I just recently picked up a very nice Ford 2003 F250. It does have about 180k miles, but seems to run and shift nice. The interior and body is in great condition, original AZ Truck so 0 rust.
I did have some questions on updates that may help in Towing or just every day driving:
The Truck does have a stock rear Sway Bar, but I was looking at either replacing the bushing with Polyurethane, or updating to the Hellwig Rear Sway Bar (jegs has a 10% coupon)
I have used Airbags in the past, but they always seem to leak just when you want to use them, do the Torklift Stableload work as advertised?

It does appear to have some oil leaking around the lower intake, valve covers, I will most likely just remove the lower intake and valve covers and replace the gaskets. The timing chain, etc., doesn't appear to be making any noise, but do the chain and guides need to be replaced at any certain miles? Or just wait until they get noisy?

I plan on using if for towing, mainly other cars I own or cars I may purchase. I thought about mounting a winch inside the pickup bed, which will allow me to rent a trailer and use the winch for any non working cars I may want to load. I don't see many installing winches in pickup beds, mainly either on the hitch or on the trailer. If anyone know of any winch mounting kits, etc., for the pickup bed let me know.

Thanks

 

I have a couple of comments.

Get a 5 star tune. If you run the premium gas tune it will make up for the extra cost in gained mpg if you drive sane. It will also help transmission shifting.

Change all fluids including brake fluid. This helps quite a bit to get you longer life.

Mount the winch to your trailer. That is much easier.

 

changing the fluids was the first thing I did. I also plan on changing out the spark plugs and ignition coils (I don't recommend Amazon, I ordered 10 MotorCraft DG508, but received a box of generic Coils, no numbers, plain box, its been returned.) It appears Denso type may be a better choice?

 

I've read where Denso is the OEM supplier for the COPs.
Are you having a problem related to the COPs?
The coils will far outlast the boots.
Denso boots, 671-0001, at Rock Auto are $32 for a set of 10.
I change plugs & boots at 50k, be sure to torque the plugs to 25-28 ft/lbs.
I have the Hellwig bars front & rear and they make a big improvement in overall handling when cornering and encountering cross winds.
The Hellwig bars come with polyurethane bushings, are larger diameter than stock Ford bars and add considerable more roll resistance.
For towing with our Excur I added F250 rear leafs, replaced the OEM aux trans cooler with a 5R110 cooler, added a 3rd trans fluid cooler, and a 2008+ Ford finned aluminum diff cover.
The shocks were shot at 104K, so it now has Bilsteins, and with load range E tires it tows and rides great.
Our 2003 5.4L has had the timing chain tick since 130k and I'll be changing it soon now that it's gotten worse at 170k.
The 2002 6.8L has no indication of a timing chain tick at 132K.
It does have a small oil leak on the passenger side which drips onto the exhaust pipe and burns off.
I never see oil drops on the ground, but smells bad.
I think it's leaking between the head and the block, can't see up in there to pin point it.
Even with that it uses less than a quart of oil in 2k miles.
Check all your vacuum hoses, I had several where the outside would crumble when touched from the heat we get in the south.
I replaced all of them with silicone hose and brass fittings.
The PCV hose, which uses plain hose and plastic fittings, was replaced with reinforced hose and brass fittings.

 

I too bought Motorcraft DG-508's from Amazon but in fact received Motorcraft COP's DG-508's: Motorcraft COPs' I don't know that Denso are "better" only because they're supposed to be the exact same parts, form the exact same manufacturer.

 

IIRC Denso manufactures the Motorcraft part.

 

the way the Ignition coils are being displayed, Motorcraft "Plugs", with the part number DG-508. What I got was a box of generic Ignition coils, black, no numbers or writing on them. I was ordering the Ignition coils along with some other items, and didn't catch the deception. I returned them, and found the actual Motorcraft Coils,, $200.00 for 8. I just returned the generic set.

 

It looks like the previous was good at changing the fluids on a regular basis. So far it doesn't use seem to be using any oil, but it did have a leaky pan gasket, but that was replaced before I bought it. The intake oil leaking seems pretty minor now. I just used the truck today to help pull up some small tree stumps, no problems. There are some funny videos of guys trying to pull out tree stumps, some trucks actual break, tree stumps fly into the back windows, etc.,

 

I too would have returned them and left as much negative feedback as I could for such a deception. A lot of unknowing people would have kept and used those generic coils and complained about Motorcraft being junk after they started failing soon after installation. They'd never realize they'd been duped.

 

Following along. I'll be in the market for a V10 as soon as my truck sells. Any pics? Crew cab? Would be nice to see it.

 

Maybe valve covers, but I would guess not. Common oil leak points on v10 are the passenger rear head gasket and drivers side front oil cooler gasket. Either way, if the leaks aren't making a mess in the garage or burning on the exhaust, leave them alone. If it's the head gasket, you'll spend more than that old worn out engine is worth trying to fix it. Better and probably cheaper to just replace it since you gotta pull the engine anyway.

Its the head gasket. It will get worse. Same as the first reply, not worth trying to fix in my opinion. Live with it or replace the motor. Gotta pull the motor and nearly completely tear it down to fix it anyway. V10s are way too cheap to do all that crap.

 

Is there a specific place where the head gasket leaks since it seems to be somewhat of a common problem?
I wasn't planning on doing anything since the leak never hits the ground, but who has a garage it will fit in?
Our engine has 132K, is that worn out?
It was funny to see advertisements when the Excursion was new that it was low enough to fit under a standard garage door, well at least the 2wd was.
But, how many garages were long enough so you could get around it?
So, if I ever have to do the timing chains, the head will not come off without pulling the engine?
Is there not enough clearance with the firewall?
The engine mounts can't be pulled and drop the engine a bit?

 

Assuming the oil has been changed on a reasonable basis your engine should be far from worn out at 132K miles. These 6.8's last a LONG time. They aren't without a few quirks, but longevity isn't one of them.