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I picked up a 2006 F350 Lariat CCLB with 131,000 on it in November of 17 to haul our family of 6 with all our stuff around. I paid 14k for it, knowing it had some issues - namely rust as it was an Ohio truck, but I thought I got a decent deal on it.
I had to park it this last winter because the steering became dangerous. It appears that it didn't get very much maintenance from its previous owners. It turns out that the steering problems were caused by seized up U-joints in the front axle shafts.
The rest of the front end wasn't in much better shape. The ball joints were going, one of the locking hubs was cracked, one wheel bearing was going, etc. I ended up rebuilding the whole front axle, along with new tie rods and drag link, new shocks, all new brakes - discs, calipers, brackets, and SS brake lines from PMF Suspension. I also dropped the drive line and replaced those U-joints and the hanger bearing, given the state of the front joints.
I thought it was good to go for vacation, pulling a 34' travel trailer from Montana to Minnesota and back. The truck was pulling pretty well I thought, and I wasn’t pushing it very hard. We were doing the sightseeing thing and taking our time heading out to Minnesota. We stopped at Bighorn battlefield, and then spent a day in Rapid City for Rushmore, etc. There weren't very many large grades to pull, just constant smaller stuff, and usually the truck would drop down and run in the 3K rpm range while climbing and have no issues. However, a couple of times, the truck would drop down another gear towards the top of the hill and run in the 4k rpm range - even though I was only giving it part throttle and seemed like it still had some gear left, so it was a surprise each time. When it did this, it would take forever for it to upshift again after cresting the hill and going back down the other side. With the noise this beast makes at 4500 rpms, it was definitely unsettling, lol. On the third day of our vacation, the kids were happily playing xbox in the back seat and we had just decided to skip Wall Drug as we headed east. A couple miles past Wall, we climbed a small rise and the road flattened out on top. Sure enough, the truck geared down right before we topped the rise, running around 4200 rpms. As soon as it did it, I eased off the throttle until I was completely out of it but it wouldn't upshift. We were coasting along on the flat, slowly losing speed for 5 or 6 seconds and the motor just kept running flat out and unloaded and then it started going tick, tick, tick, tick, thunk, thunk, thunk, and then it finally upshifted and the noise went away. It would thunk and screech when it shifted up or down and then quiet down, so at first I thought it was something with the transmission or driveline. We hit the next exit and limped it back towards Wall. After about a mile, the noise was nearly constant so I shut it down and got towed in. The glitter on the dipstick kind of confirmed that we lost some bearing material. With Sturgis only a week out, all of the shops we tried were at least a month out before they could even touch it. I ended up renting an F350 and trailering the rig home after a nice 4 day vacation at Wall Drug, but that's a whole other post, LOL.
Anyway, its home now and I am prepping to pull the motor. More pics to follow once it's out. I'm still pondering what I want to do with it. Initially I thought I would just put a used motor in it and trade it up on something a little newer with less rust. I’d really like to rebuild it too, would be a good project with my older kids to learn some new skills. If I rebuild it, what else would you suggest doing while the motor is out? The way the transmission was shifting seems odd to me. If this truck had a tuner or chip on it previously and it was just pulled, what effect would that have, if any? Sorry for the long winded post! Your thoughts are appreciated.
Last edited by barnes80; Apr 21, 2020 at 10:56 AM.
Reason: Edited for drunken rambling...
IT does seem maintenance wasn't done before as it should have been. I've had v10's and around that nr of miles looking inside the oil filler it would look pretty clean when doing regular oil changes. Not that.
The high rpm's on a v10 is nothing to worry about. They handle that just fine as long as the oil is good. You didn't break it by running 4+K rpm's. I've had mine screaming at close to max rpm, uphill, towing a heavy tractor, in first gear with throttle to the floor. No issue.
IF the transmission wasn't serviced like the engine) you might have someone go over it as well. You put a lot of work and effort in it already so it's worth getting it up and running well. As far as rebuilding the engine that's up to you and your kills. I would get a good rebuild but that's just me.
The transmission was probably downshifting because the engine was seizing, just as if the truck was starting to go uphill. I spun a bearing in a Pontiac back in the 80s. It downshifted as I was passing a car and wouldn't shift back up. I pulled over and the engine died. When restarted, it sounded like a thrashing machine with a pitchfork in it. It had spun a rod bearing. An engine overhaul kit and a new crankshaft fixed my transmission.
Well, I'm finally getting back around to this project. I decided my best option was a reman from Ford. No questions core refund and 3 year unlimited mileage warranty for 5300.00
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