I have had two, a 97 and a 99, I would not hesitate to buy another.

 

i have a '97 f350 7.3 and trust me when i say that it's the most reliable truck i've ever seen... 216k miles, i replaced 1 cam position sensor, a vaccuumn pump (less than 1k miles ago) and a tranny at around 20-25k miles... it also gets around 18mpg... the 7.3 may not be a cummins in the hp/torque department but for a daily driver/reliability i would pick it above anything

 

wow that's some bad luck haha mine's an auto so i don't know how good (or crappy) their clutch's are... but i've NEVER heard of a gas pedal falling off the stem... haha i've heard of the TPS going at normally around 250-300k miles but that's the only throttle related problem i've heard of

 

How many miles can you get out of a 7.3, any where near a cummins?

 

at my friend's work (an auto place) he saw a '97 f350 7.3 with 987,000 miles on it... it was in for an oil change... haha and i've heard other stories abuot guys close to over 1,000,000 miles, oh and another guy who has 660,000 miles but it was totalled in an accident.... with a dodge... haha what are the chances right??

anyways let's just leave it at i've never heard of a 7.3 going out in anything less than 500k miles

 

anythign above 300k miles in a powerstroke is rare .usually the head, pump, injectors have been replaced by that point and its eating alot of oil.....you want to get an idea of expected mileage? look at autotrader...most guys with their powerstrokes are sellign their truck as soon as it hits 200k...cummins guys sell their trucks at 300k ...just my observation

 

Maybe I'd buy a 7.3 if it wasn't wrapped in a Ferd and all trucks of any make suddenly had their Cummins engines ripped out and scrapped.

 

dad still has his 2000, i had a 99, my neighbor had a 99. a good friend of ours who works for us now, had a 95 7.3 w/ 5spd, that he put 380,000 and some change. he pulled a 580c case hoe every day, and at night he worked as the county stock man, and pulled his 30' stock trailer almost every weekend. he changed 2 clutches, 2 alternators, and several brake jobs, nothing else. ive seen the truck and drove it. it was completely stock though. theyll last just like any diesel if you keep up on the maintenance. my neighbor sold his 99f250 with over 225,000 to my little brother. it had a 6spd and was on the same clutch. he pulled race cars with the allison legacy racing series all over the east coast up to pa, down to fla, back to tx, and made a trip out to vegas once. it eventually went out about another 30k later. my dads 2000 has almost 200k, and he replaced the auto tranny in it in the fall of 06. he constantly pulls aprx 20,000lbs weekly, including hauling round bales everyso often. other than brake jobs, thats all hes done to it. i like'em, but the ole straight 6 is so much easier to work on, simpler, gets a little better mileage, etc. i like my cummins, just hate the interior and the lovely spiderwebbed dash board, and the awesome dodge tranny. lol

 

In a pickup truck, no. I'd buy a Cummins powered Dodge every time. I would buy a 7.3 powered Excursion, though.

 

i've maybe once heard of the head being replaced on a 7.3... and that's on trucks pumping over 500hp... but yes pumps do go but they're not that expensive (i think around 250 for a new stock fuel pump and around 800 for a HPOP) and the new PSDs have injector problems but i havn't really seen any injector problems on the older PSDs... and about the whole cummins guys selling trucks with higher milage... what year was the cummins introduced to the market??

 

89 was the first year, though I have read about some late 88's with cummins.

 

Watch for block cavitation on 6.9's &7.3's if the dca hasn't been kept up in the antifreeze .The bus company I drive for has a number of 7.3's in the older busses and they're all dog's until you get one with a turbo .A friend of mine has a 99 powerstroke which I have drove and It doesn't come close to a cummins for lugging ability.For me it's gotta be a cummins.

 

155k on my 02 Ex. One CPS, on its 3rd starter, and replaced the Hipoop because it was leaking. Other than that, the rear DVD player has taking a likeing to "Shrek". I have the process of pulling the unit out and digging it out of there down to a few minutes.
Ball Joints are just starting to show-prolly good to go for another 50k.
This truck has never been babied-WFO all the time.
It pulls the boat & camper comparable to my CTD. I wouldnt say one is better or not.
Fuel mileage seems to be around 15- that with the rear seat out & loaded with tools & parts, mostly round town driving.
Its been a great vehicle to have- cant even begin to think how I would replace it.

 

buy another 7.3

 

The 6.9 didn't have a cavitation problum. The 7.3 is a bored 6.9