Looking to move from a 2008 plain-Jane F350 (No cruise, bench seat, regular cab, full bed, gas, 4wd) to a 2012 F350, crew cab, gas, full bed, bucket seats, cruise, Lariat, FX4. Use for a truck camper (hence why she wants better seats, cruise, bigger cab). Also tow gooseneck stock trailer once or twice a year, and same for flatbed trailer. Use the truck bed for all sorts of stuff. Anything specific to check or ask? I don’t know the axel ratio yet.
6 speed tranny - there have been a rash of problems with the connection circuit board in side the tranny. not sure if the 12 has the def stuff on it but that is another area of concern if diesel. Oil changes at apx, 3k, coolant every 2 years at minimum.
I am still rallying my 2000 F250, but from what I hear, Ford had them pretty well sorted out for those years. The 6.2 gas is a very proven platform. Enough power, decent mileage for what it is. 11-16s are the last of the steel body Superdutys.
Fi50 tranny cooling lines breaking- not sure if this extends to the 250/350. the failure is a quick connect coupling. Really bad is if it does fail while on road it generally trashes the tranny and converter leading to apx 6K repair. There are TB's on it but it doesn't resolve problem . Jeez whole lot of high paid engineers that can't fix a simple problem. I can see a class action suite on this.
Biggest issue I see with that era is frame rot. The top can be nice and shiny but the underneath is trash. Have the spark plugs been changed there are 2 per cylinder it’s kinda expensive to replace them. For some reason the oil dipstick tube tends to break off, in order to get the new one in without hacking it up the exhaust manifold needs to be removed. Check the trans fluid it’s normal for Mercon lv to be dark but any burnt smell is bad.
A follow up and ‘thanks’ for the suggestions above. We bought it. Yesterday when she got it inspected the mechanic said he had to double-check the year because it was in such good condition for a 2012. The 2008 with trailer, and 2012.
Nice looking truck and hope it serves you well for years to come. Would like to upgrade my current 2001 but don't want to spend crazy money to do it. I've heard great thing about the 6.2 as l9ng as you stay on top of maintenance and oil changes like others have said.
