Ford 6.0 diesel; the good, the bad, the ugly?

[RandyT]

I have a 99 v10 extended cab and a 01 crew cab dually 7.3 the crew cab is a much better ride than the extended cab . I have driven my buddies 18 ram dually quiet a lot and it is definitely a lot more refined truck but for 80 g's it aint worth it for me. You could buy 4 7.3 in good shape for that . All I think of when I drive his truck those extra creature comfort things are nice but it's just another thing to break. Now I sound like the old timers who wouldn't buy a truck with power windows locks or automatics. Maybe they were on to something . It is just a truck not a caddo or a Lincoln . V10 has 400,000 7.3 has 300,000 both are daily drivers.:drink:

I guess I am one of those old timers myself. They can keep the power windows and door locks. I have a CD player radio and if I would pay the price Satellite radio that I haven't turned on in six months. And they can take those 4 wheel anti lock brakes and put them where the sun don't shine. I can live with the low tire pressure sensors since those do come in handy. And traction control is useless. Can fishtail the truck on snow and ice and not set it off, but it will flash at me on dry payment going around a small jog in the road on gravel.

 

[Tomtint]

My oldest truck ever was a 1983. First new truck was a 1985 Silverado 4x4 regular cab short bed. Since then I have bought at least 1 and sometimes 3 or 4 cars per year.. Today I have a new F350 Platinum 4x4 with the 6.7 PSD. Hands down this is the nicest truck I have ever owned. Incredible power, handling, ride, comfort, technology, quality, safety, .. Those old trucks are just not in the same league.

 

[Rock Crawler]

I almost bought a Cummins, but then I thought about the $10K upcharge and the fact that I drive a car as my daily, my Wrangler as my toy, and the truck just when I chose to it when I need to pull a trailer.... So I went with a new 6.4L gas.

The price isn't horrible right now with the Ram employee pricing, sticker was $58k and I was out the door with tax and all the crap for $51,800. So really it's pretty adorable in a world where most folks make $30 to $60 an hour....

The only thing that the Cummins would immediately show me differently is the 12 mpg empty that this Hemi gets, for $10K the Cummins would be around 16 mpg empty.

I'm afraid of these emissions diesels for me because I work 19 miles from home and most of the time I live a life within a very short distance. A lot of 3 to 5 mile trips to food, shopping, entertainment or to my various buddies places. I suspect a new emissions rig would hate me.

Oh, why I say all of this.... Maybe I'm odd, but if I was looking for a truck to hook a trailer to, toss my family in and head of down the road.... It's not going to be some 20 year old truck that I consider other people's garbage. Make your daily driver out of that kind of thing, but go buy a (near) new truck that fits the need.

I daily drive a 16 year old Grand Prix with 135k miles on it and some rust showing. But my truck is new. If the truck broke down while my wife was in it, that would be the end of that. Sell it immediately or she's not getting in it.

 

[Egon]

Gota 96 dodge diesel auto 2500. 0nly 250 K on it. Runs right nicely. Has a camper on it and tows a 10 K trailer for most of its life. Gets me there and back. No engine problems. Suspension parts all replaced, lots of very rough roads. Like the interior. I’m happy.

 

[rankrank1]

Well my 2 cents is the 6.0 is not very reliable from the factory but everything I have read says it can be made reliable if you willing to put at least $5k into it to bulletproof it. Of course you may be violating the new federal clean air act laws depending on how far you take the bullet proofing....and is putting $5K in that old of a truck fiscally wise? guess that depends on initial purchase price.

As for the 6.4 Ford diesel no amount of money can supposedly fix its issues so I would not even consider one of those. The 5.4 gasser from Ford sucks too. For the use you are talking about I think a Ford V10 gasser or better yet a Ford 6.2 gasser would serve you quite well if you determined to own a Ford.

Sadly there is a whole era there in Ford trucks for F150, F250, and f350 where the majority of the engines basically suck . I can only say if I ever own a Ford it will be 2011 or newer as the engines get a bit better starting then.

 

[goeduck]

I have a 99 v10 extended cab and a 01 crew cab dually 7.3 the crew cab is a much better ride than the extended cab ...... V10 has 400,000 7.3 has 300,000 both are daily drivers.:drink:

Which transmission and any mainenatnce of them?

 

[goeduck]

Oh, why I say all of this.... Maybe I'm odd, but if I was looking for a truck to hook a trailer to, toss my family in and head of down the road.... It's not going to be some 20 year old truck that I consider other people's garbage. Make your daily driver out of that kind of thing, but go buy a (near) new truck that fits the need.

I daily drive a 16 year old Grand Prix with 135k miles on it and some rust showing. But my truck is new. If the truck broke down while my wife was in it, that would be the end of that. Sell it immediately or she's not getting in it.

I guess many of the posts in here would be helped if they stating the intended use of the truck. I drive a 20 year old truck but my wife is never in it and we do not pull or own a recreational trailer. Many of us use our trucks as trucks and have our families in new (non truck) vehicles. Big difference in use. 20 year old trucks are garbage to some, cost effective to others.

 

[aczlan]

I guess many of the posts in here would be helped if they stating the intended use of the truck. I drive a 20 year old truck but my wife is never in it and we do not pull or own a recreational trailer. Many of us use our trucks as trucks and have our families in new (non truck) vehicles. Big difference in use. 20 year old trucks are garbage to some, cost effective to others.

My inlaws have a 2002 F350 (V10, Automatic, 4wd, ECSB), it has under 100k miles for the farm.
It's been reliable, but it's the 3rd vehicle and if it doesn't start (not that it has been an issue yet), it's not a big deal.

Aaron Z

 

[Jstpssng]

I guess many of the posts in here would be helped if they stating the intended use of the truck. I drive a 20 year old truck but my wife is never in it and we do not pull or own a recreational trailer. Many of us use our trucks as trucks and have our families in new (non truck) vehicles. Big difference in use. 20 year old trucks are garbage to some, cost effective to others.

My employer buys me a new truck every three years. I can use it all that I want, they charge me 35 cents/mile. That barely covers the gas. Several of the guys don't even own a personal vehicle, but I have my 2004 Ranger for when I want something without decals, and I also won't haul things like my cutting torches in their truck. For the last 3 winters I've parked the Ranger after deer season to keep it out of our winter salt; not that it's anything special but one winter on our roads and the next stop would be the junkyard.
If I went out and spent 20K on a truck it wouldn't be something I only plan to use for 5K miles or less per year. For that kind of money considering the towing capacity of a half ton truck and how rarely I would use it I would be better off buying an F150 or a Ram, and one of the 5K dump trailers which a poster mentioned.

Trailer camping appeals to me about as much as eating ground up glass, but that's just my preference. I'd rather either use my tent, or own a camp on the water.

Getting back to the 6.0 (Is it acceptable when I hijack my own thread? ) it seems like the posters who have had good luck with them either bought it new, nearly new, or dumped a lot of work and cash into it first.
I don't care to do any of the above. However, I do appreciate the feedback which made me come to that conclusion.

 

[jaxs]

I don't blame you for passing up 6.0 if it would keep you up nights wondering if it will start the next morning. I put over a million miles colectivly on 4 6.0 without an expensive repair. All bought new and average of $500 each spent on prevertive measures before they had 10k on them. The main problem with the engine(easy and inexpensive to remedy) wasn't recconized by Ford until engine was near end of production nor pointed out in 49 posts here.