I was hoping to kick this can down the road at least another 2-3 years, but the stars are aligning and i think it's time to make a change. When I bought this truck it was my daily driver, but now it only comes out for truck stuff...and I usually work it pretty hard. Current truck is 09 F150 2WD with 4.6 3V and 3.31 gears. It has given me 215K trouble free miles. I bought it brand new. I've taken good care of it but it is getting tired. Here's typical outing for the truck: I figure this load including the trailer is between 9K and 10K. The tractor with FEL, bucket, and box blade is probably about the same. The truck's max tow is 7,800 and max payload is 1,500. I figure with 15% tongue weight (hard to get 10% with how things fit), passengers, tools, etc I'm at 2K payload. I don't consider this dangerously overloaded (although some would disagree), but it is asking a lot of a high mileage 18 year old truck, especially when I've found myself doing it 3-4 times a month. I've got a few leads going on a F250/F350 SRW 7.3 gasser. Surprisingly they aren't much more expensive than a F150, if at all. I'm going to try to find the closest thing I can to a brand new truck at the same level of tech and features as the old one (basically none). I'm also going to let my inner 16YO run a little since I never have before on a vehicle. This is going to be a buy once cry once (or twice) situation. I plan to keep this one another 20ish years, maybe longer. I'll keep ya'll posted, but probably going to happen soon.
That F150 is squatting down low. It's amazing how much you can haul with a half ton, with common sense and a light right foot. You won't regret going to a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, they do handle a lot better with a big load than the half tons. My hauler is an 86 Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4. Has 3.73 gears and a SM465 four speed in it. Gas mileage not so great, but I love it anyway.
My next door neighbor growing up had about the same truck. Another neighbor had a mid 80's Ford 1 ton with a 460. Lots of good memories with those trucks.
Nope, unless you go diesel, then prices get really stupid, really fast. Just make sure that the engine has had the update for potential low idle oil pressure. If Ford says it doesn't need it, I'd put an analog gauge on it and keep an eye on things myself. I hear there are aftermarket tuners that you can bump the pressure yourself (they have a computer controlled variable pressure pump...which is all in effort to make the EPA happy...chasing that last 0.0010 worth of MPG...I mean how much extra gas will it really use if we go from 5 to 20 PSI, at idle?!! I'm sorry, but at 5 PSI, there is no oil getting to the top end, not on a 100k + mileage engine! )
you probably run over 50:1 in your 2 cycle engines and turnoff your auto engine start because common sense says starting an engine 20 times in half hour has to wear something out.. I edited rest out to keep with site rules
