mdgardner

Hey Guys.
Im new here from Alabama. I am looking at buying a 91 W250. Reg Cab. It has the A727 Trans w/307 gears I believe. Has 187k miles on it owner says. ODO quit working so who knows. The body is in rough to fair shape. Its a southern truck so there is no rust, The drivers side was side swiped by a tractor when they tried to go through a gate at the same time. So the bed has a dented spot as well as the front drivers door, fender and rocker panel. The passager side door met a tree and knocked the mirror off, and was dented pretty good too. other than that, there is no more body damage, the interior looks great, and the motor is dry expcept for a leak in the front of the oil pan due to it needing a gasket, nothing major. Truck has a new water pump on it, and new front brakes. (has the heavier 1 ton front axle) Trans has never been rebuilt but seems to shift fine. You have to shift down past reverse and then back up before is will go into reverse???) Anyway. The guy is letting go a 47rh trans with it,(just the trans as far as I know, no starter or adapter plates) and a intercooler. I can get it lets say between $2500.00 and $2800.00 I want the truck to tow with. (2k - 10k lbs, a gooseneck trailer on occasion avg 60 miles trips) I dont want to spend alot of money on a truck, BUT I want one thats reliable. Thats why I want to go with the 12 valve cummins. I want decent fuel mileage too, which I know towing and fuel mileage dont go together, but I would like to get better than the 8 mpgs a gas burning truck would get. My question is, would it be smart to go ahead and persue this truck, or maybe hold out untill I can get a 5 speed. Any info would be helpful.

rebal

I have a 90 with 727 and with the stock 727, 10,000 lbs was way more then it liked to tow . if i was towing I would get the 5spd ,My son has a 91 5spd and it will out work mine and gets way better MPGs too AND WELCOME TO DTR

NE frmhnd

Having to come out of park and then back into reverse is slop in the shift linkage. Had one like that on the farm, ran it til the body fell apart.

mdgardner

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Maybe my post of 10k was a little extreme, I might pull that much maybe once a year, mostly my tow weight would be around 5k on a bumper hitch trailer. Sorry to be mis-leading. Would it be very cost effective, (smart) to do a built getrag, or NV4500 swap? I dont want to have in it more than its worth if you know what I mean. I dont mean to be a pest, just wanting some opinions.

NE frmhnd

I like my 727. Going to swap in a Colt cam and tighter converter, see how it works before deciding on a 3200 RPM spring. Maybe a 518 or 48RH later on.

But you know what they say about opinions.

rebal

tranny swap will cost $ if you dont have the parts. @ 5k you should tow just fine ,a valve body torque converter change will also make a big differance too .Thats is what I did with my 90 and I have towed 22,000 gvw and it pulls that about the same way the stock TQ did @ 10,000 with a lot less heat build up lower rpms and a little better mpgs too. next mod will be a huge tranny cooler

dieselJon

If you want to tow and get good mileage, look for a 4:10 equipped 5 spd.

mdgardner

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brainfade

The price is good. The 47rh will tow really nice if you want to spend a little time and money to get it in there and with overdrive, lockup and 3:07s will get crazy mileage empty. The 727 will do fine on lighter stuff with a tighter converter and a shift kit.

The cabs rust on these trucks (do a search for roof rot) but if it's really clean I wouldn't let a few dents scare me.

rrgrassi

You can also replace the ODO gears in the gauge. It's really pretty easy.

dieselJon

That is pretty clean. I would jump on it for sub $3k.

mdgardner

Thanks for the input guys, I learned that the extra tranny is a 47re, its usless to me without the computer. How would a 5 speed do with those 307 gears?

dieselJon

Not completely useless...

If you get a manual valvebody, you get the ease of driving without the 3rd pedal with just a move of the auto linkage.

brainfade

There are trucks on this board with the 5 speed/ 3:07 combo that are in the mid 20s empty. Plus you can tow in 4th (direct) and still run a decent speed.

I don't know a lot about the swap (some one will) but I'm sure I've read about making the 47re work with a stand alone.

mdgardner

Thanks guys. I think im going to pull the trigger. Ill let yall know what I decide.