fireboatpilot

Love the truck. Issues from day one. Eats front hub bearing assy's and tires due to hubs going bad. Thought after just changing the hubs for the 5th time since new 160K that I would go over the whole truck and changed eng oil as usual, trans fluid and filter, front and rear diff fluid, shocks, brakes, tires, even installed new Warn hub locks in the front diff. Figuring the truck should run better and longer. I had NO other issues with the truck engine or drive train performance. Man was I WRONG!

First issue to appear was after a short trip no trailer, 75 miles I had a clicking noise and a fealable cricking coming from the rear diff. I could hear, feal and see the duallies actually jerking like the teeth where not releasing. Posi diff.

Second issue to appear was after towing the boat home one day, 60 miles, after dropping the trailer at the club I drove about 1/2 mile and at a stop sign acceleration, the trans slipped for a second. I let off the throttle and it grabbed and was fine after that. Have noticed that the trans temp is running at 180 this season. Last season it was about 20 degrees cooler.

Now third issue appears, Out of the blue I have this thumping feeling and noise coming from god knows where. Diesel is so loud who can tell. It's def a drive line problem. Every so often it goes away for a moment but comes back. Sometimes worse than others. Comes in around 35-40mph and speeds up a little as mph goes up but not in sync with speed.

WTF is going on. The trans slip has me worried but if it was going, wouldn't it slip all the time? Fluid looks and smells good.

I need help! Anyone know a good diesel guy in Philly area that can be trusted? HELP! and THANKS!

Catmando

Well the truck IS ten years old... Time for a trade.

Too Stroked

Did you add the friction modifier required for limited slip diffs to the rear differential? If you didn't, you'll get pretty much the effect you saw in the rear.

I might also suggest re-checking the fluid level in the transmission. Sometimes it takes a bit to stabilize. Ford transmissions are also failry picky about what kind of fluid you put in. We finally gave up on all of the aftermarket stuff and just use Motorcraft / Ford fluid in all of ours.

07DominatorSS

The first thing I was going to mention was the Slip additive. Did you add it? Also, 180 isn't abnormal for trans temp. Did you use a synthetic fluid? The thump, no idea!

GO4BROKE

iTrader: (1)

I agree with too stroked. If you didn't use OEM fluid, take it to the dealer and have it flushed so all the fluid is exchanged including whats in the converter. I had an old truck that lost overdrive after servicing it with cheap fluid. After I switched back to OEM stuff, I got overdrive back. Wrong fluid can cause valves to stick.

fireboatpilot

Thanks guys, That's the plan for this week. Having the dealer flush the trans and change the fluid. Change the diff oils again. Stuff I used was SUPPOSED to be good for posi- guess not. I'll add the additive. I think the thumping might also be coming from the rear diff or the front 4X4 hubs. I'l re-install the old factory hub locks and go from there. Are my assumptions correct, that if the trans was slipping that it would continue to slip? Also forgot to mention that I have the bigger Banks turbo with power elbow and downtube, 4" exhaust, Trans command, and Hyper Tech stage three.

Cat- no funds for a new truck. Thanks for depressing me by reminding me how old my S**T is(LOL). If I had your $ I'd burn mine.

Thanks again for the input, I'll let you know how it progresses.

07DominatorSS

Hey, I've got 2000 7.3 Excursion with 270000 on it. Its just broken in, yours is just a baby, maybe ten years old, but if taken care of properly, will last forever, and you won't find a better motor! Hope all works out. And, yes, some gear oils have some additives built into them, such as the AMSOIL 75w-140 that I use, but some axles still need more.

boatntrkr

ive known a few people that could drop the coin no problem for a new truck, but stick with the 7.3 because its reliable and if taken care of, will run forever. goodluck with all your problems...

spk1

Try and get as much of that truck to stock as possible and that should rid you of most problems, I have a 99 7.3 srw 4x4, and before that I had a 96 dually 7.3 that I lovingly referred to as "Old Blue" you cant put a truck through most shyt than I put that thing through, it was a plant work truck and a tow rig, and a bull dozer, and a demolition truck and a great first date truck, to keep the gold diggers away, lol, I couldnt kill it, it was bone stock, and I took it well over the tow rating weekly on the private plant roads, at 200k the tranny slipped, I went to aamco transmissions, and they put a new one in, ($1,500) I went to miami, two or three times in it round trip from texas, once to pick up a heavy 40 excalibur and an even heavier steel target trailer, she made the trip every time, I have no idea how. I had the over drive issue, and I put the cheapest additive available, and it fixed it and got another 100k miles, at 400k I traded it for a porsche 928, the new owner has been driving it daily for the past year, Im thinking I should have had the truck bronzed, instead of trading it. STick with your 7.3 when you get her worked out she will pay you back ten-fold!

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

I've got two bottles of the additive in my rear differential. (2000 F350 4x4)

I had my hubs replaced with Warn hubs and the bearing assemblies also replaced around 100K miles.