I've started looking around for prices on a new to me tow rig.

I'm looking early-mid 90's for price reasons.
Will be an F350 Dually - unless someone knows of another true 4 door w/ 8' bed.
Will be a manual.
Will be 4x4

I'm at a toss up on diesel vs. the 460. Lets set fuel economy and gas prices aside for a moment and talk reliability and cost of repairs.

What common things go out on the 7.3 PSD and how much do they cost to replace?

What's the ballpark rebuild cost of one?

A F350 CC 4x4 DRW with a factory box in the years you are looking at is a rare to non-existent beast. The PS was a mid 94+ engine as well with the common failure items etc. having been discussed ad nauseam on this board.

Yes, the diesels have been discussed heavily. But I hadn't seen a thread, nor could I find one that covered common failures and how much they cost to fix - or how much a complete rebuild costs. I can only reference Lances dead CTD at $9,000 or something like that.

Or even how often injectors need to be replaced. At $300+ times I assume 8, or a fuel injector pump at $600, etc. etc. I need to consider that.

Yes, I'de like a diesel and it's cheaper fuel and better fuel economy. But repairing a diesel is upwards of 10x higher than repairing a gasser. So if anything goes wrong, any gas money I have saved would get burnt up in repair bills.

I'm also pretty diesel stupid - so that doesn't help.

I'll try and help best I can. I have a 94 F350 SRW CC LB 4x4 Auto 460. Its only got 106K on it only used to tow and haul and an occasional trip up north in the winter. Under 10 city, 13-15 hwy. I fortunately havent had to make any repairs in the time I've had it and have made several trip from Sac to Oregon. I went gas b/c the initial price was 1/3 +/- of the same truck diesel. I was lucky enough to get all the maint. records being the 2nd owner. Now the repair bills I've seen have been rough. Usually 800-1000 or more a piece. Now those were all done at a dealership. Hope that was of some help.


BTW I love driving it until its time for gas.

Ryan

my truck is the exact truck you mention except for the 4x4. its a 95 diesel that worked great for me. i sold my toy hauler so i dont need it anymore. right now its at this lot. its the second one from the top....of course it has the banks power pack on it so it pulls like a mofo. the only thing is its not 4x4, i gave up looking for that. the manual was priority. i had the same list as you but just couldnt find one.

http://www.freedom-diesels.com/fords.php

or a fuel injector pump at $600, etc. etc.

Probably more like $1000-$1500 for that item.

I have a 1996 f-350 srw 4wd with the 7.3L. My truck has 280k on it, I have owned it for a year and put 25k miles on it or so. I dont know about any common failures....but here is what I have replaced:

waterpump($150)
starter($170)
ball joints($300 installed)
fuel filter(~$20)
lots of fawkin oil.

the water pump wasnt technically bad, it just had a tiny bit of play in the bearing, the new one has a lifetime warranty. The starter was slow when I got it, and eventually quit altogether. It now has a lifetime warranty. Ball joints were bad when I got it I think because it ate my front tires, lifetime warranty there too.

I replaced the fuel filter and have replaced the oil a bunch of times, but other than that my truck has been bulletproof. I dont have any leaks, I dont burn any oil, and I am 100% satisfied with my purchase.

FWIW, a PSD has no injector pump, just a high pressure oil pump. I think you can get your injectors rebuilt, but I haven't had any trouble out of mine so I couldnt tell you how much it would cost.

I'll try and help best I can. I have a 94 F350 SRW CC LB 4x4 Auto 460. Its only got 106K on it only used to tow and haul and an occasional trip up north in the winter. Under 10 city, 13-15 hwy.
Ryan

How heavy do you tow?

I'm looking at 11-15,000lbs.

(Camper has a mold problem and we are thinking about a big fiver or TT next year.)

I can also go flatbed if I need to or just a chassis and build the flat bed. no hard requirement for a regular truck bed.

Ok, I've got a '97 F350 SRW CC 4x4 PSD with 212k that I've had since new. The only way you're going to get a dually is to convert or buy one with the conversion. They did not make a C&C CC on the OBS.

Gotmuddy prices are about right.

Mine is on its third water pump, just installed but I added a coolant filter this time around. This is about a 100k part, the filter should make it last longer though.

I did balljoints, brgs, steering links, shackle reverse, axle ujoints, springs at about 180k as preventive maintenance but a lot of it needed replacing.

Vacuum pump which is less than $100 is another 100-120k item.

I've heard that the dreaded CPS is suddenly down to $30 at the dealer, guess they got a Chinese supplier, but it's still better than $130 and crapshoot whether it would last like the ones before but always carry a spare.

Glow plugs and relay if you're in the cold climate, more nuisance than expensive.

Brakes are not the best, go with the Wagner Severe Duty stuff and you'll be fine.

Fuel bowls will leak, I had one replaced under warranty and when that one went this spring I went with Bean's fuel system.

11-15k pounds is going to be tough on a stocker, I'd look for 4.10s (I have an automatic with 3.55s and 35's). It'll pull it, it just won't be racer.

Injectors can get expensive, but if they are decent shape and you just want them redone, stage 1's will only cost about $1200-1500 to have done. Realize that the stock turbo will not last long with any injector upgrade and that H2's are expensive.

Don't know about clutches, but there are good aftermarket available.

I guess the best thing with these models is that upgrading usually is not much more expensive than replacing with factory stuff.

Just to let you know, I've got a Banks Intercooler on mine, homemade Tymar-type intake, Hypermax Stage 1 injectors and H2 turbo, 5" exhaust, Bean's fuel system, and a BTS auto tranny. I can still accelerate to pass pulling my buddies John Deere 4320 behind me.:grinpimp:

At one time I had both the 460 and PSD, running around empty I had to figure that if gas was 25 cents cheaper than diesel, it was cheaper to drive the 460, based on 12mpg for the 460 and 16mpg for the PSD. This included figuring oil change price. That 12 mpg was if you were really driving good whereas the PSD will get 16 mpg standing on it.

Gees, I wrote a book, let me know if any of that helps.

Chris

How heavy do you tow?

I'm looking at 11-15,000lbs.

(Camper has a mold problem and we are thinking about a big fiver or TT next year.)

I can also go flatbed if I need to or just a chassis and build the flat bed. no hard requirement for a regular truck bed.

CJ-7, no trailer (I know, I know) cant afford one right now.