote:
Whatever his weight is he must be legal or he would never get through a Port. There is a motivation to tow/haul as much as you can with the lightest vehicle possible. The more your dry weight the less paid cargo you can carry. Going to a heavier tow vehicle may not make sense even though it might be more durable. His additional payload must pay better than the additional repairs on the Ford. Its all about payload.

If he's tagged for it & under all his tire ratings, he's legal. It's that simple. Door sticker GVWR and Ford's GCWR mean NOTHING, legally.

[Bionic_Man]

Actually seemed like a pretty truthful review. No claims of 12+ MPG towing, 100,000 mile tire life, etc. I wouldn't be too happy about the rear end if I were him, but I haven't seen any other reports of the same problem.

[ksss]

Whatever his weight is he must be legal or he would never get through a Port. There is a motivation to tow/haul as much as you can with the lightest vehicle possible. The more your dry weight the less paid cargo you can carry. Going to a heavier tow vehicle may not make sense even though it might be more durable. His additional payload must pay better than the additional repairs on the Ford. Its all about payload.

[45Ricochet]

I like the 6.4 comment at the end, he must have been hanging out around here before.

[Cummins12V98]

gmcsmoke wrote:

rjstractor wrote:
He blows a rear end every 50K, and wears out tires every 20K? He makes a good case for not using a pickup to do the job of a real truck. (ok my flame suit is on) 😉

no I suspect he well above the 36k he claims. A triple axle car hauler has a gvw right around 21k and weighs 10k empty; 4 cars at 4500 plus the trailer gives you 28k, so he's telling me an 450 with 90 gallons of fuel only weighs 8,000 pounds?

And if he's only 3k above fords gcwr he's still able to burn through a rear in 50,000 miles?

Listed weight for my RAM 3500 Dually is 8,020#.

[gmcsmoke]

rjstractor wrote:
He blows a rear end every 50K, and wears out tires every 20K? He makes a good case for not using a pickup to do the job of a real truck. (ok my flame suit is on) 😉

no I suspect he well above the 36k he claims. A triple axle car hauler has a gvw right around 21k and weighs 10k empty; 4 cars at 4500 plus the trailer gives you 28k, so he's telling me an 450 with 90 gallons of fuel only weighs 8,000 pounds?

And if he's only 3k above fords gcwr he's still able to burn through a rear in 50,000 miles?

[Rich1961]

larry barnhart wrote:
It would be interesting to know the rear end ratio.
chevman

F450 Pickup with 6.7 Powerstroke = 4.30 gears.

[larry_barnhart]

It would be interesting to know the rear end ratio.
chevman

[rjstractor]

He blows a rear end every 50K, and wears out tires every 20K? He makes a good case for not using a pickup to do the job of a real truck. (ok my flame suit is on) 😉

[BigBaron]

Very neat video. It really illustrates the difficulties that regulation impose upon business owners.
I was not surprised that he is going to an HDT. He can sleep in it, and it gets about the same mileage.