Maintenance
I generally take very good mechanical care of vehicles, but I was especially careful with the F550. This truck was our only means of transportation. More importantly, we towed our house (a heavy fifth wheel trailer) places where we would never want a breakdown, such as through deserts and over mountains.
Scheduled Maintenance
This PDF, "Ford F550: Scheduled Maintenance", contains a table of all scheduled maintenance: oil changes and the 30K & 60K mile maintenances.
Unscheduled Maintenance (Repairs)
There were a few recalls, and a few repairs done under warranty (some of which were later covered by recalls).
This PDF, "Ford F550: Unscheduled Maintenance (Repairs)", contains a table of all unscheduled maintenance.
Unrepaired Boo-Boo's
There are two problems that have not been repaired and will not be repaired.
- Cracked Bed:
- October 2004. We turned off a street into the driveway of a truck repair shop. Semi's go in and out of there all the time; what could go wrong? The driveway turned sharply down and to the left. As the truck "banked" down into the driveway, the trailer was still straight and level on the street. The right rear bed rail (side of the pickup bed) came up and made contact with the underside of the trailer behind the hitch. It cracked the pickup bed, and made it impossible to close the tailgate. We removed the tailgate. Since then, the other side has also been cracked. We have not missed the tailgate at all because of the rear toolbox.
- Rear fuel filler cover:
- The truck has two fuel fills. The stock one on the driver's side just behind the cab, and an add-on fill on the fender. The rear one on the fender has a broken hinge; as a result the fuel fill cover is no longer mounted. After many attempts over a period of a year to get a new one, or at least a source for one, from the truck conversion company that installed it, I gave up. They no longer use this type of fuel fill, and are not interested in helping me find a way to get mine repaired.
Nice To Have
These are things that you can get along just fine without, but which sure would be Nice To Have.
- Camera on front:
- Currently there is a rear observation camera mounted over the hitch to help in hitching up the trailer. However, with the Trailer Saver hitch it is not needed; inflate the hitch before hitching, and it is perfectly visible from the driver's seat. Move this camera to the front bumper area where it would be very handy in parking the truck in crowded parking lots, or maneuvering the full rig in tight RV parks. Hook the camera up as the third video input so that it is connected regardless of whether you are towing or not.