Question about a full-size Ford truck

[Guy400]

As most of you know I'm not a Ford person whatsoever but I happened upon a deal and really have no in-depth knowledge of Ford's trucks. I found a 1996 F-250 with a 7.3L Powerstroke, extended cab, long bed, 4x4, auto for what seems to be a pretty decent price. The questions I have are basically about the drivetrain. Any known problems with the 7.3 Powerstroke engine and the auto tranny? What kind of gas mileage are we looking at here? I know the early Dodge's with the Cummins had problems with front brakes, anything like that associated with the Ford? Lastly, any commonly occuring problems with this truck period?

[TRX250X]

That's a good truck you're looking at there Guy. Those strokes are very good motors, with no major problems. The auto tranny isn't too bad behind it depending on mileage, and what you plan on doing with it. One thing I'd do is put some WARN hubs in it. The stock ones, especially the auto's, aren't real good. You'll probably get like 17-18 mpg with that thing.

If you want to upgrade that motor there's all kinds of options available. The Ford TTB front end isn't the greatest for lifting if that would ever be an option. I think it's easier to lift a straight front end. Plus that truck won't ride real well, but that's not what you'd buy it for.

I had a 96 150 gas, and the only problems I ever had were the front hubs, and a sending unit from one of the dual tanks. A very good truck though.

[Guy400]

This is going to serve double duty as my daily driver (about 25 highway miles a day) and then occasionally pulling a 18' tandem axle trailer. I previously had a diesel truck and I absolutely loved it. I'm not looking to put a lift kit on it nor am I going to use it to plow.

[TRX250X]

One thing about that diesel is that it probalby wont' get very good mileage at all if you're driving 12 miles one way. That's not enough for it to get warmed up properly. It'll be a great truck for what you want, if you don't mind parking it also. My dad has a new 6.0 stroke that is extended cab long bed. It's an awesome truck on the farm, and I used it to tow the sled trailer up to Michigan a month ago. It didn't even know the covered trailer was back there. I did notice mileage decrease a little bit when it was really windy on the way home though.

[Giz400ex]

I will also say that you won't get good fuel mileage. The 7.3 is somewhat of a pig when it comes to fuel. But, it is a v8 and defintely has the power so you will have to pay for it somewhere.

[Bad Habit]

Hey Guy, I had the exact same truck configuration, except mine was a 97. The trannies are the weak point in the drive train. If it's getting close to 100k miles and has pulled some (not all) in it's life, plan on getting it rebuilt.

Second weak point, if it has the auto hubs, replace them when you get it because they will grenade on you. Mine did and it never went wheelin' in the rough stuff, just snow and the occasional sloppy field when hunting or preparing for hunting season.

As TRX250X mentioned, Ford's independent front end (TTB) was IMO the worst design ever. It is really hard to keep the front end aligned with that setup. It does however give a slightly better ride than a straight axle. You might want to check if it has a limited slip rearend too. The traditional open differential combined with the torque of the PowerStroke makes it a one-wheeled-wonder on anything other than dry pavement.

At the time, I was only driving about 8 miles one way to work, and it was getting about 15 mpg doing that. But, get it on the highway without a load, and it would get an honest 20mpg. Aftermarket chips will add a good amount of power and most will give you an additional 1-3 mpg.

[Guy400]

Thanks for the info. I must've mistyped because it was a '97 that I looked at. Now you got me a little scared because I don't want to be rebuilding anything and let's face it, it's a F-250 diesel, I'm sure it's been used to tow things. What's the matter with the hubs?

I feel like such a tool because I know virtually nothing about Ford trucks. I've either been around or owned Chevy's all my life. My uncle has a '77 Scottsdale 4x4 that the engine was rebuilt once in but the rest of the drivetrain is 100% original. He's also had numerous other Chevy trucks for work and they've been great. My dad's '69 beater was as reliable as you can get and his 2000 Silverado has been rock solid as well. I'll be pissed as hell if I buy this thing and the tranny and hubs fall all over the ground a week after buying it:mad:

[Bad Habit]

IMO noone has made an automatic worth a crap since the C6 and TH400, so I don't expect these newer ones to last very long.
As far as the hubs go, I think it's just a problem with auto hubs. All them clutches and springs inside there just can't be made strong enough to handle the loads that can get applied on them.

Solution;
Manual lock out hubs = $180
Tranny rebuild = $500 - $700

Not that big a bite if the buying price of the truck is good.

[TRX250X]

The Warn hubs for my truck was less than 100 bucks from Advance Auto. I'm sure they're gonna be more for the 3/4 ton. Mine just wouldn't lock in. When we pulled them apart it seemed like someone had taken them apart and put to much grease in them so they couldn't slide in to engage. If I would have cleaned them up they probably would have worked. They appeared to be in fine shape. I decided while they were off to just do it right.

As far as trannies go, I know the new 5 speed auto my dad has is awesome. My brother has a 93 7.3 nonturbo with an auto, and a plow. We got this truck from a company that used it to pull plastic tile rolls across fields. They did ditching for farmers, including us, so we knew the truck. The price was right, and it only had 107,000 miles on it. Not bad for a 10 year old diesel. It had been used hard, but not abused too much. The owner told us that 2 years ago they had some work done on it, and was told the tranny was starting to get weak. They never did anything to it, and it's still going strong. We plowed with it this winter, and Dad makes sure that little brother knows to take it easy. You know how 17 yr. olds are. It also has 33inch mud terrain tires on it, and it does fine. That auto should be just fine in your truck.

Here's some pics of a 77 Scottsdale my buddy had given to him. The pics take a while to load, but you can see how bad it is. It did start real easy after sitting for like 10 years though. IF you look around that site you'll find some pics of us riding at badlands and other things also

http://www.bsu.edu/web/kdpowell2/portfolio/scottsdale.htm

[jonc623]

i got a 7.3 powerstroke and love it but mine is alot newer (2001)i know guys that have the older ones too and they have beaten them half to death and they still go strong

[Juggalo]

i have always heard pretty good things about powerstrokes. i know if i could afford a diesel thats what i'd own. i guess we're kind of a ford family here but thats just cuz every non ford vehicle we've ever had gave us way more problems than the fords. my dads 89 f250 has 300,000 miles on the body and trans and still goin strong. 3rd 351 in it tho. but still not too crappy if you ask me. we put our vehicles thru a lot

[Mr.Offroad]

I've been around Ford diesels since they first came out. My dad has a business with a large fleet, and all they do is pull stuff. The year and model you're looking at if it's a 4X4 will get around 14-16 mpg just running around. 16-19 on the highway. They are warmed up sufficiently at about 7-8 miles. If you're doing a lot of trips shorter than that, it doesn't really pay to have one. The trannies will last 100,000- 160,000 miles, depending on how much they've pulled. I personally run with a stick, just to avoid problems. As stated, all the O.D. auto trannies right up 'till current are pretty much junk. (I've even heard of the Duramax's Allisons giving up when towing heavy loads). None of them are cheap to rebuild, either. I tow a 7000 lb. toybox trailer on a combination of hills and flats, and I average 12 mpg when towing it. That SPANKS any gas-pot. Good luck!

[tyson300ex]

My dad has a 2003 7.3 l. powerstroke auto, it has 525ft. lbs of torque, and with a computer chip from Supperchips it gets about 430 miles on one full tank, compared to the stock 310. When it gets to 100 mph., it resets at zero and starts again:D

[CHAR250R]

I have an F350 7.3 powerstroke with an automatic tranny. It's also 4 wheel drive. I don't use the overdrive unless I'm on the highway, and never use overdrive while towing. How many miles on this F250 you're looking at? Is it 4 wheel drive? If you buy the truck, have the tranny fluid flushed. That will keep it nice and fresh. It's a good truck, don't let the Dodge and Chevy people B S you. Good luck. ;)

[cdalejef]

Mine is a 97 F350 4x4 crewcab manual with 4.11 gears and gets 17mpg around town. It gets around 11mpg pulling our enclosed but I do tend to have a led foot which doesn't help any. Power is not even an issue. It will accelerate at will on any hill even towing.
With just a chip and some other mods these things are unbelievable!!!
A good forum for info is http://www.thedieselstop.com/ they even have a section for the 94-97 PSD with anyinfo you can think of (just like exriders)

hope this helps,

[Texan32]

Guy, i would say go for it. My pop has gone through 2 PS Fords and is about to get his 3rd. He puts about 80K miles a year (yes, thats 80,000 miles). Before they were handed down to some of his area foremen and laborers, he would put 180,000 to 200,000 miles on them. On both of his previousl trucks, he never once had a problem with the tranny.

250R was talking about the TTB front suspension. Since it is a 3/4 ton truck, i believe it has a solid axle up front, so that should not a problem for you. And about the hubs.....I know the auto lock hub on the Ranger and F-150 were pretty shotty, but i (again) have never heard of any problems with the hubs on the 3/4 and 1 ton'ers.

The Ford PS is a great motor. If you keep up with the maintenance, they will last QUITE some time. As mentioned, i would get everything changed upon purchace. To include...Oil change, air filter, fuel filter, coolant flush and most importantly TRANNY FLUSH. I have seen TOO many trannys fail simply because the owner didn't know any better and never had the tranny serviced! Most manuals recommend 70,000ish miles between tranny services. I personally recommend 50K miles. Its gonna run about 130 bucks for a good fluch, but its WELL worth it! If you can, try to get the seller to do all the above mentioned, or drop the price by the amount needed to do that stuff.

[cdalejef]

The 97 and under 250's are TTB leaf sprung and do tend to wear front tires quickly. In 99 they went to solid axles

[Texan32]

Originally posted by Jeff@QuadShop
The 97 and under 250's are TTB leaf sprung and do tend to wear front tires quickly. In 99 they went to solid axles

But i am almost positive that i have seen pre-99 3/4 tons with solid axles. Was solid axle an option, or am i just mistaken?

You are right about the tire wear though. ESPECIALLY since Guy is thinking about putting a plow on it.

The Twin I Beam that came on those does not maintain camber angles as the suspension moves up or down. So, you could get the BEST alignment that truck has ever see and as soon as you put that heavy arse ploy up on the front, its going to throw the alignment off. Unless....you have the alignment done with the plow on the truck. And, you wouldn't even have to have the actual blade on there. The brackets that mount to the truck are pretty heavy themselves. So, if you align it with the brackets, add the blade won't cause such a drastic change in the alignment. And, i knew alot of people up in Minot that just left the plow brackets on the vehicle year round.

[cdalejef]

I've never seen that year 250 with solid axle but I have heard about people converting them over to solid.

[Texan32]

Then i guess it was just 1 ton's that had the solid axles. Hmmmm

[Bad Habit]

If memory serves me correct, 1980 was when they switched the 250s to the TTB. They didn't switch back to solid axle until the 250 SuperDuty's came out. However, you could special order a 350 from 80 to 84 with the TTB until they dropped the option and made it solid axle only.


Just filling everyone's day with worthless trivia. :D

[CTmxyfz]

The early 250s and broncos came with solid axles. The later 250s also. 3/4-1 ton axles. I think ill be doing an SAS on my bronco one of these days, but i want a powerstroke so bad.

[Guy400]

Thanks for all the info guys. I'll be checking the truck out a little more in depth on Friday evening. I attempted to gather info at a Ford truck site and got no replies all night long. Maybe we should create a Ford pickup forum:D

BTW, the truck has 85k on it.

[cdalejef]

Try the www.dieselstop.com website Guy....its huge!

[CHAR250R]

Originally posted by Texan32
Then i guess it was just 1 ton's that had the solid axles. Hmmmm



If you ordered an F250 in the heavy duty model, you got a solid front axle. Hard truck to find. I was looking for one. I got the F350 standard instead.

[TRX250X]

Here's something I found on www.ford-trucks.com to clarify when the TTB front end was used.

TTB was introduced on all Ford 4x4 light trucks (Bronco/F150/F250/F350) in
the 1980 model year. The Bronco continued to use the TTB system until it
was discontinued. The F150 used the TTB system until the new (current) (1997 model)
F150 was introduced. The F250 used the TTB system until the 1997 model
year. In the 1986 model year, TTB was discontinued on the F350 4x4, which
then used a leaf-sprung Dana 60 live axle until the 1997 model year (the
last year before the new SuperDuty trucks were introduced).

[Guy400]

I figured it had to be too good to be true. I brought my laptop with me (that's equipped with an Aircard) and ran the VIN through Carfax. Comes back as being in a service facility twice and a "minor" accident was reported on the vehicle. When pressed about this the seller finally admitted that "some front end parts were replaced" but he couldn't supply me with any details. I obviously passed. The search continues...

As a side note, I purchased a 30-day unlimited usage service with Carfax and started running VIN numbers on vehicles. It's absolutely frightening what's out there. One thing I did notice that true Ford/Chevy/Dodge dealerships have much better Carfax records than these used car lots. I've got several of them around here and two of them specialize in high-end vehicles (Hummer, Porsche, Benz, BMW, etc.) but they also sell various other cars and trucks. I kid you not, roughly 2/3's of every truck VIN I ran at 3 used car dealerships were purchased at an auction in PA or Michingan and they have a lengthy service record and/or accident reports. The real dealerships seem to have much cleaner vehicle records.

[TRX250X]

It's scary thinking about what all these vehicles out there have been through. I work at a carwash during school and it's bad enough just seeing how people treat their car day to day. I can only imagine what some of these used car guys pick up at an auction and have worked over to be aesthetically pleasing, even if their drivetrain is junk.

[xr50tim]

my dad drives a silver-gray '96 F-150 extended cab long box (gas). The only problems he currently has with it are that it guzzles gas like there's no tomorrow, and the hubs. The front ones are no good.:o . he wants to sell the 150 and get a Volvo car. Later Days :devil:

[Guy400]

Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum...

A friend of our family owns a Chrysler/Volvo/Porsche/Jag/Mazda/VW/Jeep/Buick/Mercedes dealership [insert shameless plug here:D]http://www.kempthorn.com/en_US/ so my wife and I stopped in today. I looked a F-250 diesel 4x4 the other day and today I drive off the lot with a Durango V8 SLT 4x4. Bought used and got a great deal with a free extended powertrain warranty.

[oldsandman]

f-250 to durango...open mindedness pays off! Congats on the new ride.

[TRX250X]

Sounds like the wife must have had a little more say in the issue.

:blah:



J/P Guy, that'll be a nice vehicle too.