working on Excursion

My question, is it as easy as working on an F250?

The story- My current vehicle is a 1978 Chevy C-20 that I bought in

1995 or so. Married, child, and I was a mechanic before my current life. My thought is to buy a used, high miles Excursion since it is built on the F250 chassis and pickup trucks are easier to work on.

It will be a weekend vehicle. How closely does the Excursion really track to the F250?

David

Reply to
David Schierholz
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I think it's as easy as Super Duty to work on.

The trucks are very close-the biggest exception is the suspension. The springs are softer and the rears are on blocks to level the truck front to rear. Ford softened the springs for the ride and the truck gets steered by the rear wheels when you hit bumps w/one rear wheel. I switched out the springs w/F250 springs on mine, the ride is harder but the truck tracks much better and helps when I pull a trailer.

doubletriggers

Reply to
Bob Statkus

Both are built in the same plant and other than some suspension changes for the soccer mom crowd the chassis is identical.

Reply to
invalid unparseable

Thank you both. I think I'm a little closer to the soccer mom crowd most days that that '78 C-20 with the 454 that went knocking around the country fifteen years ago. Where did my youth go?

My first car was a '72 Country Squire. 100 MPH in Nevada, and just cruised down from the Oregon border to Winemuca. Ain't gonna see that again.

I'll look for high mile Texas Excursion next summer, do the tranny and the u-joints. Maybe get the last year of the 7.3 liter diesel and leave it alone.

David

Reply to
David Schierholz

OK, I simply don't know, so I'll ask - why are all the Excursions in Texas? And while I'm asking, 'cause I want one too, can someone tell me what kind of mileage they're getting with the Gasoline V8's and V10's? I'm getting reports of 20 MPG with the 7.3 Diesel (and I'm liking those numbers!). This thing weighs upwards of 6000 lbs, right? Thanks, Steve

Reply to
GreenGas

Diesels weight over 7,000 pounds. You will be assessed a Class 2 toll on the turnpike. :-( In reality you'll probably see 16-18 mpg in mixed driving, 20 mpg on the highway if you keep it under 70.

My V10 F250 Crew Cab gets 11-12 mpg if I baby it.

When I lived in Dallas about 13 years ago, the GMC Suburban was called the "National Car of Texas." It's a size thing, I guess. The Excursion probably took over that honor, but now that it's kaput we'll see.

Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

Matt, thanks for the clarification of the weight. I'm amazed - I have a 5400 lb Isuzu Trooper w/ a 3.5l gas engine that, at best, gets 16 mpg. A 7000+ lb (diesel) truck getting over 20 mpg is awesome - if I could just convince my better half that this is the way to go, I'm there. I guess I wont be going with the V10. My brother, who lives in Texas, has two Suburbans. I think you're right. r/ Steve

Reply to
GreenGas

If you can afford the $5K upcharge for the diesel engine, and you need it for towing/hauling, go for it. I never heard anyone say "I wish this engine made less low-end torque."

However right now in my area diesel costs more than gas, so the some of the fuel mileage savings are cancelled by the additional per gallon cost.

BTW I just listed my F-250 on eBay:

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Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

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