2002 Ford Diesel 7.4 ??

I had the same vehicle. Only reason I sold it was I wanted 4x4. An excellent vehicle . Check my profile to see what I did to it. Trans cooler most important. DP tuner was designed by Ford engineer, works great, Best for the 7.3.

monkey44 wrote:
Yup, mistyped :( 7.3 RWD for city/rural towing in a small business - no heavy TT or 5'er ... just local 50-100 miles per trip few times a week. Hauling equipment. 134K miles on it ...

Ad long as you're prepared to keep a 20 year old truck running. Business use, time is money. May be great, may cost you as much as new truck in repairs and downtime.

A 7.3 diesel is 444 cubic inches. It is an industrial strength engine, that is slightly overbuilt. It is pretty easy to get the hp over 300 which is plenty. Even with the 4 speed auto it is a good puller. I have 175k miles on mine and the auto trans is fine. The first brake job was at 140 k miles.
i have rebuilt the front end and the truck still drives like it is supposed to. No reason to sell it.

Keep in mind the rest of the truck is going to be old and will require maintenance as well. For me I've got a good mechanic and parts are inexpensive, others might not want to deal with any issues that may pop up from time to time. You got to keep in mind the newest 7.3 truck is almost 20 years old.

Will agree with others said about noise, they are loud even with stock exhaust. The automatics behind them were marginal as well for pulling heavy loads. They are capable of being built to handle it but another expense. I've got the six speed manual in my truck.

I own a 7.3, great motor, that being said find something 2011+ with a 6.2 v8. If it is for a business, uptime and maintenance matter at the end of the month, not towing ability.

monkey44 wrote:
134K miles on it ...

Just barely broken in ! ;)

There are some expensive "typical" repair but they are mileage related than age related.

The 7.3 is the only diesel that can stand up to the Cummins 5.9 24V in regards to sound/noise. I could wake everyone in a 600 site RV park in Arizona going for donuts Friday morning at 6AM, with my slightly bomb 2001.5 with Magnaflow SS 4" exhaust and muffler, stage one injectors, and a timing box.

Motor on, buy the 7.3. The last good Powerstroke.

My daily driver and love it.

The new small Diesels in the half tons put out more power but like others will hang on to mine. Have one in a Excursion another in a F-250.

Good engine, highly regarded.
Expect normal age related issues but the long blocks and major components are durable.
They’re underpowered by today’s standards, pretty anemic actually, but easily and cheaply modified for a nice bump in power without sacrificing reliability