Tow Truck discussion

[gordinho80]

I'm in the market for a different truck. I currently have a 2001 F150 Super Crew with a lot of miles, 223k. I'd like something newer, but I'm not against older provided its a better vehicle.

I've got my eye on 2 totally different trucks right now. 2006 Ram 2500 Mega Cab with the 5.7 Hemi and a 1999 Ford F250 Super Crew with the 7.3 diesel. The Ram has 83k miles and the F250 has 140k. I like the idea of a diesel, but the Ram is much newer with less miles. Both trucks appear to be in really good shape. Based on KBB values, though, the Ram's asking price appears to be a much better buy.

What are everyone else's thoughts? This would be my daily driver, but I do not commute for work, so I'm really only looking at doing 200~ miles a week regularly.

[LifeInsideJack]

SidecarFlip wrote:

Rwice the truck, 3 times the payment.....:)

My '97 owes me nothing. It's been paid off since 2001. Nice not to have a payment book. Probably the prime motivator for not buying a new one other than all the emissions junk.

Our 2003 F250 4x4 flatbed is at 143k and those haven't been pretty. It's a work truck and it pulls our house around. Being an F250 the doors are rusted and being a work truck it's pretty bland. However, we can hose it out when it gets too dirty.

The kicker is, it's long paid for and since we're full time RV folks I'd rather drive a holy F250 than have a payment. Being debt free is a big part of what makes this lifestyle work for us.

[ppine]

Boosting the power of the 7.3 is easy with bolt on parts. Mine is a hot rod after adding 4 inch exhaust, new air cleaner and a simple new programmer. Mostly is just advances the timing and changes the shift points.

[totaldla]

The 7.3 can be a bit dissapointing - it's not that powerful. Efficient yes, powerful no.

[Westcoasting]

Jebby14 wrote:
7.3 all the way. bonus points for the blue oval. more for diesel,

if im not mistaken it was still a international motor right?

You mean Navistar (International) yes they are!

[Jebby14]

7.3 all the way. bonus points for the blue oval. more for diesel,

if im not mistaken it was still a international motor right?

[campigloo]

You didn't install a jake. Jacobs brakes act on the valves. You installed maybe a Blue-Ox butterfly exhaust brake

Pardon me for using a generic name. It was easier to write "jame" than to spell out Banks exhaust brake mounted on the exhaust side of the turbo connected to a stainless steel 5" exhaust system.

[1stgenfarmboy]

My SIL had a 2000 7.3 with some fuel mods, he ended up putting a trans in it at 320k............piece of junk..........:B

[westend]

The weak part of getting a 7.3 is the 4R100 tranny.

Don't get me scared. 😉 I've got 199K on the '03 and I'd like to push that out for a few years. Not all of that 199K has been easy miles, either.

[Rather_B_Fishin]

HAHA - yeah payment isn't that much actually. Haven't had a truck payment for 12 years but at some point it's time to upgrade so all of those years of no payments add up for a nice down payment. 🙂 Mine owed me nothing as well but got tired of the 2-3 grand a year it took to keep it on the road. I suppose at some point I'da replaced almost everything but the tranny wasn't going to last forever either. Where I live I needed/wanted something that was more HD and something that rides better. I have no use for one of new those junk diesels so I saved myself a chuck of cash and headaches down the road. The 6.2 pulls as good or better than the chipped and modded 7.3 it replaced. Cheers!

[rbpru]

I took the easy route, I told the local dealer what I wanted and let them do their work.

I needed a low mileage F-150 super cab 4x4. I took several weeks and I looked at a couple of trucks, but eventually a very low mileage F-150 showed up.

If you are in a hurry, that is another story.

Good luck

[SidecarFlip]

SidecarFlip wrote:

Rather B Fishin wrote:
The weak part of getting a 7.3 is the 4R100 tranny. It's not that stout so you'll want to look into it's history or plan on a rebuild at some point. That rebuild should not include a "factory" rebuild but a "bulletproofing" rebuild with a better TC and other improvements. That said, the 2000 F350 I had, had 174K on the original tranny, chipped and all. I did have gauges and installed an aux 20K tranny cooler in 2003 when I bought the truck.

I sold the truck 6 months ago and got top dollar for it even with some issues. Don't kid yourself tho, while it's a heck of motor it needs maintenance and other things on a truck that old will need maintenance as well. I thought I'd have that truck forever...until I sold it. The new truck is twice the rig that 2000 could ever hope to be. my 2 cents.

Twice the truck, 3 times the payment.....:)

My '97 owes me nothing. It's been paid off since 2001. Nice not to have a payment book. Probably the prime motivator for not buying a new one other than all the emissions junk.

[SidecarFlip]

Rather B Fishin wrote:
The weak part of getting a 7.3 is the 4R100 tranny. It's not that stout so you'll want to look into it's history or plan on a rebuild at some point. That rebuild should not include a "factory" rebuild but a "bulletproofing" rebuild with a better TC and other improvements. That said, the 2000 F350 I had, had 174K on the original tranny, chipped and all. I did have gauges and installed an aux 20K tranny cooler in 2003 when I bought the truck.

I sold the truck 6 months ago and got top dollar for it even with some issues. Don't kid yourself tho, while it's a heck of motor it needs maintenance and other things on a truck that old will need maintenance as well. I thought I'd have that truck forever...until I sold it. The new truck is twice the rig that 2000 could ever hope to be. my 2 cents.

Rwice the truck, 3 times the payment.....:)

My '97 owes me nothing. It's been paid off since 2001. Nice not to have a payment book. Probably the prime motivator for not buying a new one other than all the emissions junk.

[SidecarFlip]

campigloo wrote:
I had a f250 just like the one you're looking at. The 4r100 gave up at 110K. I also put a jake on it, but it's far from required. The main problem with it was the steering box. For years they have been Mexico made and total junk. The shop that replaced it told me ahead of time that he could keep exchanging parts for no extra cost but would not cover labor. He changed it. It was every bit as good as he warned and I sold it soon after because it drove so bad.

Interesting. I've never had a steering box issue with my 97 F350 4x4 diesel and my truck is 6 over stock with a drop pittman arm.

You didn't install a jake. Jacobs brakes act on the valves. You installed maybe a Blue-Ox butterfly exhaust brake that closes off the exhaust and creates back pressure.

I've never been impressed with a stock 4R100 either. I'll take my built E4 anyday.

[campigloo]

I had a f250 just like the one you're looking at. The 4r100 gave up at 110K. I also put a jake on it, but it's far from required. The main problem with it was the steering box. For years they have been Mexico made and total junk. The shop that replaced it told me ahead of time that he could keep exchanging parts for no extra cost but would not cover labor. He changed it. It was every bit as good as he warned and I sold it soon after because it drove so bad.