Background: 00 250 6 spd aluminum flatbed extended cab 290000 miles less that 10,000 miles on reman tranny and stage 1 South bend clutch. 1 Injector replaced 2.5 years ago. Some kind of tune from previous owner.

Current conditions: I dont tow every day maybe once a month but when I do it is alot. Many times up to 20,000# gross gooseneck. I think at least one injector is going out. Needs up pipes, drivers seat is worn uneven, leafs all around or Air bags on rear.

Future: Wife is having a kid this summer and probably more down the road so at some point a CC will be necessary. See other thread about car seats in extended cabs. This thread assumes that that is not a deciding factor. Possibly moving back on the farm in the coming years so may be towing and hauling alot more down the road.

It had started throwing alot of black smoke especially when cold under acceleration, even light acceleration. Low power. Certain times it will “Catch” and really put you back in the seat with lots of black smoke. This all sounds like injector issues to me. But it maybe something else. Really bad when towing. Speed dropping like a rock on a slight incline.

Options: Buy a newer crew cab (not really in the budget today)
Try to get a couple more years out of mine.

You guys that do a lot of towing how much can my truck pull stock while keeping highway speed on small hills. How much if do some work to it? (low budget: small tune, maybe slight injector increase if I’m replacing them anyway) I am not talking about legally or stopping I understand these limits and will choose whether or not to exceed them myself.

Long term I would like to buy a 6.7 CC for towing and family matters. Maybe or maybe not keep my truck for a farm truck, hauling firewood (maybe install a lift hoist under flat bed), and other things that might beat up the newer one.

 

This could be EBPV function/malfunction. I'd look into that first. Have an EGT gauge by any chance?

 

This made me chuckle a bit... A happy wife is a happy life my friend.

The description of a small hill is relative to the person facing climbing it. I can tell you that my truck has zero problems maintaining 65 MPH towing the hills in TN or the mountains in CO. Although, before going out on said adventures I made sure my truck was 100% with minor upgrades and Gear Head tunes.

Based on your options, injectors can get expensive very quickly. When I go to do injectors, I have budgeted $3000. If I want to install the KC38R turbo at the same time, add $1500 to that. If the HPOP needs to go, add $600 to that. You see how this is going?

Although, again with a billet turbo wheel, completely sealed exhaust and intercooler plumbing, I pull at ~28 PSI up mountains with a 12K lbs trailer attached to bed of my truck.

In my opinion you should sit down and look at what you NEED for the truck. You said the springs are bad all the way around, start there. Are all of your sensors within operating specifications? Up-pipes are a must in order to get any sort of performance out of these trucks. After you have gotten the dollar figure it will cost you to get the truck to 100%, then start looking things you WANT.

Souped up injectors, custom tuning, exhaust, etc... Now, take that total dollar figure and see where that puts you in regards to your budget. You said a new truck is not in the cards, well the repairs will be cheaper than that, but it will still cost a lot.

I bought my 2000, 6 speed manual, extended cab truck for $9200. Since then, I have about ~$4500 in it. But, this is a lot of WANT items like running boards, grille guard, air bags, traction bars, etc. The truck hauls *** and does anything I ask it to do. It does not go down the road like a well tuned 160/80 truck, but it sure does pull our 5th wheel cross country very well. Would I like to have a nice shiny 2018 Platinum F350 6.7 diesel? Sure I would... But, there is NO WAY IN HELL I am paying that much money for it. To be honest, if I won one in a drawing or something, I would turn around and sell it because my truck does everything that truck would do for a lot less money.

Only you and your wife can answer the question on what your budget is and is the truck worth it to keep. For us, we spent 8 months looking for our truck (a lot like yours) and it has been one of the best things we have ever bought.

~ $50,000 - $65,000



~ 9,000 - $15,000

 

David,

I was in almost the exact same boat as you about a year and a half ago. I ended up with the 6.0 in my signature. I love it and would not change what I did. I ended up with a 125k mile all stock King Ranch F350 for a little over $17k by the time I paid tax title license and all that good stuff. I also got to keep my 7.3 for the farm truck, and push off the work it needs for a bit longer.

I'd be up for chatting if you ever wanted to as well. The wife, kids and I are preparing to buy and move back to the family farm as well. Best of luck with your decision, its a tough one.

Baatzy

 

Hey Ill check anything. Best way to check this?

Im in pa so we have just about everything. Not as long as a Colorado mt but there are places that it is as steep. What Im trying to get at is I don’t expect a truck to pull 12K up a 25 percent grade at 65. No one would. I do however want to maintain cruising speed on the normal ups and downs the kind you normally don’t even notice. The last decent load I pulled was a 97 powerstroke on a 25 foot gooseneck trailer. I was dropping to 40 from 65 on hills you shouldn’t even notice or shift from OD on the ZF6.

That is probably a good Idea to sit down and price everything out. The problem is everything varies so much. As you stated you can spend 3000 on injectors or you can have them rebuilt by Rosewood for 500. And everything in between. Besides is it actually possible to list everything I would ever want for my truck LOL



I have seen a few 6.7L for as low as 15K with less miles than mine. So I guess Im asking what kind of towing could I get for a couple thousand investment say 3-4 K Much more than that and It isn’t really worth it.

If we were on the farm it would be easy. “farm” buys a cheapish 6.7L for towing that my dad and I could both use. And that way I can take my time and do everything myself on the truck. I’m just not sure If I can justify it not knowing how much towing I will do in the future.

In addition to that I got the truck with 260K I don’t know how it was treated. It could have engine wear and blow by in which case even a lot of improvement will only yield mediocre results. But who knows buying a used truck. I had to replace the tranny and clutch within a year of owning mine. That was at least 50% of the purchase price. Maybe I should have cut and run then. lol

 

The EBPV (exhaust back pressure valve is a butterfly valve in the exhaust side of the turbo, the solenoid that activates it sits in the bottom of the turbo pedestal and the rod that connects the two comes out the left side of the pedestal. I do not know what the temp conditions are that activate it and I don't really know how to tell if it's malfunctioning without removing the turbo. You could disconnect it and wire it open and see if it makes a difference. The location and type of clip that hold the rod to the valve do make it a little tricky. Hopefully someone with better knowledge on it will be able to help you out.

 

I too would like to upgrade to a crew cab, however I plan to stay with the 99-04 body style as it is one of my favorites. With that being my goal and desired body style, I am ok throwing whatever money I need to at my super cab. Reason being, when I have the disposable income, I can buy a 99-04 with a blown motor for pennies, and swap over all of the new parts I have gotten for my SC (engine, trans, driveline components, suspension etc) to make the cheap crew cab better without having wasted money. Just some food for thought.

 

Hmmm my favorite was the obs (95-97) I just love those. I had/have 2 both are parts trucks now. Actually i am selling them. I just needed more towing power. Unless someone tells me they can pull the rocky mountains at eighty with a 97 lol Or maybe I could put obs body around a new truck lol

 

It sounds to me like you have already made your decision, but you need to sit down with your significant other and work out the details.

In regard to the 6.7, I am not sure, but I think the first run of motors had problems with them. The problems were quickly corrected, but there are still some out there. A quick browse through the 6.7 section should provide some answers.

 

Just keep in mind that your truck, like my '99..is old and getting older. In my area, NC there are several' 17 F250 cc 6.7 4x4 with less than 20k on them in the low 40k range. I'm thinking some company went out of business and these trucks went to auction. Mind you they're XLTs so they don' have the foo foo trim like say the king ranch but very nice. Food for thought.

 

Maybe you are right. I would really like an aluminum body so maybe i can stall long enough that I can afford a 2017 used in a couple years. I think my plan of attack is to first determine the condition of things. Especially any engine wear. That find out how much needs replaced and decide how much to do from there. I am probably going to have to take it some where because i dont have a good scan tool

 

Well I took a look at a few things. i looked at my wastegate last night and it was in the closed position. Then I took off the intake to inspect the turbo. it looks fine and doesn't seem to have any play. BUT the whole intake was coated in oil. I know some blow by is normal but how much. I dont want to put alot of work into a truck with a lot of blowby.

Then I unplugged the wastegate and she lit up....A little. What would cause it to open when it shouldn't. Are there any bad side effects to leaving it unhooked and shoving the red tube over an inter cooler bolt. Also what is the small green tube going to the intake hose.

 

You're truck is supposed to have oil in the intake, It burns off the Mist from the CCV. It is also at the Age and Mileage that it probably needs all the O-rings replaced, and there is a Bunch of them....especially the injector rings. Once they start leaking, nothing will run right.....Welcome to the rabbit hole, Alice.

 

If it still has the factory boots on the intercooler tubes and spider...well, odds are you have a leak somewhere, and this would definitely cause a lack of power / boost.

Long story short: Yes, you *could* end up dumping a lot of money into this truck. But as long as it is for needed stuff, odds are it will be WAY CHEAPER than buying a newer truck. If you do a lot of the work yourself, it won't be that expensive. For arguments' sake, here are a few numbers of some of the items that might be needed (but those that aren't, you save that money):

New seat cushion and leather cover (2 hours): $400
Rebuilt injectors and new valve springs (Fri Night thru Sunday afternoon): $1,500
New Intercooler boots (2 hours alone, or only extra 30 mins if you rebuild turbo): $100-200
New HPOP (3 hours): $600
Rebuild your existing turbo with a billet wheel and new bearings (2 hours): $250
New Leaf Springs for rear (no idea how long): $500

 

Did mine in about 3 hours, but that was the first time I had ever done anything like that. Also, I paid $414 shipped to the house for OEM replacement springs.