Ford F-Series Super Duty to Reclaim Best-in-Class Conventional Towing Ratings

The 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty and GM Heavy Duty pickups were introduced a year ago but the battle between these giants for best-in-class bragging rights continues. The latest move: Ford is set to reclaim the top spot for maximum conventional towing from the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra HD twins.

Next Monday, Feb. 7 – if the massive winter storm bearing down on the Midwest doesn't disrupt production – Ford F-350 and F-450 two-wheel and four-wheel drive dual rear wheel SuperCrew pickups will roll off the assembly line able to pull up to 17,500 pounds with their ball hitches, according to Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari.

"We're adding upgraded towing hardware to the trucks," Gattari said. "New hitches will work with the frame change we made [in August 2010]."

Last year, Ford made a running change to the Super Duty's ladder frame that reengineered the number six cross member with high-strength steel. That change, plus a power hike to 400 horsepower and 800 pounds-feet of torque for the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 diesel, increased maximum payload to a best-in-class 7,070 pounds and maximum fifth wheel towing to a best-in-class 22,600 pounds for the Ford F-350. The Ford F-450 can tow a segment-leading 24,500 pounds with a fifth wheel trailer.

The previous maximum conventional towing weight rating for Super Duty was 16,000 pounds, 1,000 pounds less than the Chevy Silverado 3500HD and GMC Sierra 3500HD with four-wheel drive and the 397 horsepower, 765 pounds-feet 6.6-liter Duramax V-8.

Ford's revised 2.5-inch Class 5 hitches will still come with removable 2-inch reducer sleeves.

Unlike GM's HD pickups, which only require a weight carrying hitch to pull conventional trailers at their max rating, the Super Duty's maximum WC hitch capacity will be 8,000 pounds. Towing trailers with weights above that amount will require the use of a weight distributing hitch, according to Ford.

WC hitches place a trailer's full tongue weight on the hitch ball, while a WD hitch's special equalizer bars connect truck and trailer to redistribute the leverage placed by tongue weight on the ball to more of the trailer and more of the truck frame.

With Ford aggressively pushing the limits of HD capabilities, we wonder how much more of an increase the segment can handle before these heavy-duty pickups turn into over-the-road medium-duty haulers. It's unlikely that GM (or Ram) will respond to this news passively. Could 18,000 pounds max conventional towing could become the new 17,500 pounds?

January 2011 Top 10 Pickup Truck Sales

Top 10 Pickup Truck Sales in January 2011

Rank	YTD Sales	YTD vs. 2010	Year-Over-Year	Monthly Sales	Last 12 months

1	Ford F-Series	+29.6%	January 2011	35,806
	35,806		January 2010	27,630

2	Chevrolet Silverado	+23.7%	January 2011	28,172
	28,172		January 2010	22,772

3	Ram Trucks	+22%	January 2011	12,197
	12,197		January 2010	9,957

4	GMC Sierra	+46.2%	January 2011	10,627
	10,627		January 2010	7,271

5	Toyota Tacoma	+5.8%	January 2011	7,140
	7,140		January 2010	6,747

6	Toyota Tundra	+55.9%	January 2011	6,087
	6,087		January 2010	3,904

7	Ford Ranger	-31.3%	January 2011	2,848
	2,848		January 2010	4,143

8	Nissan Frontier	+43%	January 2011	2,796
	2,796		January 2010	1,955

9	Chevrolet Colorado	+13.7%	January 2011	2,204
	2,204		January 2010	1,939

10	Nissan Titan	-4.1%	January 2011	1,431
	1,431		January 2010	1,492

Notable Items:

- Ford Ranger, Nissan Titan and Toyota Tacoma hit 12-month sales lows

Prices for Classic Pickups Pick Up at Auctions

By Larry Edsall for PickupTrucks.com

On the third day of the 40th annual Barrett-Jackson classic car auction last week in Scottsdale, Ariz., the vehicle that brought the most money – a whopping $157,300 – was – wait for it – a pickup truck.

Of the 250 or so vehicles that sold that day at what's billed as the "world's greatest collector car event," the highest bids weren't on the featured 1968 Ford Mustang fastback. Or the 1965 Studebaker Champion Conestoga custom wagon. Or the Dodge Viper. Or any of the Chevrolet Corvettes. Or the 1969 Chevy Camaro SS convertible. Or the 1933 Ford Highboy roadster. Or the 1938 Lincoln Zephyr convertible. Or even the well-worn 1954 Buick Special convertible that was found in the Arizona desert. It was a pickup truck – albeit a highly customized 1955 Chevrolet 3100 — that was deemed worthy of the most money.

The '55 3100 (pictured at top), nominated for a Goodguys Magazine award, features a new 6.2-liter LS2 Corvette engine, automatic transmission, custom suspension, power windows, power steering, four-wheel power disc brakes and air conditioning, as well as a Graphite Metallic Pearl painted exterior and red leather interior, with a mahogany-stained oak wood bed. The truck rides on 20-inch rear and 18-inch front wheels.

The cab of this 1940 Ford pickup was stretched 32 inches and suicide rear doors were added to produce a crew configuration, and the bed was shortened 10 inches to enhance its proportions. Power comes from a 500 horsepower, 5.7-liter, LS1 GM V-8 engine. The truck sold for $95,700 at Barrett-Jackson.

Spending $157,300 may pale in comparison to the $2.09 million someone would pay later in the week at the Gooding & Co. auction for a 2006 Ferrari FXX road racer, but there's no doubt that pickup trucks have become genuine collectibles. The 1955 Chevy 3100 was one of 17 pickups up for bids that day, and the day before that was something of a "pickup truck day" at Barrett-Jackson, with nearly 50 crossing the block and finding new owners.

At an auction-week seminar on car collecting, McKeel Hagerty, whose family-owned company is the world's largest insurer of classic vehicles, was asked what "sleeper vehicles" are just about ready to wake up the hobby. His response: 1950s and 1960s pickup trucks, which he said are an especially good way for newcomers to get involved because they're relatively inexpensive to buy and spare parts are plentiful.

"Pickup trucks are a great way to start for young people," Hagerty said, "and they're remarkably easy to work on." Hagerty also said you get the added bonus of practicality — you can use your classic truck for weekend home-improvement errands.

This 1955 Ford F-100 pickup was created for Sylvester Stallone's movie, The Expendables. Modifications by West Coast Customs included a 347 cubic-inch Ford/Edelbrock engine, revised suspension, a Ford 9-inch diff and flat black paint. The grille was inspired by the 1950 Mercury in Sly's 1986 movie, Cobra. The truck sold at Barrett-Jackson for $132,000.

Hagerty, who owns a 1962 International king cab pickup that formerly was used by a logging business, said at least two categories of classic trucks are becoming popular with collectors. In the first category are 1948-56 Fords with flathead V-8 engines, for which there are lots of parts so they can be "lightly hot rodded," Hagerty said. In the other category are 1968-72 Chevrolet pickups. Hagerty said that by this time GM was making a better product than its competitors, and "the trucks have pretty good looks, too."

A third category, made up of hard-to-find trucks, is made up of '50s and '60s models from manufacturers such as Studebaker and International Harvester.

Even those who tend to focus on the higher end of the collector vehicle market appreciate the appeal of classic pickups.

This aqua and black 1957 Dodge D-100 Sweptside pickup carries a 315 cubic-inch Hemi V-8 connected to a two-speed, push-button transmission. It also has two-speed windshield wipers and a hardwood bed. The Sweptside was a new body style for Dodge in 1957. The truck sold at Barrett-Jackson for $62,700.

"There's a great romance to old pickups," said Donald Osborne, a classic car collector, appraiser and writer. But, he warns, driving a classic pickup may not prove to be quite the romantic experience you might expect, especially compared with an automobile from the same era.

Driving an old truck may not provide the same smooth ride as floating down the road in a big, nautical Detroit sedan from the same era, Osborne said. Driving an old truck, he said, can be an "agricultural" experience.

Dave Kinney, who has bought, sold and appraised classic cars for many years and is the founder of a collector-car pricing guide now sponsored by Hagerty, noted that pickups from the '50s and '60s "are cheap to restore, and you can use them to move things around."

While people would think you're a rich snob if you flaunted your wealth by driving around town in your million-dollar roadster, "nobody hates you" when you're in an old pickup, Kinney said. "No one thinks you are a rich bleep," he said. "You get thumbs up, not middle fingers."

Offered at the Silver auction, this three-quarter-ton 1964 International Travelette tow truck has a Chevy V-8 under its hood. Auction price not available.

This 1956 Volkswagen Type 2 three-quarter-ton Transporter pickup featured fold-down sides and tailgate and a lockable and weatherproof cargo area beneath the bed. The truck crossed the block at the Russo and Steele auction. Auction price not available.

Quick Drive: 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor SuperCab 6.2-liter V-8

The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor and rooster tails go together like bacon and everything. Since its introduction, we've kicked up dirt, mud and rocks with both the original 5.4-liter and new 6.2-liter V-8 versions but we've never carved a Raptor through snow and ice, until now.

Several weeks ago, we headed to Detroit for the 2011 North American International Auto Show. With temperatures hovering in the teens and twenties and sporadic snow showers, the climate could hardly have been more different from our backyard stomping grounds in Southern California's Mojave Desert.

After spending two days hunting relentlessly for truck news inside Detroit's Cobo Hall Convention Center from before sunrise until after sunset, we needed a break.

Weather that looked cold and bleak outside while eating shrimp with supermodels – really, cold soggy sandwiches and stale brownies in the company of grumpy, over-caffeinated journalists – turned into a playground for us and our friends from Jalopnik to take a Raptor for a spin (actually, dozens) in the snow.

On our last day in Michigan, we exited downtown Detroit and piloted a 2011 Raptor SuperCab 6.2 to a lonely parking lot near a Ford plant on the outskirts of Detroit, where several inches of snow had fallen the night before. Only we couldn't tell it was a parking lot as we stared out from the cockpit of our Tuxedo Black Raptor at acres of virgin white powder that covered the icy pavement beneath.

In past off-road excursions, we naturally shifted the Raptor into four-wheel drive for maximum traction and activated its unique "off-road mode."

Off-road mode changes the truck's power delivery and shift points so it performs like a desert racer. Gears are held longer and throttle response is linear throughout the power band instead of weighted towards the low-end during normal driving.

This time, we deliberately ignored four-wheel drive. Instead, we took advantage of the parking lot's wide-open space, emptiness and icy conditions and left the truck in two-wheel drive, so all 411 ponies from its 6.2-liter V-8 were sent to the rear wheels.

We didn't stop with two-wheel drive. We also disengaged the Raptor's stability, traction and rollover controls and changed the antilock brake calibrations to their mildest settings by pushing and holding the AdvanceTrac (sliding car) button on the dash for five seconds.

With the electronic nannies off, it was playtime. The 6.2 quickly revved high into the RPM range as the Raptor's meaty LT315/70R17 BFGoodrich A/Ts tires sought out the least bit of friction to get the truck moving. Several times, the truck cut throttle at redline like it was on a dyno because its traction control system was sleeping and the ABS system was comfortably numb.

We chucked and skidded the Raptor from one end of the lot to the other as we explored the Raptor's winter boundaries. We made ice glazed donuts so perfect that Krispy Kreme's chefs would have had coronaries for their recipe and we conjured up icy rooster tails that floated around the truck as we drifted on the pavement's slick black ice like a crazed Zamboni machine re-imagined by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. By the end of it, we were laughing and smiling as much as school kids sledding on a snow day.

Soon enough, though, we had to call it a day and head to the airport.

As much as we enjoyed playing with the Raptor in the snow and ice, we didn't come close to exploring how it performs in true off-road conditions in low temperatures. We're very curious to see how its Fox Racing long-travel suspension – the heart of the Raptor -- performs as the thermometer drops. We expect that testing will come later this winter.

For now, we accomplished our mission to create icy rooster tails. And we found out the Raptor also sizzles like bacon, even in the snow.