Concerns on towing vehicle over 100,000 miles?

I don't trust automatic transmissions, especially for towing. Mopar trans are really bad and often fail around 60k miles. If yours is working well with no signs of slippage or flaring I'd throw the biggest stacked plate cooler you can find on it and not sweat it. For your next truck get a manual trans. New Venture makes some really stout transmissions. Ford uses ZF which used to be really weak (like in my truck, only rated to 420 ft/lbs... engine makes 550 and it hasn't blown up yet with plenty of towing), but the newer ZF transmissions are rated for a lot more torque. I would never own a truck with a slushbox, it's just inviting trouble.

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Originally Posted by ruby23m

Just towed my Saltare 500 miles this past weekend on my 2000 Explorer 5.0 AWD. Now both my lower ball joints are making noise and my front differential blew a seal and leaked oil all over the place including my boat. I have almost 190,000 miles on it and considering trading it in for a Super Duty or larger SUV. Any suggestions?

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it depends on what you want/need. Do i need a diesel? Hell no but diesel trucks to me are one of my hobbies. Just like boating is to alot of folks diesel trucks are to me. If you want somethin that will tow anything you ever want then get yourself a diesel. The cons to them are when they break you will spend a little more, oil changes and such cost more, and fuel prices are higher. Diesels tend to last alot longer than regular gas burners, my truck has 225k on it and i wouldnt think twice to haul somethin from the east coast to the west. Main thing is to find one that has been cared for. Brand depends on you. I love fords but i would drive either dodge or chevy but would be more picky when looking for one of them.

Ford all around is a well built truck that will last, dodge will have crappy interior and small stuff falling apart along with one of the crappiest automatic trans around. Chevy rides the best but i hate to call them a real HD truck since the great engineers of GM put a independent front suspension on a HD truck. but hey it does what it was meant and that is to ride good. Just dont 4wd boost launch it :p . The main thing is they all will break including the almighty allison trans in the chevy. Dont even consider the allison as an almight automatic because its not, just as many allisons have died as any other automatic

But like i said i love superduties. If you want one look for a 95-02 depending on your budget. These have the 7.3l which are very sim from 94-03. Stay away from the 6.0 which was in mid 03-07. The 6.0 tend to lift heads which once fixed is an awesome engine but you will drop alot of cash to get it fixed right. I might sound bias but honestly all brands are nice but have there differences. They all will break sooner or later just like any other car/truck.

I can answere most questions about diesels if you guys looking for one need some insight. I am on every powerstroke forum along with a couple cummins and duramax sites.

Ill post some pics of my baby for the hell of it. Lets see some pics of ya'lls !

my pride and joy hauls the toys and gets the job done
[IMG]http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...x/truck010.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...x/truck013.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...x/truck014.jpg[/IMG]

Hey ben I just got a new boat and it weighs about 10k lbs dry 100gal of gas and a triple axle trailer I think the whole rig boat and trailer fully loaded is pushing close to 15k lbs I have been looking at the F350 7.3 dually's what do you think about those?

I come from a family of Gmc/chevy owners.. My toy hauler just turned 204k.. original everything..1500 lifted on 35's on original gears 373's.. I put to many miles on a year to keep droping money on lifts / tires / custom stuff so this one I decided im just going to keep running her till she rusts out

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL132.../397564866.jpg

As I was saying my whole family has boats and chevy's with no issues with the newer style chevy's from 99-up.. now 98 down is another story on just tranny's on the 1500's

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Originally Posted by SuperSaltAir

Hey ben I just got a new boat and it weighs about 10k lbs dry 100gal of gas and a triple axle trailer I think the whole rig boat and trailer fully loaded is pushing close to 15k lbs I have been looking at the F350 7.3 dually's what do you think about those?

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As long as it has the 7.3l your pretty much good to go. These engines are very reliable and pretty simple. The frames are all the same just different rear axles. Just be sure to check it out fully before you buy it. if the seller/dealer will let you take it to a reputable diesel shop/shop that has knowledge on diesels and let them run a couple test it would be in your best benefit. Check for abnormal Blowby, and run a injector test, check the trans and so forth can all be done on a good scanner. Also check the ball joints and other suspension parts. If you do get one with an automatic the first thing i would do is add a larger tranny cooler and a tranny temp gauge along with a egt gauge. Especially if you are towing. Then you can monitor the most important things. The automatic behind the 7.3l is the 4r100. Ford put a way way way to small tranny cooler on them and it causes them to overheat and burn the tranny up.

What year are you looking at? although they are all sim there are small differences between years. The biggest being in mid 01 they switched from forged rods to PMR rods.

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Originally Posted by dshaff24

I come from a family of Gmc/chevy owners.. My toy hauler just turned 204k.. original everything..1500 lifted on 35's on original gears 373's.. I put to many miles on a year to keep droping money on lifts / tires / custom stuff so this one I decided im just going to keep running her till she rusts out

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL132.../397564866.jpg

As I was saying my whole family has boats and chevy's with no issues with the newer style chevy's from 99-up.. now 98 down is another story on just tranny's on the 1500's

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what kind of MPG do you get loaded?

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Originally Posted by bens250ex

As long as it has the 7.3l your pretty much good to go. These engines are very reliable and pretty simple. The frames are all the same just different rear axles. Just be sure to check it out fully before you buy it. if the seller/dealer will let you take it to a reputable diesel shop/shop that has knowledge on diesels and let them run a couple test it would be in your best benefit. Check for abnormal Blowby, and run a injector test, check the trans and so forth can all be done on a good scanner. Also check the ball joints and other suspension parts. If you do get one with an automatic the first thing i would do is add a larger tranny cooler and a tranny temp gauge along with a egt gauge. Especially if you are towing. Then you can monitor the most important things. The automatic behind the 7.3l is the 4r100. Ford put a way way way to small tranny cooler on them and it causes them to overheat and burn the tranny up.

What year are you looking at? although they are all sim there are small differences between years. The biggest being in mid 01 they switched from forged rods to PMR rods.

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Sounds like this thread has turned into the "ask a diesel expert" thread! What do you know about the 1988 7.3? I'm looking at a non-turbo version.

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Originally Posted by wotan2525

Sounds like this thread has turned into the "ask a diesel expert" thread! What do you know about the 1988 7.3? I'm looking at a non-turbo version.

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What do i know about the ol 7.3idi??? well.... i use to have one lol. I actually had a 1987 which had the 6.9 (same as the 7.3 just not bored out as much) Good engines but dont look for a ton of powe,r but it had enough low end grunt it could pull a house down. Simple to work on and fairly cheap to maintain. They have been known to blow head gaskets, i blew a set in mine. But fairly simple job to replace since there all mechanical and no electronics to worry about. When i sold mine it had close to 400k and was still kickin. I miss that ol truck and wish i hadnt sold it. It was a classic and i have never seen another like the one i had. It had ZERO rust and maybe 2 dents. We were the original owners of the truck. She was a beast, well made. The manuals tranny's in these trucks could take a beatin and still keep going.

With the gearing in mine (dont remember what it was) it would cruise on the highway at around 65mph so its not a speed demon by anymeans but deff a hell of a truck. It was a tank, usually couldnt even feel the trailer behind it. It towed alot of boats back in the day.

We tow every single day while at work. The shop mule is a 96 2500 Suburban with the Vortec 454 Auto tranny 4X4. Original engine and transmission/transfer case. 291,000 miles and keeps pullin hard. Yes I want a newer Suburban due to worn out seats ect. But for reliability, I have no problem jumping in and driving 1k miles or more on a trip. When we do replace or add to the fleet, 2500 Suburban with a 496 8.1 lt. Oh Cadunkle, we have two trucks with manuals and both reallly suck at the ramps and for hooking up the trailers. Clutches are fine but for minor adjustments of the vehicles, and auto trans is much easier. Now, we use a synthetic 15w40 oil, same as what goes into all of our boats, we change every 3k and change tranny and transfercase oils once per year, usually every 25k to 30k. Good luck Al