I'm thinking of buying an older truck to pull horse trailers around. I've been looking at a 97 F350 with the 7.3L turbo diesel and 175K miles on it. It's two wheel drive with dual rear wheels. The clutch feels awfully stiff, but I've no previous experience with 'heavy duty' trucks or clutches. The current owner says the clutch was recently replaced with a "heavy duty" clutch, and the clutch is better than factory. For the record the gearing is very low, first gear seems to be a waste (it's a five speed manual). I hooked it up to a 4 horse trailer with living quarters and it still took off in second gear with no problem, and at highway speeds you couldn't tell the trailer was back there. My main concerns are the clutch and the turbo. I've been told by some people that the clutch should be fine, and others insist they go wear out in these older Fords all the time. I've been told by one mechanic that the turbo should last forever, and another insists it will go out every 100K miles or so. If anybody can contribute any opinions or experiences I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
BK

 

The clutch on your ford is most lilely still the duel mass type they have a vary hard push to the peddel. There are a few things that will help. Luk is the OE manufacture of the duel mass clutch and they have a single mass flywheel and clutch that replaces the duel mass. The peddel effort is cut in half. There is also a up grade form Ford for the master and slave cylinder. It gives you a steal line from the master to the slave if you all ready have a steal line then most likely it is already done. The bushing on the rod to the master cylinder wears out so look at it too, that bushing is under the dash. As for the turbo check the fins on the intake side thats the only side you can see easily. Check it to see if all the fins look the same in shape and bend and all the edges sharp and square. Should have a little play up and down nothing in and out. To much play up and down is more then 1/8 in. or if you can make it rub it should be supper free spining. It run in oil so tempeture makes a difference in how it spins.

 

I have worked on the F350 with Diesel's for years as a Tech. , Owned a 6.9 L an , 7.3 L My findings are it depends alot on the operater.Some of course did have problems. An true the dual mass flywheel was expenisve to replace. I think some of it was ppl didnt understand it hence they were scared of it. On the stiff pedal issue there are several things that effect it, On the older ones there was a problem with the firewall cracking out where the pedal mounted, Plus as in the other thread the plastic bushing would fail making the pedal stiff, Which in turn it failed to keep the rod straight an square to the slave cyl, So it had you pushing the rod at an angle. And I have see it so bad that it has worn the metal nub on the pedal at a severe angle so bad that it wouldnt hold the rod in place any more, Also the fork in the Trans had several pivot points an if they were not lubed it would in turn make the pedal stiff, Most guys failed to lube the pivot arm during a clutch job( the arm could be removed from the Trans with it still in the truck, very easy to do ), Also the front nose shaft on the Trans. ppl would fail to lube it where the release brg. rode, Hence led to a stiff pedal ( I have seen a groove worn in the shaft where the brg dragged on one side ) Normally the pedal should take very little effert to apply,,, On the subject of the Turbo. you must understand 2 things . You need to change the Air Filter when it gets dirty . Make sure all the hoses an tube's going to turbo is tight an no leaks I have seen so many come in where someone had worked on the Engine an tore the rubber boots or left the clamps loose or left them off all together allowing to to suck in unfiltered air. An the most IMPORTANT , the Turbo is lubed an cooled by motor oil, you need the change the oil . letting the oil change go past normal, really shortens the life span of the brgs. And also one thing Most ppl dont do is let the engine idle for a few minutes before shutting the truck off. This allows the Turbo brgs to cool a bit. Ask any big rig trucker they will tell you if you want to kill a turbo -- just keep killing the engine as soon as you stop

 

Thanks for mentioning that last thing Ramrod. I drive rigs and that is the #1 cause for the turbos to fail...and you see it all the time at the truck stops...guys just pull over and kill the engine and wonder why they ain't got the power that they used to. As Ramrod said, this rule applies to all turbo trucks...give them about a 2 minute cool down if you've run her hard and 30 seconds if you've just been around town, it will lengthen the life of both the engine and the turbo immensely.

 

An what really kills me , Most time's if a Turbo fails they NEVER NEVER , look any futher than that , they will drop a re-man unit on . An if their lucky they might get another 100 miles outta it an it fails. NO ONE ever cleans out the inlet tubes going to the air filter, replace the filter , or drop the motor oil,,Alas some day they will learn, An then they wanta blame it on the rookie tech thats just learning .... Oh no its the Shop Super. / Foremans job to make sure it was done rite !!!, I think on the Automotive side most of these guys have no or little experaince on Diesel, Nice to talk to someone who understands !!!! LOL I forgot about that older post darn near said the same thing word fer word .....[sm=icon_rtfm.gif] [sm=icon_ladiesman.gif]

 

wearing [sm=icon_rtfm.gif] out a bit

 

well, unfortunately, it's not illegal to be an idiot...maybe someday...[sm=sigh.gif] (I am of course talking about the people who can't get their stuff together, not those who ask a question and get it right) "There is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid mistakes"

 

cctxfish , Iam bad ,,,,, [sm=proof.gif]

 

I love these thingys [sm=itsok.gif]

 

Best one I've seen yet is this one

[sm=rant.gif]

But this is how I feel most of the time...


[sm=headbang.gif]