I'll try to keep this brief, but apologies if it runs a bit long.

We bought our first house a year ago. It's off a logging road up at 1500 ft in the middle of the forest on the west slopes of the Cascade mountains. There are several lots and houses scattered up here, all of them on about 5 acres or so. We have a 12yr old and an 11mo old. My husband works. I work for myself, so any running around we need I try to get done during the day with the little one.

I love it. We have jeeps and they do a great job getting us up and down the mountain in all kinds of weather. They're about 20yrs old with the 4.0 i6. Mine has about 316,000 miles on it. We do most of their work ourselves except when it make more sense time/energy/money-wise to go to a mechanic.

But we have come to realize we are going to need a truck. I asked a few people what the truck equivalent of the 4.0 jeep was and literally everyone said the Ford diesel 7.3 (preferably the '99-'02 version).

Here's what I'm looking for:

Crew Cab
-Hauling the family. With 2 kids, one still in a rear-facing carseat, a crew cab is a must.

Long Bed 8'
-Hauling trash. There is no garbage service up here so every month we round everything up and take it to the transfer station. My in-laws have been very gracious letting us borrow their trailer, but we really need to get something ourselves. Also, trailers don't work well in 6-20" of snow. :P

-Plywood, 2x4s, furniture... when the house is as old as you are, it's going to need things pretty consistently. Finding new and creative ways to shove stuff in the back of a jeep or tie it to the roof rack is not high on my list of things to devote brain power to. Plus there's a very short limit to how creative I'll get with a baby in the car. Need to be able to move things as big as plywood or a couch without it turning into a big production. Easy in, easy out.

-Hauling dogs. We have three huskies. We have bikes and a dogsled. One vehicle is preferable.

-Fun. Being able to take a day trip, or a "car camping" trip to some local spots would be great. Room for gear and dogs without overly cramping passengers.

4x4
-Clearing roads. Last year at one point we had over 2' of snow. Even for a jeep that's starting to get a bit deep. A good 4x4 truck will go right over that, but the option of adding a snowplow is a huge plus. It's over a mile (and around 700ft in elevation) to the county road. Snow days are rarely called in this district, even when they get almost 6" of snow down on the flats.

Towing Package
-Trailer. A family member has a 30' travel trailer. Being able to move that if necessary is useful. Be nice to get something like that ourselves one day.

Automatic
-I have enough to keep track of without a stick shift.




I'm trying to keep the price in the $10,000 range. I've seen a few newer models for around $12,000 and occasionally a late 90's model for $6,000-$8,000. I'll be taking anything to a mechanic for a safety check, but don't want to go in blind.

I know what to look for in an older jeep. I know what needs replacing around what mileage. I know how much of a pain in the butt it is to do on a late night in the cold and damp because you have work the next day, or what will take most of the weekend because it's the first time you've tackled it and the kids still like to be fed multiple times a day.

What's a 7.3 like? What are trouble spots? What mileage do you find things starting to need replacement at? And what needs replacing usually? Is it reasonable to work on it yourself? Anything I should watch out for or avoid? Is there a particular year that was awesome? Or not so awesome? Tips for buying privately or from a dealer?

Thanks for reading!

 

My wife, too, has a Jeep and I, the 7.3L legendary powerstroke with a carseat in the back for our 3mo old I think it is a fine choice. They are getting up in age and increasingly harder to come by with relatively lower mileage and well-taken care for. I just bought my 7.3L being in a position to sell my 5.4L to get it. I purchased it for the price range you spoke of for seeing the 99+ models and so far the work I've been putting into it has been mostly electrical cleaning switch contacts in the PWs and PDLs. They are highly sought after and can be marked up higher for it. Regarding what to look for, there's a good pinned post in the diesel forum > 7.3L tab titled what to look for when buying a 7.3L. I think the obvious is looking for blowby and when the front end has been replaced i.e. ball joints, tie end rods. I just had replaced my front end on my '04 5.4L at 206Kmiles right before selling it and didn't want to have to tackle that job again for quite some time so that question was heavy on my mind when shopping around. But that guide is a good reference.

Happy shopping

 

Welcome. I just sold my 2002 F250, I would have let you have it for $10k!

The 7.3 will be high mileage due to its age. Don't worry, it ages well. I sold mine at 27x,xxx miles.

150,000 miles is where you should expect larger items to need replacing, but nothing so crazy. Injectors are usually the most expensive or troublesome to replace, and they're generally good to 300k.

The 7.3L is a very easy engine to work on. If you work on a jeep, you can work on a 7.3L. Nothing too crazy.

2000 would be my year of choice. There were some cosmetic and feature changes in 2002, but nothing not available to earlier years. In 2001 there was a transmission weakness. Nothing major, but if you buy a 2001, make a stickie note. 2002 was also the start of powered metal rod engines (generally) and some people feel these are inferior. Also, 1999 engines are divided between early (e99) and late (99.5) models. E99 engines have lower HP and some older parts from the older 7.3s.

In general, the 7.3 is a fantastic engine. Routine maintenance will keep it going for a LONG time.

 

Sorry about that. Life happened all at once and we got iced in for almost a week. Back up and running though and catching up with everything...

there's a good pinned post in the diesel forum > 7.3L tab titled what to look for when buying a 7.3L. I think the obvious is looking for blowby and when the front end has been replaced i.e. ball joints, tie end rods

Awesome, I will go track that down and make it my night time reading for a bit! Thanks!

150,000 miles is where you should expect larger items to need replacing, but nothing so crazy. Injectors are usually the most expensive or troublesome to replace, and they're generally good to 300k.

That's good to know, thank you!

The 7.3L is a very easy engine to work on. If you work on a jeep, you can work on a 7.3L. Nothing too crazy.

This is better news than I initially planned for. I know a "diesel mechanic" is an entirely different ball of wax than a regular mechanic. (My cousin across country went to that well-known school to become one himself.) I thought that might put a significant damper on do-it-yourself work. Glad to hear we can tackle a good chunk of it ourselves. Time to grab more manuals then, lol.

2000 would be my year of choice. There were some cosmetic and feature changes in 2002, but nothing not available to earlier years. In 2001 there was a transmission weakness. Nothing major, but if you buy a 2001, make a stickie note. 2002 was also the start of powered metal rod engines (generally) and some people feel these are inferior. Also, 1999 engines are divided between early (e99) and late (99.5) models. E99 engines have lower HP and some older parts from the older 7.3s.

Great info, thank you! Especially the bit about the tranny in the 2001.

Thanks to you both for your input and encouraging words! It's very helpful and a nice pick-me-up after this last round of craziness. :P

 

Just FYI the 7.3 was also in early 2003 model's. Mine is a 2003 have had it about 10 years and it has been the best vehicle I've ever owned. It's my third 7.3 super duty. When you find one you like check it over real good, i.e. ball joints, brakes, turbo, oil/fuel leaks, check for blow-by etc. Like has been stated these are not hard engines to work on. And by searching this forum you can find out everything you could ever want to know about the 7.3. Good luck with the search!

 

I've had mine for almost 10 years and still love it as much as the day I bought it. I've been able to do every repair and have turned almost every wrench that's been on it (except for wheel rotations and alignments).

It's a great truck but they are all old so there will be repairs no matter which one you buy. I also went with the Crew Cab for the kids. I wanted a Super Cab to keep the wheelbase down for off-roading but soon realized that the Super Duty Super Cab has the same back room as the 1997 Ford F-150 Super Cab I was currently in at the time so Crew Cab was the only way to go. It was nice not having to move my seat forward whenever the kids were in the truck!

Great idea on the inspection. I had that done too and made for a good bargaining list. I also got to see what I was in for in the near future. Make sure they check out the 4x4 feature. Module and vacuum issues are not uncommon (especially vacuum issues). Not overly difficult to fix but can be pricey depending on what needs to be replaced.

The 1999-2003 7.3L forum is full of great people willing to help and answer any questions you have.

 

I bought my old 7.3 Excursion with 225,000 miles on it, I had all the paperwork for everything that was done to it by the original owner. I sold it two years ago with 350,000 miles on it..

The only thing that a higher mileage 7.3 may require is injectors and the usual bolt on parts.

at 350k the transmission was original, as was the transfer case! There are tons of little tweaks to make these trucks even better.