F250 V10 with manual transmission advise

One of my neighbour's is looking at getting rid of their 99 F250 for not much more than scrap value. It has almost 200k (I've translated to freedom units not our left leaning Euro trash kilometers). I know the MPGs suck with the V10 but our truck mostly sits and gets used for farmer's Co-Op runs, dump runs, horse hauling and car hauling duty. It sees less than 2k a year of actual use. We currently have a 4.6l F150 which is really maxed out towing a 6000lb gooseneck horse trailer in spite of it's 7300lb rating. I'm just curious about the 5spd manual transmission. I know the Mazda unit they installed in the F150 was made of spun glass and wet tissue but I understand the Super Duty got a much better transmission.

they are beefy.. just don't put dual exhaust on it unless you want to be openly mocked every time you drive thru town...

It should have the ZF5 trans, which is pretty good. V10 is a good engine, just most want diesels now, which works out for you in getting it cheap. It will pull that trailer much better than the F150.

V10 5 SPEED LOCOST!

C'mon, you were all thinking it.

Put the v10 in something small and just go crazy with it.

Swap it into a p71?

The V10 exists because Dodge had a V10 so Ford had to make one too. It's... an engine. It does its job, which is being better than the 5.4 but not quite as good as the 460. Smoother than the 460 at least.

Crawl under and look at the cab and the bed to see if it still has laterals. Usually they don't and the cab is held in by strips of rust and gravity.

Junkyard_Dog wrote: V10 5 SPEED LOCOST! C'mon, you were all thinking it.

I was thinking T-Bucket, so close.

Make sure the bolts holding the exhaust manifolds on haven't rusted off. Common problem with this motor. Traded my '03 off after I got the estimate to have it repaired.

KSScotton wrote: Make sure the bolts holding the exhaust manifolds on haven't rusted off. Common problem with this motor. Traded my '03 off after I got the estimate to have it repaired.

I sell the tool for that. NOT CHEAP, but you could probably buy it, use it, and sell it for most of what you paid. Just something to consider since most of the quoted cost is usually labor.

A friend had this exact truck. He blatantly neglected it and it kept on going without an issue. If fuel mileage isnt an issue i say go for it.

That sounds like a great truck for the money.

Just make sure to check the oil in the trans often like at every oil change in the engine. If it 4x4 and you fin low fluid and no spots on the lawn check transfer case, my old land lord had one and toasted the trans cause the internal seal leaked....or so he said... I love my 2010 with the v10 and the auto. Hauls everything I need and cost less then a power stroke. Yes cost less the v10 was only $600 more then the 5.0 v8 and A lot less then the stroke...less maintence for me as its low use truck just turned 36,000 not bad on gas with the 30ft trailer 10.5 to 11.7mpg not bad for the hills around here. Mike at 5Star tuning has all sort of stuff to make more power but I've not bothered as it such low use now with only hauling 4 miles to the track and not 210 each way.

I had a V10 Excursion. It burned a ridiculous amount of gas. Seriously, the fuel bills were crippling, and that's why I sold it. That, and they also have the spark plug issues like the other Ford mod motors. I went back to an old school Chevy 350 powered 2000 GMC Savana 3500 to tow my race car, and I'm glad I did.

44Dwarf wrote: Just make sure to check the oil in the trans often like at every oil change in the engine. If it 4x4 and you fin low fluid and no spots on the lawn check transfer case, my old land lord had one and toasted the trans cause the internal seal leaked....or so he said...

Happens all the time with automatics. The transfer case has a seal but the transmission doesn't since the transfer case takes the position of the output housing. And for some crazy reason the transfer case seal will leak IN but not OUT so you end up with a transfer case that is overfull and a transmission that burned up because the filter was sucking air.

In reply to Wayslow:

2wd if its a 5sp?

I was thinking the 4x4 had the 6sp zf.

In reply to Wayslow: V-10, manual, not much more than scrap value... sounds perfect!

1999 was the first model year for the Super Duty as a completely different truck from the F150. I've always thought they were well engineered.

The engine is basically the same mechanically as the 4.6 just with 2 more cylinders put on, but the same issues will follow with spitting out spark plugs.

We have a 99 in our fleet and it is a great truck, smooth as hell, quite powerful, no major issues drivetrain wise, the body will rust in the normal areas associated with others, and when you do have to do ignition system overhaul it's not cheap to go with good stuff (ford's dont like anything other then motorcraft electronics)