F53 5 speed vs new 6 speed.

[rodallg]

For all you drivers that have used both what is your impression? Gas mileage change, drive-ability, or not much change at all?
Please chime in since we're in the market and now have found out about the 6 speed and wondering if its worth the wait and the extra cost.

[superlucky]

I have not driven the old five speed, but I can tell you the new 6 speed works great. I expected more "hunting" when going up hills under load, but it worked quite well.

Bill

[Yellowboat]

We picked up our new Sightseer 33C built on the 2016 F-53 Ford chassis one week ago. I had the dealership install a trac bar, sway bar, and Safe-T-Plus steering damper.

Roadmaster's F-53 sway bar did not fit the 2016 chassis so Roadmaster sent a team up to examine my coach. They fit a sway bar designed for a Tiffin MH onto my chassis and they collected the data needed to design a sway bar for the 2016 chassis.

I haven't driven it since the 1.5 hour drive home and the 20 minute round trip to weigh our empty coach.

Our drive home was great. We were delayed two days because of the sway bar. So, the day we picked up our new coach was in the middle of a wind storm. Gusts up to 80 mph were measured. We drove home with cruise control set at 60 mph in a side wind, off shore wind. My guess is gusts were up to 45 mph during our drive. I felt the side wind a few times. Once when a truck was passing and he blocked the wind for a moment. Another time when coming out from a overpass. I didn't feel much, if any, of a bow wave from the trucks or a bus that passes us. The drive home after pickup our rig was great even in a wind storm.

We didn't drive through the mountains but there were a few small climbs on our trip home. I wanted to see how the new engine/ transmission combination worked. I tried accelerating up the hill and the engine rpm topped out at 4300 RPM's. I don't know if the engine/transmission combination will reach higher RPM's or not. With the gas pedal to the floor the shift points were a 4300 RPM's as well. When driving our 2006 F-53 chassis in the mountains I would disengage cruise control when it tried to pass the 4000 plus RPM range.

No gas mileage report yet. The delivery driver bragged of gas mileage just below 9 mpg and I read one account of 8.8 mpg but the poster said that mpg dropped when towing.

Safe travels. JD

[Fred and Bonnie]

JD, what was the engine RPM at 60 MPH. We had a 2001 F53, at that speed we were running a little over 3K RPM, and rather noisy.


Fred

[Yellowboat]

Originally Posted by Fred and Bonnie

JD, what was the engine RPM at 60 MPH. We had a 2001 F53, at that speed we were running a little over 3K RPM, and rather noisy.


Fred

Fred and Bonnie, I don't remember the RPMs at 60 mph but next time I drive our coach I will note the RPMs. Once loaded I will weigh the coach.

I'm busy adding mods. This afternoon I added a tube to store the dump hose. I installed an Amp-L-Start engine battery maintainer. And I installed my battery fill system to ease battery maintenance. JD

[CampDaven]

It's all about the final drive ratio via the differential.
Best wishes

[jharrell]

Originally Posted by CampDaven

It's all about the final drive ratio via the differential.
Best wishes

What about the transmissions ratios and tire size?

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by jharrell

What about the transmissions ratios and tire size?

Contributors fer sher

[Yellowboat]

Fred and Bonnie

I drove our RV today. RPMs at 65 MPH were 2,125 to 2,150 on the new six speed transmission. JD

[Gary RVRoamer]

I would suspect the final drive ratio with the 6-speed (in top gear) is little different than the 5-speed. The engine power output hasn't changed, so the top gear ratio isn't going to change much. The 6-speed gives more effective use of engine power in other-than-cruising situations, i.e. there is an extra gear in the middle ranges. Smoother acceleration, better mpg during acceleration or hill climbing, that sort of thing. When driving in town or in hilly terrain, mpg is probably slightly better. When driving on a flat interstate, probably almost no change.

Follow up: A quick check of the F53 specs show that the 5 speed top gear ratio was 0.71 and the 6 speed is 0.674, so a very slight improvement. The rear axle ratio varies with chassis GVWR but is the same for both years.

Detailed F53 specs for all years are available online at Ford Fleet.
https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas...16_F53_F59.pdf

[jharrell]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

I would suspect the final drive ratio with the 6-speed (in top gear) is no different than the 5-speed. .

5-speed
First Gear Ratio 3.11
Second Gear Ratio 2.22
Third Gear Ratio 1.55
Fourth Gear Ratio 1.00
Fifth Gear Ratio 0.71
Reverse Ratio 2.88

6-speed
First Gear Ratio 3.97
Second Gear Ratio 2.32
Third Gear Ratio 1.52
Fourth Gear Ratio 1.15
Fifth Gear Ratio 0.86
Sixth Gear Ratio 0.67
Reverse Ratio 3.13

The new 6th overdrive is about 6% higher in ratio than the old 5th which should result that much lower rpm at cruise. Whether that makes any significant difference in the real world remains to be seen.

[LDMcL]

Originally Posted by jharrell

...


The new 6th overdrive is about 6% higher in ratio than the old 5th which should result that much lower rpm at cruise. Whether that makes any significant difference in the real world remains to be seen.

jharrell:

I am not familiar with the Ford chassis. Did they keep the same differential ratio with the six speed?

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by LDMcL

jharrell:

I am not familiar with the Ford chassis. Did they keep the same differential ratio with the six speed?

Yes, according to the Ford specifications the 2016 MY rear-end ratios are:

16-18K GVWR: 4.30
20.5-22K GVWR: 5.38
24-26K GVWR: 6.17

Those are the same ratios as in previous years.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas...016/specs.html

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by Fred and Bonnie

JD, what was the engine RPM at 60 MPH. We had a 2001 F53, at that speed we were running a little over 3K RPM, and rather noisy.


Fred

I've got a 2011 F53, 22K GVWR, 5 speed tranny, 5.38 rear end, 19.5" wheels and at 60 mph I've got 2350 RPM's. I'd like it to be down around 2000 RPM's but that won't happen.