Hillbilly Hauler, or.. my first diesel

[Beagle]

So I got a wild hare after pulling my FSB with the Lightning - I love that truck, but I really don't want to put it through another 12,000 miles of towing. My nemesis, craigslist, comes up with this 2488.00 beauty of a 1997 F250 Power Stroke:





It drives about like any 250,000 mile truck, maybe a little better. It got a gooseneck and brake controller. I'm thinking about trading my trailer for a lowboy gooseneck. What do y'all think?

[SuperBuickGuy]

nice looking truck. best part is you can rebuild it down to its lug nuts and still be in it less than 25% of a similar new truck.

[Mater]

not bad keep a cam sensor in the glove box. ford has revised itmany times and it still fails fairly quickly

[milner351]

I HATE YOU!
In the most best kind of way of course - good lord - where's the rust?
That interior is exactly like my '92 f350 crew long 2wd, but it only had a 351w/c6.

There are a crapton of 7.3 specific websites to spend hours on learning about that engine - there's a ton that can be done to it if you want to and a ton of helpful folks there to help if you have an issue.

keep the oil, oil filter, and fuel filters changed regularly - add some atf to the fuel occasionally to help the injectors and pump deal with the low lubricty sulfurless fuel, and make sure to add some coolant additive (FSA) to the system once a year or so.

Prodigy brake controllers rule.

Gooseneck lowboy's are sweet as hell if you can find one - turning radius improvements are huge, and the ride improvement will be enormous.

Looks like you might want to start shopping for a new seat - or - pull the covers off that seat - fix the springs and put a piece of paneling between the springs and foam to get it back into shape.

[Russell]

I really like that body truck. The seat is not the most comfortable if are going to be attached to it for more than a few hours at a time I would look for buckets or try to find out if a later model seat will fit. But over all that a great price for a tow rig! I have never used a gooseneck, it does reduce what you can put in the bed while you are towing.

[DanStokes]

Should be a great truck - nice find! Let us know how it's working.

I like the Cummins a little better but that Navistar should be excellent, too.

Dan

[Mater]

grandpa has a goose neck on his 09 F350 best thing he did to the truck.

[Huskinhano]

Like Milner said, where's the rust? Really nice looking truck, straight and shiny. Put a new seat and replace the rubber mat with carpet and you'll have a really sweet truck. How's it run?

[Beagle]

mpg is great for a 3 ton truck, about 15 in town and 23-24 on the road at 70. It's even better when it's on a rollback (grrr). It runs great, and it seems to care less about weight in it. First carnage: 1 vacuum pump, accessory drive belt. Maybe I'll buy the extended warranty. lol.

I kind of like the rubber mat, I get carpets filthy. It's pretty quiet inside. The seat is definitely getting replaced - I have a set of Explorer leather seats with lumbar and bolster controls that I got for another project, I'll use them. Green seats in a porn red truck, maybe santy clause came early. The interior is so red I'm seeing spots. Vinyl die in it's future. Red is not my favorite color for an interior. I'll probably go grey here, aggie colors.

The Lightning gets a lot of space around the roads here, I think it says "No Insurance" to folks. This truck says "No Insurance and driver is an illegal alien" - it gets all the space it needs.

The bed has some rust, I think it had a mat in it at some point. I'll get around to sand blasting it and rhino lining it maybe this winter if I don't sell it after doing my junk moving. I'm sort of looking for a Super Duty with a six speed.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I feel for you on the pump issues ..... I spent more than the truck was worth resolving mine - but it runs now. That said, I'm watching for an army surplus 6.2 or 6.5 to come up for reasonable dollars so I have a backup.

What's an aggies? aren't they some kind of silly rock that gets stepped on by the Razorbacks?

[milner351]

ah the vacuum pump - the super duties have an electric one on the passenger fender well.... I think I know why.

That's the only thing that put my '97 on the side of the road, no warning either.

I had a red truck with red interior once - and parted out a fox mustang with red interior - not my favorite either.... but green seats? Lordy - that'll be purdy! Test fit those seats carefully - I've had bad luck putting non truck seats in a truck, especially in a regular cab - watch the seat back thickness especially if you're taller than 6ft.

[Mater]

next vehicle i buy is going to be a 7.3 PSD of some year

[CTX-SLPR]

Gig'em agggss, whooopp!!!!

[SuperBuickGuy]

a 7.3 PTSD? or does the T come after you buy the truck?

2nd only to "why you folks have those silly flags up", are comments about their college football teams - it's a sight to behold. (wife's family is in Fayetteville Arkansas).... to a west coaster like me, it's a new sight.

[Beagle]

Big Red Bastard diesel - 2
Beagle -1

Ah, the joy of it all. Put the vacuum pump on, no drama. Bearings fall out of pump when I pulled the pulley off. Reman 100.00 pump, few minutes to get it back on. Clackety clackety, all is well. Run to the car camp, stop for fuel. MPG is down. Huge puddle under truck when I get though filling it up. Looks like a rear main blowout. F*.

Check oil, it's full. Check ATF, it's full. What the hell? The stuff is dumping out from the inspection cover / tranny. Oily feeling, but doesn't smell like diesel. Hard to tell though since I just filled it and everything at the moment smells like diesel.

I'm guessing High pressure pump. Nice. It's as good a time as any to hotrod it, right? I was in for a shock when I started pricing juiced up pumps.

Oh, the other thing I found this weekend that should have been a clue to buy a newer truck? Hypermax chip in the glove compartment. I apparently didn't see that when I was looking at it. I crawled under it before I bought it, it was pretty clean. Not super clean, but now I'm suspecting the low price came with prior knowledge that this bitch was about to eat itself.

I'll get a better look at it next weekend if I can keep from buying the bigger injectors and fat pump. (riiighhhht, or trading it in. )

At least the BRB didn't want a ride home this time, but mpg dropped to 18.5 pulling a trailer with the Fiat on it and spraying down everything under and behind it with diesel.