F-550 Pickup

[mjncad]

As I was leaving Home Despot today I saw an F-550 XLT crew-cab pickup. Since the driver wasn't around, I couldn't ask him about it.

Anyway, Ford only lists chassis-cabs on their web site for the F550. I'm guessing this guy got a F-550 and added a dually bed from a F-450 or F-350 to it.

Do you think my guess is right, or is Ford planning a F-550 pickup?

 

[farmboy12]

That's certainly what I would have guess. Maybe some remember Mr. jimi and his F550 pickup build. I came in towards the end of his postings. Rest In Peace.


Kyle

 

[BXRICK]

There's a number of possibilities. I offer this as information gleaned from the web - I've done no research myself, so I may be flat-out wrong.

In the last year or two, Ford has offerred an F-450 pickup. Presumably, one could take that same bed and put it on an F-550.
What you can't do is "simply" take a standard Ford pickup dually bed and stick it on an F-450 or F-550.
A cab/chassis is a different length (by about 4") from the rear of the cab to the wheels, so to get a standard bed to fit, you have to (well, would want to) add a spacer between the cab and bed. This can also, of course, be done with some body-work.
I'm actually not sure what Ford did with their bed - it it longer than 8', or did they actually change the wheelbase.
Also, a pickup chassis has "curcy" frame rails over the rear wheels. A cab/chassis has straight rails. This is certainly possible to overcome, but you don't "just" bolt them on.

I also heard something about, for some future model year (or maybe it's current now?), Ford having a light-duty F-450, that's really a F-350 with a few beefed-up parts, and available as only a pickup. Then, they'd drop the F-450 pickup option.

The whole thing is abour appealing to 5th wheelers, who want a pickup, but want a bigger truck. It's not a huge market segment, but it's just big enough so Ford keeps looking at it.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Ford is probably like everyone else in that you can't just stick a dually bed on a cab and chassis. A dually rearend is wider than the rearend on a cab chassis model. So one would have to narrow down the bed or widen the rear axle to get a fit.

This probably wouldn't be a problem because the difference between the 450 and 550 is along the line of capacity of the springs etc. That and some decals and emblems and you could have a 550.

 

[Diamondpilot]

From the guys I know who have done this, know two who use 550's as daily drivers, the best way to do it is get a long bed SRW bed. Buy the dually fenders and fit it all up then have it painted. To do it right you must mount the bed then do a 2" body lift to the cab to line it up due to the additional height of the frame rails over the rear axle.

This poses a few issues because there is no body lift kit for the 450 and up so you must use the 350 kit. Atleast there was not a while back. Most parts work but some hoses have to be custom made to make it work. If I remember right things like the power steering hoses cause the biggest issue and have to be custom made.

You can get a lot of truck this way cheap. Cab and Chassis with a diesel and 5.13 gears will pull the world. The bed cost about another $2000 then the cost to have it all painted unless you are lucky enough to find all in the same color in good shape.

Like Kyle said Mr Jimmi was doing just that before passing. Sure do miss him on here.

Chris

 

[roamerr]

I saw a Ford F650 with a Pickup Bed this weekend going through Wytheville Va. Good looking truck that had a Bed really up in the air. Did not take a picture but looked like this one:


2008 FORD F650 XLT Other Trucks For Sale At TruckPaper.com

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

Interesting truck. Too bad that engine / trans isn't in the F250 / F350 line:

6.7 Cummins, Allison auto, 5-SPD, 325HP, Diesel,

as shown in the link. Is this a complete one-off custom or do F650's come with Cummins?

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

F650 come with cummins. I think you could also spec a 3126 cat, or something similar, and maybe the vt365 (6.0) in newer models. or dt444(7.3) or dt466e in late 90's early 2k models. I haven't paid much attention to them in several years, so some of my info my be incorrect.

 

[77bronco]

The F-450 pickup has the same WB as a F-350, 172.4" for a crewcab, while a F-450 chassis cab has a WB of 176.2" for a crewcab.That gives it the industry standard 60" cab to axle for aftermarket bodies. It would take some finagling to fit a dually bed to a chassis cab truck.
I've read, as mentioned above, that Ford has "dumbed down" the 2011 F-450 pickups to be a heavy F-350. Lighter GVW than before and 17" wheels instead of the 19.5" of the chassis cab.

 

[Diamondpilot]

The F-450 pickup has the same WB as a F-350, 172.4" for a crewcab, while a F-450 chassis cab has a WB of 176.2" for a crewcab.That gives it the industry standard 60" cab to axle for aftermarket bodies. It would take some finagling to fit a dually bed to a chassis cab truck.

That is why the SRW bed fits better from what I have heard. You can scoot it forward the needed amount and then put on the fender flares for the dually to make it look right. The main issue is the raising of the cab to get the body lines matched up due to the larger "hump" over the rear wheels.

Chris

 

[timswi]

One of the Pgh Steelers had one of those monsters...it was pretty cool. I believe it was even bigger than the 450...had the dually bed on it though.

 

[mjncad]

A cab/chassis is a different length (by about 4") from the rear of the cab to the wheels, so to get a standard bed to fit, you have to (well, would want to) add a spacer between the cab and bed. This can also, of course, be done with some body-work.

You might be right about the spacer. I recall the front of the bed looking thicker than normal. I should have snapped a few pix with the cell phone; but didn't think about it.

I saw a Ford F650 with a Pickup Bed this weekend going through Wytheville Va. Good looking truck that had a Bed really up in the air. Did not take a picture but looked like this one:


2008 FORD F650 XLT Other Trucks For Sale At TruckPaper.com

That F-650 pickup is a short drive up I-25 from me.

Here is an outfit that makes custom F-650 pickups. Note the 6-door crewcabs they offer. f650supertruck.com

 

[tlbuser]

Here is an outfit that makes custom F-650 pickups. Note the 6-door crewcabs they offer. f650supertruck.com

Wonder why they opt to swap the engines and transmissions ?

 

[Turbys_1700]

As stated earlier, the cab and chassis F450 and F550 have wheel bases that are 4" longer than their factory F350 F450 dually factory brothers. There are upfitter companies out their that will take those cab and chassis units and put a dually bed or toter bed on those units for a pretty penny. Until Ford started offering the F450 with the dually bed option from the factory this was the only option available for those who wanted the extra hauling capacity of the F450cor F550 chassis. Here are a of those upfitter few companies.

F-550 Box

custom truck beds

 

[Duffster]

Pretty sure cab & chassis can be ordered whatever wheel base you want.

Cab and chassis are also narrow frame.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Good point on the narrow frame. Requires custom mounts from the frame to the bed if the mod is done and also thing like trailer hitches are different.

Chris

 

[77bronco]

Pretty sure cab & chassis can be ordered whatever wheel base you want.

Cab and chassis are also narrow frame.

The F-450/550 crew cab comes in your choice of 2 wheel bases, 176.2 and 200.2.
The super cab comes in 2 choices, 161.8, and 185.8.
The regular cab has 4 to choose from, 140.8, 164.8, 188.8, and 200.8.
Looks like these WB numbers are to give the standard C/A of 60, 84, 108, or 120 inches for upfitters to mount standard aftermarket beds.
These numbers are from the 2010 chassis cab brochure..

 

[mjncad]

Turby:

Those beds in the links you provided may have been what I saw.