how are these? any big concerns? thinking 2002 diesel as they're the cheapest I've found. what can I expect out of one with 120,000 miles on it?

figure 10grand if I can sell my titan and pick this up it'd good for loading quads into and pulling in general. plus with bigger tires it'd still get ok mileage I imagine, I get 10mpg tank to tank with my titan on 35x12.5x20"s...

here's one of the trucks I'm considering...

http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/cto/1923459006.html

if not I'll keep looking. but the only cheap ones I've seen are the 7.3 so I imagine they got issues

 

The 7.3 is a good motor but it has its little quirks just like any other motor does. The only thing I will tell you is owning a diesel is not cheap to maintain or fix when you break one. As far as milage is concerned I am only getting 11-12 in town and a little less than 15 on the highway with my 6.0 but I get 10-12 towing our 28ft fifth wheel.

 

what size tires are you running?

i get 12-13 with my 35's in the city and 16 on highway.

before the tires i was getting 16 city and nearly 20 highway

 

I am running 285/65 R18 and my truck is not tuned yet but will be shortly. I am ordering my gages this week.

 

The 7.3 is a very reliable engine, but they do not get very good fuel mileage with ULSD. 120k is nothing. If it checks out good, I'd get it. The only weak area is the 4R100 transmission.

 

That seems to be a *really* good price on that truck... Around here, it'd sell for $15K all day long.

Things to look out for at that mileage would be wheel bearings (they're $300 each), ball joints ($400 to DIY or $1000 for a shop), transmission (has it ever been replaced?), and since it's near salt water, I'd keep an eye out for rust (cab corners, bed supports, rear wheel wells, and the oil pan).

As for fuel mileage, with 35s and running 2 stroke oil in the fuel, you should be able to pull off 16 MPG on the highway easy.

 

Which was 20+ on the old high sulfur fuel without additives.

 

Couple of things.

First off, that is a good price for the truck. I just traded my 99 F250 7.3L 4x4 with 137k on it for $10k. Mine wasn't a crew cab, nor did it have leather, plus I did let my chip, gauges, and fully built transmission go with it. As long as it was taken care of that would easily sell for $15k+ around here.

Second, those "aftermarket" wheels are nothing more than stock 05+ wheels from the look of it. They aren't bad wheels persay, but they have a much higher offset than stock. This will cause the tires to rub the leaf springs at full lock. A set of spacers will fix this. Maybe I'm wrong, because its hard to see in the pictures.

Third, check and see if its ever been chipped before. The 01-03 7.3L engines used powdered metal rods which didn't handle much advanced timing that most chips use to make power. Also check the transmission to see what kind of shape its in. If its still the stock one then make sure you budget in for a fully built trans. Its not a guarantee that it'll go, but if it does you won't be caught off guard. A BTS is about $4k, but shipping to Hawaii is going to be killer. I don't trust many other places to build a good 4R100 aside from BTS or John Woods. Also make sure that the SCA addative in the coolant is at the correct concentration or else you may have problems with the block later on in life.


With the truck setup like that you'll probably be looking at 15-16 mpg around town if you keep your foot out of it, and maybe 18-19mpg highway. Any bigger tires will take those numbers down to what you get now.

The 7.3L engines were the workhorse engine in their day. They're not really the hot rod engines that you see today, but if you want durability the only thing that beats it is a 12V Cummins. Mine had 137k on it and the only engine related problem I ever had was a dead alternator 4 years ago. They're just cheaper now because everybody wants a hot rod diesel, plus the trucks with these engines are getting up there in age now.

 

2 stroke oil? all diesel trucks can do this? how much do you guys put in there? I have 2 stroke quads so I always have 2 stroke oil around lol. in fact I have castrol and a couple other weed eater bottles of 2 stroke oil I've been thinking of just using in my kids 2 stroke 80cc atv to get rid of them lol.

 

Not ALL diesel trucks can run it... anything designed to run on low sulfur diesel can run it. I run 128:1, or 1oz of oil per gallon of fuel.

 

The idea behind the 2 stroke is to put back in some of the lubricity lost from having to use USLD. Some people swear by it some people wouldn’t dare. Others use diesel specific additives to improve cetane and lubricity.

 

There was alot of debate about the the quality of the oil. Basically all oil has some form of detergents and small particles in it, and that was the main point of contention. How much excessive wear/damage would be caused by long term usage. Basically nobody has ever proved one way or the other. That said I never ran it in my PSD, but I'm tempted to try it in the Cummins as I've been hearing they like it more than other engines do.


Oh, 1 other rust point to add. Check the bottoms of the doors underneath the lower door seal. The drain holes like to plug and water can pool in the bottom of the door. It'll cause the doors to rust from the inside out like mine did.