Ford: Ranger Super Duty V6 is up to the task

When crafting a hardcore ute to do tough work in remote locations, it seems a bold move to give it an engine with a poor reputation for longevity and durability. Ford’s done exactly that by making the Ranger’s 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 the sole powertrain of the Super Duty, but it also says myriad under-the-skin changes should ensure it lasts the distance.

When coming up with the requirements for the Ranger Super Duty, the Aussie engineering team tasked with the job knew that only one engine would have the muscle necessary for the ultimate work ute: the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel ‘Lion’ V6.

However, with that engine having a sub-par reputation for reliability, the team also knew a simple heart transplant from the cooking-grade Ranger wouldn’t work.

If reliability doesn’t improve, the V6 engine runs the risk of being the roided-up Ranger Super Duty’s Achilles heel, and Ford is going to have to work hard to convince punters the V6 is a worthy motor.

But for the Super Duty, the company’s engineers waited for a swath of revisions to be made to the V6 before launching it.

“The base engine itself is inherently the same,” Ranger Super Duty chief engineer Justin Capicchiano said.

“Same pistons, same camshafts, everything is the same. The [engine] calibration and the transmission calibration is a very big difference for that engine, so it reduces things like combustion temps and cylinder pressures significantly from the base Ranger.”

As a result of that recalibration (and some further changes to ensure compliance with incoming Euro6 emissions rules, namely the addition of AdBlue), the V6’s peak power drops from 184kW to 154kW in Super Duty guise, but maximum torque remains at 600Nm.

“We’ve changed the cooling packs as well,” Capicchiano continued.

“It’s got a 1000-watt fan now – the standard Ranger runs much smaller thermofans. That’s there to improve the amount of cooling and keep the engine under control to manage an eight-tonne GCM.

“It was really important for me that a lot of those rolling improvements ended up in Super Duty, so we made sure that everything that we put in as an improvement was timed in for the start of Super Duty production.”

Changes to the engine are just one part of the Ranger Super Duty’s engineering story, but what’s interesting to note is that the vehicle is, theoretically at least, ready to be put into left-hand drive production to serve far more markets than just Australia, Thailand and New Zealand.

While the Ford Ranger Super Duty is largely tailor-made to cater to Australian tastes and the unique requirements of the industries that are its target customers, it could proliferate as a global model.

Left-hand drive production has not yet been confirmed, however Ranger program manager Drew O’Shannassy confirmed all of the engineering for the vehicle – which was largely carried out by Ford Australia – is compatible with left-hook applications.

That leaves the door open for other large overseas regions like Latin America and Western Europe (where the regular Ranger is already on sale in LHD form) to get their hands on Ford’s toughest mid-size truck, to serve in roles where Ford’s North American Super Duty F-Trucks are simply too big for the job.

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