Is the 2012 F250 the same as the 2012 F350? Maybe not

[Phil P]

I was going east on hwy 70 in Florida 2 weeks ago and went by a Ford sitting on the side of the road with a young fellow and his wife with a small child. It was obvious they were having troubles so I U turned and went back to see if I could help.

This was a 2012 F250 flat bed truck. The right rear wheel was so hot you could not touch it. By my inferred thermometer it was close to 300 degrees F.

Wife with child said they had been there some time and no one had stopped.

I had my big tool box in the back of the truck (about 3,00 lbs) so I get a jack out jack it up and remove the wheel and the disk brake caliper. At this point it was apparent that the wheel bearings had really ground up.

Now there has been great discussion here about the F250 being the same as the F350 except for springs etc. Well the F350 DRW has the Spicer Dania 80 rear axle.

During the disassembly I first notice that the drive axel had an “O” ring seal, and then the bearing retainer nut was much different than the Dana axles.

I finally got the rear hub off and using a large slide hammer was able to get all the scrap iron off the Spindle.

I look at the Ford data tag and copied the VIN number and noted the truck was delivered from ford as “incomplete” so it would have been a Cab and Chasse truck and the bed was added by some truck dealer or product manufacturer.

So at a heavy truck parts store I present all of the scrap metal I had removed. The sales person was very knowledgeable. He immediately identified the axel as a Sterling 10.5 axle. When I questioned this he produce a parts book showing the 2012 F250 was produce with the Sterling 10.5, Dana 70 and the Dana 80 rear axles.

I guess this shoots down the idea that the F250 has the same rear axle as the F350 according to the parts books it could have been but this one had an axle under it that was rated 2,600 Lbs less than the F350 DRW which was only produced with the Dana 80 rear axle.

After filing the burs off the spindle it went back together with little trouble.

They didn’t have the $153 for the parts but the young man said he would pay me the next pay check. We will see!!!!

Phil P

[mlh]

The 2011-2016 Powerstroke equipped F-250 and F-350 trucks feature a Dana 60 assembly up front and either a Dana 80 or 10.5" out back. The 10.5's were reserved for single rear wheel (SRW) applications, where the larger 80 was used in all duallies (DRW). Starting with the 2011 models, the 10.5" option received an update from the previous models in the form of a 37 spline pinion, compared to the previously used 31 spline version. From the factory, these housings were typically stuffed with the popular 3.31 ratio, but also had options for 3.55, 3.73, or 4.10 ratios.
Lynwood

[1retired06]

Originally Posted by Phil P

I was going east on hwy 70 in Florida 2 weeks ago and went by a Ford sitting on the side of the road with a young fellow and his wife with a small child. It was obvious they were having troubles so I U turned and went back to see if I could help.

This was a 2012 F250 flat bed truck. The right rear wheel was so hot you could not touch it. By my inferred thermometer it was close to 300 degrees F.

Wife with child said they had been there some time and no one had stopped.

I had my big tool box in the back of the truck (about 3,00 lbs) so I get a jack out jack it up and remove the wheel and the disk brake caliper. At this point it was apparent that the wheel bearings had really ground up.

Now there has been great discussion here about the F250 being the same as the F350 except for springs etc. Well the F350 DRW has the Spicer Dania 80 rear axle.

During the disassembly I first notice that the drive axel had an “O” ring seal, and then the bearing retainer nut was much different than the Dana axles.

I finally got the rear hub off and using a large slide hammer was able to get all the scrap iron off the Spindle.

I look at the Ford data tag and copied the VIN number and noted the truck was delivered from ford as “incomplete” so it would have been a Cab and Chasse truck and the bed was added by some truck dealer or product manufacturer.

So at a heavy truck parts store I present all of the scrap metal I had removed. The sales person was very knowledgeable. He immediately identified the axel as a Sterling 10.5 axle. When I questioned this he produce a parts book showing the 2012 F250 was produce with the Sterling 10.5, Dana 70 and the Dana 80 rear axles.

I guess this shoots down the idea that the F250 has the same rear axle as the F350 according to the parts books it could have been but this one had an axle under it that was rated 2,600 Lbs less than the F350 DRW which was only produced with the Dana 80 rear axle.

After filing the burs off the spindle it went back together with little trouble.

They didn’t have the $153 for the parts but the young man said he would pay me the next pay check. We will see!!!!

Phil P

Awfully nice what you did for that couple!

[Razrbk]

Originally Posted by 1retired06

Awfully nice what you did for that couple!

Absolutely!

[sambam]

Lucky for them you happened along. Not too many people travel with 300 lb. tool boxes, me included. What you did for them was beyond their wildest dreams, I'm sure. Imagine being in their situation...don't know what else to say. You're a good man, Phil.

[steves]

You're a good man!

[mazboy]

and the check is in the mail i'm still waiting for my $20 for a guy who needed gas to get home....he even showed me his license....still waiting--2 years of waitng.

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by mlh

The 2011-2016 Powerstroke equipped F-250 and F-350 trucks feature a Dana 60 assembly up front and either a Dana 80 or 10.5" out back. The 10.5's were reserved for single rear wheel (SRW) applications, where the larger 80 was used in all duallies (DRW). Starting with the 2011 models, the 10.5" option received an update from the previous models in the form of a 37 spline pinion, compared to the previously used 31 spline version. From the factory, these housings were typically stuffed with the popular 3.31 ratio, but also had options for 3.55, 3.73, or 4.10 ratios.
Lynwood

Hi Lynwood

That is the point of my post if you have an F250 with single rear wheels or a F350 with single rear wheels part of the difference between the vehicles and the F350 DRW could possibly be the difference in the capacity of the rear axle.

Sterling 10.5 is a 9,750 lbs the Dana 80 is 11,000 lbs my calculation I did in my head on the original post was incorrect in the difference in weight capacity between the 2 but the object of pointing this out is adding spring capacity to the F250 single rear wheel truck will not increase the weight capacity of the rear axle

Phil P

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by mazboy

and the check is in the mail i'm still waiting for my $20 for a guy who needed gas to get home....he even showed me his license....still waiting--2 years of waitng.

45 years ago I did a similar favor for a friend that sells airplanes. He had sold an airplane to fellow that couldn’t fly it. He had asked me to take the aircraft to this fellow’s home base about 800 miles away. This was the business I was in at the time delivering new aircraft all over 5 continents. Instead I flew with the gentleman for 2 days and got him competent in the aircraft. He went home with the statement he would mail me a check.

I got a Christmas card from him for the next 5 years with a promise to mail the check.

I never did get the check. LOL

Phil P

[mlh]

Phil it does prove exactly what I've said for years. The F250 F350 SRW is the exact same truck except for the rear springs and of course the decals.
And will you get your money. I bet you will. We send out hundreds of packages a year to people we don't know with an invoice in the box and no way to collect to places I've never heard of and they almost all pay. We have had people pay a few dollars when they could or wait several years to pay. When you let people know you trust them they respond. We loose a lot less money this way than dealing with the credit cards.
Yes I know it's a strange way to run a business but it's worked for over 35 years.
Lynwood

[Phil P]

Don’t forget the parts books also list the Dana 70 rear axle as being in some 2012 F250 with a RAWR of 7,500 Lbs.

I would still be careful about trying to upgrade an F250 without finding out what rear axle you have.

The thing I noticed about the Sterling axle was the lack of a tag commonly under one of the cover bolts on the Dana axles. I find the manuals call for the Sterling ID numbers to be on the driver’s side of the axle pinion housing.

I am not very familiar with the Ford smaller trucks this is the first F250 I have done any axle work on in over 30 years however in the last 3 years I have done extensive rear and front axle repairs on the F350 1999 and older they all had the Dana 80 rear axle.

Phil P

[scattershot]

Even if all you get from this transaction is the warm fuzzies, you are truly a gentleman. Best to you.

[Phil P]

Well you know that sometimes doing a good deed is like wetting your pants in a dark suit it gives you a warm feeling but no one seems to notice. LOL

[allmi01]

Phil,

No matter if you get paid or not, you did the right thing and I for one (and I have seen several other here on the MOC) will say thank you for being the kind of person we all should be and help our fellow travelers in life.

You just did the "pay it forward" thing. It will come back to you.

Mike