Guys,
New to the forum. It's been a while since I've looked at trucks to buy. This time I'm looking for a diesel. I'd like to stay with the 7.3 for obvious reasons but the sticker shock is brutal. I may be just in the wrong frame of mind, but it is hard for me to rationalize $8000-10000 for a 12-15 year old truck with 300,000 miles. Can someone lend some perspective on this?

Thanks in advance! Great forum.

 

You could always get a 6.0 for $4000 - $5000 and put that much into it to fix the problems...
Ok, just kidding. They're not all bad...
Keep looking, reasonably priced 7.3's are out there. The reputation has driven the prices thru the roof. If you find one with a new trans its well worth $8-$10k

 

I just bought an 02 F350 w/72k - 21k and an 01 F350 w/50k - 26k both 4x/cc/Lariat/DRW excellent cond. consider the price of a new 4X/CC/DRW/diesel/Leather,,, we did, and bought 2 for less than 1 new one! Better mileage, no urea ****, known track record,,, price is relative,,,I know we won't have to buy another truck for 15-20 years,,,

 

Six months ago I picked up a 01 F350 7.3 duelly 4x4 supercab with 31242 miles, I paid $16,100. It took 5 months of searching but there's still some young trucks out there!

 

Welcome to FTE

Finding a clean unabused 7.3 with about 200k is worth $10g all day long.
$18K for low mileage virgin isn't unheard of.
But I myself would stay away from the 300k that have been rode hard for $8-$10g because the up keep could add up quick.

If you are looking for a cheap truck a diesel would be a poor choice. But if you willing to spend the cash it takes to buy one, you better be ready to also have $$$$ to throw at these 7.3's not because you have too spend money keep it running. But maintenance and upgrades are NOT cheap.

 

I don't mind paying the price for a 300k mile truck if I can expect to get a little service out of it. I don't mind having to do a little work on them. I was even considering a 6.0 and then doing the cummins swap (please forgive the blasphemy) until I found out it was actually a violation of federal law to make that swap. I'm not so worried about the engines. There are reasonably priced fixes for that ($5-6k). It's everything else. I really would rather have a manual Trans which takes a lot of the Trans problems out of the equation. Body work aside, I would imagine it would take a couple grand to go through one of these trucks back to front. If I can spread that over a couple years and not have too much to worry about under the hood for a while then I can get on board. I'm not looking for a daily driver. I have an F150. I'm in a position where when I need a truck (which is not that often) I need a truck. My F150 runs great but suffers from NB syndrome.

 

By the way let's see some photos of your virgin!!

 

Sounds like you have a good game plan once you do find one. When I bought my F350 DRW I still had my F150 which was a good old truck but couldn't pull my boat to save it's A**. And it has taken me a little better than 2 yrs to get it ALMOST where I want it. But after a $1g here and there I now have a truck I would drive across country.

 

I'm not allowed to post attachments.

 

Okay, I'm going to hijack my own thread a bit. (Is that even possible...oh well).
Related question. I know there are differences between the 94.5-98 and 99-03 (I think that's right). Personally, I like the older trucks better. Ive been through about everything on one of them. I know there are some performance differences resulting from the fuel system (again still learning) is there a reliability difference? I suspect the performance difference can be tuned out to my satisfaction. I'm not really looking for a stage 2 race horse. I want to take a trailer across the mountains and not burn 30 gallons of gas over 100 miles. A buddy had a 460, I wish I were exaggerating a bunch.

 

Mostly it comes down to creature comforts and a better driveline.

99-03 - you can find heated seats, power locks & window more easily. with a "99.5" or later, you get a better intake setup, bigger injectors, and a better transmission

I love the look of the OBS (Old Body Style) 94.5 - 98 but the improvements that the SuperDuty brings to the table are worth the extra $$ in my opinion, especially if long hauls are in your future.

 

I flat like the look of the Superduty. I've also looked at a lot of information on the OBS 7.3L because a coworker has one with a chip. He's been watching my build and he was blown away by a much earlier build stage. Specifically: His chipped truck couldn't get close to the performance of my chipped truck with stock injectors and turbo.

300K? It probably has original sticks and they are soo due, but a bump to ACs w/stock nozzles and a simple tune can breath new life into it. ACs cost no more than the regular stocks. If you were to persue this, $5K-6K is a more reasonable price to pay for the vehicle, unless there are serious goodies on the truck. Take the money you save and put it into reliability mods, like the transmission. Knowing what I know now, 200K at $10K works, but the repair money thing will come in the next 100K.

 

Thanks for the information. That's pretty much where I was. I have to believe any truck with 300k on it has got to be tired. So now the dilima begins. An old truck with a lot of miles for 10-13k or a new 6.7 with warranty etc for 35k. How are the 6.7s? To make fiscal sense, I'd have to get a really good deal on an okay old truck. If I used it more maybe new would be the way to go. I'm just rambling now. Thanks for listening.

 

I bought my 2001 F250 7.3 extended cab for $5400.00, 283k miles. I put in a new transmission two days ago (after four months of ownership with zero issues) for $3200 so let's call it an $8600.00 truck. If you know the 7.3 that extremely low mileage of under or around 300k miles is considered not of a concern. Last week there was an F350 crew cab dually apparently used as a long haul tower 7.3 with over a million miles on it for $6995.00 up in Austin, posted on this site. It looked like only the driver had ever sit in the truck, everything else looked brand new. Still running.

Someone yesterday or today posted a 7.3 with over 600k miles still running.

Someone today posted the 6.7 (or talked about a few of them) with under 150k miles needing complete engine overhauls, something like $22,000 as they were just out of warranty.

Do your research, you'll find the 7.3 F series is STILL to date long and by far the best truck ever made.

 

That was very well put !!
Some people have to have the latest and greatest thing that comes out. I get a real kick of a guy I know ( NOT a friend) saying his new F350 6.7 is so much better than the old 7.3 as he is making a $650/mth payment. Well last I heard his truck as been at the dealer for over 6 weeks and repair bill is over $10k.
Look who's laughing now!!! ME
I can't wait until I run into him and ask how that 6.7 is treating him.

I love my old 7.3 and as long as you take of them, they will last forever.