I am going to look at an expired fleet of trucks this weekend from a milk company that was sold but the trucks were not included (guy retired) and he is selling them off himself..

Heres what I need one for: Hauling lumber and small building on my trailer, It will be used as a construction worktruck..

Heres what he has: Fords between 92 and 95, few different models mostly xlts with 300's. He does have a 92 (?) 3/4 ton ford diesel as well. All were owned by the same place and were always dealer maintained.

I think the diesel would be great for hauling but I normally need to travel 1 hr to work each day and the winters get pretty cold up here (never owned a diesel before, so not sure what tehy are like for starting in cold weather) PLUS if I got the diesel, i could experiment with the biodiesel

Anyone know of any weak points on these trucks?

Any suggestions?

Thanks Jason

I have 67,000 miles on a 2003 Ford E 350 deisel van. Better power and mileage than a gas engine. No drivetrain problems so far. Only drawbacks are the outrageous price for fuel (approx same as premium gas??) and the noise.
Pulling a trailer, the deisel would be better, IMO.
A friend has a Ford deisel pickup pulling his mobile carpenters shop, and has had similar results. He drives mostly city, while I cover the whole state and regularly cruise at 85 MPH for 3-4 hours at a time.
Maintainance (oil changes) are critical.
Good luck!

[This message has been edited by NEPTUNE (edited 10-14-2005).]

quote Originally posted by NEPTUNE: I have 67,000 miles on a 2003 Ford E 350 deisel van. Better power and mileage than a gas engine. No drivetrain problems so far. Only drawbacks are the outrageous price for fuel (approx same as premium gas??) and the noise. Pulling a trailer, the deisel would be better, IMO. A friend has a Ford deisel pickup pulling his mobile carpenters shop, and has had similar results. He drives mostly city, while I cover the whole state and regularly cruise at 85 MPH for 3-4 hours at a time. Maintainance (oil changes) are critical. Good luck!

Thanks

i am not a ford fan. but the 300 6 is a bullit proof engine.
in my experence of driving them, they have more torque than a 302 V8. and i've seen 4 in person that have over 300,000 miles on them.
if you don't get the diesel, you wont go wrong with one of the 300

i know sometimes it is hard to find diesel here in the KC area, you might pay attention to the gas stations that you go by often to see if they carry it.

sorry to make you undecided

[This message has been edited by buddycraigg (edited 10-15-2005).]

Thanks, I wasnt sure how good the 300's were.. I know the older ones were probmatic (early 80's) but didnt know about the newer ones

quote Originally posted by isthiswhereiputausername?: I am going to look at an expired fleet of trucks this weekend from a milk company that was sold but the trucks were not included (guy retired) and he is selling them off himself.. Heres what I need one for: Hauling lumber and small building on my trailer, It will be used as a construction worktruck.. Heres what he has: Fords between 92 and 95, few different models mostly xlts with 300's. He does have a 92 (?) 3/4 ton ford diesel as well. All were owned by the same place and were always dealer maintained. I think the diesel would be great for hauling but I normally need to travel 1 hr to work each day and the winters get pretty cold up here (never owned a diesel before, so not sure what tehy are like for starting in cold weather) PLUS if I got the diesel, i could experiment with the biodiesel Anyone know of any weak points on these trucks? Any suggestions? Thanks Jason

I have a 92 ford f 150 with the 300, it has the 300 in it with 130,000 miles and no trouble. i also have 2 ford full size vans with over 300,000 miles on each, no troubles. like someone said earlier they are bulletproof and they run on regular gas. the only problem i have with them is the milage, 16 mpg doesnt matter loaded or not.
the diesels i know nuthing about but do like the biodesiel idea, just remember get one with duel tank. you will need to start on regular desiel then swap to bio. the bio tank needs to be heated to keep it from hardening. in the 90's they changed the fuel pump system, used to have 3 fuel pumps in the 80's duel tank systems high pressure pump in each tank and one low pressure outside the tanks. in the 90's they went to just the high pressure pumps in the tanks and no outside pump, much more reliable.

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technology is great when it works
and one big pain in the ass when it doesnt.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

you are going to have to plug the deisels in before you start them in the winter. preheating the engines is a mush for them to start easily. simple they have the preheaters built in. all you do is plug them into house current for an hour or so and the start like a charm.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-15-2005).]