F350 your thoughts??
 

We are looking at replacing our old Suburban tow rig and have found an F350 4X4 diesel that we like. Not believing in buying new vehicles it is a 2001 with 85,000 miles. I am looking for any feedback on the f350. Is it a good rig, reliable, good engine/transmission, etc. We have never owned a ford or a diesel so this is new to us. Someone told me the transimissions in these are not good but they had never owned on either. Your thoughts would be helpful and appreciated.
Thanks

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

I have a 99 2 wheel drive dually and love it. Drove it to Vail this last weekend from KC and got around 20 per gallon. If did great in the mountains. I have around 110,000 miles on mine.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

any mechanical problems with it yet? What do you tow with it, how much weight?
Thanks

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

I have a '99 F350 PSD and it works great. It's my first diesel. Sometimes it's a pain to find diesel fuel, you just gotta plan ahead when driving around. The engine is noisier than a gas engine and it gets on my nerves sometimes. Never had an issue with it from a reliability standpoint. Diesel is also cheaper than gas in my area, and it gets much better gas mileage than a gas engine. Power to spare also, it towed my 28' without a problem. I'd do it again if I had it to do over.

Re: F350 your thoughts?? Indy
 

How many miles do you have on your 99??
Thanks

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

Just the normal stuff replaced ball joints at 100,000. All the injectors where replaced a few months ago. The 15 quarts of oil can take more time to change. I agree with planning ahead on fuel. Mine is over kill for what I tow. I bought it for the next boat and I plan on lower the truck.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

We have an 03 F350 diesel crew cab with 30,000 miles on it. No problems at all (knock on wood). Tows a 38 fastech with no problem. I love it.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

We have 2 F-250's both heavy duty 4x4, one gas one diesel. The diesel will out pull the gas truck any day and get almost double the mileage doing it. Yes, its noisy but I forget real fast when I pull up to the pumps. Doug

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

I drove my 96 for about 175,000 miles and loved it, when i got rid of it the motor was still running flawlessly and i never had any problems with it.

Re: F350 your thoughts??/outriggers
 

Any mechanical problems with them? How many miles does the diesel have on it? What do you tow and what does it weigh?
Thanks for the help...

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

I tow with a 99 F350 PSD SRW X cab 4x4. My first diesel also. World of difference in towing. Not the quickest thing on the highway...but add 8000 lbs behind it and it doesn't make much difference :D Tows like a RR locomotive and it seems the harder you run it ...the better it runs.
Like others have said , fuel is a little harder to get , only because EVERY station doesn't carry it. That has never really been a problem. Past couple of months diesel fuel has been as much as $.40 a gal. less than gas and I average 18.5 mpg in mixed driving...not possble with a gas engine in a vehicle of this size.
As for the noise...just keep in mind "Real trucks rattle" (as in diesel)
Would I do it again??? Absolutely :cool:

Got mine 4/03 with only 46000 miles :cool:

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

I have a 95 F-350 crew-cab dually, it has 212,000 on it and I tow a 40' Excalibur Hawk with it down the freeway at 70+....wouldn't be afraid to take it anywhere.....yea it rattles but that what the stereo is for :) ......Fred

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

Why not a PSD Excursion. It is all of a 350 and has more interior space. It has a 50gal tank also which gets me 810 miles on a tank empty....and thats in town @ 16.5mpg. On the highway I see 19 empty.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

father in law just bought an '04', pulled his 40' 5th wheel camper 100+ miles to wisconsin, 15+ mpg and power to spare, he loves it.

every construction contractor i've talked to loves their deisel trucks and swear they would never own a gas truck again..

Re: F350 your thoughts?? Indy
 

62,000 with no issues. All of my Ford products have performed well, I can't say that about my Dodge or Chevy products.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

We have left on the const. site a 99 Dodge, 2001 Duramax, 2003 Duramax, 2004 Duramax (590tq) 2004 Powerstroke, All Dually's.

The Ford is my personal truck, but the Chevy is smoother, turns better, better fit and finish, But... The Ford suspension is better suited for pulling my 4300 Nortech, and has alot more room inside. I like the Allison tranny better in the Chevy, but cant stand the looks of the truck.

For pulling, 13k pounds or less, get the GM, otherwise the Ford is better in my opinion, and for 05, they have made a few body changes, dash changes, more power/tq and a better tranny. We usually order 2-3 trucks per year and retire the older ones. Jeff

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

lmao :D:D

Re: F350 your thoughts??/Jassman
 

Any mechanical problems with the Fords you have owned? Someone told me the transmissions don't last if you do a lot of towing???
Thanks

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

03 F350 diesel auto, 21.5 mpg on highway, single rear wheel, 4x4, shortbed xcab. Love it!!! Towing 26' boat get 15mpg. No problems, then again only have 10k miles on it. First diesel, first Ford, bought it over the chevy because of the amount of room in the drivers seat it had over the chevy. Always had chevy. You'll love it!!!

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

99 F350 PSD, Sold it with over 100,000 miles. The only problem I had was the cam position sensor went bad. Other than that, it was an awesome truck. Pulled my 30 Sonic no problem.

Are any of you guys having rear end problems :p I mean on the dually, when fluid is cold and turning.

Re: F350 your thoughts??/Jassman
 

Red 230sx, My boat and trailer weigh about 10k and the utility trailer i tow weighs around 6-7k depending what i'm hauling and i never had any transmission issues. However, mine is just a personal vehicle so i don't tow with it on a daily basis, some of the people here that use them for their businesses may be able to give you a more reliable answer. I did have to replace the cam sensor and the mechanical fuel pump on the motor once but they were both pretty easy to do yourself if you have any kind of mechanical ability.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

The rear end problems on the Ford dually's are do to a bad clutch pack, mine was just replaced and works great now, but it took Ford 6 times coming in and giving me a new rear end 3 times when I kept explaining the issue. Jeff

The other issue is the tranny, it is not as strong as the Allison, but I like the truck better overall, the 05 will have alot of these issue's straightened out, at least thats what was told to me at the Vegas show when I previewed the new F250-F350's. I ordered a 05 350 dually yesterday. Jeff

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

I've got an 02 single wheel f350 supercab 4x4. My boat wheighs about 9500# the other trailers and implments I tow weigh up to 20k# Handles avery thing fine. 87,000 miles and not a single problem. I added a K&N air filter and Amzoil in the engine. Change the filter every 5000 miles and the oil every 15000.
I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

Red, If that truck was serviced regular , it should last you a LONG time !
I have had several ford trucks from every year since 1984. (almost all diesels) . We have never had any real trouble with any of them . All automatics will have there issues at some point . I prefer manual trans . I have many customers that have over 250k miles and no problems . And most of those people are coming in for performance up grades ! I have had about 3 people with around 400k-450k miles, and one with 520,000 miles !!!! The onl;y thing done to these trucks was a couple rear end rebuilds, and a couple trans rebuilds ........ NOTHING on the engines ...

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

BY the way , I have towed as much as 25,000 lbs with one of my F350's . (not including the trucks weight )..
I also pull my 39' express cat ,thats almost 12' wide and close to 20k lbs with trailer and junk, behind my SINGLE wheel F350 and set the cruise at 70-80 mph !

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

I have a 2003 f350 dually with the 7.3 and i love it. It has 27,600 miles on it and runs great. Me and Sydwayz just took it to loto and towed a 37 active thunder back at 80mph most of the way and still had more power to go. I would buy another one anytime.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

Traded off my 2000 F350 4x4 crew cab with 50,000 miles on it,,no mechanical problems whatsoever. As for as transmission problems Ford warns you DO NOT TOW IN OVERDRIVE, and they mean it, a friend already made that costly mistake. Just purchased a new 04 F250 crew cab 4x4 with the new 6.0 deisel and the new transmission in it and I love it, makes me want to throw rocks at my old 7.3 in the 2000. I'm pulling app. 9,000 lbs and it doesn't even know its back there.

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

Thank you to everyone for your replys and input. Here is an example of why this is such a great forum....

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

Thanks everyone!!!
We bought the 2001 f350 4x4 Lariat last weekend. Pulled our car trailer with a 6000 PU on it like it was not even there.
Thanks again everyone!!!

Re: F350 your thoughts??
 

Great truck, Only way to go. I have a 99 truck and a 03 Excursion both with the PSD. The 99 has 145,000 miles it and and I would say 40% of those are towing. Had to replace the trans at 120k. Just towed my 42 Fountain 500 miles last week with the truck. Good Choice.