I have one also, 03 F350 7.3 Diesel FX4 CrewCab Lariat Short box with 4" lift and 35"tires, 4" exhaust wtih Super Chip. I have a few pictures in my album. It tows like a champ, I wonder somtimes if it would tear a tongue off of the trailer if I got on it any harder. On the highway empty it gets around 20 around town 16, if I run it hard it will get around 2 mpg less, towing it will go down acording to how hard I push it but with a 18' enclosed trailer or my 16' flatbed trailer it is around 15.
My only complaint it is the steering, the pump needs to have a little more pressure.

Russ

 

I've got a 2001 F250 4x4 crew cab. 7.3l auto. Absolutely love it. Great power, pretty decent mileage.
Don't think I would trade it for any other at this point. Still stock. The only drawback to these trucks is that the engines will outlast the electronics in these trucks, everything in it is controlled by modules.

 

tta583 pegged it pretty good. I've done upper and lower balljoints at 30,000 miles. i may drive more logging road than most. Blew tranny at 40,000 miles due to driver error. I manually shifted the automatic into 2nd gear. i was going really slow and up steep roads, pulling 30' travel trailer and deck with 4 quads. It doesn't shift into 1st when you do this, you're better off leaving it in drive. PLUS, I shoulda been in 4-low. I did same drive this year in 4-low and it purred into camp. BUT, if you pull, you should consider best tranny cooler, which I've done since, and frequent tranny fluid changes. I pull a lot of heavy loads.

Power steering hasn't been a problem for me.

I have a '99 F350, dually, crewcab, 60HP chip.

There was a 7.3L before the Powerstroke. Different block, and the fuel was injected through pump, into side of cyliner. on the Powerstroke, the fuel is injected into the top of the cylinder, individual injectors. Nothing to compare the pre-Powerstroke 7.3L to the Powerstrke.

 

I've ridden in and used many '96/'97 Ford Crew cabs with the Powerstroke. Pulled lots of weight and hardly noticed them behind us. I like the older Ford Body styles.

 

Just traded in my 99' F-350 7.3L, crew cab, dually, 4x4 with 4:10 rear end for a new 04' F-350 6.0L, crew cab, 4x4, with 3:73 rear end. Only difference is the motor size and single rear wheel this time. The 7.3L is simply bullet proof but if your looking to buy new you can no longer get it. Like the 6.0L or not, that's all that's availble now unless I'm mistaken...please correct me if I am wrong. I can say this, my new 6.0L has very noticably more usable power than my old 7.3L (higer RPM or not), maybe due to the new tranny or the different size rear-end I don't know but it sure is noticable to me. Check my pics to see my old beast. It would tow whatever I put behind it. Mileage sucked for a diesel (13.5 to 14.0 mpg empty) but I haven't heard of others having this problem. Also, the truck was on its 3rd tranny at just under 100K miles, again I think this is unusual for this truck. I bought that truck with around 50K on it so it could very well have been abused and cleaned up for resale. I told myself I would never buy a used truck agian after that...I know I will eat it on the depreciation but at least I know where the truck has been. My new 6.0L has less than 1000 miles and is getting around 15 mpg city and 17.5 mpg hwy and should get better...I hope. Just hope Ford has worked out the kinks on the new motor...first year had plenty of problems but that tends to be the case for a lot of 1st year models. Good luck.

 

your bad mileage was from that hill you have to take everyday to get back from Palm Springs![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] The tranny.... that's bad! could be bad dealership/mechanic. These trucks really need tranny fluid and filter changed regularly. Also, I put in the biggest tranny cooler I could get. my truck is the exact same as your old one. The 4:10 gears are lower and should have more pull and grunt, so if the 3:73 ratio is pulling better, must be a better tranny and engine in the 6.0L. Even if previous owner was hard on it, once tranny got rebuilt first time, that shoulda been it.

did you put a performance chip in your '99? I put in 60 HP chip, and did it ever smooth out tranny and shifting.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I see you know my area. You're right, that hill is brutal.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
To be fair, when I had a new tranny put in at around 96K miles I honestly thought it was the 2nd tranny for the truck. To my surprise the dealer called me and asked when I had put a new tranny in. My response was "what new tranny? You mean that's not the original tranny?" The dealer who sold me the truck a few years before never disclosed the fact that the truck (with only about 50K) had already been through one tranny. Apparently Ford had no record of doing such work so my guess is the person who had the truck before me blew the tranny and them slammed another one in just to get rid of it. It could be that the 2nd tranny wasn't factory. Anyway, it wasn't a very nice experience but again I don't think it's all that typical. I did not have a chip or anything other than a K&N filter. I think I was afraid to put any more stress into that tranny.

 

I own a 2000 F250 Crew - longbed. It's a sweet hauler!! I pull a 29ft 5th wheel (loaded) and a 15ft 3-place trailer behind it (loaded with 2-Polaris Sportsman, generator, gas, picnic tables, kids' bikes, extra water, etc.). I drive up very steep roads, and it does just fine. I can pretty much go as fast as the corners will let me. I also use it as my daily driver...work is 1000ft. climb in elevation. However, I wish I had the 6.0 Liter.

Summary: It's a great truck, and is very comforatable to drive and ride in.

 

so whitewater, you pull 2 trailers at the same time??like an 'A'-train?? I've never seen or heard of that (other than tractor trailer units). Is that only legal in Utah?

just4kicks, is there anyone else in Palm Springs besides us canucks?? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] I've got friends in Yucca Valley, they lived near Old Woman Springs Road (i think was the name). You could ride out from their yard, pretty much forever. They rented a beautiful house from some "weekenders" (a name he said you locals call the folks from LA that come to play on weekends).

 

Hey confusedbuyer,

Doubles is fairly common out here in the west. We pull two trailers and one of them is NOT a 5th wheel. We call it the "Adventure Train". Check out my pictures for a look. You have to pay a little more attention when you're doing this, but it's worth it when you get there...