Looking at newer v10 haulers have ???ss

[gregamorton]

Guys I have been looking at 2000 and newer fords with diesels and v10s. The diesels will be better fuel mileage wise but maintenance costs and over all starting purchase prices are way higher. I would love to hear if any of yall have v10s and your good and bad about them. I am finding low mileage v10s loaded out for $10000 and less.

[XABN82]

I have a 2003 F250 with a V10. I really like the truck. I'd love to have a new diesel but can't afford one at this time. The V10 has less maintenance, plus it only holds 6 quarts of oil. I think Ford put a 3 valve V10 from year model 2005 and up. I've heard this motor has more HP and torque. I have 157K miles on my truck and no problems at all so far. I would probable like to try to find a low mileage 2010 F 250 with a V10 as I believe this is the last year Ford put the V10 in the truck. Don't expect diesel torque with the V 10 but It does what I need. I towed 10K pounds of rock from Whtwell, TN to my house on Signal Mountain up Hwy 27, no problems.

[dieselbronco]

I have had 6 diesels and one v10. There is no comparison if you do get a diesel get a 7.3

[gregamorton]

I have had two 7.3 powerstrokes, two 6.9s and two 7.3 idi's. I also have had a 4bt and a 6bt. I also had a common rail. I do like diesels but am not worried about it this time. I currently have two diesels but need a crewcab or extended cab for my family of 4. I test drove a 1999 v10 crewcab short bed today and it was different. It seems to have the power of a bigblock but revs like a smallblock. I am looking at them for sure now but am curious how they pull a load?

[wasgas]

I have had a 4X4 excursion lifted with a V10, stock it was a dog, then I added a tuner, intake, and y-pipe and it woke up quite a bit and got much better mileage too. Also had identical excursion lifted with a 6.0 diesel, towing up to about 8k the V10 was fine past that the diesel takes the cake. Unloaded highway MPG both were about 14-15, with a trailer the V10 would pull 7k at about 7-9mpg, the diesel will tow 14k at about 9mpg.

[gregamorton]

thanks for the reply. My trailer and my bump is around 11000lbs or so and thats the heaviest I will tow.

[bindernut]

The owner of the company I just got done working for was sold on the v10s over diesels and systematically eliminated every diesel from the fleet. We'd rountinely tow loaded (and overloaded) 12-20k trailers all over AZ. The guys would always drive them like rentals too. Just flog the whiz out of them. All the service trucks were 10s too. Some of the 550 sevice trucks would tip the scales at over 18k... I would cringe at these poor machines racking up 5000mi a month and nearly every mile at 4000rpm's. All that said, I only ever had one quit on me. I really was dumbfounded at how they stood up to the abuse. Of course at about 180-200K they'd start the death knock. The Boss would toss a $5000 motor in and we'd do it all over again. Cheaper than diesel? I don't know.

I, being one who likes to take it easy on my truck, would go diesel. there is a reason the entire trucking industry has turned to them, However, I'm here to tell you those V10's will cut mustard.

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

Guys I have been looking at 2000 and newer fords with diesels and v10s. The diesels will be better fuel mileage wise but maintenance costs and over all starting purchase prices are way higher. I would love to hear if any of yall have v10s and your good and bad about them. I am finding low mileage v10s loaded out for $10000 and less.

I would go V10. Less maintenance costs, cheaper fuel. Probably about the same mileage.

The diesels have amazing power, but the V10s pull very good also.

I used to drive a V10 flatbed for a lumber yard. We had 4000lb of stones on the back doing 65mph uphill and that engine handled it like cake.

I have also driven a lot of V10 motorhomes and trucks and like them over the diesels.

[gregamorton]

I have been watching several trucks this week and the 7.3s with 200000 miles on them bring a premium for the 99-03 models. I am not worried about that many miles on the engine but there is a lot of parts on the rest of the truck that will be wore out. I think I am leaning more to the v10 with 75000 miles or less. This will be a once a week truck and to haul to shows and events. Thanks for the replies guys.

[averagef250]

I would go for the V10 too.

I am a diesel fan, but firmly believe all the new emissions choked diesels are a waste of time. They are not cost effective. The newest urea engines are way better than the ones prior to them, but the idea of putting piss in a tank to blow it into the exhaust is the stupidest thing I can imagine.

I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this way either. Around here anyway, the 94-2002 Dodges are actually selling for insane prices. I watched a 98 12 valve 5 speed truck get $16K recently. I remember buying the same 215HP truck, wrecked 5 years ago for $1200.

The prices make some sense though. Regardless of how big of a pile the Dodge pickup is you aren't going to have any engine worries.

[gregamorton]

our new 2013 3500 cab&chassis with the cummins auto and 4.10s gets 6 mpg and is using exhaust fluid like its cold ice tea! The truck pulls our heavy loads with ease but all our other 5.9s and even our 6.0 ford did it better. The older trucks got 8-12mpg with out all the other :bs: problems and $6 per gallon exhaust fluid. I love the 89-93 dodge 5.9s but there like the 99-03 7.3s and are bringing stupid premiums. My search is on for the right v10!

[just_james]

I'm at 299k on my '03 Super Duty with the 7.3 PSD. It's got an automatic, and 3.73's and it's a great powertrain combo. I know everyone preaches that the diesels are better, etcetc, and I am not one to complain. However, a friend of mine had a V10 Excursion and racked up 150k pretty quick and he loved it. I would probably take a low miles V10 over a high mile PSD, just for the reason that the interior and all the other parts haven't had as much wear and tear. If you're not driving it a lot, you can buy a lot of fuel with the difference in price.

[FLATBEDFORD]

I bought an '00 F250 with a V10 4 years ago. It had about 90,000 on it then and has about 104,000 on it now. I have been very happy with it. I don't have a diesel to compare it to, but there is no lack of power. I just hauled 4 people, my 6K 22' boat and a week's worth of camping supplies into the Adirondack mountains last week. I didn't have any problems keeping up with traffic and often had to slow down behind cars on hills. It always runs great, and doesn't wake up the neighborhood like my neighbors' PSD or Cummins do at night. At 11-15 mpg and only 3 or 4 thousand miles I put on the truck in a year, the possible savings in fuel is negligible. I agree that a higher mileage PSD might be have lots of life in it, but the truck will be pretty worn out by then. Always consider ball joints, tie rod ends, U-joints, brake lines etc. in addition to the engine when buying an older truck.

[gregamorton]

Flatbed is your truck getting 11mpg loaded hauling every thing? I have been looking at a few trucks on ebay and the few people I asked were getting 8-11 mpg. I know driving has a big deal to do with fuel mileage and I am pretty easy on the peddle my self. Your truck hauling does it shift in and out of overdrive much and what rpm does it seem happy at hauling heavy? I need some real world info before I decide to buy.

[FLATBEDFORD]

I Hauled my son's Buick Regal last year and got about 11 mpg. I haven't computed last week's trip yet. It cruised in OD, but dropped out on most inclines. Most interstate hills were pulled in 3rd at about 3000 rpms. I had the cruise control set at about 63 mph. I could have pulled the hills faster, but the brakes and tires on my boat trailer are in less than perfect shape so I wasn't trying to break any speed records, just get up and back without any equipment failures. If you check the specs for back '00, the V10 is 310 Hp/ 425 lb/ft and the PSD is 235 hp/ 500 lb/ft. We all know that torque is king, but an extra 75 HP is handy too.