HI everybody I had a question in regards to what is the better repair manual to purchase, The Chilton brand or I think its the Hammond brand ? I would like to have one for some repair work I could possibly do myself, but also to see the inner workings of my F350 sd 6.4 4wd truck.

 

Personal opinion here, after many years of working on vehicles. I always buy the factory repair manual for the year and make of my vehicle from either Helm, Inc. or from the dealer. Chiltons books are for a wide variety of models and years and hardly ever go further than basic stuff. Everytime Ive bought a factory repair manual its paid for itself in the first repair Ive ever done. Granted they are a bit more expensive, but in the long run they are worth it. They are specifically for your model and go into deep detail. They are the manuals used by the mechanics at the dealership. They have every detail for every repair, every part # and every procedure. I purchased the manuals for the 2008 Super Duty and it is 3 manuals, two 1200 page guides plus another electrical and wiring guide. I bought mine for 199.00, but like I said they go into further detail and go into diagnostic procedures youll not find in any Chiltons manuals. Mine have already paid for themselves as I had a problem with some wiring and the dealer wanted 459.00 to fix it and I found it in the manual and fixed it myself for less than 10.00 in parts. If you look on eBay people sell them all the time. They are green covered and are Ford Workshop Manuals. Ill put pictures in my garage for you to look at if you want to see them. Just click on my name and go to view gallery.

 

Hey Scott thankyou for your info sounds like it is a much better repair book, I didn't even know about it. I think i will maybe purchase the same , also my truck is same color as yours, not many in that color around me.
Thankyou again !!
FORD The BEST Truck Around !

 

Youre welcome. You can usually find them on eBay, I just looked and found the wiring manual, which is usually listed separate, as most of the set is, here http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-...#ht_500wt_1182 . Be cautious though, there are some that are for the F-650 and F-750 that are MUCH CHEAPER, but they are the wrong books. Also there are lots of "Owners Manuals" listed for anywhere from 9.99 to 25.oo, but they are just the owners manual that comes in the glovebox. Did you look at my gallery and see the manuals? They are huge, and are filled with everything about the truck. If you need something specific before you get yours, and I'm not studying, give me a shout and Ill be glad to scan some pages and send you the info if you have something you need to fix. Glad you like the color of the truck. I used to be an all white buyer. Every truck or car I bought was white. But I love the gray on these, and the black two tone sets them off. Good Luck!

 

Thus far, whenever I've had the need for such stuff, I've purchased a month's subscription to the Ford online version of the service manual. It costs $19.95 for a month and is the same manual Scott is referring to.

In almost three years of ownership, I've purchased month long subscriptions twice. It's amazing what you can do with the online version. Searches without thumbing, etc. The added benefit is that everytime you want to use the electronic version it's all up to date. Further you don't have to store the volumes of material.

These can be had from Helm, Inc. There are annual subscriptions and maybe some other lengths of subscription available as well.

 

I just would like to say thankyou for your info. thats also very handy, I guess I am learning more and more on this site and glad I was told about it. I am definantly going to purchase a manual either way. Thanks for the help again.

 

The online version is available at motorcraftservice.com

Plus you get the SCM, special service messages; and, TSB, technical service bulletins for the vehicle you purchase the subscription for. You can search for same in Oasis by your VIN. You can also look at FSA, field service actions (recalls).

Plus, you can look for TSB's for any of the Ford vehicles listed besides the one you subscribe to.

I buy the one year subscription for 109.95; you can get 72 hours for $10.95; and as previously posted one month for $19.95

Bob

 

Hey IronHorse if youre still interested Ive found a new set of manuals for 71.00 for the both of them. give me a shout.

 

Are those manuals still available? I haven't been able to locate any on E-bay.

 

just how much stuff you do to a 6.4 in your driveway?

 

I'd rather work on my truck than let a dealer tech steal my IPod's mp3 cable again. Plus from all the horror stories I heard,* the only time I'll take any car/truck to a dealer is when it needs warranty work done.

*Just the other day I went to my second closest dealer to pick up some parts, and I saw a tech come back from test driving a 6.4. Dude floored it inside the lot and smoked some--small amount, very small amount--rubber :O.

 

Found a set of all three manuals, for $160.00 on eBay last night. I like having them because they help me understand everything about the truck. And they have helped me numerous times when I've had an issue. I don't trust anyplace I take my truck. Even the dealer. They take it out for a test drive and drive it like who the he#* knows, or cares. I just would rather read up on anything I have to have done and do it if I'm able to. That's the main reason I like having them.

 

my question was not ment to be rude, sorry if it sounded that way. I was looking at it from the side of if you really have to work on it the turbos almost always have to come off. so more or less wondering how many people can do that in there driveway?

 

No worries cheezit. I didn't take your post personally. Sorry if MY post sounded like I did. I just have never seen anyone treat my vehicle like I do, and I have always liked to do my own work. Not to cut anyone down out there who's a tech. But just like yesterday, I had my tires rotated and balanced. They scratched EVERY rim when using a screwdriver to pop off the lug nut cover, and rotated them differently than I do, even after asking them to rotate them the way it says in the manual. And to top it off, they didn't torque the lug nuts. I got home, re rotated the tires, and had to turn the lug nuts on the 2 tires I DIDN'T have to re rotate at least 3/4 turn to get them torqued. I simply enjoy being able to fix something if a problem comes up and these factory manuals are a blueprint for building the truck. Thanks for all your input here on the forums cheez. You don't know how much it helps to have someone around we can all ask about these trucks.

 

always glad to help out.