At around 126,000 miles I lost traction while braking in snowy conditions and hit a curb, causing steering wheel misalignment as well as some damage in the steering gearbox itself. The truck still tracks straight, however it now turns noticeably sharper to the right than left. Despite whatever may be damaged/bent internally, the gearbox still operates like normal.
At 129,500 or so miles the famous Camshaft Position Sensor failed, leaving me stranded on Interstate 74 about a half hour from home. I am lucky it happened where it did, as I was on my way to Cincinatti. More luck, a friend of a friend just happened to have an extra sensor (which I am told is about $200) and he replaced it for me. If this happens to you you'll know off hand. The truck will jolt pretty hard and feel like it's going to fall apart. You'll likely see some blue smoke if you look out your mirror, as I did as the failing sensor throws the engine out of whack. Shortly thereafter the truck will literally shut off.
I'm almost to 130,000 miles. I will be putting the truck in shortly for an alignment and both upper and lower ball joints, as they have worn and need replaced.
I have the larger towing mirrors and they do not bend forward, nor do they retract to keep them from sticking out so far. As I was backing into my friend's somewhat narrow carport, I caught the drivers side mirror on a post. The cover on the mirror snapped off and I have not been able to get it to snap on correctly. Every now and then it loosens and I have to snap it back on to make sure I don't lose it. This is nothing major, just a little annoying at times.
Word to the wise - if you own a Power Stroke such as mine, it would be smart idea to carry an extra Camshaft Position Sensor with you in the truck (it's small enough to fit in a baby's palm) as it's a sure thing to go out at some point above 100,000 miles. It's about 200 bucks from ford, but it's better to store it in your glove box and spend about 15 minutes under the engine replacing it rather than getting stranded.
I use my truck for work mainly, but it is also my fun toy for the weekends. I run a Super Chips Tuner on my truck, and it makes quite a difference in power when it's on the high performance setting. I have a 4 inch lift and 35 inch grippy Nitto Terra Grapplers and I can smoke them rather easily with a little bit of power braking and letting the turbo make some boost.
I am very satisfied with this truck's power. It has gobs of it as I can easily put cars half my weight in my rear view mirror as well as brand new stock diesel pickups. To give you and idea of the added power of the chip, my 7.3 liter crew cab longbed with heavy 35x13.00 tires and stock gears runs a slightly quicker quarter mile than a stock 05 standard cab 6.0 liter. I have yet to compete against any newer Cummins or Duramax powered trucks.
I do not tow very often, but when I do it does very well for a single rear wheel truck, I think this is due to the added track width of the much wider than stock tires I run.
The ride is normal for a 3/4 ton truck, even with a suspension lift. Also like normal it's smoother with a load and/or trailer in tow.
The cab is very spacious. The backseat is more comfortable and easier to get in and out of versus the GM's crew especially at the feet between the b-pillar and the backseat floor mounting brackets. It also beats the Dodge's by far.
The Transmission is good, but nothing like the newer TorqShift or an Allison. I plan to pull mine once it starts going out and swapping in an ATS Performance Transmission. That may be soon because I'm a stand on it guy quite often at the open road green light. Plus I am sure the further engine modifications I am planning on doing will put me far beyond the 700lb-ft of torque I'm already making and I've heard it's not much good for much more than that anyway.
All in all I am extremely satisfied with this truck as I was once a die-hard Chevy guy. This truck has made me a Ford Man. The styling is not a boxy or sharp edged as the Chevrolet or plain like the GMC. It's also a little more tame than the Dodge. I wouldn't mind seeing Navistar toy with making an in-line six similar to the cummins as the Power Stroke seems to barely keep ahead of it each year. Luckily Ford's styling, larger cab, and a stout diesel offering (and top selling trucks reputation) swayed me away from the Dodge Cummins.
I forgot to add that in the last few thousand miles or so 3 of the 4 power door looks do not quite "power" up or down when I use either the remote entry or the buttons on the door. I had this same problem in my older truck, but it was only two doors... so I'm not looking forward to this repair!
Wonderful comment! My husband is looking at a ford F250, 2002 with 110,000. I am a little worried about the mileage. At lest we know what to expect.
If you are buying the truck with the 7.3L PowerStroke 110,000 miles is just the begining. You will have many miles to go. I have the Bully Dog Power Pup programmer for my 7.3 and all I can say is: DAMB!
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