My son and I bought a 1997 F-350 crew 7.3 PSD today. I see this forum only goes up to 1996. But the title clearly says 1997.

Why does this forum stop at 1996? Is my son's new truck a freak? I know there are no 1998 F-350 trucks. But this is not the first 1997 we've seen, because he's been looking for one for months.

Are 1997s so rare that they don't get a forum here?

 

You're in the right place. The F150 line stopped at 1996 but the F350 carried over into the 1997 year.

 

That's a relief, thank you. I remember one guy out here a few years back who said he had a 1998 OBS. Rare as chicken teeth.

 

1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

When you click on this forum, it says this just above all the threads.

 

This complicates things. I get it now.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum25/

 

How so? Do you consider your F-350 a - “Newer Light Duty Truck’s - 1997 -2003 F150”?

As Ford Guy pointed out toward the end of this forum it says “including the 1997 heavy duty F250/F350+ trucks.”

 

No, I mean the fact that Ford split the truck lines complicated naming the forums. So now I get it. Somebody's going to get confused no matter what.

 

Since this is resolved, does anyone know if a 97 250/350 was available with a 5.8L and a 4x4 E4OD? I assume it would be roller, MAF, and OBDII? It would seem the perfect / dream truck to cannibalize my truck to or convert my truck from if I follow 5.8/E4OD religion.

 

And that is where you would be wrong, these '97 trucks are SD OBD1 as the whole reason they continued to build them was to fill the gap until the new Superduty truck became available in '98 so they didn't put any money into upgrading the EFI system in the old truck.

 

Paul is correct for Federal emissions 1996/97 trucks, but the California emissions F250HD/F350 were OBD-II which means they are also MAF.

 

uh oh! not to offend anyone or flag an Admin but if what RLA2005 says is true, I might would have to ponder stepping foot in California to have a better chance of finding one. my stomach hurts and i feel crushed plus my personal feasibility of traveling cross country to find and a drag a truck back.

 

It is true. The topic comes up every couple of months.California emission 7.5L gas engine 1996/97 F250HD and F350 with a GVWR <14k are OBD-II. E4OD and Manual transmissions were supported.

A shot from my Ford EVTM manual

 

It would take a reeeeeely sweet deal to get me to set foot in CA. Maybe they would ship the truck to you. That might even cost less than going there yourself. Everything is expensive and taxed heavily there.

 

You could pluck the roller 5.8L with E4OD and transfer case from a 1996 F150, found nationwide. OBD-II with MAF. If this is for a 4x4 conversion of your current truck you'll have to source an axle elsewhere but that's pretty easy. The only drive train difference I can think of might be at the transfer case output: slip shaft in the F150 vs fixed in the HD trucks (I think?). Just an idea.

 

I saw an F250 like that in the JY about 18 months back. ECLB.