So, I go to get my u-joints replaced on the rear driveline and start driving home and the vibration was unreal! From 30-60 mph it felt and sounded like I was driving on small rumble strips. So I take it back to the shop and they balance my tires to see if that was the problem. I'm thinking it wasn't because before u-joint replacement there was a little vibration at 50 mph, and now the vibration is worse...can't be the tires. The mechanic takes it out for a test drive, comes back and says he can't feel any vibration. I start to drive home and the vibration is STILL there!

Fuming by now, I go all the way home, grab the wife and a bite to eat and take her to the shop w/ me. They're tired of seeing me, and I'm tired of having a halfway fixed truck. They get another mechanic to check it out...he says the first mechanic who changed the u-joints didn't put the driveline back together w/ the joints in-phase (I have 3 u-joints and a carrier bearing on the rear driveline). They put the joints in-phase and test it out...vibration is still there. They put it up on the rack and jack up the rear wheels and put the gear shift in drive and low and behold my driveshaft is bent!

So, I wasn't angry or frustrated w/ them anymore because I know exactly how my driveshaft got bent. Last winter I tried driving over what I thought was a pile of snow about 18-24 inches tall. It was snow...but it had melted a little and got packed down hard and froze. My front end was probably airborne by about 2" and when I came down I heard the ice crunch on my running boards...that's when I knew I was in trouble! I look back and I see my tire tracks and right down the middle is where my differential plowed it's way through.

I took the truck to a local driveshaft shop and they said they could straighten it out if it's not too bad. They stuck the shaft on the lathe and found it was 0.030" out of line.

Anyway, I'll get to the good part of the story...the mechanic at the driveshaft shop has a '03 6.0 PSD w/ 20,000 miles on it and he said my truck seems to accelerate to 60 mph easier than his! You can see in my signature that I don't have much of a modification, but still...that's impressive! I don't feel so bad about my truck now.

 

The 7.3 is a tried and true engine. Those things are tough. I was talking to a guy at the fuel station he had a new Ford 250 4x4 and he said he got a great deal because it was a 7.3 instead of the 6.0 (last run of the 7.3's I guess?) Said he got like $3000 or $4000 in discounts. I told him he should have paid them for getting the 7.3.

 

I agree, the 7.3 is tried and true. The 6.0 was a newbie when it hit the market and I think that Furd thought that they had the bugs figured out but they were wrong and still are to date. The 6.0 is plauged with demons, Some of them being totally irreversable. But on the other hand, If you get a good 6.0 with a good 120+ hp chip that shifts good and all the supporting equipment they are pretty stout runners.

 

The Ford 6.0 is the reason Im driving a new Dodge 600,but I still have my 7.3 in the drive and had the 6.9 back when they came out in 83.Ford lost a lot of loyal people playing with an unproven engine.