Never could figure out why Ford never by passed manual mechanical 4x4 hubs,excessive wear from transfer case front-end components, poor fuel economy not that we purchase trucks for fuel economy but 20mpgs vs 10 to 12 mpgs makes a difference.
SuperDuty lock-outs are not the traditional "Free" and "Locked". They're "Auto" and "Locked". I've driven over 300K Mi between 2 SuperDuty Ford's and only had to actually "lock-in" a few times ice-fishing when things got wet and then iced up while we were fishing. Somewhere between 220K Mi and 230K Mi I replaced both front hub assembly/wheel-bearings. I don't think the front end or transfer case of a SuperDuty wears any faster than any other full-size pickup because of the option to lock-in 4WD, especially since almost nobody ever actually does it.
I did replace all the rubber vacuum lines for the 4WD on my current '11 F250 a couple years back. Actuation was getting slow after 12yrs and 200K+ Mi. The system works just like it's new now. It'll quickly shift from 2WD to 4-Hi without moving/rolling, I do that on the boat ramp if I forget to put it in 4WD when I'm back up.
If Ford still made the Excursion that's very likely what I'd be driving.
Not talking about trucks here but those cvt transmisions are bad and need to be axed!
Some of them are really good. Subaru's CVT is pretty bullet-proof. I put 150K on a Nissan Murano and the wife has almost 40K on her Murano, there's never been a single issue with either regarding the CVT, they're smooth and you don't really notice them doing what they do. The Murano still has just a plain-old very reliable EFI (DFI actually I think), 3.5L V-6 that Nissan has been making for a very long time. The CVT allows that 3.5L V-6 to get Highway mileage that rivals 4-Cyl turbo/hybrid vehicles in the same class. The Nissan CVT is a whole lot more refined than the Subaru. Kiddo has a Forester and I had a 2011 or 2012 Legacy that I put about 80K on. The Subaru CVT is very much akin to driving a snowmobile. Mash the gas and the tach runs up to 6K and holds that RPM.