Looking for USED F-350 - Which year/engine/model is best?

[Case485Guy]

Basically, if you want a used reliable diesel truck made from 2003-2009, go with a Ram or GM and forget about all the Ford diesel horror stories.

Ditto

 

[Case485Guy]

I used to be in the hotshot business and I can tell you my experience upto 2005 when I got out of it. In the late 80's Ford was the only option period, the n/a and turbo 7.3 are like a Timex period. Now lets go into the Big 3 real diesel truck production years
The guys that made a living with their trucks pulling 40' trailers, loads upto and over 15k, bought the 5.9 Cummins and 7.3, was not a Ford,Dodge,Chevy thing necessarily. The early Dodges had a weaker 5 spd in the early days upto about 99', than Ford or Chevy. The Cummins had the best fuel mileage pulling trailers.The Chevy still had the 6.2 lack of power to over come, plus all the new kid on the block stuff with Duramax when it came out. A 7.3 PowerStroke is a powerhouse, the 5.9 Cummins too. If your pulling heavy trailers all the time I would look at the 7.3, after 99' I would go Dodge, thats when they fixed the standard tranny problem.
My reasoning there is mainly fuel injector replacement cost, a PSD is extremely expensive.
When I got out of hotshotting and took a time card job I was put over all the equipment, including trucks. Most of what the company had were Ford Diesels, a few Dodges, once the 6.0's starting showing up, they rocked in the power and MPG deptartement. I was impressed and I am 5.9 fan.
We have multiple drivers on the trucks and they are used in a oilfield enviroment and ran hard, IMO. The 6.0's did not hold up over all. I did have one make it 140k before major problems.I had 1 truck that had total of 3 NEW FORD replacement 6.0's put in it. Its just stupid how expensive the 6.0 is. It is fast motor if your racing though.
The 6.4 is fuel hog without a chip from what I saw and only got 140k out of it before major problems, the 6.7 have exhuast/regeneration problems. The early Duramax had some tranny leak issues from what I heard from owner/operators. Never have really been around the Duramax much, so cant comment on it to be honest.
With the upcost of the diesel trucks at sticker price and the at the pump we replacing with gas trucks in the fleet. So far the 6.2 Ford has been impresive.
this is only a fleet of 20 pickups to date.

 

[Bigfoot62]

I am a Ford guy. I own stock in Ford, I will only buy Ford products. I believe I sad that in the opening of this thread (I am the OP afterall...).



Are you sure it is not a conspiracy?
So I need to add this stuff to my gasser motors too?
And all of you people b!tch about computers and all their arcane needs... HAH!

Thanks for yet another firehose I need to drink from to learn how to be the guy I need to be.

David

Dang it, David. Don't you know that, in a good argument, you're not supposed to confuse the issue with the facts? :laughing:


No conspiracy. Really.
Don't worry about the gas-burners, unless you're one of those people that never flush the cooling system and put in new anti-freeze.
BTW, you can buy "pre-charged" coolant that is specifically made for diesel engines. It comes with all of the SCA's included.
See this: Fleet Charge Fully Formulated Coolant/Antifreeze
That's what myhttp: '03 came with. The owner's manual calls for a flush and refill every 50,000 miles. You don't have to add any SCA's in between.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Don't worry about the gas-burners, unless you're one of those people that never flush the cooling system and put in new anti-freeze.

Guilty as charged...

I'd better go look up the truck's manual, I've put over 50K on it and not flushed it once yet...



I always thought if the color is right (i.e. no rust) no probs!

David

 

[Dmace]

Guilty as charged...

I'd better go look up the truck's manual, I've put over 50K on it and not flushed it once yet...

I always thought if the color is right (i.e. no rust) no probs!

David

It depends on how you use vehicle and your climate.
For instance, a daily driver with no extended hauling or idling in a mid-continental or northern climate can easily go 100k miles between changes.
A truck in the hot south towing a lot or extended idling should only go 30-50k.
I tow a lot and flush mine with an actual antifreeze flush and new coolant every 50k. Our fleet vehicles idle 8-16 hours per day and get flushed every 30k.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Guilty as charged...

I'd better go look up the truck's manual, I've put over 50K on it and not flushed it once yet...

I was talking about never. For example, last year, I bought a little '97 Toyota 4x4. I recently had to replace the radiator. (plastic top tank cracked) Talking about nasty coolant. The truck's odometer is showing over 250K miles, and I don't know if the cooling system had ever been flushed and refilled.

As Dmace said, you're probably OK. IIRC, 100K is the recommended service interval.

 

[PSDStu]

Lots of good suggestions here.......and I wanted to add to not overlook a 95-97 PSD if you can find one.

I have had mine since new and the engine and tranny have never been a problem....I have done some front end work, (hubs, ball joints, and brakes) but it's a 15yo truck with 123K miles on it.

No plans to get rid of it anytime soon.

Stu

 

[crashz]

Sweet truck Stu!

I love that style Ford. Up here in the rust belt, they are getting tough to find. Plus the snow plowing guys have run these trucks to death.

 

[crashz]

David,

Check out the posts by "fieldserviceengineer" in the maintenace section. He gives a great explanation of the coolant additives and reasons for them. Essentially the SCA additives do little for corrosion protection, but are used to reduce cavitation on cylinder walls, which are more important on diesels than gassers (the "bang" causes a harder jolt in the diesel, allowing for boiling air bubbles to collapse faster, causing cavitation on the hot parts of the engine). Very important on wet sleeve engines and non-sleeve engines.

Fleetguard and other diesel coolants are pre-charged with an aditive to combat cavitation. The additive does wear out, but may not be much of a concern on a truck or tractor with regular coolant services. Big trucks, and heavy equipment may see longer periods of run time and the coolant will continue to be clean and servicabe, therefore the additives can be re-plenished.

 

[foreman Etexas]

I believe I came across a cple good looking 7.3's,there is another in there inventory 2002 Ford F350 Crew Cab Long Bed Diesel Pickup Truck from Handpicked Western Trucks LLC