When looking for an 87-96 F-150, which model years are the best and which may be more problem prone. Also which auto transmission should I look for and which if any should be avoided. Truck would be used mainly for commuting and possibly occassionally used for towing small camper such as a pop-up.Thanks.

 

There are very few major differences between trucks of those years, except for the transmissions. The C6 is a 3 speed auto with no overdrive, and so will burn a lot of gas It was discontinued around 1990 or so. The AOD is a four speed auto with overdrive, and is widely considered to be a weak transmission. It was available in all of those years. The E4OD is an electronically controlled 4 speed auto. It's a big truck tranny, but the earlier years were weak and had a number of design 'issues'. If you end up with one, make sure it's either a new one ('95 & up) or rebuilt to those newer specs.

If/when the E4OD does blow up, be prepared for an expensive rebuild (I've heard from $2k to $3k)

Unless you're completely opposed to a manual, the granny low four speeds are bulletproof, and the Mazda 5 speed is also adequate for what you're describing, although it's not widely regarded as a strong tranny either.

The door post tag will tell you what tranny is in the truck. K = C6, E = E4OD, and T/U = AOD.

Once you get past the tranny, the trucks are basically the same, and the best truck is one where all the maintenance was religiously done. Given proper maintenance, most of these trucks will take you to 300k miles or more, and that's no joke.

 

Body wise, the trucks are very much the same, though the older trucks have a flat nose and huge headlights, and the newer trucks have a very slight aero look. But don't be fooled, its not any more aerodynamic

Andy covered the transmissions very well, so I won't elaborate too much except that an E4OD can be rebuilt on your work bench without buying more than $120 worth of proprietary Ford Motor Company tools. It's a big job though, but if you take your time and go slow, someone with reasonable mechanical skills can do it.

Personally, I like the ZF 5-sp transmission, as its a darn tough transmission, though some people don't like stick-shift for towing. Me, I prefer it, but to each their own. The ZF is available in some F250's and all the F350, with the manual transmission of course.

Electronically, they are different. The 88 and 89 had the first level of Ford EFI, which was fairly simple and worked reliably. 90 through 94 (and some early 95's) had a newer system that was a little more complicated, but not drastically so. Couple of extra sensors, some additional wiring, and that too worked fine.

Middle/late 95's and up, you'll find the newer computers for the fuel injection with ODB-II. ODB-II is vastly complicated, but offers you the advantage with scan tool equipment often under $200, you can acquire a ton of EFI related information regarding your truck should you have trouble. Or, your mechanic can do it. The information is extremely useful if you need service! However, ODB-II also passes emissions compliance data to inspection stations where recent law changes require the state inspection facilities to attach their computer, to your truck's computer, via this connector. If you intend to drive the truck as the factory built it, well, this isn't a problem at all unless something is broken. If you intend to put in a lumpy cam, or change stuff around, and ODB-II compliant truck will "tattletail" when your state inspection facility plugs in.

As far as styling, I prefer the nose of the older trucks (91 and back, the flat face), but I really like the interior of the 92-96 trucks, but that also is preference. Depends what is important to you.

For towing, you'll find a lot of guys here towing with an F-150 and thats all fine and good, however if you tow a lot, you might be happier with an F250 or even a F350 if you want to use a gooseneck trailer or tow a car trailer with a heavy car on it. The F250 frame and suspension is beefier and stiffer than the 150, and the F350 is beefier and stiffer still, to the F250. It all depends on what you need. A daily driver to/from work with an occasional yank of a trailer, and F150 is a good choice. If you're going to tow the vast majority of the time, something higher up the scale might be better suited. Also you need to consider body style... if you want a regular cab, or extended cab, F150/250/350 are available. If you want a crew cab, i.e. four full size doors, that puts you into the F250/350 category immediately.

I have a 93 F350 crewcab, and have been very happy with it. I'm getting very close to the 300K mark and its still going fairly strong. She's just starting to get noticably "tired" but to be fair, 300K is a lot of mileage. And a lot of that was towing, hauling bricks, wood, engine blocks, rocks, steel plate, etc. I have the 5.8L (351W) and the 5-sp ZF Manual, everything major is original. New ball joints, new wheel bearings, etc, but the major components are still the original. The ZF shows no sign of being unhappy, I've never had to service it other than change the fluid every 100K or when I remember

The only "trouble point" for me is really a design problem with the 5.8L engine, where the PCV valve is piped into cylinder number 8, so any and all oil vapor that gets recirculated and burned in the combustion chamber, gets into cylinder eight rather than across all cylinders. Every so often I lose the intake gasket because of it, but thats about every 100K or so. The last time I plugged that hole in the intake, and routed the PCV output to an open vacuum port on the intake upper, so that all cylinders share the work of burning the oil vapor, hasn't been a problem since.

I can't vouch for the 4wd manual or automatic hubs and transfer case because my truck is 2wd. I made that decision thinking that a F350 crewcab is heavyy enough I really don't need 4wd. And in NJ where I live, with 99% of my driving being on asphalt, I'd have to say that was correct logic at the time. Even in heavy snow, with snow tires, its not bad. Just have to keep the speed reasonable.

Good luck in finding a truck!

 

Thanks for the info. I guess a 95 or 96 with the E40D would be the best choice. What is a granny low transmission? Thanks again.

 

granny gear is usually what people call he "stump pulling gear" as it's so friggin' low that you take off normally in second gear. It's basically only used for heavy towing so you can get the load in motion a lot easier. The 300 is an excellent motor and will last a long long time. It has a lot of low end torque which is excellent for towing. The 302's are bound to leak oil sometime, they're quicker than a 300 but they really bog down when you tow with them. The 351w is an excellent engine also, they have a lot of power and torque but also uses more gas. From my experience here 351w's are harder to find, the 300 is more common, and chances are when your looking at a truck more than likely it has the 302 in it. It took me awhile to find my truck, it has everything I wanted, it's a 95 has 99,000 miles, 4.9L (300), 5 speed, 4wd, xlt package, gray interior, basically the truck is loaded. It's also a flareside which that didn't have an affect on my purchase. I just mainly use it to commute to work and haul my fourwheeler when I go riding.

 

Must be nice. When I had to replace my truck after an accident earlier this year, I wanted a 300 with a stick. After looking for three weeks, getting laughed at at most places because I wanted to spend $3000 on a 15 year old truck, I lucked out and got the XLT Lariat package and a 4x4, but it's a shortbed, regular cab, single gas tank, and manual locks & windows. But it pulls anything I put behind it.

 

oh you got the LS that must be nice. From my experience I haven't seen that many ford trucks with the limited slip. My dad claims his 83 f100 2wd isn't an open rearend (I need to get under it and get the number) but now it's wore and is acting as an open one. Heard something about the clutches being worn or something. My truck is very nice looking as you can tell but there's quite a bit of rust on the frame and the oil pan has it too. I think it's still solid enough and I was thinking about sanding most of the rust off then using primer and paint. Or would it be a good idea to get a spare pan and just replace it when the time comes? I have 2 years left of payments then I was gonna plan on swapping in a zf so I was hoping it would last till then.