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New Light & Medium Duty News


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I have seen the trucks, and I saw a lot of both GM and Navistar in them.  I was told GM and Navistar engineers collaborated extensively on them, and it seems to show.  As Ford the Blue Diamond trucks, they looked like Super Duty cabs on 4400 chassis with vendor powertrains.  Almost looked like a hack job, nothing Ford outside of the cab (which was why I was glad Ford went 'in house' with the new 650/750).  Interested to see what future GM/NAV joint venture trucks look like.  As for towing, we don't as a rule tow any more with a class 4/5 than we do with a heavy pickup.   

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12 minutes ago, twintornados said:

You should've told them that PSI has a helluva offering...oh, wait.....

Ya' know......  Rumors are the new 6.6L gas V-8 will be in the Silverado 4500/5500/6500 and International CV, along with the Isuzu FTR and Chevy 6500 LCF's in 2020.  There have been some interesting rumblings about the PSI 8.8L.  My completely wild hunch is that it may see service in upcoming GM/Navistar joint venture trucks.   

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On 2/25/2019 at 12:13 PM, Bob Rosadini said:

Thx for posting.  Not sure about his statement that the GM/International frames were  not as strong as the Ford/ ram frames because they ..."were concentrating on suitability for GVW ranges, not towing".  I may be wrong but if anything wouldn't a truck dependent on carrying the entire weight need more "beef than one that has some of that load on a towed vehicle's frame/axles???

In any case I posted this a while back...

"I think the Internationals will do very well with anyone who currently operates class 6 and 7 trucks.  As I have said,  the Bluediamond Ford 750's did well with the Utilities when they had the Cummins/Allison power train.  The OAP 750's have virtually the same specs-frames, axles etc. What they don't have is the Cummins/Allison combo and that is hurting them..  In any case the utilities up here (National Grid, Eversource) are buying International and F'liners for their heavy class 7 line trucks.  I would think the CV will be a big hit with them as it will be one stop shopping.

Stay tuned for what starts showing up at the local Altech yard."

 

By the way, I swung through the Altech yard last week.. Still full of 550's awaiting installs and a the usual large number of f'liners, Internationals and Paccars in class  7 and above.  Seems like these utilities keep getting bigger and heavier chassis.  Actually some set up as triaxles and even some tandems with driving front axles.  

 
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My son works for ALTEC in VA. I'll ask him to keep an eye (& ear) for the medium GM's as well.

 

He also travels to all their plants in the US. His involvement is in the IT dept. 

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3 hours ago, 351cid said:

My son works for ALTEC in VA. I'll ask him to keep an eye (& ear) for the medium GM's as well.

 

He also travels to all their plants in the US. His involvement is in the IT dept. 

Great.  Judging by the level of activity at this facility (Sterling, MA) your son must be a busy guy.  The facility is not that big.  When I see the backlog that they have I think these guys need help-and a bigger facility?

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14 hours ago, Bob Rosadini said:

Great.  Judging by the level of activity at this facility (Sterling, MA) your son must be a busy guy.  The facility is not that big.  When I see the backlog that they have I think these guys need help-and a bigger facility?

As I understand it, they keep a 45-60 day back log @ all locations. 

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On 2/28/2019 at 8:58 AM, theoldwizard said:

I live in SE MI.  I am still surprised to have seen ZERO F750 dumps for city/county use !

You are not alone.  The city of Boston bought some 650's last year but everything in New England is mostly F'liners or Internationals. Mack Granites are also doing well with Cummins power.  Some say that Ford does not offer a heavy enough front axle (14,000 current ) but IMO I think the biggest drawback is the 6.7/ torque shift combo.  Make a Cummins/Allison an available option (or for that matter 9.3 from Turkey and Allison) and you might see some.

I'm a prejudiced Ford guy.  But would I feel confident with a 750 handling a front plow plus a wing and about 6 or 7 yards in a spreader body?  Don't think so

I went through one of the biggest equipment installers yards last week and not a Ford in sight-other than 450/550.

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7 minutes ago, Bob Rosadini said:

You are not alone.  The city of Boston bought some 650's last year but everything in New England is mostly F'liners or Internationals. Mack Granites are also doing well with Cummins power.  Some say that Ford does not offer a heavy enough front axle (14,000 current ) but IMO I think the biggest drawback is the 6.7/ torque shift combo.  Make a Cummins/Allison an available option (or for that matter 9.3 from Turkey and Allison) and you might see some.

I'm a prejudiced Ford guy.  But would I feel confident with a 750 handling a front plow plus a wing and about 6 or 7 yards in a spreader body?  Don't think so

I went through one of the biggest equipment installers yards last week and not a Ford in sight-other than 450/550.

The big Turk 9L already has an Eaton trans backing it up, so....

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As we have discussed before, even if every 650 and 750 came with the Otosan 9L, it wouldn't be enough volume to justify spending the money to EPA/CARB certify it.  Probably wouldn't fit in the new 650/750 without a lot of modifications, and Otosan's capacity is so small they likely couldn't supply Ford with many engines anyway.  Too bad, might make for a decent truck.

With Brazil gone, what medium/heavy truck markets are Ford participating in other than the JV's in Turkey and China?

  

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7 hours ago, Bob Rosadini said:

You are not alone.  The city of Boston bought some 650's last year but everything in New England is mostly F'liners or Internationals. Mack Granites are also doing well with Cummins power.  Some say that Ford does not offer a heavy enough front axle (14,000 current ) but IMO I think the biggest drawback is the 6.7/ torque shift combo.  Make a Cummins/Allison an available option (or for that matter 9.3 from Turkey and Allison) and you might see some.

I'm a prejudiced Ford guy.  But would I feel confident with a 750 handling a front plow plus a wing and about 6 or 7 yards in a spreader body?  Don't think so

I went through one of the biggest equipment installers yards last week and not a Ford in sight-other than 450/550.

Around here (NE OH) just about every municipal dump is also a plow/spreader. With a 10 to 12 ft heavy plow, around here an 18K to 20K front axle is pretty much standard. F750 is nowhere near that. And the frames on the SA International plow/spreaders around here are more than a bit heavier than the F750 frame. F750 makes a nice landscaper/contractor dump, but is nowhere near the spec needed for a municipal dump/plow/spreader. Hey even some school districts spec a 20K front axle for the school buses.

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5 hours ago, 7Mary3 said:

As we have discussed before, even if every 650 and 750 came with the Otosan 9L, it wouldn't be enough volume to justify spending the money to EPA/CARB certify it.  Probably wouldn't fit in the new 650/750 without a lot of modifications, and Otosan's capacity is so small they likely couldn't supply Ford with many engines anyway.  Too bad, might make for a decent truck.

With Brazil gone, what medium/heavy truck markets are Ford participating in other than the JV's in Turkey and China?

  

I am told by a very knowledgeable source when it comes to the world wide scene on heavy trucks, The Ecotorque 9 meets Euro 6 stds and getting US  EPA  cert is not that difficult.  Getting it to fit in a 750?  Probably the same deal as when GMC stuck an 8V-71 in a J(?), Dodge stuck an 8V-71 in a CN and Mack put a V-903 in a U model.Jack it up in the air a couple of inches and add some new sheet metal/fairings?

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I guess I will put this here for the lack of a better place. Recently read a news release on the "Tesla pickup" and it mentioned a 300,000 lb towing capacity ??? Guess they want to cover classes 2 thru 8 and then some.

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6 minutes ago, lfeg said:

I guess I will put this here for the lack of a better place. Recently read a news release on the "Tesla pickup" and it mentioned a 300,000 lb towing capacity ??? Guess they want to cover classes 2 thru 8 and then some.

Surely that's a misprint on their part. Impossible to tow that much electric power, let alone diesel in the towing vehicle's size.

Also, Mike Levine posted some info about the updated 2020 Transit van on his Twitter.  He then Tweeted that there will be more Ford Trucks news coming later. Someone asked if it was Medium Duty and he replied with 'all duty'. I'm thinking Medium Duty and more info about the updated 2020 Super Duty including the likely more info of the new gas 7.3L V8 engine. Next generation F-150 perhaps including the Hybrid and Electric? I heard rumors that there will be a next generation Econoline E-Series coming so hopefully announcement/reveal of that coming if it's true. Seeing how Ford has a presentation tomorrow morning at Work Truck Show, I'm guessing Mike meant more info coming later when the embargo lifts after midnight tonight.

http://www.worktruckshow.com/WTS/educational_sessions/WTS19_sessions/Ford_Commercial_Vehicles_Update_Session_9_45_11_a.m._.aspx

 

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Well looks like the announcement has just arrived. More info about updated 2020 Super Duty and Transit. Updated 2020 Medium Duty as well as the fact that the E-Series does indeed live on! Updated for 2021 as well as its F53 and F59 Stripped Chassis. Oh yeah, check out the all-new F600 Super Duty!!!

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2019/03/05/updated-ford-commercial-vehicle-lineup.html

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The Silverado 6500 has Ford nervous!  F-600 is a good move even though it's still a little under the 6500's max. GVW..  The only problem with it is I see it eating a lot of F-650 sales, and if that happens too much I can see the 650/750 going away.  Also of interest is it seems Ford is going straight to the 2021 650/750, so the earlier rumors were sort of true, there won't be a 2020 medium duty.  

Edited by 7Mary3
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2 minutes ago, 7Mary3 said:

The Silverado 6500 has Ford nervous!  F-600 is a good move even though it's still a little under the 6500's max. GVW..  The only problem with it is I see it eating a lot of F-650 sales, and if that happens too much I can see the 650/750 going away.  Also of interest is it seems there will not be a 2020 650/750, so the earlier rumors were sort of true, there won't be a 2020 medium duty.  

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2019/03/05/updated-ford-commercial-vehicle-lineup.html

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2 minutes ago, 7Mary3 said:

Also of interest is it seems Ford is going straight to the 2021 650/750, so the earlier rumors were sort of true, there won't be a 2020 medium duty.  

That actually answers our question as to why there were no 2020 Medium Duty listed in the future products plan. Didn't think about that until you brought it up. True what you say about the potential of F-600 taking sales from F-650 and F-750. But I'm more excited about the fact that the Econoline E-Series is sticking around. I figured it would go away replaced with a Transit cab of sorts for body-on-frame setup. This is great to me and interesting that the Econoline cab seems to not be changed at all.

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1 minute ago, pffan1990 said:

That actually answers our question as to why there were no 2020 Medium Duty listed in the future products plan. Didn't think about that until you brought it up. True what you say about the potential of F-600 taking sales from F-650 and F-750. But I'm more excited about the fact that the Econoline E-Series is sticking around. I figured it would go away replaced with a Transit cab of sorts for body-on-frame setup. This is great to me and interesting that the Econoline cab seems to not be changed at all.

False. That original 2020 production schedule was riddled with mistakes. It has since been updated. 2020 medium duty is a carryover model. 

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5 minutes ago, pffan1990 said:

Not sure if you saw that but I had already posted the link about 10 minutes ago. This is so exciting for me! What do you think about all this?

Truth be told, I really don't care. Not something I will ever buy. I only posted the Ford press release because I know there's plenty of people who do. 

Edited by fuzzymoomoo
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5 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

False. That original 2020 production schedule was riddled with mistakes. It has since been updated. 2020 medium duty is a carryover model. 

I wasn't aware there were mistakes and that it had been corrected/updated. Clearly I didn't see the updated production schedule. I won't be buying the commercial vehicles either but am still excited to see what are coming out to compete in the commercial market.

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