I am going to get rid of my 06 and buy a truck that is paid for, will a idi 7.3 truck pull my camper it is a 31' 5ver weighing in at about 11000 pounds. also will it be reliable to start up at 0 degrees to go out plowing and run for 2-days straight sometimes. thanks in advance for any input.

 

You'll probably want a f-350, and 4.11 gears. That gets you the Dana 70 Rear and a Dana 60 front, I think (11000lb GVWR. ) Your gonna be looking for a 88-94.5 7.3L factory turbo truck ( NOT powerstroke), and you'll want it to be a 5spd (ZF 5spd trans) The auto trans is good, but how long towing 11k, is anyones guess. Clutches are cheaper to replace. E40D's are still only 4spd over drive units, the extra towing gear could help a lot.

Yes, It will start at 0F degrees, but you'll probably need to go through the Glowplug system and the fuel system with a fine tooth comb to maintain starting reliability.

Also, any truck you find with a 7.3L IDI needs to have the SCA's in the coolant checked on site. If the previous owner has no idea what your talking about, keep walking..... 7.3L IDI's can suffer from cavitation earlier in life (like 150K and up), which erodes the cylinder bores from the water jackets into the bore, (inside out) ultimately causing a hydrolocked engine, and major damage. 6.9L IDI do not suffer from this as much because of thicker cylinder walls, but you would have to step down to 83-87 f250-f350 trucks, (which as we all know are harder to find in good shape)

Good luck on your search.

 

I am confused they put a turbo on these from the factory? I thought the turbos were only after market units.

 

i believe the factory turbo idi was only in 94

 

Mine is an F-350 w/ 5 speed, duallies, crew cab, factory turbo, etc. As '94, it is supposed to be a 7.3L but when we tore it down it was found to have had the block replaced w/a 6.9L block (bored .030 over) so I'm somewhere between the power of the two, and the thicker cylinder walls of the 6.9L.It does run well and I use it to pull an approximately 10K pound camper (sometimes in the N. Georgia mountains) with very little problem. Just use good sense with the brakes and gears. It starts fine in the Atlanta area winters. just keep the battery terminals clean and don't hesitate to install new cables (Ford battey cables tend to corrode from the inside out.)

 

You're gonna miss the creature comforts of the '06. I love my 94 Turbo F-250, but it is noisy and there is no beer holder.

I don't pull much, and it is not a 350 dually, which I agree you need, But she has POWER. She will pull. I have made some basic, inexpensive mods, that make a huge difference. I lived in Chicago a winter, and she started every day without the block heater.

I agree about the battery cable, mine looked good, but for 100.00 I got a new one. I found the old one corroded 2 feet inside the drivers battery side.

7.3L IDI Turbo's are great, and inexpensive Mods make them Greater. More Great??

 

Factory turbo 7.3 IDI was 93 and 94 model year.

Towing 11,000 pounds of camper, big wind sail, you are going to want a turbo motor.
A dually would also increase the stability when the wind starts to blow.

Michigan is rather flat, so a NA engine would probably be OK, but it will take a bit to get that much weight rolling.
11,000 pounds of trailer and 7,000 pounds of truck = 18,000 pounds