Hey guys, I'm new here. I have been in search of a 7.3 Super Duty, 250-350 Crew Cab. It appears that the market seems to exceed the book values for good trucks. At least here in the great "North Wet".
So that brings to bear the question, what are these trucks bringing on average?
One particular truck I looked at was a one owner XLT, cloth seats. 180k, maintenance records, extra snow tires on rims, winch and canopy. Not perfect, but very nice condition. Problem was the asking price of $16,900 is about 6 grand over high retail book. The owner lowered the price to $14,500 and it looks like he may have it sold.
So I either missed a good truck by being too cheap, or guys are getting too loose with their wallets for these trucks.
What is the market on these trucks like in the real world?

 

There's not a 7.3L newer than 12 model years old at this point, any premium they command because of the drivetrain really needs to be tempered on the fact they're starting to show some serious age. IMO people are too loose in the wallets for older trucks because of 6.0-mageddon where everyone assumes every diesel SD from 2003-2007 automatically needs $5,000 of work to be functional. Then the common rails have a myth of "you can't work on them" hanging around, and it just builds up. The 7.3 was a great motor with an average transmission for it's time, but 12 years later any truck is going to need some kind of work, and I'd steer towards a lower up front cost on a particular truck instead of paying a premium based on a series of reputations for the whole platform. Take every single truck as an individual, a decade has a way of crushing generalizations with all the possibilities of mistreatment.

 

I feel your pain man..

When I was shopping for a 7.3 here in the not so great northeast everything I found was way over priced, rotting away with rust, or a combination of both..

Ended up with a gasser instead..

 

The same thing is true with Excursions. I shopped and shopped around here and couldn't find anything that didn't start at 6k over blue book. Some were asking 10k more and not willing to drop all that much.

I ended up getting mine in Texas. I found what I wanted for a lot less from a dealer than I would have paid here from craigslist.

 

Well, glad to know I'm not alone in the observation. BTW, forgot to mention that said truck described in my original post is a 99. I have learned on here that "early" or "Later" 99's have some minor changes, later being "better".
Thanks Texastech for the point on the 6.0 hangover. I talked with an owner of a 2014 that is raving about the power and six speed automatic he has. I'm on a fixed income budget, not afraid to turn a wrench-but would rather drive it than be working on it all the time.
Sounds like I need to be looking in Texas! Not out of the question with a four hundred dollar plane ticket to save a few thousand.

 

If you plan on keeping the truck for a while, don't buy something that you are going to put off working on. ALL trucks need maintenance, diesels in particular. If you buy a truck with 50k and don't maintain it, at 150k it will be worth less (to someone who knows what to looks for) than a 150k truck that's been taken care of the whole time.

Depending how "fixed" your income is, a diesel might not be the best option. Mine has proven to be an expensive, albeit highly capable, tow vehicle.

 

Well put, and true.
My "fixed income" statement is aimed at the fact that I won't be going down to the dealership to purchase a new truck (I'd like to, but....). I'm a dedicated secondary market shopper. Maintenance really is the key. My 5.0 F-150 has 222xxxK on it and drives like a new truck!
This is making it harder to find a truck because very few folks can produce the records to show how well a rig has been maintained.
But hey, shopping is half the fun right

 

Dont pay anything over 12k!! You can find 7.3 diesel excursions F250's 350's here with a 7.3 under 12k all day long.

I debated the whole 7.3 vs V10 for a while and ended up with the V10. It's had some quirks (mainly electrical), but overall I am glad I went with the gasser. Cheaper parts, and im more familiar with it.

 

Does the gasser produce enough power? I have had big gas engines before but never felt like they had the juice that the diesels put out. Never had a V-10 though.

 

Really depends what you mean by enough... Stock to stock a V10 is pretty darn comparible and in some cases better than the 7.3 diesel IMO...

HOWEVER, you pretty much get what you get with the V10. No amount of mods are going to wake the truck up like a diesel.

Most people like diesels because you can produce jaw dropping power with about $1000 bucks. Any tuner will wake those trucks up.

I myself Don't tow anything over 7000lbs, so a V10 does the job just fine. I don't have to worry about driving somewhere remote and the gas station not carrying diesel. The other downside for me was that with the Diesel trucks your maintenance cost over the long run is A LOT more expensive. Look up the cost of a turbo, lift pump, injectors etc. If your looking to tow a 12k trailer or bigger quite often I would go with the Diesel as you just won't be happy with a V10.

However, as much as I like my fords... If I was looking at a diesel I would be looking at a duramax. Great tranny, produce gobs of power and not as many issues as the ford diesels as it seems they switch their engines every few years. The V10 has been around forever and they have tweaked it to make it better... IMO that's what chevy did with their duramax based diesels.

I almost purchased a duramax, but I was able to buy my V10 for DIRT cheap.

 

People demand a premium for the 7.3 because one in good shape (from California or Arizona for example) with lowish miles (under 100K) is very sought after! I had mine with 310,000 stolen out of my driveway and it drove almost like a new truck. My oil analysis came back better than the average 6.4 Blackstone said. The engine ran awesome and I never touched the clutch or transmission ever. I have never heard of a 6.0,6.4 or 6.7 that could beat it (surely there are some out there that have that many without issues but not many). My brothers 7.3 went 339,000 of true abuse. And as has been said the power is legendary. Obviously the new trucks put them to shame in the power department but even my 2000 pulled a 24 foot enclosed car hauler to Arizona from Texas up and down 7 percent grades with the cruise set on 70. I bid on a truck in California that had 90,000 and offered 17 thousand and still did not get it. Ended up buying another 2002 for 6000 from my brother and I am putting about 4000 more into it (4 wheel drive, tires, wheels, body work) but solid as a rock in the drivetrain department even though has 240,000. In my humble opinion there is nothing like the 7.3 and I have driven 6.0, 6.4 and 6.7 extensively. Sure they are dirty, loud and have terrible turning radius (but I have had a crew cab long bed four wheel drive and lived in the medical center in Houston for 8 years and have done just fine) but the reliability is unmatched by probably almost anything except (maybe) a Toyota Corolla.

 

This is the misconception, that leads to people thinking they can get whatever they ask for the 7.3

My 6.0 gave me no issues for well over 100k, my BIL had 470k on his '03 6.0 and that truck had 10k+ lbs attached to it 5 days/week. Both trucks were worked very hard and never saw a tow truck. We just traded in our '11 F450 car hauler w/390k miles, that towed 15k+ lbs daily. There was/is better options than the 7.3 out there IMO.

 

7.3s are going for top dollar because all the people who can't swallow 60k for a new truck want to avoid the unknown of the 6.0/6.4. I agree compleatly the market is getting stupid over 7.3, but said stupidity allowed me to afford the 6.7. Which by the way the only thing I miss about my 7.3 is the 4"straight pipe.

 

But unlike the 7.3 your trucks are the exceptions rather than the somewhat norm. You are definitely doing something right and I am happy for you! But we have all heard of 7.3s with 400 and 500 thousand miles all over. I am a nurse and cannot even begin to tell you how many ambulances we see that have 400 plus miles on 7.3. Heck my parents next door neighbor has one that has 495,000 and another that has 390,000 and they are used every day in farming (grass). And that is literally my next door neighbor! If your neighbor has the same luck that you have had then someone needs to call Ford headquarters haha

 

To pay such a high price for an old truck has bad idea written all over it. It's going to need repair and maintenance just from age alone regardless of how many miles it has.


I bought a 1993 Dodge Cummins with 268k miles, didn't have any issues with it. I bought a 1990 Dodge Cummins with 85k miles a few years ago, and not too long afterward started having to replace anything rubber, including a $1000 injection pump due to leaks. That truck was a money pit but my favorite truck I ever owned. I finally sold it when it left me stranded in traffic one day while I was towing a 16,000 lb container on a flatbed.


I have a new truck now and won't look back. You're saying it's not in your budget. I appreciate it.


If that's the case, I'd evaluate how badly you really need a diesel. Given the fact diesel is staying like $.70 a gallon higher, I'd be surprised if the premium on these trucks stayed this high.


I know this is a Ford forum but if I were to look at diesels, I'd probably go back to a Dodge Cummins. I'm not a fan of the body, but nothing beats the Cummins. Not even a 7.3L. Look at the ads on these old trucks. How many ads for 7.3L say something like "new engine at xxx miles." Look at the old Cummins ads. They say nothing about "new engine at xxx miles" because the engine will outlast the body (or more likely).


I would also suggest looking at southern states and maybe plan on a weekend or week down here? I looked at Phoenix Craigslist, I'm finding 7.3L for a lot cheaper than that.