new vs old

[dieselcrawler]

I like my 7.3's. Only issue I've had is my f250 seems to have broken rings or cracked piston in one cylinder, which could have been from running the 120hp race tune on the chip too much... the dually (224k) and excursion (289k) run great.

Find a southern truck with no rust... that more of my issue than anything else, rust.

 

[Egon]

Just thoughts:

For the jobs that have listed a regular P/U with the standard box may not be the best. A stake body box would work much better. If a trailer is used that is different.

A used nice driver truck within the budget stated may soon require new running gear parts etc. Means the budget gets significantly increased.

So; I'd say to consider a twelve valve Doge Cumin's and do a rework on it so the running gear is completely redone with lifetime warranty parts. Look at putting a rebuilt cumin's with a reworked auto transmission. Clean the body and interior up. This would give you a nice serviceable driver. The cost factor = ?? As your prices will be different and it depends on how much of the labour you provide.

The engine is quite adaptive to increasing power with minimum cost. A proper beefed up transmission should do well.

It would take a lot of work but chances are the longevity would be longer than a used unit.

 

[ultrarunner]

I do find a trailer often my most productive mode... a pickup box not so much.

When I worked at the machine shop the shop truck was a Ford Stake Bed 1-ton... 6 cyl engine, 4spd and no power steering, air or radio... it was slow but great for hauling what we needed and totally forklift accessible... and compact enough to park in the city.

Could really use something like that today...

 

[newbury]

For my money, look for a "late" '99 to 2003 F250/350 with the 7.3L...you may pay a tad more for the 7.3 but ask any Ford diesel tech...they'll tell you its the best diesel ever put in a pickup...also the reason I said late '99 is they changed the brake setup in the later ones from the earlier...seems to be better...my B-I-L has a Ram 3500 w/Cummins that he swears by as well. His is chipped, my '99 350 is stock and I pull a 24ft Gooseneck with it and get 13mpg hauling tractors with it..around 19-20mpg on the road empty. It only has 123K miles on it though....BobG in VA

What he wrote.

I've an '88 7.3 diesel van and a 2002 F350 dually. The F350 is my "retirement truck". I put about 4k miles per year on it hauling stuff from Virginia to Mississippi. I've towed a Honda Civic on a U-Haul tow dolly, the passenger side wheel BROKE off the tow dolly, I plowed the Alabama highway and barely noticed the tug. I've loaded 3,000 lbs plus of gravel in the bed, the truck barely notices it. Get 13 to 15 mpg, have gotten 18 mpg on a 900 mile trip when I shot for fuel mileage. But at $1.95/gallon for diesel it's only half as important as at $4/gallon.

Big things to watch for is rust and the D@&% "unit wheel bearings".

 

[blue9249]

Sorry guys must not have my notifications setup right.

90 percent of my duties are with a trailer.and s dodge slipped my mind. Never thought about the 12 and 24 valve in my original post