For a truck lineup that began in 1948, Ford’s F-Series has come a long way. As a tribute to its 60th anniversary, Ford has given its 2008 F-Series Super Duty truck line added touches of luxury, ruggedness and functionality to create a truck equally at home on jobsites or ferrying clients to a business dinner.

Cleaner, more powerful engine
Those improvements begin under the hood. The Super Duty’s standard 6.4-liter Power Stroke turbo-diesel engine offers significant improvements over its predecessor. The engine delivers 350 horsepower at 3,000 rpm – up from 300 horsepower – and 650 foot-pounds of torque at 2,000 rpm – an increase from 575 foot-pounds of torque – all while reducing particulate matter emissions by 90 percent and NOx output by 50 percent.

“We went out and analyzed customer vehicle uses,” says Rick Renwick, diesel power train chief engineer. “Based on that feedback, we developed tests for the engine systems and performed 780 different tests on the engines, which added up to more than 10 million miles of pre-production testing.”

As part of the engine redesign, Ford developed a ceramic catalyzed particulate filter, which operates much like a three-way catalyst. Enio Gomez, the Ford F-Series Super Duty diesel power train manager, says it was critical to control fuel regeneration. “We had to figure out how high the temperature the gas from exhaust system could be raised to burn off soot without burning the ceramic casing,” he explains. To aid recirculation, dual EGR coolers with air oxidation catalysts keep the exhaust cool.

The redesign also includes a high-pressure, common-rail fuel system with Piezo-electric injectors to control noise and emissions. Once Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel flows through the rail, it is pressurized and injected into the cylinders at up to five injections per combustion cycle, which allows for more control during the combustion process.

The new engine gave Ford engineers a chance to make serviceability improvements as well. As a result, the fuel filter is easier to access and oil change intervals have increased to 10,000 miles, which doubles most current oil change intervals. “Customers can still use mineral oil or synthetic, even with the 10,000-mile oil interval change,” Renwick says.

Tow it up
Advancements don’t end with the Super Duty’s engine. The 2008 F-450 pickup has a towing capacity of 24,000 pounds and a maximum payload of more than 6,000 pounds.

To handle heavier payloads, Ford put 19-inch commercial tires on the F-450, which comes standard with a 16,000-pound conventional trailer hitch. For those who want a different hitch, a gooseneck trailer plate is available.