I am planning a cross country move, 1500ish miles and need to take a few big things with me. The truck I have now is too far gone to consider using so I am looking at used trucks. I found a 97 F350, 7.3 diesel, and newly rebuilt (for the second time) auto trans. It has almost 280,000 miles on it, the seller is the original owner and says the trans has about 50 miles on it and is still under warranty. Is this considered high mileage for a 7.3? Does this sound like a truck that you would try to haul 5 tons of stuff across the country with?

 

These engines dont mind the mileage . as long its been maintained, important things to check is to check for excessive blow by, test drive to make sure the tranny is shifting right, engine is not overheating and most important oil and fuel leaks. CPS is a must in a glove box if you decide to buy you mught want to upgrade to a 6.0 trans cooler, more will shime in thats what I can think as of this moment.
Good Luck

 

I would not get in a truck with a newly rebuilt transmission and drive it across the county. If there are problems with the build, you are likely to see them within the first few thousand miles.

 

How soon are you leaving?

If I had owned it for several weeks/months, and had taken it on several "shakedown" runs, I'd do it in a heartbeat. 280,000 is NOT a lot for the engine, but at those miles, any number of "nickel and dime" items could come up. Anything from a minor/moderate electrical issue to brakes/steering/suspension. Any one of which could bring such a trip to an unexpected early end. I would want to have put several hundred miles on it on local trips before committing the truck to a full-on cross-country run.

Esp. if you're pulling 10,000 lb, that's when it's time to consider the "intro" mods - intake, exhaust, chip, gauges, etc.

But generally, if you know all the other mechanicals are good, a truck this age, even with those miles, will handle such a trip. We've taken both our '95s (fewer miles, 100,000 and 170,000 respectively) on journeys of 1000-5000 miles in the last several years, with nothing more to log than a little oil consumed and a burned-out light bulb.

Tranny rebuild history is no surprise. I have no direct experience with the E4OD, but everything I read indicates that a stock build is good for 125,000-150,000 miles. So a second build at 280,000 sounds about right. 'Course, if they'd done a more high-end rebuild the first time, it would still be good to go. But oh well. Is there paperwork on the most recent rebuild, noting the odometer miles and date?

 

I'll have all winter to work out any bugs, not going anywhere till next spring/summer. Lots of stuff to sort out in the meantime so thought I'd get an early start.


As far as "intro mods", I'm not so much concerned about performance mods, but anything that might increase reliability would interest me.


I would rather it were a manual trans, but other than that it is just what I'm looking for. I haven't seen it yet, just email contact. I asked how many times the trans had been done and his answer didn't surprise me. He said there's 7 months left on a transferable warranty, so I'm assuming there must be paperwork.


Never had a diesel before, but read good things about the 7.3, just wondering what you guys would have to say.

 

I'm in a similar situation. I bought the truck to pull our 5000-6000# travel trailer. We are taking our first strip from Houston to New Mexico. I've had it for about a month and 500 miles. Here's my working the bugs out post. I didn't think much of oil leaks when I bought the truck. It's got 300,000 miles, and I'll check the oil at each fill up. I did not realized how much the oil system integrates with the fuel injection system. I would be aware of oil leaks on the top of the motor, in the head valley. Also, check the plugs going to the valve covers. There should be 2 on each side. They've been known to melt, and if the harness connector is melted, its not fun. Here's my solution. I'm new to this, and there is a lot of experience here, but that's the issues I've come across, preparing for our trip.

 

Have been back and forth with the owner a couple times and though I haven't seen it yet I have agreed to buy it. Wont be picking it up till early next week, wish me luck. I'll let you have a look after I get it, you can either congratulate me or laugh at me.

 

I bought mine with 273k miles on it. Completely stock. Original trans. I have replaced the trans, redid the hpop and hpop reservior gaskets etc, cps, ccv orings, replaced plenum boots and turbo inlet boot, also did the 6637 mod. Wouldn't be scared to drive it anywhere.

 

Possibly entertaining story about a recent experience I had, which will hopefully help you with your dilemma.

So, last month I bought a project car in Portland, OR. I live in WI. so, I looked around craigslist, bought a 96 F250, 7.3, 5-spd, 261xxx miles.

Got there, paid moneys, towed car back 2000+ miles. Crazy? A little bit, yeah.

Problems? Front right tire separated late afternoon of day 1, I thought it was just u-joint vibrations. next mornging I found the bulge on the tire. no problem, I can change a tire.. oh wait. There's no lug wrench. Drove an hour to the nearest place that had one, and found that the jack handle did NOT match the screwjack that was on the inner fender. I made it work, and changed to the spare. Drove all of day 2, slept in Kearney NE. Next morning, in rush-hour DesMoines IA traffic, belts in the spare started to separate, and the tire blew up just outside of town. Triple-A was handy, they got a truck out there to load my truck on the flatbed and hook my towed car to the hitch, for free. I did have to pay for a new tire, boo-hoo.

Then I got home, and started in on all of the little things that bugged me. oil change, and air filter change and fuel filter change. Fuel filter change turned into Fuel Bowl overhaul, new o-rings and heater and hoses. Air filter change led to replacement of the turbo inlet boot and the intake Y-pipe boots. It seemed to not turn over very fast, and not start quickly, which led to new Glow Plugs, and a Stancor GPR. Still turned over slow, so that turned into two new batteries and a new SD offset-reduction starter. Changed the tires from the old-*** dried out ones the Previous Owner had on, and then steering became an issue. ALL of the joints were gone. New tie rod ends and drag links all around (at least I kept the old adjusting sleeves). Then I noticed that the rear brakes were kind of sketchy, and the e-brake didn't work so well anymore. that led to new shoes on the back, and one new axle seal on the back, and bleeding the entire system of what seemed like 20-year-old brake fluid. Bleeding the fronts led to realizing that the PO had opted for the super-high-misalignment U-joint mod, which involves removing ALL of the needle bearings from the cups. So, driver side got a new U-joint when the new steering got put on, haven't got to the other side yet.

on the INTERIOR, the passenger seatbelt smells like a sweaty sumo wrestler used it for his jockstrap and a roll of toilet paper at the same time. The driver-side seatbelt had a retainer that wouldn't hold the buckle unless I poked it up with a key before inserting the buckle. the center seatbelt was chopped off by a sharp object. turn signal/ flasher relay was bad, the button in the middle of the shifter handle liked to vibrate (jacknife and some RTV fixed that problem in 10 seconds.) The radio didn't have the right time. The driver seat is somewhat worn down and the "lumbar" button doesn't seem to work. Turbo pedestal O-rings are leaky, fuel pressure sender/switch is leaky, i should probably clean the EBP sensor and tube. In the process of flushing the coolant. transmission seems ok, with the exception of needing to double-clutch from 3rd to 2nd (the P.O. said he never was able to go from 3rd to 2nd because it ground the whole time he had it, and was absolutely flabbergasted when I double-clutched and slipped right into gear. that also gave me an idea of what I was in for as far as maintenance).

Bottom line:
To me, that truck sounds perfectly fine. One owner, so you can ask him about everything that was done from the time it was new, and get a feel for how he maintained things.
With that many miles, there are sure to be a few things not sparkly-new about the truck. If it's a truck that you like and want to keep, get it and get the maintenance you need done to it, and be happy that you will have an uber-dependable truck. If it's a truck that you think you can flip when you get to your new digs, do what you need to get safely there, then sell it for what you paid for it (or more).

When you check it out, make sure the tires don't seem dry-rotted, check in between the tread blocks, as well as the shoulder) and aren't ancient piles of crap. Check their wear, you might find an alignment/steering issue right away. Make SURE it's got a good spare, and that it comes with lug wrench, jack, and handle, that fit the truck. it's snowing now, so if the truck is 4x4, make sure it all works (easier done on the stick axle than the TTB for sure, if you have to dig into it).

Sorry for the long post, but I'm quite impressed by my truck so far, even though it seems like I'm catching up on all the routine maintenance that was missed by the P.O.

--sarge

 

Nice write up. That was good for a laugh loo

 

I did pretty much everything wrong. I agreed to buy it sight unseen, I picked it up in the dark, and didn't even bother with a test drive. It started right up, and it was cold, it went into reverse and drive and the brakes felt good, I paid the man and drove the 100 miles home. Supposed to have a new transmission, rear brakes, and starter. So far so good, if it has any serious problems they are not yet obvious. I'll get a picture or two tomorrow.

 

Glad to hear it's going well for you.

In anticipation for my upcoming trip, I have:
typical oil and filter change
New Pads/Shoes all around
Packed and torqued front bearings
6637 mod
3" DP
changed the UVCH to the SD style while repairing melted connectors
unplugged my fuel heater when it shorted this morning and popped my GP relay fuse
replaced HPOP orings
Removed, disassembled and cleaned the IPR and installed new o-rings
put a spare CPS in the glove box, along with some fuses
replaced the radiator and installed a new T-stat, and bottle cap
Ohmed out the glow plugs (each one under 1 ohm to neg)

Anything I'm missing that might jump up and bite me in the butt?

 

Most of this will apply to me too, hijack away!


I haven't even opened the hood yet, god only knows what kind of mess I'll find under there. Tomorrow should be interesting.

 

Check the engine valley, you will probably need a flashlight. Is there a lot of oil and crud in there? Or a mix of oil and fuel and black slime?

Start looking into replacing a lot of the o-rings, especially the fuel bowl, the HPOP fittings, and the turbo pedestal.

When you replace the fuel filter, drain the bowl and point a flashlight down there. Can you see metal at the bottom of the canister? if not, yank that sucker off and clean it up. new o-rings, and some 5/16" and 3/8" fuel hose. you'll get a good view of the fuel heater, so you can leave it out, or get a newer-style one to drop right in.

Here's the dirt that was in the bottom of my fuel bowl:


check the intake boots when you're getting in there, apparently the OEM orange ones can break down. the y-pipe plenum boots were fine on mine, but the large turbo outlet one had a tear on the bottom, in the clamping area.

Once I had the fuel bowl out, I capped the fuel lines, put the intake back on, and sprayed degreaser around, and cleaned up the valley as best I could. When I put things back together, I found that the block-to-pedestal joint was seeping a bit of oil, and my oil pressure switch/sender was also leaking a bit.

Just the other day, now that it's chilly outside, I noticed a bit of smoke/fumes coming out of the PCV elbow. I will probably just use a catch-can setup similar to what I use on my track car. the HPOP o-rings don't particularly look like they're leaking right now, but I bought new ones to replace when they do. Hell, I might just take all that stuff off again when I do the pedestal o-rings, because I want to put a new hose from the fuel bowl drain to the hardline that goes down the front of the block.

check your ujoints on your driveshafts and axles, and check for oily gunk/sludge on the rear brakes. you might need to do axle seals. check the level of fluids in the diff, some people never bother. I might end up having to replace the front inside shafts on my TTBs, I think it ran low for many years, and there might be a groove worn into the driver side, so whatever lube I put in the diff might come right back out.

check that your block heater works (if you plan on using it).

Coolant: mine was low, so I'm in the process of flushing the whole system. I'm kind of bummed that they recommend to NOT use ELC in a pre-99 engine because of injector cup/sealing, because I really don't want to tear that apart right now. But it was kind of dirty looking when I drained it, so I'm going to need to keep an eye on the water pump.

Those are most of the issues that cropped up after I brought my truck home, hopefully they'll help you find any issues with yours.

--sarge

 

Good list. I hit most of that stuff, so hopefully we'll be ok