’17 Ford Super Duty

Comfort, quietness and driving ease, along with the requisite increases in power, towing capacity and payload, come to the Ford Super Duty for the '17 model year. The all-new pickup's first complete overhaul in 18 years includes major chassis and electronics upgrades, an aluminum body shared with the light-duty F-150 and the F-150's interiors (see related story: One example is the addition of a sound-deadening rubber gasket at the base of the windshield that helps seal out engine noise – a running change now being applied to every F-Series cab, says Scott Paddy, powertrain engineer.

Another Super Duty cab update likely to appear on future light-duty trucks is lockable storage under the Crew Cab rear seats. The storage bins flip up into place and the seats lock down to keep valuables secure.

Unique to the Super Duty line are dual gloveboxes, a more usable center console made possible by the Super Duty column shifter, a unique instrument cluster, overhead auxiliary switches and a trailer brake controller.

Carryover Power, Upgraded and Down-Speeded

Powertrains largely are carryover, but Ford promises more power and efficiency from each drivetrain. They include two gasoline engines, a 6.2L V-8 and a 6.8L V-10, and the second-generation 6.7L Power Stroke V-8 turbodiesel. Transmissions all are 6-speed automatics.

The diesel now makes 440 hp and 925 lb.-ft. (1,254 Nm) of torque; horsepower is unchanged but torque is up 65 lb.-ft. (88 Nm) from ’16.

Paddy says special attention went into quieting the diesel, using dual-pilot fuel injection. Pilot injection helps heat up the combustion chamber by injecting small quantities of fuel before the main injection. The fuel burns as it is injected and combustion is spread out and quieter as a result, Ford says.

Although dual-pilot injection can result in increased fuel consumption, Ford engineers extensively optimized to both reduce noise and decrease overall fuel consumption. 

“We go through a lot of effort to suppress and reduce that diesel clatter,” Paddy says. “We can’t eliminate it because it’s a diesel, but we can minimize it through engine calibration.”

Ford says fuel economy improves – they don’t specify how much and heavy-duty trucks don’t list an EPA fuel-economy number – but an upgrade to a 48-gallon fuel tank (from 36 gallons) gives the truck a 1,000-mi. (1,609-km) range.

Scott points out the tank change to all long-wheelbase Crew Cab models makes the truck more productive by reducing the amount of time and effort required for extra fuel stops with the smaller tank.

Super Duty’s turbodiesel 6.7L V-8.

Technology abounds in the Super Duty, with much of it focused on easier and safer towing and hauling. The Super Duty gets seven cameras to provide a 360-degree bird’s-eye view and new features such as Trailer Reverse Guidance, trailer tire-pressure monitoring, a driver-placed remote trailer camera and blindspot detection adjustable for trailers up to 33 ft. (10 m) long and 9 ft. (2.7 m) wide.

The new truck also gets Sync3, adaptive steering, active forward-collision braking assistance, lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control with exhaust braking and a remote locking and releasing tailgate, the latter especially handy when backing up to hitch a big fifth-wheel trailer to the in-bed gooseneck.

We don’t drive heavy-duty pickups on a regular basis, but we found the big rigs surprisingly easy to handle, whether on local streets or out on the highway, when empty, pulling a heavy trailer or carrying a big payload. The diesel engine is particularly powerful, responsive and surprisingly quiet.

Especially impressive is adaptive cruise control that uses engine braking on diesel models, along with vehicle and trailer brakes and transmission gearing, to adjust speed to traffic flow down to 12 mph (20 km/h).

Optional adaptive steering, using a computer-controlled electric motor in the center of the steering wheel, reduces steering input required at low speeds while subtracting from driver input at higher speeds to maintain stability. A trailer-towing mode is particularly effective at minimizing steering action at speed to keep trailer sway in check.

Super Duty comes in five trim levels: XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum (F-150 adds one more step, Limited); three cab configurations, Regular, Super Cab and Crew Cab; and two box lengths, 6.5 (2 m) and 8 ft. (2.4 m), except chassis cab.

The Super Duty, on sale now, is built at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, but Ford has added chassis-cab production capacity at its Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake to meet Super Duty demand.

Prospective buyers will get a chance to drive the new Super Duty and test some of its trailering functions during a 29-city tour running through November. Consumers can schedule test drives at SuperDutyDrive.com.

[email protected] @bobgritzinger

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