1991 Ford IDI engines/trucks for towing

blt2ski wrote:
Have that motor in my 92 IHC dump flatbed.

Hopefully it has the manual vs auto. You need ALL the gears and gearing you can get. IIRC, it was in the 180'ish/380'Ish range for HP and torque. Max for IHC built trucks is 175/335 which I have. There was also a 125 and 150 or there about version too. Made initially for school bus's. This and the 6.9 were what was initially used when IHC went to ALL diesel motors and shut down the gas offerings. Both the 6.9 and 7.3 had gas versions. Lots of power or so I've een told, but broke cranks a lot. IIRC they were known as MV404 and 445.
I have a 7spd manual, with a 10.08-1 LOW first gear, add in 4.33's in the rear with a 31" tire, it moves a lot, not fast, or can pull 40K lbs up an 18% grade barely. lower the weight it can pull steeper grades yet. Being as you appear to be in FLorida, not sure you have the steep local grade hills some of us have in other states.
If you decide to turbo it, get the specs from the T444E/7.3 PSD motors, rebuild the block accordingly, or put a t444e block in the place of the idi block. use the same turbo, inner cooler etc. Lower the compression from around 22-1 to 18-1. This motor despite MANY putting turbos on it, NEVER was intended or designed to have a turbo. If the motor is original, definitely, rebuild before adding a turbo!
The F350 from that time is better than the 250. The 250 uses a twin traction beam front end, the 350 a typical solid axel. 350 can out turn the 250 too. Or the GM IFS front ends too. Hind sight, should have gotten one of those instead of my 96 6.5TD. In 96 it would have been the T444E version.....another issue.
Have fun with it!

Marty

Thanks! I am in Virginia and yes, we have some hills around here (Blue Ridge mountains). Not Colorado, however (thank God ;) ).

What I am reading in your post is that it will do the job, just will be slow. I don't mind slow. I have a 6.7L Ford to go fast ;) and this IDI truck would be more for farm work - hauling as many hay bales as I can put on a gooseneck trailer and maybe hauling horses as well. To be honest, I have had quite a few issues with the 6.7L and am a bit sick of it and all its finickiness (if that's a word). I can afford to "trade up" to a 2021 gasser (like the new 7.3 Ford or the 6.6 Chevy) or even to a new diesel like any of the three, and I would not even have to borrow money to do that but I have lost faith in the "new stuff" a little. I could go back to a pre-DEF/emissions truck like the 2006 Duramax I owned but difficult to find one that was not beat up and not pay a fortune in the process as well and you still get a somewhat complicated engine.

So, I am looking to learn how to turn a wrench on an old and mechanical engine like the IDI that is supposedly much easier and cheaper to fix, and most importantly - to understand - as well.