# Good bye big block Ford.........



## scottyknows50 (Feb 19, 2010)

This past winter we bought a '95 F250 with the 460 engine for plowing and doing some pulling around the farm. It made it through the winter just fine but pulling anhydrous tanks this spring it puked it's ATF out the front seal. We refilled the ATF and it runs and drives fine again but we don't really trust it anymore. We are going to go back to a 2500/3500 GM. Now we just have to figure out what to do with this Ford..........


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## linckeil (Sep 18, 2007)

is it the e4od transmission? if thats all thats wrong with the truck and its in good shape, i'd rebuild it or get a rebuilt unit to put in. the e4od is really the only weak point in these trucks and they fail due to excessive heat or improper maintanance. but for a bit more money than a factory spec rebuild, they can be built to be bullet proof.


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

scottyknows50;1038896 said:


> This past winter we bought a '95 F250 with the 460 engine for plowing and doing some pulling around the farm. It made it through the winter just fine but pulling anhydrous tanks this spring it puked it's ATF out the front seal. We refilled the ATF and it runs and drives fine again but we don't really trust it anymore. We are going to go back to a 2500/3500 GM. Now we just have to figure out what to do with this Ford..........


I've been pulling tanks this spring with GM's and have been impressed. I've used an 02 dmax, a 95 6.5 and a '10 6.0 gas. The dmax was nice, the 6.5 is slow, and the 6.0 pulls dang good for a gas motor. And if the fuel pump at the farm is right I'm getting 9.5-11mpg pulling tanks (25k full, 12k empty) for most of the day.


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## Milwaukee (Dec 28, 2007)

What gear in that F250?

Sound like it came with 3.55 in axle which make E40D work hard and overheat.


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## scottyknows50 (Feb 19, 2010)

we have the build sheet from ford- it's got the 4.10 rear axle. it is the e4od. it's at least $2k for a rebuilt tranny to be put in and we'd still have an engine with 195k miles. we just figure a newer gm would be better for our needs.


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## STEVE F 350 (Feb 11, 2006)

scottyknows50;1038896 said:


> This past winter we bought a '95 F250 with the 460 engine for plowing and doing some pulling around the farm. It made it through the winter just fine but pulling anhydrous tanks this spring it puked it's ATF out the front seal. We refilled the ATF and it runs and drives fine again but we don't really trust it anymore. We are going to go back to a 2500/3500 GM. Now we just have to figure out what to do with this Ford..........


Install a trany cooler on the ol ford and your good to go.I had the same problem with my
95 F 350 460 e4od 4.30 rears srw 170k,that was about 8 yrs ago.Still plowing.


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## scottyknows50 (Feb 19, 2010)

it has a tranny cooler already. it leaks fluid now whenever the tranny gets warm.  we are putting it out to pasture. got a new(er) 2000 Chevy already to replace it. thanks.


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## Too Stroked (Jan 1, 2010)

So let me see if I get this straight. You buy a 15 year old truck with a lot of miles on it (and an unknown service history), and it pukes and transmission - so you decide all Fords are junk. Sounds like a fairly unscientific test to me. Personally, I don't trust any brand when it has a ton of miles on it and gets worked hard its whole life. Even if you take care of them, anything with a lot of miles on it is not going to be as reliable as a new truck. Just my 2 cents.


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## Deershack (Feb 19, 2009)

I'm looking at buying a 97 F-350 with dump box, behind cab tool box, 9'6" Wester plow (poor shape) and a UTG sander. Truck has 88K on it with the 460. Anyone know where I can get the "as built" sheets on it to find the tranny and rear end specs. Local dealer says any info I get from him wont have that info on it.


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## oldmankent (Mar 2, 2001)

Deershack;1042345 said:


> I'm looking at buying a 97 F-350 with dump box, behind cab tool box, 9'6" Wester plow (poor shape) and a UTG sander. Truck has 88K on it with the 460. Anyone know where I can get the "as built" sheets on it to find the tranny and rear end specs. Local dealer says any info I get from him wont have that info on it.


If you take the axle codes and VIN off the driver side door sticker on the truck to a Ford dealer they can tell you what the axle is. You can also look on the rear axle housing and get the gearing too.


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## scottyknows50 (Feb 19, 2010)

Too Stroked;1042324 said:


> So let me see if I get this straight. You buy a 15 year old truck with a lot of miles on it (and an unknown service history), and it pukes and transmission - so you decide all Fords are junk. Sounds like a fairly unscientific test to me. Personally, I don't trust any brand when it has a ton of miles on it and gets worked hard its whole life. Even if you take care of them, anything with a lot of miles on it is not going to be as reliable as a new truck. Just my 2 cents.


Yeah, that's exactly what I said............. We bought the truck knowing it was basically going to be a "throw away" truck. It just happened sooner than we figured. And we happen to be GM people. It is what it is- I didn't say anything about Ford in general. Get your facts straight too stroked......


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## Too Stroked (Jan 1, 2010)

scottyknows50;1042451 said:


> Yeah, that's exactly what I said............. We bought the truck knowing it was basically going to be a "throw away" truck. It just happened sooner than we figured. And we happen to be GM people. It is what it is- I didn't say anything about Ford in general. Get your facts straight too stroked......


I think you're missing my point. First, you're posting in a Ford forum, so many of us who come here are somewhat partial to Ford Motor Company products. Then you basically state that a truck bought for "throw away" purposes died on you, so you're going back to mother GM because the Ford was obviously junk.

OK, I bought a GM product a number of years ago for a winter car. The transmission died on the way home. Did I vilify all GM products as junk due to that single experience? No, I fixed the thing and drove it for two more winters. Not a bad car at all. Remember, you could have bought a GM product of that vintage and had the exact same thing happen to it. Would you have called it junk then?


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## scottyknows50 (Feb 19, 2010)

Too Stroked;1042457 said:


> I think you're missing my point. First, you're posting in a Ford forum, so many of us who come here are somewhat partial to Ford Motor Company products. Then you basically state that a truck bought for "throw away" purposes died on you, so you're going back to mother GM because the Ford was obviously junk.
> 
> OK, I bought a GM product a number of years ago for a winter car. The transmission died on the way home. Did I vilify all GM products as junk due to that single experience? No, I fixed the thing and drove it for two more winters. Not a bad car at all. Remember, you could have bought a GM product of that vintage and had the exact same thing happen to it. Would you have called it junk then?


yes.

for some reason you are taking this personally- i'm not sure why. again, i never said anything about ford as a whole. We had about $1600 in this truck and it would cost about $1800-2000 for a tranny rebuild. we didn't figure it was worth it.


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## scottyknows50 (Feb 19, 2010)

the reason i stated that the chevy 2500 would be better suited for our needs was because in the early 2000's they still came with an "auto" 4wd setting which makes take off with a 16,000 pound trailer a lot easier without keeping it in 4wd all the time or switching back and forth. we looked at 2 fords on our quest for a new plow truck- this one just had all the right equipment for us.


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## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

I don't get why you need to defend yourself in making a business decision about a truck, but I also don't see what the point of posting this thread was? 

May have been better off posting it in the General section so feelings wouldn't get hurt- or maybe you'd get an offer on your truck?


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## chasity2682 (Sep 10, 2009)

Deershack;1042345 said:


> I'm looking at buying a 97 F-350 with dump box, behind cab tool box, 9'6" Wester plow (poor shape) and a UTG sander. Truck has 88K on it with the 460. Anyone know where I can get the "as built" sheets on it to find the tranny and rear end specs. Local dealer says any info I get from him wont have that info on it.


If you go to myford.ca or .com and type in the vin it might bring up all the original build specs unless the truck is to old for that system


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## BigLou80 (Feb 25, 2008)

Too Stroked;1042457 said:


> I think you're missing my point. First, you're posting in a Ford forum, so many of us who come here are somewhat partial to Ford Motor Company products. Then you basically state that a truck bought for "throw away" purposes died on you, so you're going back to mother GM because the Ford was obviously junk.


FWIW. Milwaukee has a habit of showing up in the Chevy truck forum, to tell us all how wonderful the blue oval is and what junk GM is.

I think he posted here hoping that somebody who liked fords would make him an offer on a big block truck. I don't know much about Fords as I am a GM guy, but I know GM big blocks are a highly sought after engine, I would guess he was hoping for a similar response from the ford crowd.


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## Milwaukee (Dec 28, 2007)

BigLou80;1042667 said:


> FWIW. Milwaukee has a habit of showing up in the Chevy truck forum, to tell us all how wonderful the blue oval is and what junk GM is.
> 
> I think he posted here hoping that somebody who liked fords would make him an offer on a big block truck. I don't know much about Fords as I am a GM guy, but I know GM big blocks are a highly sought after engine, I would guess he was hoping for a similar response from the ford crowd.


No 460 for me.

Once again I have drive several Chevy trucks there are only one that I like is Envoy which I drive occasional it only got 14 in city but I don't mind.

Chevy truck for me No thank. They aren't reliable for work truck to me it my opinion.


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## scottyknows50 (Feb 19, 2010)

BigLou80;1042667 said:


> FWIW. Milwaukee has a habit of showing up in the Chevy truck forum, to tell us all how wonderful the blue oval is and what junk GM is.
> 
> I think he posted here hoping that somebody who liked fords would make him an offer on a big block truck. I don't know much about Fords as I am a GM guy, but I know GM big blocks are a highly sought after engine, I would guess he was hoping for a similar response from the ford crowd.


Smart man, Lou. You don't tell GM people you want to get rid of a Ford........ Anyway, the truck is sold- a guy is using it to pull his figure 8/race/derby car and seemed pretty happy with it. We have a '99 Chevy with the 454 and that truck is amazingly fast considering it has a full utility body on it. Love those big blocks!


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