Ford 7.3 godzilla

[brancher147]

I have a 24 F350 with about 20k miles. I tow a good bit. The 10 speed transmission tows very well through the mountains. Much better than my old 13 F350. The 10 speed transmission does shift very rough sometimes but no issues so far. Gas mileage with the 10 speed is just as bad my old 2013. I average about 12 mpg without towing and 4 or 5 mpg towing 12,000 lbs or so.

 

[learnr]

Got a ‘22 F-250 7.3L first of ‘25 w/ 50k mi. Put 16K on it by now. Really like it. A lot more than the LLY I used before it. It would go between that LLY and the LBZ with a Kennedy tow tune. Loaded with Deere 310SJ backhoe with gooseneck on rolling prairie gravel roads I can get 35 uphill to easy 55. Had a serious headwind and got 55 on highway otherwise 70 mph easily.

 

[Ryan Avery]

I have a 20 F250 with a 7.3 with 105,000 on it. I love the motor and not having diesel problems. But I did grenade the transmission at 75k.

One upgrade I would suggest to address that little bit of lag is the petalmonster from Banks.

 

[30338]

I've got 70,000 now on mine. It was shifting a bit rough so had dealer change tranny fluid at 50,000. Smoothed right out. Going to do that now at 45-50 to try and save the tranny as long as I can. Love the engine and truck though. Would probably pop for a nice non factory tranny if this one goes out at some point.

 

[IdahoBeav]

For 2027 Ford is making it the standard and only gas engine available in Super Duty, no more 6.8

 

[Ryan Avery]

For 2027 Ford is making it the standard and only gas engine available in Super Duty, no more 6.8

They also gave it a little more horse power if I remember correctly

 

[30338]

Geez that 6.8 only lasted about 2 years or so. Cost cutting at Ford apparently.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Geez that 6.8 only lasted about 2 years or so. Cost cutting at Ford apparently.

They ended the standard output 6.7, too, but the good news is that a Carhartt package will be introduced

 

[Weldor]

My 21 welding service truck (7.3) averaged 3-4 at best, that keeps me away from gassers. Weird thing with that one was you could always smell hot oil but no leaks?

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

My 21 welding service truck (7.3) averaged 3-4 at best, that keeps me away from gassers. Weird thing with that one was you could always smell hot oil but no leaks?

How heavy was that? Seems odd. Only time I have gotten 4mpg was towing a camper (aerodynamic brick) into a really strong headwind. The engine will smell hot (but temps read normal) after descending long passes in the mountains, the high rpm of engine braking likely is throwing a heat load into the oil I assume.

My 4x4 with 3.73 rear, 44” tires and the tremor valance/running boards (worse aerodynamic but more clearance) gets ~16 highway, 10-12 around town, towing a camper can range from 4-10 depending on conditions but 7ish is pretty common.

 

[Elkman17]

Has anyone replaced their gas tank with one of the ~50 gallon aftermarket ones? The only thing I don’t like about mine is the little 30 gallon tank.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Has anyone replaced their gas tank with one of the ~50 gallon aftermarket ones? The only thing I don’t like about mine is the little 30 gallon tank.

The 34gal tank is reasonable for my uses and I can buy a lot of gas for the cost of the transfer flow 58gal tank. If I was wandering places with less gas frequency it would be a different dynamic for sure.

The long bed guys have a 48gal tank which is nice.

 

[The_Yetti]

We have a fleet of 10 E450 cutaways with the 7.3 and have only had issues with a couple burnt plug wires. fixed that with insulation. On average they have about 100,000 miles on them as para-transit vehicles.


Sent from my P30 using Tapatalk

 

[Weldor]

How heavy was that? Seems odd. Only time I have gotten 4mpg was towing a camper (aerodynamic brick) into a really strong headwind. The engine will smell hot (but temps read normal) after descending long passes in the mountains, the high rpm of engine braking likely is throwing a heat load into the oil I assume.

My 4x4 with 3.73 rear, 44” tires and the tremor valance/running boards (worse aerodynamic but more clearance) gets ~16 highway, 10-12 around town, towing a camper can range from 4-10 depending on conditions but 7ish is pretty common.

About 12,000 loaded.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

About 12,000 loaded.

Does that factor in idling of something also? Google seems to show the motorhomes using the 7.3L Godzilla get better mileage than you did and they’re heavier yet.

Was yours a fluke or do you know other rigs like that getting the same low mpg?

 

[Weldor]

Does that factor in idling of something also? Google seems to show the motorhomes using the 7.3L Godzilla get better mileage than you did and they’re heavier yet.

Was yours a fluke or do you know other rigs like that getting the same low mpg?

Our fleet over 30 trucks different set -ups but same cab-chassis all average to about the same. They get idled some and also short tripped. Google does not impress me much, BS on there. Our fleet manager monitors all the stats for the next buys. They finally wised up and went back to the diesels. I still can't figure what the big three are thinking about when they brought back the big blocks. They burn 3-4 times as much fuel as a diesel, but that's a different topic.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I still can't figure what the big three are thinking about when they brought back the big blocks.

For my use case I'm quite happy with the big block paired with a 10speed transmission (yours is different) so it provides reasonable of benefit to certain users.
-Cheaper upfront cost (there are backend values to diesel but that is more relevant to a cost/benefit that churns vehicles versus owning and running for a long time, different use cases). The cost compounds if financed.
-MUCH cheaper maintenance cost considering the damn emissions systems are plagued by failures (if it wasn't for the emissions hamstringing the diesel reliability it'd be a far different issue)
-No DEF to deal with (its small but one more thing), see above about damn emissions systems.
-Sometimes the MPG gains of diesel are offset by higher prices, and sometimes they aren't, it varies.

In my use case I don't see anything nearly as low of MPG as the fleet rigs you guys had, yes diesel would get somewhat better milage but not drastically different. For someone that is routinely running them hard then yep diesel will certain provide a much stronger benefit.


IMHO if there wasn't for the emissions systems then the cost differential would be far less and there would be the solid reliability of a basic turbo charged diesel. That would be a far different dynamic, but that isn't what we're working with. So with that in mind I'm happy with my dumb simple big block.

 

[IdahoBeav]

From the factory, the 7.3 is over $10k less than the diesel and has a higher payload capacity due to engine weight. If you're running a heavy load on the bed and rarely towing, the 7.3 should make sense.

 

[Ryan Avery]

I tracked both by Cummins and 7.3. for 75k+ miles. The 7.3 is 11 mpg, the Cummins was 15 mpg. This is an average with highway around town and towing a 10k to 12k trailer.

No doubt the diesel had more power, but it always had some kind of bullshit going on. The gasser eats more, but it just goes.

 

[bow puller]

I have towed a toy hauler thousands of miles with a '22 7.3 4.30 geared truck, short tripped it in cold weather a mile here and there many winters. Great truck, never had a light on the dash in 4.5yrs. Besides owning several diesels in the past I've done some tow testing the newest Ram and Ford diesels. I have $2500 cash offers from each mfg so I rented new trucks recently to test in case I wanted a new one and see what's changed.

A 2024 standard output cummins a buddy has was 21% more efficient towing over the 7.3 (hand calculated), could hold 6th on slight grade while building boost whereas the 7.3 needed to downshift to 7th. Pedal to the floor climbing a grade the 7.3 out accelerated the cummins with 11k lbs. On a 7% grade the ram maxed at 63mph, the 7.3 can do 70+ with the same load. Ram couldn't grab another gear without over revving plus it's only 370hp.

The 25+ cummins are nice with a much improved zf trans for anyone that's driven an Aisin. The Rams needed the 2 extra gears. The 25+ cummins can accelerate 11k up a grade like the 7.3 ford. To be expected, same power one has a turbo, the other more gears and powerband. The new cummins/zf combo exhaust brakes like a champ and they sound awesome doing it. Keeps the TC locked much longer than the '24 and earlier rams. Once ram get's a flat floor and full size cab/bed it will be a contender.

The s.o powerstroke is another step up from the new cummins h.o in power and efficiency (haven't driven an h.o powerstroke). Ford returned 9.6 vs 9 for the ram towing 11k plus anyone thats driven a 10spd powerstroke knows the power on tap. Exhaust brake is weaker but sufficient. The powerstroke regens are much faster plus they can be deleted.

With diesel running 20-30% higher and the 7.3 holding it's value more than a diesel let alone the emmisions crap or the cost to delete it checks a lot of boxes for those only towing a few times a month and driving short trips in the meantime.