High cost of diesel and great truck deals....

[billh1963]

I've been using a 1995 F-250 super cab 4x4 with a 351 engine to pull my 10,000 lb. boat over the last couple of years. The engine in the truck is acting up so I thought I would do a little looking around before I dumped any more money in the truck.

Wow! The price of diesel has killed the resale value of diesel trucks. I wound up buying a 2wd 2006 Ford F-250 XLT Crew Cab Powerstroke with 32K miles for $15K. The truck could use new tires but that's it. This truck sold for $40K when new. What's even better is the truck is under full factory warranty until October (or 36K miles) and the engine is covered by Ford for 5 years/100K miles. The only real flaw is a dent in the bottom of the bed behind the driver's wheel (visible in the picture).

I know the price of diesel is high but it's hard to pass on a truck at this price with the towing capacity it brings to the party!

[speeder]

That's an insane deal, congratulations! Must have been some kind of motivated seller, that's a steal even by current standards.

[LeeH]

I was at a wholesale auction last week and was amazed at how each run-lane became a ghosttown when a big diesel truck went through. A year ago the dealers were fighting over these things.

[TimT]

Nice boat!!

Also the diesel is much more fuel efficient when towing than your old gasser...

I tow a 26' 8K box trailer with my F250 PSD and get 12 mpg, 22 on the highway when unloaded.

[dd74]

Yum! That's a sweet truck! I love anything that's diesel...
...except diesel...women...

[aigel]

With that boat you better not worry about the price of fuel.

Not to rain on your parade, but hasn't the 6.0 liter diesel been a reliability nightmare? Are those teething problems cured in 06? I have found that the earlier 7.3 trucks are often more $ than the later ones for this exact reason. It is like 993 vs. 996 ...

That all said, 15k is a bargain for a 2 year old truck. That's a $40k+ machine.

George

[dd74]

Originally Posted by aigel

With that boat you better not worry about the price of fuel.

Not to rain on your parade, but hasn't the 6.0 liter diesel been a reliability nightmare? Are those teething problems cured in 06? I have found that the earlier 7.3 trucks are often more $ than the later ones for this exact reason. It is like 993 vs. 996 ...

That all said, 15k is a bargain for a 2 year old truck. That's a $40k+ machine.

George

Over the course of a few weeks, I watched Denis (Speeder) rebuild a Powerstroke diesel. He seemed to take care of it pretty handily. The engine was gorgeous, BTW. I've heard they're hand built.

[aigel]

The 6.0 is a very different animal than the 7.3. Looks like 2006 gets a clean bill of health:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Power_Stroke_engine

Cheers,

Georg

[dd74]

Personally, I love little diesel engines, like small turbo fours that put out 200-300 pounds of torque. I hope those come to the U.S. consumer soon.

[gt350mike]

Most of the issues with the 6.0s have been with the late 03 and early 04 model years. I have an 05 with 74k miles and haven't had one problem with the 6.0.

The fact that Bill got that truck for $15k makes me want to puke......I went to Edmunds to get a rough idea of what my truck is worth and it came out to $22k (private party retail) to $24k (dealer retail). Doubt that I would get much over $20K if I decided to sell it but its paid for and I need a truck to tow my car.

Bill.....Great deal on a great truck!

[Joeaksa]

Am kinda in the market for a Dodge with the Cummings diesel in it. Wish you could find these easier!

[Evans, Marv]

I wouldn't trade my '03 7.3L for anything, although I ride my bike nowdays if I don't have to haul or tow something. The best I've gotten on the highway unloaded is 19.4 mpg. Wish I could have gotten it for $15K. Killer deal you got.

[aigel]

The Excursion 7.3 Diesel has 235 hp at 2700 rpm and 500 ft-lb of torque @ 1600 rpm. That's just awesome.

George

[TimT]

The 6.0 is 325 hp and 560 ft/lb tq. One reason Ford had some problems with early build 6.0s is that they retuned the Navistar engine... I don't remember the exact numbers, but the 6.0 in Navistar trim was something like 265 hp 400something ft/lb.

Basically Ford tweaked the maps, and released the new 6.0 prematurely. I own a very early build 6.0, and it has been trouble free. Compounding the problem is people putting piggybacks, or flash tuners on these already pushed engines.... then blowing them up. Of course they are stand up and remove the tuner bring the truck back to Ford and try for warranty claims...

There was apparently a batch of bad injectors that got into these early engine also...

Wayne, one of my neighbors is selling his Excursion diesel, this truck is stunning... he made it into a dually Excursion.. and is maintained impeccably.. The truck is on Lawn Guyland though...

[dd74]

Didn't Ford stop making the Excursion? I liked it only because it could come as a diesel.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by speeder

That's an insane deal, congratulations!

Actually, at this point in time, it's not that killer of a deal, but it is still a solid purchase. He certainly didn't get ripped off.

One of the dealers i do business with just sold a 2000 excursion for 50% of the -wholesale- value just to get it the hell off their lot so they could put something they can actually sell for a profit in the parking space.

[billh1963]

I actually bought the truck from a wholesaler. I asked him why so cheap...something must be wrong? He said that he couldn't give a diesel truck away (I bought this about 3 weeks ago when oil prices were at their highest) and had been sitting on it for 30 days.

I've had the truck checked out and it's accident free and everything works perfectly.

I think people with with diesels (who don't need them for work) have been panicked by fuel prices and are dumping them at any cost. A nice looking diesel 2006 F-250 Crew Cab 4x4 with lower miles and more options just sold on ebay for $18,900. This may be a temporary lull and if diesel prices show signs of dropping the prices may quickly rebound.

[billh1963]

Originally Posted by aigel

With that boat you better not worry about the price of fuel.

Yep...the boat is powered by a Volvo 7.4L (454) and burns 17 gph at 30 mph. Not the cheapest thing to run these days!

[billh1963]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Am kinda in the market for a Dodge with the Cummings diesel in it. Wish you could find these easier!

I'm a big fan of the Cummins engine. I'm just not a fan of the layout of the truck and the transmission.

I had a 2003 Hemi Quad cab a few years ago and the back seats just aren't big enough for my two boys. The Mega Cab is available but looks ugly in my opinion.

The earlier automatic transmissions aren't up to the task either. They have a new 6-speed auto out now that I admit I don't know much about.

My brother-in-law has a 2003 Cummins powered 4x4 truck that he bought new and has well over 200,000 miles on it. He has replaced the transmission once and has rebuilt the front end twice but he has NEVER had to touch the engine. Just regular oil and fuel filter changes.

[RoninLB]

Originally Posted by billh1963

I'm a big fan of the Cummins engine. .

Cat And Detroit will stop supplying FD rigs soon due to new smog restrictions set to kick in.

Only Cummins will have the offsets from the auto market.