Hey Ninja,

Both of those trucks look like US Imports. They are the go. You get more options with the US trucks than the ozzie ones. Australia felt it necessary to delete some of the small luxuries from their trucks like Glove boxes, giant cup holders etc. All the good S#@t. Well priced too. Get amongst them mate. You'll love it.

 

Hey fark u bitch,im flat out sorting out me own ****e let alone some other homo's stuff ya dydney dyke.

 

Thanks for the replies,

I am getting pressure from the missus, the typical female way of thinking (control) 'Why get a truck for $40000 odd with 200000kms?' or 'your just buying someone else's problems'

I dont 'need a truck' but i run a small electrical company after work, so there are certain tax benefits buying any ute. I like the f250 mainly because im 6'4 and 130kgs, The size is the main appeal. I drove around in a hiace van for 18months and now my back is equivalent to that of a 60year old (no offense if you're 60). I find that most utes are Hilux, Navara, triton, ranger etc are designed for max 6'0 tall.

I really have been crunching numbers. I know the f250 will cost more to run, more to service (unless other car is out of warranty too). more to insure, more for rego, Heck the whole idea sounds insane. but the people telling my "i've got rocks in my head" are either shorter than me or havent owned an f250

How hard is his truck to work on, I'm keen to learn, I do small motors like lawn mowers and whipper snipers, I do general maintenance on my 2 stroke motor bike, as in I'm not afraid to try, but I will need this almost every weekend to be running. I need to earn enough to at least pay for it and run the business.
Or what would a 'specialist' power-stroke mechanic charge compared to the average. (think my mechanic is about 65 per hr) Does anyone know of good diesel mechanics in Brisbane or near to Brisbane I guess hrly rate doesn't come into it if they do a proper job

What about 4x4ing? Do many of you guys take your f250 on the beach or up bush tracks? to they perform well or is the size and weight a massive disadvantage?

 

Hi Ninja,
A DYI service is **** easy,$100 for oil,$35 for oil filter,$40 for fuel filter and an hour of your time

Cheers,
Patchy

 

Maintenance wise, anything that really needs doing, if you have a decent tool set/mechanical ability, you should be able to do yourself. There are walk thru's here on anything you should encounter. The biggest difficulty is the actual size of them for any serious engine work (reaching over the bonnet is quite difficult) and many have built/bought an "overhead creeper" to make that easier.

In terms of finding people to work on, I don't think anyone here has found anyone that they really like (most people here do the work themselves), but anyone with some good experience on Caterpillar diesels can handle the engine (they use the same injection/fuel system). The rest could be handled by a competent mechanic, but in reality you are best following the walk thrus from here.

4x4'ing, these will go anywhere they fit. Beach work they are really good at. They have surprising axle articulation, decent low range, and really good ground clearance. The wide track/long wheelbase helps in the steep/scary stuff. The rear LSD is useless - but lockers are relatively cheap if necessary. The biggest downside is the turning radius.

As for the downside with the cost, a lot of that is made back up by the fact that the residuals for these trucks are incredible. I have a Courier/Ranger, which I paid 33k new for (Ford employee discount, no GST being a farmer etc.), with 100k on it now, I guess I might get 10-12k if I sold it now. I guess if you are going for a similarly spec'd Ranger now-days, you are probably looking at close to 50k. It will be worth 1/3rd of that in 8 years time. The effies you are looking at probably cost 60-70k new, have done more km's, and are still commanding 50k price tags. They have lost 10-20k over their life so far (and lets assume they do the same while you own it), where the Ranger bought new would lose over 30k. That difference is a lot of fuel/insurance/maintenance.

 

Brian (chunderdownunder) shouldn't take offence to that mate,he's usually pretty good about his age.. the ol cant

 

Mine the complete opposite,took her too look at the 2005 F250 60000 k's $75000

then took her too look at a brand new Landcruiser V8 diesel tray GXL with tray $70000 drive away..
After looking at the landcruiser and finding out the price for it of the saleman she looked at me and said Quote: are you an idiot,$70000 for half a car,get the F250 she said that in front of the Toyota saleman,he just walked back inside without saying anything LOL

When I first got me Ftruck 2010

And now
Clay from riffraff taking me and my Ftruck for a spin


Thought I'd chuck this one in
From right,me,brian(chunderdownunder)<pretty shady character Clay(riffraff) and clay's mate Jamie

 

C,mon m8 u buy a F250 for same reason we all bought em. Our small dick$..
If you use common sense you wouldnt buy one. If its what your want get it. Driving sensibly they dont use any more diesel than say a 90's landcrusier. Hang around here long enough and you will be doing your own mechanical work and all the other stuff is tax deductible. Rather put my money towards something I like than handing out over to the vampires at the tax office.

 

I do not drive sensibly, a learned behaviour I'm sure, I tried call about the one in Melbourne (see previous post) 4 times hez call back but keep missing each other, talking to accountant hopefully next week.
I hate paying tax

 

Hi Ninja380
This is artie I'm the one that Chunderdownunder mentioned to you. I know its above your price range but sounds like mine has got everything you are looking for. You can PM me if you would like anymore info on it.
Cheers Artie

 

The glimpse of the wheel that I see shows significant dish which is correct for leaf sprung trucks.

Simon, can you enlighten me on this statement.

Cheers,
Reg

 

I'd say he's meaning the offset of the wheels, or the backspacing... whichever they're the same thing

 

Well as they say: 'a picture speaks a thousand words'

I have being playing motor bike mechanic today anyone herd of APT smart carb? I bought one for my KTM, seems to be a god sent when it comes to jetting! (this belongs in a dirt bike forum yes). either way love the forum, you guys rock!

 

The 'dish' I said equates to the negative wheel offset required by our leaf spring trucks.

You'll find people flogging off wheels from later model US trucks on the Aussie market - the later trucks run coil fronts & so run a lot less negative offset. So these wheels if fitted to a leaf-spring truck will rub on the leaf springs well before the steering reaches full lock. The cheap and nasty way of rectifying this is to run wheel spacers between the hub and wheel.

I reckon I can tell from the look of the wheel whether it's right, or not. On one of the links Ninja posted the wheel looked flat with hardly any lip - to me it looked like a take-off from a coil spring truck. I suspect one of the trucks Ninja is looking at was fitted with later model wheels and probably spacers. To get it past an inspection here the wheels would have to replaced! One of the problems with buying an older imported truck - we've seen it here - is that you can inherit at PO bodges!

To a certain extent it may be worth considering paying a bit more for a cleanskin truck and start from a known point!


If you end up looking at the truck in Redcliffe, take off one of the front wheels and check if there is a spacer behind it - it could be either a simple flat disk, or one of the more complex spacers with recesses for the stock wheel nuts and a set of studs mounted in the spacer for the wheel to mount on.

 

Hi artie here could you please resend your last message having trouble
Cheers artie