Bought my 04 F350 supercab back in 04 and put on a utility body/fuel tank. I loved the truck and loved it even more after putting on a banks kit. 4wd and plow package for my own driveway. I used the truck 50% work and 50% towing boats & race trailers around for fun. This was my 4th brand new truck (3rd diesel) but the only one I have held onto for more than 4 years.

At 80K the truck just started falling apart and hasn't stopped. I'm a diligent oil change guy every 3K and do my general maintenance with filters, grease, brakes ect.. but

I have replaced the wiring harness (total bitch), hubs, ball joints, glow plug module (twice) glow plugs, all injectors (some twice), FICM (thank god for swamps!) rear wheel seals (too many times), transmission at 140K and did a full bullet proof that time around with studs, new heads & all new injectors. Lets not forget the myriad of typical stuff- alternator, coolant leaks, random wiring shorts, engine stutter/hesitation problems, turbo leaks, oil leaks, MAP sensors, EGR issues, batteries and a bunch of near impossible to reach little valves and sensors.

My general conclusion is that all trucks require ALOT of maintenance. I don't care if its ford, chevy or dodge- they all suck to some degree.

My issue is that no one in my area (MA) seems to know what the hell they are doing to service these trucks. The repair bills are HUGE and rarely do I walk away with a successful repair or even diagnosis. I'm ready to give a bullet to my "diesel specialist" who just "bulletproofed" the truck for 13K. Nothing but problems since and the guy is so indifferent it is staggering. Initially, mileage went down to 10mpg & performance was less than when I sent it in!

So the truck is down again with some short that is related to the instrument cluster (for the second time) but no one can seem to isolate it. Tried pulling the dash & column as some on FTE have reported problems leading to the tow haul switch but can't find it yet. I'm sure I will get it worked out but to the point of my thread:

Is enough enough? Before I spent 13K on a bulletproof last year I was getting 15-16 mpg and my truck was worth about 8K. My truck is still worth 8K (or less), I'm now getting 12-13 mpg tops & I still have a break down or repair to deal with every month or two. Most all of the repair over the years I have had to diagnose myself with FTE help, thank you to all the great mechanics here! Without that resource the truck sits in the shop running up a huge tab & either no one can find anything wrong or its some grossly misdiagnosed resolve. (most recently a bad alternator for what was actually a bad 15 cent fuse)

At this point it is costing me as much as a new rig payment (that I dont really want) to keep it repaired. I'm actually not even sure if I can trade it with the EGR delete ect... but if I did I think I have to go back to the keep it 4 years or less model and stay away from the repairs?

What would you do? IS enough enough?

I've always bought my trucks but they never had much value when I went to trade them. At 50-60K for what I am in now, it is a pretty painful endeavor. I am out of the field now and can get just a standard supercab, no utility body /fuel tank- Anyone lease trucks like this with good luck?