LMS: older F250 w/ 7.3 diesel

My friend has been trying to sell me his 2000 F250 for about a year now and finally the money is right on our end to buy it. It's a 7.3psd, 5spd manual, camper special, XLT trim. It's got 232k on it, but the motor was rebuilt at 219k after the turbo failed. Front end was rebuilt at 180k-ish, but it needs front brakes and tires. It runs and drives fine except the steering is a little sloppy (but that could just be the difference between a new Mazda and a 15yr old truck).

What should I be looking for and what's the care and feeding needed for such a truck? Whats a must do to keep reliability up?

I think you meant LMGRM?

Generally these need nothing but your keyster in the seat. They are about as reliable as gravity.

My daily is an 02 with 300k and I could easily see it going another 300k. Even better with the manual trans (probably a 6 speed and not a 5 speed, mine is an auto). Only non-maintenance items on my truck was replacing the front hubs with Warn hubs, some seats out of an 08 Lariat (bolted in and plugged in), and an alternator wiring harness connector had a break in one of the wires.

Get a "flip chip", any of the big names are fine unless you want to get the last 5 hp out of it, air filter, straight pipe 4" exhaust, and enjoy it. It won't return the MPGs of a Cummins or the smoothness of a Duramax, but it will run down the road all day, every day, and be cheap to do it.

I'd jump on a F250HD 7.3PS in a New York minute if it was a 4X2 and manual trans. I run across them once in a while but most have many miles or the owner wants way to much.

I have been looking for that exact kind of truck for a while now.

Dooo Eeeet.

You'll need a new GPR every 60k or so. Its $45 and takes about 11 minutes to replace. You'll need a CMS at about 400k. Fuel filter changes are dirt simple; screw-in element on top of the engine. The fuel filter canister does sometimes corrode through the bottom, but you'll start smelling raw diesel and then you have months before it really becomes a problem.

The ZF5 transmission is very stout. It won't take heavily modified engines, but it is very adequate. You'll notice that clutches don't last as long as you would like; maybe 60-100k. When it goes, replace it with a good aftermarket unit and it will outlast the truck.

Rear axle will last forever. Most likely a 10.25". One of the nice things about it is the rear brakes come off without removing the axle shaft. It is a very strong piece. I forget what the front axle center is based off of... 8.8" maybe? I've never seen one break.

The transfer case is not a big reduction (1.86:1 I think) unless it has the FX4 option, then it gets a 2.72:1. I don't see FX4 badges, and I don't think they did the 5 speed in the FX4, so its probably the standard box. If its a floor shift transfer case, it will outlast the truck. If its the dash button case, you'll likely need to replace a vacuum pot at some point. The frustrating part is that it will strand you some day. You'll hit the button during the first snow when you get stuck and it will just blink at you. I suggest testing it frequently before you need it.

There is a coolant additive that is needed every now and then. Not sure how many people actually use it. It uses a lot of oil. 14qts IIRC. I miss my old F250. Mine was a '99 4x2 auto, but did the job and could pull a house down without blinking.

My DD is a '99.

I've put 480,000 miles on it, and I drive about 1000 miles a week.

I don't do ANYTHING except change the oil. They are dead nuts reliable.

As a price check, I picked up a '99 crew cab, long bed Dually 4x4 a few months ago for 8500; 220k miles and in pretty good shape. A few minor dings, but overall well cared for.

So far I love it! Did all fluids and filters and batteries, and I'm hoping im good for another 200k miles :-)

It is a 6spd, didn't know to count the low range plus the 1-5 gears. It's also only a $2500 truck so I figure I can't loose too much.

2500 for a running 4x4 truck sounds like a steal, especially considering it has a diesel! (I'm assuming 4x4, if that's a real pic of it)

$2500 for that? Why haven't you bought it yet? The 7.3PSDs are like gold in some places and you can easily double your $$.

For $2k5, I'd buy it just to wait for the body to rust off of it then transplant the drive train into Ford Chassis RV to make an expedition/overland vehicle.

Are all trucks in Alaska that cheap?!?!?!?!

TAKE MY MONEY

That's a $10K truck in my area.

That's the truck pictured above, and its a $10k+ truck here too. I've told my friend that multiple times. He bought the truck new and doesn't need the money, just wants it to go to a good home.

You really need to buy it for that price.

I have a 2000 Excursion with the 7.3. Really durable vehicle, although it does have some weak points. Front brake slide pins (lube them real good when you re-do the brakes), sway bar end links, lock actuators, glow plug relays (already mentioned), vacuum actuated hubs (if it has them), etc. can give you minor trouble. There is also the deal with the cam position sensor, they failed and cost $$$ to replace, so Ford comes out with a $ part on recall. Then folks start noting that the new $ part fails a lot sooner than the old $$$ part did. For that reason mine is still on the old CPS but I would bring a new one if I took it on an epic road trip. There is also stuff like a poorly designed outlet on the water pump, but all this is minor stuff that won't strand you.

But overall the trucks are sturdy and there are well documented fixes for any trouble spots.

Also, someone mentioned additive for the coolant - I think the issue (cavitation) is more of a pre-Powestroke thing, but a bottle costs <$10 at Wal-mart so I use the additive.

It's worth half the asking in scrap. That's a status symbol down here and easily a $10-12k truck. I have a Duramax and my dad has the 7.3PSD. Night and day difference in refinement, but I paid a lot more than $2500 for it. As mentioned, they go forever. People running lawn service prefer the manual because it will last forever. I was paddocked next to a guy that only buys that exact same truck for his lawncare business...one of them has 680k on it, never rebuilt!

Personally, I think they're one of the better looking 3/4 ton+ trucks out there.

The things I've found with my F350 PSD are that the mechanical bits of the truck are generally reliable, but the electrics are less reliable. Cam Position Sensor (CPS), mentioned above is a weakness, only replace with OEM Ford. Likewise I've had to replace most of the engine wiring harnesses, glow plugs, starter, etc.

Front ends last 80,000 miles if you beat on them, maybe 150,000 if you don't. Turbos can leak and blow some oil. Cold starting is not their strong point. Mine's worse to start at 30 degrees than my Mercedes 300TD is at 10 degrees.

It pulls like a train, but there are times I still miss the dead-nuts simplicity and reliability of my old 12V Cummins.

Like any vehicle, how it's been maintained is more important than anything. This sounds like a well-cared for vehicle, and a strong buy.

So the two things it does need are tires and brakes.

It had 265/70-16's on it, and came that way from the factory. Better, worse, or doesn't matter between that and the other narrower stock size (235/85-16)? Likely going with Cooper AT3's for year round use.

Front brakes need work, pads and rotors at least. Recommendations? I'll never use store brand pads in a car again, let alone a 3/4ton truck, so I'm thinking I'll order hawk pads from tire rack but not sure which to go with. Are stoptech rotors a better choice than something like Duralast Gold rotors?

I run Hawk HP (or whatever the towing pads are) all around on mine, and the difference from what was on there before was amazing. I also tow a 10k+ pound trailer. Recommend. I just left whatever rotors were on there.

Check the load rating of the tires. IIRC the 265's had a higher load rating than the 235's.

In reply to skierd:

I was using the Hawk LTS pads, but when I re-did the front brakes I put on the Motorcraft "Superduty" pads. The superduty pads were recommended either here or on another forum. I drive through a major mountain pass fairly regularly, and as far as I can tell they are at least as good as the Hawk pads they replaced.

I went Centric on the calipers and probably the rotors too, would have to look to be sure. With rotors I usually just pick whatever is the next step up from the "econo" rotors on Rock Auto.

In reply to skierd:

You've got mail

235/85s are exclusively E-Rated (IIRC) so there's no worry about load ratings. They're also going to be almost 2" taller than the 265/75s (30.5"ish to 32") Why not step up one size to a 255/85 or 285/75?

SVreX wrote: In reply to skierd: You've got mail

Didn't get it... but it did help me realize my email here goes to an account I no longer use. Updated it now if you want to resend.

I might have gotten the size wrong with the 265's vs 235's, it's whatever the two stock tire sizes are. I think I want to go with the narrower tire because of snow/ice/etc traction.

In reply to skierd:

OK. Resent.