Opinions on durability of the 7.3 ford diesel

[Westside88]

Thanks for the insight and advice everyone. I'm hoping to take a look this weekend, it's hard to get any daylight this time of year

[syoungs]

Just the tell tale worn out sounds, look in the turbo if ya can and see that it's clean, should have a little oil but nothing grainy. Check the fins and see if they look worn like an old fan blade. I guess turbo rebuilds can suck. I haven't had to do one yet. I think I'll go aftermarket when the time comes. If the fins are worn it means the guy didn't even change the air filter enough so the motor might not be any better.

Actually a pretty easy, cheap, job. As long as you can turn some wrenches, but A 38r, some tunes and some 160/30% injectors really really wakes these trucks up!

[Labs07]

I have had mine for a long time, its an 01 and have 146000 on it.  Tranny went bad at about 110000 and replaced and then the OEM seals blew so replaced them with aftermarket seals and no issues sense. 

[Westside88]

Thanks everyone for the input. I always appreciate hearing real world advice from people who likely use their things in a similar way that I plan to.

[huntnphool]

Thanks everyone for the input. I always appreciate hearing real world advice from people who likely use their things in a similar way that I plan to.

 If you buy it and need help diagnosing/fixing things just send a PM and il help with what I can.

[Sandberm]

Neighbor has one. He got 170k miles out of the stock transmission, bought a new transmission from Ford and got 170k out of that one. Then he put in a fancy one from some aftermarket company back east and only got 30k out of that one.