Update on our 2009 30TKE

[Butch50]

Just thought I would give an update on our new 30TKE. After our trip to SC I have to give them a big thumbs up. They did go above and beyond what I expected they would do in a short period of time. We had a nice chat with Bryan, we just happened to catch him there as he is out of town a lot at this time. Curtis Peterson was great to work with also, he came in on Monday his day off to work on our unit.

I had a nice long chat with Jack/Service Center he is a great person to have running the service center. What a great setup they have there.

Took a tour of the factory to see how they are built and the people there were busy building new Excels. Looked like they are still keep units rolling out the door (which is good for everybody).

After we left SC we have been on the road a lot. We drove back to Oregon and now we are in NW Montana (I know we turned the wrong way and went north instead of south). We have traveled over 7,000 miles since 8/29/08. There was also a period of about 14 days that we did not move in that time frame. So we have traveled all of that mileage in about 26 days. We are ready to slow do a little now. It is supposed to be down to 26 here tonight. We are busy taking all of the stuff out that might freeze as the unit will go into storage this week or the first part of next week. We got lucky and someone just moved out of covered storage and we got it, so our new unit can stay under cover here for the winter.

I pulled our 30TKE Limited with our 2006 3500 Dodge Cummins SRW from Moriarty, NM to SC and then back to OR. After getting back to OR I decided I wanted to see how our 2006 F550 pulled it. So when we left OR I hitched it to the Ford and off we went, traveled over 1100 miles with the Ford. I want to go down to one truck now that we are retired and now I know which one I'll keep. Can you guess which one I'll be keeping???

I'll see if anyone can guess which truck won out for us.

EDIT: I made a mistake on this post earlier and it should have been Curtis Peterson not Chris..

[Butch50]

Just thought I would give an update on our new 30TKE. After our trip to SC I have to give them a big thumbs up. They did go above and beyond what I expected they would do in a short period of time. We had a nice chat with Bryan, we just happened to catch him there as he is out of town a lot at this time. Curtis Peterson was great to work with also, he came in on Monday his day off to work on our unit.

I had a nice long chat with Jack/Service Center he is a great person to have running the service center. What a great setup they have there.

Took a tour of the factory to see how they are built and the people there were busy building new Excels. Looked like they are still keep units rolling out the door (which is good for everybody).

After we left SC we have been on the road a lot. We drove back to Oregon and now we are in NW Montana (I know we turned the wrong way and went north instead of south). We have traveled over 7,000 miles since 8/29/08. There was also a period of about 14 days that we did not move in that time frame. So we have traveled all of that mileage in about 26 days. We are ready to slow do a little now. It is supposed to be down to 26 here tonight. We are busy taking all of the stuff out that might freeze as the unit will go into storage this week or the first part of next week. We got lucky and someone just moved out of covered storage and we got it, so our new unit can stay under cover here for the winter.

I pulled our 30TKE Limited with our 2006 3500 Dodge Cummins SRW from Moriarty, NM to SC and then back to OR. After getting back to OR I decided I wanted to see how our 2006 F550 pulled it. So when we left OR I hitched it to the Ford and off we went, traveled over 1100 miles with the Ford. I want to go down to one truck now that we are retired and now I know which one I'll keep. Can you guess which one I'll be keeping???

I'll see if anyone can guess which truck won out for us.

EDIT: I made a mistake on this post earlier and it should have been Curtis Peterson not Chris..

[camperguy]

Butch
Does the person who guesses correctly get the other truck?
If so, then my first guess is the Dodge, and my second guess would be the Ford.

[rockintom]

Butch,

How in the world can we make a decision like this without the gear ratios of both trucks? More info needed. Glad things are gettin' better for you. I still think you're nuts for staying in the cold weather. There is a reason folks go south....

[Lori & Scott]

I'm guessing the Dodge, but then I kinda like my Cummins.

[TXiceman]

I certainly would not want the 6.0L Ford.

Ken

[Still Working "NOT"]

Ford, hands down. Then you can buy a bigger Excel and it will handle it. Yes I'm a Ford/Chevy type of guy.

[LarryGodby]

I would think Ford also.

Larry,

Are you qualified to answer that question? Some time back you thought about using the Mule to tow your trailer 4 miles when you had it hooked up to the PU truck. Seems to me you might be a bit spoiled.

[Butch50]

Will for the people that need more info.

Dodge: Cummins: Rear ratio 3.73: 6 speed manual: exhaust brake: Quad Cab: Laramie interior:SRW: Upgraded tires to Toyo 285/70R/17 with a load rating of 3740 @80PSI.

Ford: 6.0 Rear Ratio 4.88: Torqshift Auto: Crew Cab: Lariat: DRW: Dual Fuel tanks (59 gallons)

The Ford has a 200,000 mile till 2013 extended warranty through Ford. It also has the latest 6.0 commonization heads. They started making changes to the 6.0 heads for the 6.4. The head bolts were changed and the list goes on and on all of the things my 6.0 has changed on it from the original engine. Lots of parts from my 6.0 will not fit the older 6.0

If you would like to read of all the differences you can read them here. Just go a ways down the page and look for the post by Maxium4x4

Rockin, I knew somebody would think I made a wrong turn but I really need to help my mom out some and this just happens to be were she lives. Who knows that we might be able to go south a little latter.

camperguy, no sorry the correct guess does not get the one I don't pick.

Still Working, already had the bigger 5er (2007 35RSE) of course an Excel. We are downsizing.

To give a little hint this trailer even though shorter is heavy with the 2 long slideouts. Also believe it or not there is not that much difference in MPG when traveling at 60 to 65 MPH. Naturally the Dodge does a little better but in fairness to the Ford the 5er was heavier when we traveled to MT and there was a lot more pulling hills and passes for the Ford than the Dodge. For one run (37 gallons to refill) I got 10.8 MPG on the Ford which I think is pretty good. More and steeper hills coming to MT compared to across the plains. Also empty the Ford weighs over 2,000# more. Now empty there is no compairision between the 2, the Dodge wins hands down. I won't be driving the truck that much except short distances when not towing as we will just take the wifes car for normal running around. Besides she wants me to go down to one truck so we can get a 2 seat sports car (fits in garage along with wifes car so only one truck in driveway) instead of 2 trucks.

I would really like to keep both but I don't have room for them at the house (and no the solution is not to move into a different house .

I like both of them and they are both great trucks but as I said just no need for 2 of them.

[rockintom]

Thanks for the info Butch. I wouldn't want to pull with the Dodge with that gear ratio and those tall tires. You're probably more in the neighborhood of a 3.65 gear ratio than a 3.73. JIMHO. I can see why you picked the Ford now. We just needed more analytical poop to help get the guessing down to a minimum! Isn't this fun?

[LindaH]

While I'm not a Ford fan (don't like the Powerstroke diesel), the single rear wheels of the Dodge would be a deal breaker for us...the pin weight of our loaded 30RKE would be too much for a single rear wheel truck!

[Butch50]

Rockin,

Actually the tires only raised the truck about 1" and with the 6 speed stick and the 3.73 it towed great. At 65 MPH it turns right in the area of 2000 RPM and the Ford turns 2450. The Dodge manual trans is gread down. I hardly ever had to shift the truck down. It would just keep pulling.

LindaH,

You are right the SRW was the killer for me also. I still had plenty of tire capacity left but I just felt that the 5er was trying to push me at times. With the Ford DRW it never felt like I was getting pushed around.

So there you have it, it is the Ford. Even though I have been a Ford person for over 36 years (first one new was a 1972 F250 4X4) I was worried about the 6.0. I have had (3) 7.3 over the years and have never had a problem with them. When I bought the F550 they were the only ones around that could be made to look like a F350 DRW. My truck looks just like a F350 just with 19.5 tires.

Also in the future for use in MT I'm thinking about a pickup camper and the F550 is the perfect truck for that.

If Dodge had the 4500/5500 series trucks out when I ordered my Ford then it might have been another story. This is my first Dodge that I have ever owned and I have to admit I really like it. I don't think Dodge has as quite as nice of an interior as the Ford, but my Dodge has some things in it that wasn't even avaialble on the Ford that I'm going to miss.

But that is my story and I'm going to stick with it.