thinking about getting a Diesel. Help!

[alanger]

 Ford 7.3 liter all the way, best runnning ever.  if you find a good running 6.0 liter they are a graet running truck, its the truck for you if you want to keep up maintence. BUILT FORD TOUGH.

[Buckmark]

Just to get further off topic, what are the oil burner guys paying for diesel now, i could have sworn it was like 4.07 or 3.89 per gallon last i looked at the station near my house, i know it seems to be always more than gas, and what about the "additive" jackofalltrades mentioned?
*
And jackofalltrades i said "maint" costs were more, not that they needed more maint, and you backed me up on the cost issue, thanks..

Snoqualmie Ridge Shell station was 2.99G this am. I saw a station in Kent which had it down to $2.79G.

Yep 2.88 per gallon at my local for diesel when i looked tonite, man i have to crawl out from under the rock im living under..

[sisu]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr we's up ta page 6, we is!!!!!

[PolarBear]

Ford 7.3 liter all the way, best runnning ever.  if you find a good running 6.0 liter they are a graet running truck, its the truck for you if you want to keep up maintence. BUILT FORD TOUGH.

I love my 97 F-350 crew cab with the 7.3 Powerstroke and have never had a problem with it!  I am constantly being told by mechanics that the 7.3 is the best diesel made in America!

[JackOfAllTrades]

Yup! Been there, done that. Well overloaded, but wasn't lacking power to run up I-5!  Total GVW was around 30,000 pounds.  I DO NOT make it a practice to do such a thing. I robbed the load leveler off my camp trailer on the return trip taking this lug back to the rental yard. The trailer had excellent electric brakes.

Someone in an earlier post asked if we liked our oil burners now that we've had them for a while. YOU BETCHYA!

Jackelope, Not eight pages yet!

[fishcrazy]

go for a ride in a efi live tuned d-max.....

Them are words from a very smart guy!!!

No EFI on my truck YET.

If you have questions on anything Duramax related give me a pm and I'll give you my # I can tell you a few things about the Duramax Allison. Both good and bad.

I drive an 03

Kris

[kenzmad]

I've got a 99 f350 7.3. this is one tough hombre. I pull 3x a week a trailer and excavator that come in at 10,400lbs. pull tiger mountain at 40mph. put a chip in it and you'll be happy. 99 and up 7.3 have a tranny issue in that the torque converter goes bad, mine did at 95k. have a tranny built by brian at BTS (brians truck shop) this should be the last tranny you'll ever buy. I have 140k on my truck now. the last 70k have been pulling the above mentioned load or my 10" S&S with my 21' trophy combo. total truck and trailer weight averages 18500lbs between the two loads. oh yeah 12.5 mpg loaded and 15 empty, add diesel clean additive and I get 17.5 empty and 13.5 loaded. the new low sulphur fuel robs you a couple of mpg.

kenzmad

[timberghost72]

Man I got to this thread WAY too late.  I got a 1997 Ford CC 7.3l OBS and love it. The first generation 7.3l was a little short on power but the later 7.3l's are much better.  Don't buy a 6.0l. Lots of problems.  I personally like  the Fords for thier suspension, brakes and styling.  The trans is the weak point. Mine is now going out at 150k.  All the diesels have a ton of aftermarket upgrades so power and fuel milage can swing both ways.  It all depends on what you are using it for.  If you are towing a lot, the transmission (manual or auto) and the differential gear ratio make a huge difference. You can't really compare MPH to someone elses rig unless they are close to identical, ie engine, trans, gear ratio and tire size. 

[Lowedog]

Just trying to get this thing to eight pages!  Also had to say I have two 7.3 PowerStrokes.  My "daily driver" is a 97 F250 crew short bed and my work truck is a 99 F450 with a 8'x12' dump.  Both have over 150k and still going strong.  The F450 is 13,500 unloaded and I regularly load it to 24,000 and she handles it great!  I will never buy another gas powered truck. 

[Bulldozer]

Well I'm going to try and get us to page 8.  I've had an 01 Ford F350 7.3 and loved it. I now have an 05 Dodge 2500 and love it as well. The Ford had 180,000+ when I gave it up, changed the alternator, water pump, cam sensor, 2 injectors, wheel bearings, ball joints and tie rods. It had a tuner axhaust and intake. All repairs were made after 125000 and it hauled heavy weekly. The Dodge has 69000 on it, has aftermarket valvebody in tranny, exhaust, intake and tuner. It has had no repairs yet. It has more power than the Ford did and gets about 7mpg better on the highway and 3-4 better city. I wouldn't hesitate to recomend either one to anyone. If you are going for a long drive the Chevy is more comfortable but off road they are too low and too flimsy.

[go4itlab]

Love my Mega Cab, been done up a bit. Chip, exhaust, intake, get better gas milage than my xtera and my subaru and a whole lot faster  Gotta go big if you are going to put an IAFF sticker on it

[jackelope]

what does it mean when someone says they have a "chip"??

[Bulldozer]

It means they are running an altered engine tune to get more power and or mileage.

[MuleySniper]

I just wanna get this to 8 pages before I leave tonight for Florida... I have a lot of friends in the dirt business that were all driving diesels. Wasn't until my dad bought his Ram in 04 with the 5.9 I understood why. They crank out stupid amounts of power. I had Toyotas before. After being married, then having our first kid we needed more room. At the time, my buddy was the online sales manager at Larsen Dodge. I knew exactly what I wanted and he found my truck from another dodge dealer. I considered them all at first, Ford, Chevy and GMC but I couldn't pass up the deal he gave me, plus right when I bought it is when Ford was having issues with their trucks shooting 4' flames from the exhaust. I love my truck now. The only thing I find Im not liking too much is that pesky DPF. Otherwise its fully loaded. The six speed is real nice. When towing our camp trailer, or flatbed with the jeep, the exhaust break is awesome. I have been researching DPF delete kits, just not sure I want to go down that road yet. I hear guys that do it are getting better mileage and gaining around 48hp just by removing it and replacing it with a straight 5" turbo back exhaust. Then you need a programmer to fool the computer so it wont throw codes and cause the check engine light to come on.
MS

[fishcrazy]

this is my forum of choice. just for us chevy duramax guys:

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/index.php?

Exactly!!!! Lots of great info.


Kris