Truck diesels are in a real horse race.

I’ve pulled over a million trailer miles with my personal pickup trucks.  So I loved it when Ford invited me to the deserts of Nevada and Arizona to test-drive their latest diesel with loaded trailers up long 6% grade hills and then down the fast side! I live in Denver next door to the Rocky Mountains. How a loaded truck performs up and down those hills safely is the first question my customers ask. We all want power going up the hill but the fast side of the mountain will test the safety of your highway neighbors who are looking for the “Runaway Ramp Just Ahead” signs for you as you fly by them with your brakes smoking trying to stop your trailer that wants to push you to a speed record through the pine trees as you fly off Interstate 70!

Finally a diesel built for thin air. So much of the vehicle world is tested at sea level and built to operate at sea level. It appears not much effort is put toward performance in the high altitude. Ford’s new Electronic Variable Response Turbocharger along with the new larger air cleaner is made to give you optimal performance on those mountain passes that can have snow on them year-round.

Two more valves per cylinder have been added to this all-new cast iron Power Stroke diesel for improved breathing and a new efficient digitally controlled hydraulic injector cranks out 26,000 psi of pressure to atomize the fuel for a cleaner more powerful combustion that is quieter do to pilot injection and more powerful than the 7.3L Power Stroke it replaces. The engine's new hydraulically actuated G2.8SV injectors will be sourced from a new U.S. joint venture with Siemens AG. The digital actuators, were developed by Navistar in a joint venture with the Colorado-based Sturman Engine Systems. The digital valve actuator, without the spring that a conventional solenoid actuator has, is faster using residual magnetism. This new digital valve accounts for some of the improvement in NOx emissions, and quieter pilot fuel injection timing. The whole Sturman digital valve story can be seen in the news section of www.MrTruck.net.

Ford increased cooling with a larger fan, higher radiator capacity and expanded size of the intercooler that feeds the larger variable airflow turbocharger. This new Electronic Variable Response Turbocharger offers a tremendous advantage here in Colorado pulling trailers in the mountains where the air is thin. The new EVRT turbo can give the engine increased air volume or shut down the air and increase backpressure when you need to slow down and doesn’t need a waste gate or the cold start butterfly in the exhaust.

While the new Ford diesel puts out 325 Horse Power at 3,300 rpm and 560 foot-pounds of torque at 2000 rpm it also has 500 foot-pounds of torque at 1500 rpm, which I was glad to see. The low end torque is what Power Stroke diesels were famous for and they still have it.

The second half the new 2003 Ford Super Duty appeal is the all-new TorqShift 5-speed automatic transmission. Automatics are becoming the #1 choice of pickup truck drivers. Ford Super Duty owners are buying 90% automatic transmissions verses closer to 50% of the Dodge diesel owners. Back in the Ford ‘99” model year and first year of the Super Duties, Ford introduced the much improved 4R100 automatic transmission to replace the E4OD behind the Power Stroke diesel. That 4R100 tranny was the first automatic transmission in a pickup truck that I could recommend for pulling trailers at the trucks capacity. Then in 2001 GM introduced the Allison Automatic 1000 transmission to be matched to their new Duramax diesel and we had two automatics that could handle the power of a diesel.

The new Ford transmission with Tow-Mode similarly to the GM Allison Automatic will allow you to downshift by tapping the brake pedal. This will lockup the transmission torque converter for holding power in each gear going down hill. The all-new 6.0L Ford Power Stroke works well with the new TorqShift for both sides of the hill. Giving you more power to climb uphill, shifting when needed to maintain speed and rpm while the all-new Electronic Variable Response Turbocharger, gives you the extra air your diesel needs for power and high altitude thin air. This same incredible variable turbocharger will also create some backpressure going down the hill to assist the Torque-Shift transmission and the 4-wheel disc brakes to safely slow you down according to Charles Freese, chief engineer of diesel engines for Ford. With the variable vanes in the new turbo, you can slow down the volume of air the turbo forces into the intake manifold, almost like what a throttle plate does in a gas engine to give you engine braking.

Service is also a highlight of the 2003 Ford Super Duty. The oil filter is on top of the engine next to the fuel filter and with the new automatic transmission filter below the engine, you don’t have to go deep for much of maintenance on the truck. The all-new air filter is still disposable, but it’s much larger to accommodate the increased air needs of this more powerful diesel and increased air volume turbo. The air filter is made of a composite material and is permanently attached to the plastic casing. So you don’t have to take a filter out of the air box, you replace the whole air box.

The new 2003 Ford Super Duty has the same C-channel frame as previous models. And I hope they keep it. A high percentage of these trucks will be attached to trailers and have accessories added to them. Trailer hitches attach to the frame and can be difficult with hydroformed frames.

The Quiet Diesels

In sound comparisons the Dodge is the most noticeable for the change. It was the loudest when its new 24-valve engine was introduced and now it sounds the quietest. Like when the GM Duramax first came out, a dramatic change is noticeable. With the sound meters, all three diesels were very close at an idle standing outside the trucks. Inside at idle, the Ford was the quietest.

The Performance Summary, My Test

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We drag raced Ford, Chevy and Dodge dually’s in the quarter-mile pulling 12500#”s of trailer. That was fun. I drove all three to the limit. The new Ford was the winner by at least 4 rig lengths. The Dodge with the standard diesel, not the High Output because of the automatic transmission, with the 4.10 axle ratio almost caught the more powerful Chevy Duramax in the quarter! That surprised me.

The new power moonroof option available with the Crew Cab Super Duty is exclusive to Ford, according to Tim Stoehr, Super Duty marketing manager for Ford. Other changes for 2003, finally a heated mirror option, mirror turn signals, a new Sport model, FX4 off road option and King Ranch model similar to the popular option on the F150. My favorite wheels are back from the 99 Super Duty Lariat model. They can be found on the new King Ranch model. The nice big outside door handles have been painted. In Ford cars they seem to alternate painting and not painting the door handles every other year.  I like to be able to scratch around the keyhole without scratching the paint.

Good news for the SUV world is the new 6.0L diesel and TorqShift transmission will also be available in the 2003 Excursion. Excursion is the largest SUV in the U.S. and the only one available with a diesel. The extra 600#’s of diesel engine up front is an asset when towing up to 11,000#’s of trailer with the Excursion properly equipped. The Excursion with the optional 6.0L diesel and TorqShift automatic transmission has the weight, wheelbase, width and power to make the best choice of any SUV for pulling trailers. The sad side is the Excursion is flagged for extinction after model year 2004. Start writing those letters to save the Excursion, we need the choices!

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