Ford loves aluminium -
especially when it comes to cutting weight from its F-Series trucks.
Now
the next-generation F-350, F-450 and F-550 Super Duty trucks for the first time
use high-strength, military-grade aluminum alloy throughout the cab. This improves 'ding and dent' resistance
while saving weight which can be translated into significant increases in
towing and payload capability, according to the company.
Ford engineers also claim the chassis
frame is the most rigid ever used in a Super Duty chassis cab.
Engineers point t its use of 95 per
cent high-strength steel offering eight times greater torsional rigidity than
the previous frame. Ford engineers note
too that welded cross-members and fully boxed rails extend under the cab and
forward to further boost rigidity.
Open C-channel frame rails behind the
cab have been added to the specification to deliver the 40,000-lb. maximum
gross combined weight rating and 500-lb. increase in front gross axle weight
rating, along with increased towing capacity over the previous Super Duty
chassis cab.
By making use of aluminium, Ford says
it has been able to save up to 350 lb in the all-new F-Series Super Duty and
reinvested those savings into tougher, stronger components.
As to the powertrain, with 330 bhp and
750 lb ft. of torque from the second-generation Ford-designed, 6.7-litre Power
Stroke V-8 diesel with its compacted graphite iron (CGI) vee cylinder block (the
company builds the engine at its Chihuahua, Mexico plant) Ford engineers claim
these are the best ratings for Class 4 and Class 5 Super Duty chassis cab
The Ford 6.7-litre diesel engine is
teamed with a Ford TorqShift HD six-speed automatic transmission.
Ford claims to be the only heavy-duty
truck manufacturer able to design and build its own diesel engine and transmission
combination, ensuring the powertrain works “seamlessly with all chassis
components and vehicle calibrations”. Ford engineers suggest this enables them
to optimize vehicle performance across the entire lineup.
The 6.7-litre Power Stroke for the Ford
F-650 and F-750 truck line has a B10 design life of at least 500,000 miles
according to Ford, meaning that 90 per cent of the engines are expected to go
farther than that without requiring a major service requiring removal of
cylinder heads or dropping the oil pan to reach internal components.
Boost for Class
8 efficiency
Meanwhile,
Reuben Sarkar,
the US Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary
for transportation, has announced that the department plans to invest
$80 million in SuperTruck II, building upon
the 2010 SuperTruck initiative.
"SuperTruck was
aimed at developing Class 8 tractor-trailers that have 50 per cent higher
freight efficiency than baseline models by the year 2015, with a percentage of
this coming from engine efficiency gains," he said.
In that earlier programme, four teams — Cummins-Peterbilt,
Daimler Trucks North America, Volvo and Navistar — embarked on efforts to reach
that goal compared with 2009 Class 8 models partly supported by DOE funds.
The Cummins-Peterbilt team
achieved a 70 per cent freight efficiency gain on a ton-mile-per-gallon basis,
and the Daimler team managed more than twice the goal with a 115 per cnet gain.
The Volvo and Navistar teams
are on track to exceed the 50 per cent mark as well, Sarkar added.
Under
the new scheme, DOE's SuperTruck II programme
not only aims to raises the bar for a 100 per cent freight efficiency gain compared
with that of 2009 Class 8 trucks, it emphasizes that the improvement be
attainable through affordable technologies.
Participants will be able to propose additional
applications beyond the first project's long-haul focus, Sarkar noted,
such as regional-haul trucking. SuperTruck II trucks will need to meet
performance, safety and emissions standards as well.
In a further
development, although Navistar International’s class 5 and 6 DuraStar
and WorkStar models will continue to be available with the company’s 9.3-litre
N9 and N10 diesels, customers now can specify instead Cummins’ 8.9 litre ISL.
Is this the
writing on the wall for these venerable Navistar truck diesels which can be traced
back to the well-known International DT-466 of over 40 years ago?
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