Have you considered a Gear Vendors overdrive/underdrive?
https://www.gearvendors.com/f2wd3s.html

 

I like all I've read here. But if I was making a living towing with that truck I'd go to the 4.30 gears. I have the 4.10's in my dually with stock tires, I like them but don't tow all the time. If I did, I'd go with the 4.30. I bet the mileage would almost be the same if not better under a load.

 

The city I used to work for had a new F250 6.2 gas. According to the lie-o-meter it averaged 7-8 mpg around town.
However I must agree with you. If I needed a "new" truck I would definitely consider a 6.2 gas Superduty.
Don't think I would want to pull my 5'r with one though...

 

Ah yes...and with enough room to stand IN the engine bay while you work on it! I love seeing old cars like that at shows. Makes me fret working on my 80's Fox Mustangs where the 5.0 is packed in like sardines.

 

It's overkill for the stock tires and would take the truck well out of it's power band.

Ask me how I know...

 

I had a 72 monte carlo. You could remove the fan and shroud and sit in a dining chair in the engine bay and work on it... Ahhh those were the days.

 

My Dad had a '76 with a 350, talk about room below that hood...

 

Don't get any new diesel if you want to idle for hours non of them will like it. You will burn 3 time the def and the egr will plug and the dpf will get fubar. There not made to idle for more than 20 minutes. I know a dpf for a 466 is $5259.00 for a new one.
Regear cheaper and you can do it yourself there not that hard to set.
Or get a 450 550 there are many hear for sell priced right.

 

And then there is the repair cost after the warranty is up. The diesel exhaust tank and pump/controls just to name one system is very expensive to troubleshoot and repair. Many companies with service vehicles that need to idle long periods (bucket trucks, etc) are avoiding the newer diesels and going with gasoline or propane. A complete new gas engine is so cheap compared to repairing anything on the new diesels.

 

Yep, the city I worked for had a fleet of 6.0's & 6.4's. All of the new 550's they bought were V10's.

 

A friend of mine got a new Cummings and it idles all day. He was told to fill the def 1 an oil change but he has to fill 3 times. The dpf regins way to often the truck is nice and powerful but when the warranty ends he sell it as he can not afford to be down.

 

I made the switch my self back in July and let me say I havnt looked back. I had a 2003 7.3 with 46,000 miles when I sold it. Don't get me wrong I loved it, but once I got the 6.7 all I can say is wow! I know in this section of the forum you will hear more stay with the 7.3 and if you were to go to the 6.7 section you would be told to switch. I have to agree with you do not want to idle this truck long which is not an issue for me but I guess it would be for you. Next is these trucks are proving to be good trucks no matter what anyone likes to think and the few bad stories you hear you get with any truck. The def is not a big deal it will let you know when it is needed and depending on the driving style is how much you will use. If you were to buy one stay away from 2011 and early 2012 they had some valve issues but have been worked out. I know everyone likes to bash the new technology but that is because people hate change but it's really not as bad as people like to make it sound. Yes it would be nice to not have the emission controls but it's really not that big of a deal. If you follow the protocall everything works great. I love this new truck it rides I would say a million and a half times better than the 7.3, it is very comfortable. The power is crazy and the tranys are proving to hold up. So I can only state facts from my experience not telling you to go either way but I made the switch and don't regret it at all. Good luck

 

I would recommend that you determine if you really need a diesel powered truck. If you feel a diesel engine is warranted, then from a strictly business perspective it makes sense to purchase a new truck vs dump money into something that is older such as your 7.3 model. If you want a diesel powered pickup truck for some reason then the 2015 F-450 pickup is a good choice. The Ram 4500/5500 is also a great truck but you'll need to get a body for it since they are all chassis cab models.

Our fleet has quite a few 7.3 models in service still and we have no plans to replace them yet since they are still working fine. However, when they start to become unreliable or can no longer do the job as required then we'll replace them with something new. We aren't going to dump money into the older trucks because it doesn't make business sense.

I have 8 new trucks on their way to me now. 5 are Ram 5500 and 3 are Ford F-550 (one V10 and two diesels). Some are fleet additions, some are replacements. They will be replacing our International 4900 and GMC 5500 models first, then we'll replace the F-550 6.0 liter models and so on. My guess is the 7.3 liter trucks will be the last units to be replaced but eventually it's going to happen. We had a hell of a run with those trucks and they are still doing the job but when the day comes that they get tired we'll sell them off and get something new.

I guess I am saying that if your current truck isn't doing the job then get something new

BTW, 2 gear with 3.73 axle and 2800 rpm should be around 45 mph. If you are only doing 30 mph then the engine isn't turning fast enough or that is one serious grade you are pulling.


EDIT: In case you aren't aware, the 2015 Ford diesel received some upgrades along the same lines as the e99 to 99.5 DIT package so it might be a pretty good engine choice. There are many folks out there that wait a while before jumping on the new (whatever) bandwagon until the bugs are worked out so maybe it's time to put some faith back into Ford's ability to make a solid durable engine. Time will tell of course but the 6.7 liter engine appears to be wearing well in the commercial sector at least.....much better than the 6.0 and 6.4 liters for sure. I am looking forward to the eTurbo era, but that appears to be a few years off still....When it happens the V style engines are going to be well suited for an eTurbo so Ford will have a leg up on the inline engines if they follow the same architecture as Mercedes. However, Volvo has an inline eTurbo engine in development that is making 450 hp from 2.0 liters of displacement. 3 turbos...one of them is an eTurbo so that technology is quite interesting...