I am thinking of a Ford F350 to build a "Poor-Man" Earth Romer talk me into it or out of it...

[Rezarf <><]

I'm a little late to this thread but...

I picked up a 2002 7.3L in great shape for $10k (in California no less). Crew cab, long bed, 4x4. Yep, it has 230K on it but has been cared for and has a lot of upgraded stuff. Interior is in near perfect shape and comfortable. Just took the wife and 2 nieces camping and everyone rode in comfort the 5 hours each way. If you are willing to look for awhile there are decent 7.3 trucks out there. Just takes awhile. I think I spent about 6 weeks looking for mine and ended up driving a couple of hours to get it. Not too bad. As for carrying capacity, right now we are carrying a 3K camper. It hauls it fine. I'm still reworking the suspension a bit and will be about $1000 all in on the upgrades. Not bad.

The down sides: HUGE turning radius. It's not a trail rig. It's ok for us because most of our time is in Baja where we don't need that. It's big and loud. Maybe thats a plus too The 7.3L trucks don't have the massive power of the newer ones...but that's offset by the simplicity and lower maintenance costs. (Throw a tuner on and you can get pretty solid performance with only a few mods.) The ride is not as 'sophisticated' as the newer trucks, especially when loaded, but for us it's ok.

Upsides: Lower operating costs due to simplicity. User serviceable with the cab on. The newer trucks are pretty complicated and some service requires removal of the cab. Amazing longevity if cared for. 500K is not at all unusual. Pretty cheap parts available all over the world since this is basically a International motor put in all kinds of stuff. (unlike the newer ones made in-house by ford). MUCH more tolerant of sub-par fuel than the newer trucks. A pretty big deal if you plan to get out of the US. Guys with the newer trucks can rack up pretty big bills if they run regular non-ultra low sulphur diesel.

Just my thoughts...

Thanks @LeftCoastKiteboarding this is what we are thinking too. I have been finding them sub $10k with 200-250k miles on them but otherwise in good shape. When we find the right one I am going to jump. I am in Montana ranch country now and the Fords are prevalent around here, some have been worked, most have been daily drivers around town. Now to find the needle in the hay stack... and a black one with perfect paint