Great forum ya'll! I'm so glad I ran across it. I have a few questions I'd like to submit to the collective knowledge having not found answers after searching and such. Thanks in advance for your understanding with a new user.

I have recently purchased a '97 7.3, auto, extendend cab with 289k. (Less than $6k so it seemed like a good deal.) I plan to use it as a daily driver (mostly highway as I live in a rural area) and to haul horses and cattle. The truck seems solid, suspension, drive train (tranny has less than 50k), brakes, all that happy stuff. I am fairly confident in the soundness of the truck, and am extremely comfortable with my knowledge with my technical ability to service it (several years as a mechanic an shop manager under my belt, before a career change) but with that information I am very much aware of what I don't know.

Here come the general newbe questions: What should be my first maintence concerns, particular to this modle, engine, ect? What are common problems that I should be on the alert for? What are some of the tried and true rules regarding up keep for this truck? As might be able to guess this is first diesel I have owned, besides my little Ford tractor, so I'm mucho curious.

Once again, thanks for any replys.

P.S. As far as mods go I already have the bug, but my plans are limited to improving the breating of the motor, but what is then general opinion on chips? Seems like all they do is increase boost, and that is not always a good thing in gas engine. Not sure how the 7.3 will handle it.

 

Welcome to the site. Let's get started on your questions, shall we?
I'll assume that you don't know the maintenance history of the truck, so I'd be thinking that replacing the oil, tranny fluid, differential fluid, transfer case fluid, air and fuel filters would be where I'd start. Then, you'll know when to change them again. On your '97, you'll want to use a Racor fuel filter, since it's OEM.
The Cam Position Sensor, or CPS, can/will fail after enough miles, and stop you dead in your tracks. For most people, you get a little warning, but some have gotten none. The part isn't expensive, nor is it difficult to install. As with anything to do with the engine, buy your parts from Intenational, rather than Ford. You'll save 50% of the price, for the same part!
These things love to work, but they warm up slowly. Repetitively driving it a few miles without warming it up is a little hard on them, but once they're ready to work, you can't ask too much of them. Let 'er warm up a little before working 'er too hard; let 'er cool off a little before shutting 'er off, and she'll probably outlive you.
The majority of guys with aftermarket intakes have gone with the TYMAR, though there are others that swear by their K&N, or AIS. All three are capable of flowing more air than your truck needs, so it comes down to filtering ability and cost. I prefer the TYMAR because it filters extremely well, is the least expensive of the three by far, and I'm not interested in cleaning a filter from time to time. I want to put a new one on every 15K miles, and not worry about it again.
Chips increase the fuel flow, and alter the fuel timing, both of which increase boost. It's a good thing in a diesel engine. Try not to get the operation of gas and diesel engines confused. Though similar in a few ways, they're really quite different. The PSD will handle a lot of boost, and loves it. Stock Powerstrokes produce around 18psi boost. A truck with a chip can/will do 22-24psi. My truck has a hot chip plus propane injection. I can get slightly over 30psi.
Boost = more air. More air = more fuel. More fuel = more power. More power = more fun.
I hope this gets you started. Come back with more questions if I left something out.

 

Great post Quad.

When discussing breathing improvements of the PSD (especially the pre-99's) you cannot forget about the exhaust.

The stock downpipe is squashed flat on the early trucks and dosen't flow very well at all. Definately a must do mod if easy breathing is the objective.