Took the wife on a camping trip this weekend and the abs light came on. Just got home and unloaded everything and haven't checked it out yet but is this truck going to start nickel and diming me? She's got 320k on her now and the body has been rusting pretty bad (Ohio sucks in the winter) I'm getting to the point where I want a crew cab and a long bed instead of the super cab and driving on the highway with the 7.3 rattling away is getting old as well. I'm considering either upgrading to a new 6.7l or an ecoboost... Am I crazy or should I just fix and keep what I know and has been great to me thus far?

 

These trucks nickle and dime everyone to some extent its all about how well they have been cared for. If all you have to complain about is an ABS light coming on then Id say your looking for an excuse to get rid of it, in that case Ill take it off your hands for you... Im from south east Michigan so your preaching to the quire about winters. My truck is a DD and still in great shape other than the doors are rusting away. If you like the idea of a car payment and you can justify the payment by all means give it to me. If you think about the payments for a few seconds lets say $600-800 a month plus your insurance going up because you buy a new truck. Take that same amount of money and put into your truck and it will be brand new and thanking you the whole time. My 0.02


EDIT: I blew the trans in my truck not too long ago, rebuild $1300-1500, its in the shop now so I dont have a final number. Look at it this way with me... Thats 2 months of payments and I get to pocket the other 70 months of payments.

 

Get a 6.7 if you want it.. Your money situation is yours to figure out... If you drive one you will buy one.. So dont go to dealer unless your prepared to buy..Everyone always says think about the payments... So what... If you can afford it buy it.. Plain and simple.. Everybodys money situation is different.... Ive heard great things about the ecoboost as well,but have no driving experience with it.. I was in same situation as you.. I got sick of always working on something on my 7.3.. Always little things. Drove a 6.7 and the 7.3 was gone in a week.No regrets.Absolutely the strongest pulling nicest truck Ive ever had by leaps and bounds..If you can find a leftover 2011 you will get a very good deal ,like I did..

 

Lol it's not just the abs light... Recently I've been doing a lot of little things to the truck but if feels like its not going to stop, especially with the rust... The truck payment is what has kept me from getting a new truck thus far lol. I have been without a car payment for a few years now and don't want to go back into one. Sometimes I wish I could go out west and find a blown motor truck set up how I want and do the swap... Hell even clean 7.3s around here are fetching a high price. I looked at one and it had 225k on it for $15k. I'd be comfortable finding another 7.3 if I could find a lower mileage clean body that they don't want 22k for it...

 

I drove one about a month back, yes they are sweet trucks and I like being able to hold a convo with the windows down through town or in a drive thru. I'm half tempted to keep the old one for a back up if the wife would allow it.

 

I read the title and felt compelled to post this:

 

Lol isn't that the truth! But I love my diesel trucks...

 

Is that how much the normal price is up there? Its prob just the market up there, but down here the Dodges are more expensive, and I got this one im guessing for a good deal. Dont really have any input on the new one your looking at, but if you look down in the Texas area you can find ones with blown motors, and very little to no rust. I have very very little on this one, but those are just areas that are going to rust anywhere. Suspension parts, ect.

 

There was actually a post a few days back for a guy wanting someone to take over payments on his 6.7. That's an option! Payments were only around 1071.00 or something

 

I keep getting tempted by the 6.7 siren call, especially now that my truck has been in the shop going on three weeks. In the last month, I've dropped:

$500 for two new front tires (still needs four rears for another $1000)
$1200 for rear brakes and diff seal
$1400 for rebuilt rear diff and radiator flush/fill

And when I went to pick it up after the rear diff rebuild, it wouldn't start. It's currently back in rotation at our local (and very busy) shop that specializes in Ford diesel trucks.

Because the diff seal change left the axle growling pretty loud, I essentially haven't been able to drive the truck any measurable amount since late June. Matter of fact, last fill-up was right before it went into the shop the first part of July for the diff seal. Last I saw the truck, the gauge is still at about 7/8 full.

Still, when all is said and done, $16k for a rust-free southern truck and another $6k in repairs is a lot cheaper than a $55k to $63k truck.

 

Im actually going to go look at a 6.0 with 126k on it. It's an 05 and looks to be in decent shape and then I could keep mine as a back up and start rotating trucks every 5 years or so... I could afford the ridiculous payments but I don't want the ridiculous payment lol

 

I've got a friend that has an '03 6.0 with only 40k miles on it. I've been tempted on occasions to buy it as a second, but we don't need two duallies. It's an exact twin to mine except for the engine.

 

The only thing about getting a 6.7 other than the payments would be the thought of having to lift the cab off the truck for certain repairs!!! Don't think the ceiling in my garage is high enough!!!

Smokie

 

I thought that was only the 6.4L, I was under the impression that the new 6.7l didnt have to be lifted to work on.

 

I may be wrong! I have been in the past!!!

Smokie