Ford’s Massive 7.3-Liter Gas V-8 Now Has Official Power and Torque Ratings

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Ford is doling out bits and pieces of information about its 2020 truck lineup, and we now have horsepower and torque numbers for the upcoming pickup's new 7.3-liter gas V-8 engine. The optional, all-new overhead-valve, pushrod 7.3-liter is meant to be a bridge between the more cost-conscious base V-8 and the powerful but expensive Power Stroke turbo-diesel.

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The Super Duty's new 7.3-liter V-8 will pump out 430 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 475 pounds-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. Three engines will be offered on the 2020 Ford Super Duty: a carryover 6.2-liter V-8 in base trucks, the 7.3-liter gasoline V-8 in the middle and the premium 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel engine.

Ford says this provides customers with an upgraded towing-engine option without having to go all out for the expensive diesel. The engine is set to debut in the 2020 Super Duty F-250 and F-350 pickups at the end of 2019, but it will also be the standard engine in Ford's even heavier-duty commercial vehicles. A slightly less-powerful version of the 7.3-liter engine, making 350-hp at 3,900 rpm and 468 pounds-feet of torque at 3,900 rpm, is standard on the F-450 chassis cab, F-550, F-600, F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks, as well as the F-53 and F-59 stripped-chassis models and revised E-Series vans.

The new engine is built for durability, according to Ford, with features like overhead-valve architecture; a variable-displacement, gear-driven oil pump; extra-large main bearings; a forged steel crankshaft; and piston-cooling oil jets to help keep temperatures under control. Ford claims the engine will be best-in-class for horsepower and torque in an HD truck when it debuts, and that it was developed after feedback from customers who wanted a compact motor that was easy to work on. Neither Ram nor Chevy have a "middleweight" gas engine like the Ford will, however — you have a choice of one gas engine or one diesel in their heavy-duty pickups. The Ram 2500 and 3500 HD's gas engine is a 6.4-liter V-8 making 410 hp and 429 pounds-feet of torque. At Chevrolet, your gas option is a new 6.6-liter V-8 making 401 hp and 464 pounds-feet of torque.

Except for the F-650 and F-750s that get a six-speed automatic, the 7.3-liter engine will be mated to a new 10-speed automatic transmission that Ford developed for use in the Super Duty. Despite it sharing the same number of gears as the transmission in the F-150 light-duty pickup, Ford says that only around 7 percent of the parts are common between the two units, and those are minor things like springs and clips. We don't have any numbers for towing, fuel economy or pricing yet, as those are yet to come as we inch closer to the 2020 Super Duty's on-sale date later this year.

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