I am in the market for a primary tow rig for my farm. Because of price I have concentrated on the 97-99 f250 4x4 diesels. Am I missing anything by not looking for the slightly newer slightly more $$$$ 99-03 bracket? As a farmer I hafta spend as wisely as possible and will depend on the truck for more than just a drive to work. Any insight is greatly appreciated. 4x4 dsl 8'bed and xtra cab a must.

 

As far as the powertrain goes there's not a huge difference. The major difference on the engine is the 94-97 uses a mechanical fuel pump and the 99-03 is electric. I think the ZF-6 tranny is more user friendly for towing than the ZF-5 in the older trucks, and it has an intergral pump and external cooler. For the automatics, the 4R100 is generally considered stronger than the old E4OD. The newer trucks also have a 20-60 horsepower advantage depending on the year model and transmission......and it'll be easier to find a clean, low milage rig the newer you go.

Mostly it's your personal preference...pick the one that fit's your taste and budget the best and go for it. As long as that big blue oval is on the grill it's a great truck.

 

Yeah, what Cookie88 said. There's good advantages to the later style trucks. Intercooler, transmission coolers for the stick shifts.
They can be worked harder and not suffer for it.

 

I wouldn't consider an automatic for farm work. E4OD or 4R100 are both the weak spot in the drive train. The Torque Converters don't lock up at low speeds, where most of your towing will occur. The built-in slippage, necessary to act as a clutch and multiply the torque for starting and pulling loads from a standstill, generates a lot of heat in the fluid, and the built-in coolers can't handle continuous slippage under load. These trannys are designed to start, run up through the gears, and lock the TC at highway speeds. If necessary, you can add a large aftermarket tranny oil cooler to keep the temperature down. There are also kits to add to the tranny to firm up the shifting so as minimize clutch slip and wear. Do these two things if you really want or need an automatic.
Assuming you have a normal farm, you will be running in dust a lot of the time. Change to an aftermarket intake air filter which will handle this duty. The OEM filter box is junk. You'll get a lot of opinions on what to do. I would do it in two stages.
1: Immediately change to the Kwik filter. (Thats the guy who posted just before me). Search around on this forum and you'll find lots of guidance on how to do it. Its "dirt!!" cheap, and immediately solves the junk intake box problem while improving the intake air flow. its not the highest filtering efficiency you can find, but pretty darn good.
2: Do some research on two things: a. Look for a replacement for the Kwik filter which fits in the same way, and maybe has higher efficiency. or b. Change to an aftermarket filtering package which has high efficiency. Ford supplies an aftermarket severe duty package which has a very good reputation, and you will get a lot of opinions but not a lot of facts about a handful of other packages. Take your time on this one.
The Ford 4X4 controls are vacuum driven, and some folks report problems with reliable shifting. Price out switching to manual hubs, and check out any truck you think of buying to be sure they are fully functional to start with.
Be sure and get an owners manual, read it and pay attention to the business of which radiator fluid to use and (if automatic) which tranny fluid to use. Ford techs are known to ignore or be ignorant of those mandatory factory requirements.
There are a whole bunch more aftermarket changes which enhance or somewhat improve the truck performance under various conditions. I wouldn't mess with them for a farm truck.
Browse this forum to keep up on things. Lets see what others contribute to this post.
Lots of luck.
Warren