A New Year Begins With A New Truck

In October, while we were parked in the Dallas area for three weeks, we ordered a new F350 XLT from Bob Tomas Ford in McKinney, Texas. This is the third Ford truck we have ordered from this dealer. Our 2008 F450 was over 11 years old. Even though it had only 54,000 miles, it was time for an upgrade to a new model. Ford has enhanced the towing capacity of the F350 to the point that the specs now significantly exceed our previous F450. The engine, transmission and entire drivetrain has been reengineered since 2008. The 6.7 liter diesel engine paired with the 4.10 gear is a beast (40K GCWR).

 

After a couple of months of working for the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR, we drove our faithful old F450 north to McKinney to make the trade in December. The 600 mile drive back to the "Valley" in January, provided a nice break in for the new drivetrain before hitching our trailer up to it.

We factory ordered the hood deflector as well as the extended cab steps which make it easier to access the truck bed. We had an Access Laredo Roll-up Bed Cover installed at a local shop in Mission.

Ford calls this brown tone Stone Grey.

We installed a new tailgate liner and reinstalled the custom tool box from our old truck.

The factory installed a fifth wheel prep kit, 27.5K Reese hitch, and a high mount bed camera. The new Ford Puck system moves the bed rails to the underside of the truck in order to maximize bed space when the hitch is removed via four simple quarter turns.

 

We also ordered a 43 gallon auxiliary fuel tank from Aluminum Tank Industries in Winter Haven, Florida. We had it shipped to the refuge and Kurt and Virginia installed it. The factory Ford fuel tank is 48 gallons on a crew cab, so now we have a total fuel capacity of 91 gallons. This should minimize fuel stops when towing.