Gettin' a newer Truck....

1CrazySledder

1CrazySledder

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Aug 16, 2005
Messages
411
Age
54
Location
Madison, Wisconsin
What do you guys think:

2001 Ford F350 7.3 PowerStroke Turbo full box dually.

Has a 80hp chip, gauges on the door pilar, clean truck in and out.

Any Bad/good reviews? Lets hear 'em.
 
The 7.3 was Ford's best diesel. Awesome torque down extremely low.

I used to drive Fords for company vehicles all the time, and out of all the diesels, the 7.3 was the strongest. Not for top end, but a real brute down low. The newer ones had no torque down low, and acted more like a gas engine.
 
I agree, I've heard pretty much nothing but good about the 7.3's. The 6.0's pull very well, but haven't been as dependable. If I were to buy a Ford, the 7.3 would be my choice. I drive an '01 Cummins & like it, but Dodge doesn't have the fit/finish of a Ford or Chevy. If your not familiar with Powerstrokes and end up buying it, make sure you do some research on cavitation and test/treat your coolant. I'm not super familiar with it, but it can cause pitting in the block if not treated.
 
I have been reading great things also about this truck and engine. At 275hp and 535lbs of tq stock, that blows my 95 gmc 2500 burban with a 454 big block out of the water. lol

Guys have been reporting 18-19mpg with the f350 7.3 highway, even pulling. My burban would never see even 15mpg. My Burban has 230,000 miles. Time to cash her in.
 
I know these are great trucks.

Heck, a former GM only cousin of mine switched to fords for the 7.3 powerstroke alone.
 
daman said:
With the price of diesel i'd be sticking to a gas'er..
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I agree, unless you have a lot of heavy towing, then the gas mileage of the diesel will trump the gas mileage of a loaded down gasser.
do your math, or you will pay at the pump. Plus diesels are a lot more $$ for oil changes.
 
I miss my 7.3 :cry: ,

The only problem I ever had with mine was the Cam Position Sensor went bad (recall on them right now), 5 minute swap and your done. Carry a spare CPM in your glovebox and enjoy your truck.

The new 6.4 twin turbo is strooong, but so far I have not been able to reach the fuel miledge of the 7.3 and probably never will with the emissions crackin down on all the 08's across the board.

The days of a 23 mpg diesel may be gone for good, and a special thanks to the "green people" for that. Cut the emissions in half but sacrafice fuel miledge seems a bit contradictory to me.
 
My buddy has one with 295k on it with only one transmission and no major engine repairs. He gets 20 or 21 at highway speeds. It is a 97 crew cab 4x4 with 3.55 gears. Stay away from the 6.0.
 
My gaser gets 12 mpg unloaded and around 10-9 loaded with my 4 place enclosed. Plus it has 230,000 miles on her. Figure if I'm going to get a different truck, I'm going for the powerstroke. I really like this truck, and I've heard around 19mpg loaded or not, so that alone will even things out.

Deisel fuel will go down in the summer. It is higher now because of the winter mix. (From what I am told anyway)

This truck has the dually's and is a crew cab long box so it should be more stable towing as well.

This 2001 has 199,000 miles and are asking $14,000 for it. There is also a 1997 crew cab short box, same motor about the same cost with 92,000 miles. But I really like the dually though. Makes the 97 look small and old. lol
 
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If your new Dually is truley pulling 19mpg's loaded thats damn good for a truck like that, more than likely you are spinning 4:30 gears in that big boy as well. Alot of diesel guys will claim huge miledge but I think you will find most of them are slightly exagerated.

There is not question that you should pull 4 or 5 mpg's better than the fuelly equivelent, enjoy your new ride and post some pics when you get a chance!!!
 
If you dont have the 3.55 you wont get the mileage. Another friend has the Excursion with 4.10 gears and gets 16 at highway speeds. If all you are pulling is sleds then 3.55s are fine. If pulling heavier loads then you may want to make sure it has 4.10s.
 
Diesel is more expensive and I wouldn't count on it going down huge anytime soon. The reason it is more expensive is because of the extra processing required now to get the sulfur down to the 15ppm standard. It takes more filtering (and more money) to get the fuel that clean for all the new particulate filters. As for good-mileage diesels being a thing of the past...don't be so hasty with that. Soon, C02 is going to be regulated in grams/mile. You guys that know combustion chemistry know that the only way to get less CO2 emission is to burn less fuel, so in essence mileage is soon going to be improving on all vehicles. But of course that increase in technology to get the better mileage will come at a price to the consumer as well.
 
I ran a 7.3 for a few years and had a few problems with the fuel system. One thing I've learned about diesels is not to "CHIP" them. Leave them stock and you shouldn't have many issues. If by chance you do have issues you can bet on it being double the cost of a gaser to fix. They call them double d's for a reason...

I still run a ford diesel SD but it is the 6.0. So far no issues but I only have 61K on it.
 
24 valve cumins ext cab dually here my fuel economy goes down in the winter but i blame that on the winter mix in the summer i get 22 mpg's this winter its averaging 18 and it dosen't care if there is a loaded sled trailer on back. and i have yet to plug it in started in at 0 with no problems.
 
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