New truck or rebuild body on 7.3Powerstroke

I have been looking for a few months and the price of diesel trucks scares me.  I have 245000 on my 7.3 and runs like new.  I really can not find a diesel set up that is equal to the 7.3  I am considering a major rework of the body and a new exhaust system and air box.  I know book value says do not do this but 55 thousand plus for a new truck is crazy.  Opinions please!  I need the diesel and 8 ft bed for the camper and trailer I pull with the truck.  Camper is over 12000 pounds on scale.  Should have time to ride now if rain lets up!!!!!!!!!

7.3s are great engines.  Take it to a good body shop and get an estimate.  Tell them you want everything that's rusted replaced not repaired.  Then you will know where you are at and what it's going to cost you.  You also have to consider what your truck could cost you in mechanical repairs in the near future.  If you take good care of your truck, you should be good for a while other than a sensor or two.  If it's an automatic, figure a new trans in the near future.

I agree especially if it's a turbo, just had a buddy put a 49 ford 1 ton flat bed on a dually chassis for promotional stuff for his garage at the drag strip. It looks awesome and runs like hell but he says the wind and motor noise drives him crazy on the interstate due to no insulation on old cablike that  so be wary about what you replace with if doing a cab swap. Maybe find a newer cab on craigs list instead of doing so much body work for less monies!

It is the turbo motor.  In fact it is the 2000 model with all the forged parts.  The transmission is rock solid right now.  Cab is pretty good.  Drivers door and one cab corner,  most of body work is bed.  I am thinking about an aluminum flat from Moritz for it.  If I go the rebuild route when the transmission does have problems I am going with an ATS diesel performance transmission.

Sounds like you got a good plan going, yea I would go the aluminum flat bed with a good headache rack and do the door and cab repair maybe do a little custom paint to make it pop and drive the wheels off it for lot less money on truck and more for mods on truck and big boy toys.

Thanks for the input.  I just really have a hard time paying the price they want for a decent truck for HD use today.  Going to get price on rework with current dually bed and price flat bed.  The all aluminum Moritz with the headache rack and led light looks really nice .   Couple tolboxes under the bed by cab and good to go!

If you are a Ford person you gotta rebuild the 7.3.   If you are OK with Chevy or Dodge there are some good used but far newer options.

I'm not sure how much money you are thinking about sinking in the 7.3 but remember that insurance will just give you book value if wrecked (no matters who's fault).  Don't want to sink $15k and then someone hit you and insurance give you $11k.  If you buy a newer truck (I'd stay away from Ford since Diesels past 2004 are iffy) the resale is holding pretty good.

If your trailer weighs only 12k lbs then a Ford F150 with Max Tow will do that unless you have a fifth wheel where you need axle capacity.  The Ecoboost is a great high torque motor as long as plugs are changed every 60k miles.

Kinda where I'm at with my 03. Way too much money for a new one.

I must say....I had an '01 f-350 daully with the 7.3 and a six speed behind it. LOVED IT. Would pull like no tomorrow. Had the cab corners, rockers and doors redone. Drove it till I had almost 250,000 miles on it. And traded it in. Only reason why was I got outta excavating and didn't have a need for two duallys. And rust was starting to come back, didn't have a place to tear it down and redo it. That was the BEST ERA MADE. Regret it every day getting ride of it!!

My trailers are fifth wheel and gooseneck.  Puts over 3500 on hitch when fully loaded.  Makes truck ride like a Cadillac!  As far as used, I can not find an 8 foot bed that has not been rode hard and put away wet!!!!   Need 8 ft bed for turning clearance on camper.  Really not a fan of the sliding hitches.

I agree on sliding hitches - they are asking for a crunched cab.  3500 lb on fifth wheel definitely means a dually diesel.  If the current 7.3 runs good just focus on the body.  I would not spend money on the motor until needed.  It might go to 500k with just basic repairs.

Honestly I would fix it and run it. You know what you have and how it has been taken care of. You buy another used truck and there ain't no telling what kind of punishment people put it through. The only thing that I have read in here that I disagree with is the ats transmission. There are a lot better choices out there and you can get a lot better built for less at a good shop! My dad drives his 99 7.3 like a normal sensible person and his ats lasted all of 23k. And that is running with a stock motor. No added power except aftermarket intake and a 5" exhaust.

2daymightbetheday wrote:

It is the turbo motor.  In fact it is the 2000 model with all the forged parts.  The transmission is rock solid right now.  Cab is pretty good.  Drivers door and one cab corner,  most of body work is bed.  I am thinking about an aluminum flat from Moritz for it.  If I go the rebuild route when the transmission does have problems I am going with an ATS diesel performance transmission.

those are the best 7.3's made. high pressure oil pump, intercooler, and forged rods.

If your inside bed is in good shape you can put new sides on it.They run about 350. each. If your handy with a grinder and mig welder its fairly easy if you remove it from the truck. Cut the skin off about 2" in all the way around, cut the spot welds, peel of the old skin from the weld areas, grind it clean, Weld through primer, hang the new skin,clamp in place , plug weld it all back up, minimal filler work is needed if you go to the body panel supply and pick your own panels out that are dent free.Don't mess with the rust repair panels, Youll have 500.00 in filler work to make them decent looking.

The bed is mainly on inside fenderwells and the points along rear side of the body mounts.  A little on inside top rails.  Will need a lot of work on bed.  Really thinking of the Moritz aluminum flat with headache rack. I looks good with all the LED lights.  Also headache bar for canoes, and ladders.  Cab needs new drivers door and one cab corner.  Then entire truck painted.

Thanks for the heads up on ats transmissions.  How did they do on warranty?  May have to reconsider some local shops and let them beef it up a little.

I forget all ins and outs of the warranty but I think he had to be installed by an ats authorized dealer and it had to have test run on it periodically to keep the warranty. I will look and see if we still have the paper work on it. I see it would be a little over a 2 hour drive but there is a guy here near bentlyville pa that is really good with automatic trannys and is pretty reasonable. I know there has to be some guys in Ohio that can built a good tranny. Find a good local shop with a good reputation that way if you ever have any questions or concerns you could always just drive it down to have them check it out. I am personally a dodge guy mainly just for the cummins motor but the old 7.3 power stroke is a damn good motor. Not an absolute power horse compared to today's standards but every bit as reliable and more than enough to get the job done...

I agree that the cummins is the best towing motor out there.  In the past have just had a lot of problems with dodge front ends.  I can change the blade in the turbo and get real close to todays engines if I needed it.  Really not needed.  Pulls great now.  Will definitely look at local shops for tranny.

Some good tuning and a good tranny and you will be set for many many more miles...

Beings it is a dual rear wheel I would go the flatbed route... Even a steel one wouldn't be bad... A little extra weight for traction and far less issues with the welds cracking that the aluminum would have...plus steel is a little cheaper but either way would prolly be a better alternative to re-doing the whole dually bed