Who’s still using a 7.3 diesel truck

Jtime, I had a ‘95 F350 CC DRW that I hauled the camper in my sig for several years with. The model year of yours is a great platform for all kinds of performance enhancing mods.

The best camper hauling specific mods that I did to my truck were:

Better shock absorbers. Rancho 9000’s were what I used, but there are other brands that get good reports as well.

I had a spring shop add two extra leaves under the single-leaf overload spring. I wanted the truck to get on the overloads quickly, and for them to be very firm. This made a huge improvement in the handling while hauling the camper. Much better than the airbags I installed. I was able to reduce the airbag pressure considerably.

I replaced the stock steel wheels with Alcoa Hotshot wheels and two higher rated Acuride steel wheels. The OEM wheels were rated at 2200 lbs each, which wasn’t enough.

Tires: Michelin XPS Traction radials. One of the best tires I’ve ever used. Huge improvement in stability due to their all steel radial construction. They are also all-season, and off road durable. They are NOT “Three Peak Mountain Snowflake” tires, so I don’t want to hear anyone complaining about how terrible they are in snow. They aren’t terrible, they just aren’t as good as 3PMSF tires. Since your location is “North”, you might need a set of winter tires anyway. Your OEM size is one of the few still available for that tire.

Exhaust brake: I installed a USGear D-Celerator Exhaust Brake and really liked it. I’m not sure if they are still in that business or not, but there are a few other brands as well. This really helped the trucks stopping abilities. My truck had drum brakes on the rear axle, and they just weren’t up to the task when we were driving steep grades.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If something else come to mind I’ll post again.

:):)

Never had a truck camper but do have a legendary 7.3L power stroke diesel. Used it to tow two trailers and two 5th wheelers. Now it's a classic and parked in my garage. It has less than 77K miles and 90% of those miles were crossing the Rockies of Wyoming, Colorado and Montana. It's the best Ford ever put on the road. Would still be out there if not for the cost that Ford had to pay International to OEM it and the cost of safisfying the EPA compliance. It's better than any Ford out there now. All the new ones have all sorts of chinese made electronic gadgets, bell and whistles but cannot compete with the raw power that is in the 7.3. My model is a 1996 which I take to car shows only now. I drive a small motor home with a V10 but no comparison to the 7.3.

had a 1971 7.3 would tow anything you hooked to it, truck camper and walleye boat from ohio to wis just great.

I had breakfast with a good friend yesterday and he just got his 7.3 out of the shop.

He said guilt was getting to him so he had the glow plugs (three of which there was nothing left), I believe the controller and new injector O-rings.

The engine itself has never been touched and he just passed 400,000 miles.

When 7.3l was used by Ford on several occasions, I believe OP is taking about 7.3 Powerstrokes, who went in production in 1999 and last for about 4 years.
I had 2 of them and when they have bulletproof block, I had days when I turned ignition in the morning with a thought "what light will show today"
Early CPS were very bad, oil cooler leaks, ATF cooler inside radiator, turbo pedestal orings, maze of sensors who can fail at any time.
Never have been stranded with them thought, although leaving oil trail with leaky oil cooler can get scary.
Not engine-related, but wheel sensors and ABS sensor on rear differential. Sold both truck with over 300k miles on each.
I remember Adamis had to drive like 2000 miles on 7 cylinders when his injector failed.

Ole Frosty keeps chugging along, I am looking at 280k miles (bought it with approx 190k) over 10 years ago for 8k and 90% of those miles are with the TC. I have replaced the alternator, coolant reservoir, parking break cable, and on my 3rd set of BFG’s. Added Torklift upper and lower stable loads that’s pretty much it. 4th gear (stick shift) occasionally slip out of gear sometimes :(. Also need some batteries soon.

Oh, forgot coolant reservoirs who deteriorate at about 10 years mark and alternators. Those were easy to replace, although my coolant reservoir start to leak on desert, 250 miles from Ford dealer.

Still chugging along in my 2002 f350 PSD.

If you have one I highly recommend bookmarking this site: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum31/

7.3 diesel isn't going away anytime soon.

I have had mine for 3 years, upgraded from a f250 with a 5.4 in it. Had to replace the bed and do a bunch of work to it due to PO neglect.

The shocks got upgraded to Rancho 9000's and I have airlift 5000 bags on it with upgraded overload bumpstops.

Just had to put a new clutch in it at 236K, went with the Southbend HD clutch so it should hopefully last another 200k.

I often tell my wife, she can burry in my 2001 Jetta TDI (345k miles and still going strong) that parked in the bed of my 1999 7.3. The newer Diesel engines have more power / performance but they are very complicated and very expensive and the emissions when they go will cost you a fortune.

I think the 7.3 is the pinnacle of Ford diesel performance pre EPA strangling the industry. They will be very much like Muscle cars pre 1976 before the EPA strangled those as well. I also think they will be show trucks and collector trucks in a decade or two. To be honest, I think Diesel pickup trucks are on a limited lifespan. EPA regulations and the complexity / cost plus the industry moving to electric means 2021 diesel trucks will be possibly the last generation or at least the second to last generation. I see hybrid trucks with small 4 cylinder turbo'd engines and 4 wheel electric motors with midsize battery packs being the future.

That being said... I've probably gone down the path of mods on my truck further than most (though not all). To list the things my truck has...

1. Alliant AC Single Shot Injectors
2. KC300X Turbo
3. Hyradtuner
4. Upgraded Bellowed Up-pipes
5. Banks Torque Converter
6. Banks Exhuast Brake
7. Banks 3.5" Exhaust minus the CAT
8. Upgraded T500 HPOP
9. 6.0 Tranny Cooler
10. Airbags
11. Upgraded Alternator
12. Upgraded S&B Intake
13. Torqlift Tie Downs
14. Torqlift Super Truss
15. Gooseneck Hitch
16. Amsoil 2 Stage Bypass Oil Filter System
15. Inline Tranny Oil Filter
16. Patridge and Pear Tree...

Truck runs fantastic now and pulls hard and fast unloaded. Towing camper plus cargo trailer (~9000lbs) on 6% grade is no problem. EGTs have dropped at least 200 deg if not 300 deg for same load. Making now 30+ lbs of boost versus 20lbs previously. I only have two future planned upgrades in mind, a Mishimoto Intercooler and 4" exhaust to drop EGTs further.

In short, if you get ahold of a clean 7.3 in good condition, I am convinced it will be a highly sought after classic if it isn't already.

Kayteg1 wrote:
When 7.3l was used by Ford on several occasions, I believe OP is taking about 7.3 Powerstrokes, who went in production in 1999 and last for about 4 years.
I had 2 of them and when they have bulletproof block, I had days when I turned ignition in the morning with a thought "what light will show today"
Early CPS were very bad, oil cooler leaks, ATF cooler inside radiator, turbo pedestal orings, maze of sensors who can fail at any time.
Never have been stranded with them thought, although leaving oil trail with leaky oil cooler can get scary.
Not engine-related, but wheel sensors and ABS sensor on rear differential. Sold both truck with over 300k miles on each.
I remember Adamis had to drive like 2000 miles on 7 cylinders when his injector failed.

You're like a big bowl of Christmas cheer with this post...