# plowing with a f250 6.0L diesel



## treesnsnow (Aug 28, 2009)

I have plowed for the past 3 years with a 2005 f150 ext cab short box with a 5.4l engine and have been running a 7'6" snoway plow without a problem. I am looking into a 2005 f250with the 6.0L crew cab short box. is there anything different i should know about plowing with this truck or with a diesel. i do plan on running the 7'6" snoway for this year as well if that matters. any imput would be great


----------



## ajslands (Sep 3, 2009)

Turning radius isn't as good as the gas, and it's a long truck!


----------



## Cooter24 (Nov 13, 2007)

Why is the turning radius any different than the gas?


----------



## mycirus (Dec 6, 2008)

I wouldnt buy a truck with that engine in it. That 6.0 has a bad reputation. Im sure there are some good ones out there but I wouldnt want to find out the hard way I have a bad one.


----------



## fatheadon1 (Dec 27, 2007)

heres a pic of my old truck same as what your looking into








only thing id be worryed about is breaking your plow, 8000lb truck and the power of the diesel you can break stuff quick. as for the 6.0 mine was sold in feb this year with 115,000 on the clock it now has 140,000 and still runs like a top. any diesel newer then the year 2000 has a chance of being a money pit with all the epa crap, if ya want the power of a newer diesel its a gamble ya gotta be willing to take


----------



## NBI Lawn (Oct 15, 2007)

With my experience plowing with the 6.0 I dont like it at all. The boost takes so long to come in the truck seems underpowered. Also when coming up to a curb and slowing down to lift the blade over it the truck loses power and wont want to push the pile over the curb. I like the trucks and the one I drove never had any major issues yet was one of the hated plowing trucks in the fleet. The owner liked it though. 

Sorry that was hard to follow and maybe didnt make any sense .


----------



## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

Makes sense- the turbo lag of the 6.0 sucks for plowing in your opinion.


----------



## ajslands (Sep 3, 2009)

Cooter24;1097207 said:


> Why is the turning radius any different than the gas?


Because you don't have coil springs, you have leaf Spings.


----------



## fatheadon1 (Dec 27, 2007)

turbo lag? yea if your dragracing not plowing snow You will only feel turbo lag when you have your foot 2 the floor. Idk about you but I'm paid by the hour, I plow In 2wd most of the time and never feel the turbo boost unless stacking snow.


----------



## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

ajslands;1097370 said:


> Because you don't have coil springs, you have leaf Spings.


The 2005's have coil springs. The turning radius will be worse because its a much longer truck.


----------



## ajslands (Sep 3, 2009)

plowguy43;1097514 said:


> The 2005's have coil springs. The turning radius will be worse because its a much longer truck.


That must be the year they stared the coil spring because my 04 has leaf springs. Plowing with a crew cab is just like plowing with a long bed. I believe it's 17' long.


----------



## ajslands (Sep 3, 2009)

NBI Lawn;1097297 said:


> With my experience plowing with the 6.0 I dont like it at all. The boost takes so long to come in the truck seems underpowered. Also when coming up to a curb and slowing down to lift the blade over it the truck loses power and wont want to push the pile over the curb. I like the trucks and the one I drove never had any major issues yet was one of the hated plowing trucks in the fleet. The owner liked it though.
> 
> Sorry that was hard to follow and maybe didnt make any sense .


Why do you need the turbo for pushing snow?


----------



## ajslands (Sep 3, 2009)

mycirus;1097242 said:


> I wouldnt buy a truck with that engine in it. That 6.0 has a bad reputation. Im sure there are some good ones out there but I wouldnt want to find out the hard way I have a bad one.


 I got a good one! 04 though. Only had one problem and that was the alternator at a 101,000 miles so it wasn't under warrenty


----------



## Pinky Demon (Jan 6, 2010)

ajslands;1097840 said:


> Why do you need the turbo for pushing snow?


Because you don't have 2 extra naturally aspirated cylinders? 

6.0L isn't a bad engine if you work it over right with the right mods, OP. Just find one with a good history.


----------



## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

I agree with Pinky- there must be a reason you see so many 6.0's running around on the road for companies. Not all of them are bad, and I'm willing to bet money that a majority of them have been trouble free. Run a safe tune, delete the EGR and I think you have a solid diesel on your hands.


----------



## A&MLANDSCAPING (Apr 5, 2010)

you take care of a 6.0 it will take care of you ya theres some bad ones egr delete and head studs it should be ok


----------



## ajslands (Sep 3, 2009)

plowguy43;1098222 said:


> I agree with Pinky- there must be a reason you see so many 6.0's running around on the road for companies. Not all of them are bad, and I'm willing to bet money that a majority of them have been trouble free. Run a safe tune, delete the EGR and I think you have a solid diesel on your hands.


It is a great engine! Besides alternator at 101,000 miles.


----------



## got-h2o (Sep 26, 2008)

Turbo lag? 6.0's have low end boost. One reason you can hear the turbo at idle. When you mash on it from a stop light not under a load, yes, there is a little bit of lag. Under any load, they spool instantly. I'm not one to brag much on Fords, or 6.0's for that matter, but they plow great b/c of that, not the opposite.


----------



## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

I noticed that too especially compared to the 7.3's. The turbo is spooling all the time it seems.


----------



## sno commander (Oct 16, 2007)

NBI lawn was feeling the difference from the straight 6 to the v-8. the cummins makes much more torque form idle till the turbo spools vs v8 diesels. not bashing anything just telling the facts


----------



## got-h2o (Sep 26, 2008)

sno commander;1098755 said:


> NBI lawn was feeling the difference from the straight 6 to the v-8. the cummins makes much more torque form idle till the turbo spools vs v8 diesels. not bashing anything just telling the facts


You can't compare "Cummins" in general. Being a V8 or inline 6 really doesn't have anything to do with turbo lag in comparison, although I get what you mean with low end torque doing the work before the turbo spools. Gated/non gated turbos vs VVT's/VGT's are one big reason, not to mention the inducer wheel size and so on. 6.0's are actually smaller and spool low end with less needed torque which is actually ideal for plowing. I'd rather use the turbo than natural aspiration, and VVT/VGT's make that happen. Put me in my LLY vs my LB7's any day, same goes for my 6.0 over a 7.3, and both my 12V Cummins are pigs......such that they don't even have gates. Sure they have plenty of torque, but hit the go pedal in a VVT'd truck and you instantly notice the difference.

That being said, high torque vs low hp was Cummins strong suit back in the day. If you want to compare recent torque and HP #'s, the Dmax has been on top since day one.


----------



## Pinky Demon (Jan 6, 2010)

got-h2o;1098768 said:


> *I'd rather use the turbo than natural aspiration*,


I want to go in on this statement, and no, I'm not trying to turn this into a gas v. diesel debate.

One reason I love the V10 is because of the low end power. Okay, it might not be as much as a diesel, but it is damned near instant because of the NA design plus 10 cylinders. Because of this instant steady building torque, it makes throttle control very easy. You want more power? Take it up another 200 RPMs, it's instant on. No waiting in the slightest, with very, very responsive control and a fast revving needle, something I have yet to see in a diesel. (And I have driven the 6.4L and 6.7L, and neither rev as freely or as quickly as the V10. The throttle response cannot compare.)


----------



## got-h2o (Sep 26, 2008)

Put a turbo on your V10 and you'll agree with me. There is no wait, or turbo lag on VVT/VGT'd vehicles......that was my whole point. A diesel has plenty of power without a turbo, they are just much more efficiant with one........and there starts the debate.

Those that claim there is turbo lag or delay really hasn't experienced a diesel. It's typically the test drive guys that think they really had all around diesel experience b/c they mashed on it once or twice in their joy ride around the block, or used to drive some old school gated turbo diesel for work. They aren't made to go fast (although they do). Under a load is when the turbo works. Until you're plowing daily or towing daily you'll never really know. Constant load never would make the turbo lag whatsoever. The second you take off it's spooled. Yet another reason MPG's really don't change much loaded.


----------



## gtstang462002 (Dec 23, 2009)

ajslands;1097838 said:


> That must be the year they stared the coil spring because my 04 has leaf springs. Plowing with a crew cab is just like plowing with a long bed. I believe it's 17' long.


They started with the coil springs in 2005.


plowguy43;1098222 said:


> I agree with Pinky- there must be a reason you see so many 6.0's running around on the road for companies. Not all of them are bad, and I'm willing to bet money that a majority of them have been trouble free. Run a safe tune, delete the EGR and I think you have a solid diesel on your hands.


The reason you see a lot of companies running them with little to no problems is just because of that, they run them 5 days a week on average. The 6.0 wasn't a motor that liked to sit still. I know a guy running around in my area that had 360,000 miles on an '05 delivering prebuilt sheds. He has had one injector put in it and an one EGR valve. I haven't had him come back to me for anything else in close to 6 months, though I still see him going up and down the road. Most of the people that have issues with their 6.0's are the guys that let their truck sit in the driveway to pull their camper 3-5 times a year.


----------



## Tony350 (Feb 6, 2010)

I have an 07 6.0 ext. cab long box and love plowing with it. A std cab would be nice on some of the resi plowing but other than that I think it is great.


----------



## F-250 SD (Jan 30, 2005)

I had an '03 F-250 crew cab which had about 120,000miles and now have an '06 F-250 crew cab which has 112,000 miles. Never had any major problems with either 6.0's.Routine maintenance is key. As for plowing we do large commercial lots and the length never has been a problem. 

Like GTSTANG said they like to run. When you let them idle too long you usually have trouble with the EGR. I average 35-40,000miles a year and drive it like I stole it and never have any real problems.


----------

