The trucker is an out and out touring bike which means it will have been designed with carrying loads on the front and rear and be comfortable riding for long distances. This will make it stronger/heavier and means it will have the necessary bosses for mounting racks and lots of bottles.
The truckers bb is lower and the chain stays are longer. This will make the bike more stable at low speed and give better heel clearance when panniers are mounted. The cdf will be faster handling. Being cyclo cross orientated, the bb height may feel a little tall when cornering.
They are rather different bikes. A surly closer to the design of the cdf would be the cross check or the straggler.
This is from memory, things may have changed slightly in recent years.
