Over the past few months my property maintenance business has been exploding, and now I'm faced with the need for a truck. I'm interested in the Superduty trucks, either the 250 or 350 since I'll be mostly towing & hauling, with some plowing as well.
I've googled around but haven't seen much talk as far as durability or longevity regarding the trucks. Ideally I'd like to get 150 to 200k out of it.
I've seen some late model gas trucks, either the V8 or V10 with attractive prices but high miles. What's the average life span on these trucks? Should I stay away from the gas and look at the diesel only?
I'm not in a position to buy new, yet, so it'll have to be used. Any advice is welcome.
I'll tell you what I've seen of the service pickups for the drilling companies in northern Alberta and some of the camps in the Arctic. Companies have tried all brands, but they keep coming back to the heavy F-series. Because they beat the living piss out of everything, and F-250's up to now the F-550's take the abuse and keep on truckin. They run 24/7, literally the engine is running from freeze-up in October till thaw in the spring (except for oil changes) It's too cold to shut them off, cold like leave a 5 gallon pail of 75w90 gear oil outside for a few hours then hold it upside down and it slides out in a soild brick. But anyways they take the abuse the best, by far.
From my experience, you should have no problem getting 150K - 200K out of any well maintained Ford truck, and very realistically a lot more.
My history:
1972 Ford van (E200), 240 cid 6 cyl, manual trans: 346,000 HARD miles 1 cam gear, 1 carb, 1 set of rings still ran great when sold, but everything was tired
1987 F-150, 302, 4 spd: totalled at 40K, but no repairs
1989 F-150, 302, 5 spd: 170K so far, 1 water pump, 1 starter, egr valve, plenum gasket. Still runs & drives as well as the day I bought it new
2000 F-250, Powerstroke, auto: 106K, nothing except batteries & tires. the weakest link is the auto trans, which I have not had rebuilt, but probably will soon & upgrade to a BTS tranny. I have read on the diesel forum that the tranny can go anywhere from 30K to 200K.
I've had a few others, including an F-350, but not long enough to really say much about them.
That said, My brother has an electrical contracting business & runs approx
15 vans. He buys nothing but Chevys & has had a couple of them run to 300K, but by that time they have had at least 1 engine replacement & usually at least a couple of trannys. He continues to buy the chevs because he can get them a lot cheaper on the front end. He has used the same dealer for 15 years or so, they will sell him 2500's with work bins & ladder racks cheaper than he can buy an F150 stripped.....
If I were you I'd buy the F-250. It's basically the same as the f-350, similar capacities etc, rides much better, and take good care of it. It will treat you right. As far as gas or diesel, both have attributes. The diesel will cost more up front, but will get better fuel economy, and have better resale at the other end. Howerver they are noisy and fuel is not always easy to find. They will pull anything you put behind them though.
I have a '95 F350 with 140k miles and runs like a top. Set up with a welding rig so it carries a LOT of weight. Only problem, like now, is the sensor that works the glow plugs for start. Have had to fix this about 3 times in the past. Also have a '99 F250 with 195k. This sucker will fly. Extended cab with the long bed. Purchased this truck on ebay in Texas. Gets 17mpg around town and 22 on road. And another truck we have is a Dodge, '93 , with the Cummins diesel. Super milage, but not a lot of power like the Powerstrokes. Just the F350 and Dodge are set up for welding, the 250 is the run around truck. Can't say enough good things about the PowerStroke. As far as the little extra noise, I love it!
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.