So I've always been into having the nicest Ford's available...

[T.R.P.]

Here are some cliff notes of my life

-18 years old
-Extremely successful for age
-Had a 6.0 I ran the dog piss out of, was lariat, nice, got alot of attention
-Now have an 08 GT premium fully loaded
-Drive the dog piss out of my vehicles, always in shop under warranty
-Thinking about letting go of the ostentatious life style
-I am a country boy despite my lifestyle, love my copenhagen and Bobby Bare

What better truck to fit my needs than a dependable, all stock, OBS.

Figure I will sell the car, buy the truck, and put some cash into my account.

Question is, what major problems do these trucks have? I really dont want to go through the 6.0 bull**** again. I will probably do some slight offroading in my OBS, but no racing, or driving like I stole it.

[weareweird69]

Problems? CPS issues, easy fix.

fuel bowl heater shorts out, easy fix

glow plug relay sucks balls, easy fix

Auto Transmissions usually die between 140,000 miles and 250,000 miles, depending on how they are driven, but not really a major concern, pull it out, build it, done.

Up-pipe gaskets tend to leak, replace with brass ones, should be fine for a long time.

Rear axle vent plugs, clean it when you get a truck, and you'll be fine.

Thats all off the top of my head.

[T.R.P.]

Originally Posted by weareweird69

Problems? CPS issues, easy fix.

fuel bowl heater shorts out, easy fix

glow plug relay sucks balls, easy fix

Auto Transmissions usually die between 140,000 miles and 250,000 miles, depending on how they are driven, but not really a major concern, pull it out, build it, done.

Up-pipe gaskets tend to leak, replace with brass ones, should be fine for a long time.

Rear axle vent plugs, clean it when you get a truck, and you'll be fine.

Thats all off the top of my head.

Tell me more about the tranny. Who are you guys dealing with in building them?

[Dave]

BTS for the built tranny.

The only other problem you will find with the OBS is a lack of power without a chip, new injectors and turbo

[96F350KID]

Chip will get power up. Nothing to brag but a BIG change. Work on many 6.0s and you won't have even close to the same issues as a 6.0. I'm 19 and run the hell outta my old dually with 196 on the clock. Not a skip or issue with it ( got it with 164 last October) Unlike the 6.0 people can normally work on 7.3s with basic hand tools if needed.

[97Beast]

There's nothing wrong with driving an OBS. Every truck has its shortfalls. And if you buy a truck in bad shape you can expect to be doing plenty of repairs.
I drive my 97 every day and it never given me any problems. The truck drives great on houston freeways and on long trips. These trucks are easy to work on and alot of parts and upgrades can be made on a reasonable budget.
I love my OBSs, and its fun having stuff that most people dont have.

I'd say find a nice, low-mileage OBS. You wont regret it.

[Mutley]

Paid $2500 for my obs and put the same amt into it thru brakes and waterpump system. Runs awesome always as a daily driver and hauls a 30' trailer anywhere I wanna go. Probably the smartest thing I've ever done was to buy this thing and run it in this economy.

[majek5]

Originally Posted by 96F350KID

Chip will get power up. Nothing to brag but a BIG change. Work on many 6.0s and you won't have even close to the same issues as a 6.0. I'm 19 and run the hell outta my old dually with 196 on the clock. Not a skip or issue with it ( got it with 164 last October) Unlike the 6.0 people can normally work on 7.3s with basic hand tools if needed.

I did alot of work on my OBS. When I popped the hood on my 6.0 there is alot if $#it in there. Loved my OBS, just got too small with lugging around the kids (was an x-cab). Easy to work on, looks great!

[retmotor]

Just guessing, but you probably won't be able to leave it alone performance-wise, so you'd probably be looking at aftermarket air intake, downpipe, exhaust, chip, and injectors. And depending on how you did drive/use it, tranny rebuild to follow...

I'm more than half-way to the grave and I still plan on adding an air intake, dp, exhaust and chip. I try and justify said expense because from what I've read, it'll increase MPG too.

On both my OBS trucks, when I got to around 200k, I had to start replacing pulleys and pulley tensioners, and pumps. That certainly wouldn't deter me from buying one again.

[Spanky88]

issues with mine so far with just under 14500o miles.

water pump- lowest price ive found was dieselsite
vaccum pump- bit of a pain but nothin like what usually breaks on 6.0
power steering hose and power steering box bolts, both blew up on me one weekend.
fuel pump is leaking- plan to start buildin an electric setup