# Considering 1997 Ford F350 460



## canoebuildah (Oct 20, 2007)

I am still searching for a plow truck here for work. My boss found a 97 F350 that has 72k miles, 460/auto, reg cab that has a Fisher plow on it already. He said it was very clean and had lots of recent work i.e. fuel pump, gas tank, water pump. I am going to look at it this afternoon.

Anything I should be looking for with this model? I want to put our Blizzard 810 on it so I have been looking for a truck that has not plowed before. Has anyone switch plow mounts on their trucks?


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## abbe (Sep 8, 2009)

6mpg down hill unloaded with a tailwind


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## abbe (Sep 8, 2009)

and wheelwell rot and cab corners and front quarters. but your from maine so you must know that


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## JDWalkbehind (Oct 14, 2007)

i have a 96 with a 460. love the truck i get 8-10 around town and 12-14 on highway. If you get it you'll love that front end with the plow the solid one ton axle is the only way to go. wish my truck had one. Cab corners aren't bad on these trucks but check rockers and make sure 4wheel drive works like it should. plow mounts and wiring should be no big deal to switch. post some pic's if you get it. sounds pretty nice. good luck


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## SIWEL (Dec 5, 2008)

if you end up getting it would you sell me the plow?


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## abbe (Sep 8, 2009)

Creek View Prop;803044 said:


> if you end up getting it would you sell me the plow?


post some pics of these obs in your sig!


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

I have heard the 460 engines are prone to broken exhaust manifold bolts. Apparently the head needs to be pulled to fix them, and it may require machine shop work. I'm not sure if it's a particular generation or across the board.

Other than that I understand they are pretty good trucks.


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## SIWEL (Dec 5, 2008)

which truck? i have 3 OBS


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## SuperdutyShane (Mar 6, 2009)

2COR517;803089 said:


> I have heard the 460 engines are prone to broken exhaust manifold bolts. Apparently the head needs to be pulled to fix them, and it may require machine shop work. I'm not sure if it's a particular generation or across the board.
> 
> Other than that I understand they are pretty good trucks.


Exactly what I was going to say. Definitely look over the exhaust manifold well. You do need to pull the heads to fix. But everything can be fixed with a little time


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## EaTmYtAiLpIpEs (Aug 23, 2007)

Check for rust, check the fuel and brake lines to see if they look like they have been changed recently. And just listen to see if the engine ticks or anything. I'll trade my meyers for your fisher


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## EaTmYtAiLpIpEs (Aug 23, 2007)

Creek View Prop;803094 said:


> which truck? i have 3 OBS


i'd like to see a pic of the xl


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## SIWEL (Dec 5, 2008)

the XL has 63000 miles on it... when i get some i will start another thread with all 3 trucks instead of highjacking this one


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## EaTmYtAiLpIpEs (Aug 23, 2007)

Creek View Prop;803200 said:


> the XL has 63000 miles on it... when i get some i will start another thread with all 3 trucks instead of highjacking this one


ya. I havent seen too many xl's on here. 63k wow thing must be like new.


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## canoebuildah (Oct 20, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback. I finally had a chance to go look at the truck and take it for a ride. The owner has replaced the manifold bolts and rebuilt the heads. He also recently replaced both gas tanks, fuel pump and gas lines. Also brake work and lines.

It is pretty rusty underneath but he claims he regularly sprays it with used motor oil and it shows. Body rust wasn't visible but I could tell there were a lot of rust bubbles waiting to come through. 

Two issues that concerned me the most were the shifter and engine tick. Reverse was hard to find with the column shifter. I had to keep moving it around till it finally found it. I stopped a few times during the test drive and the problem continued. I asked the owner about it and he got very defensive saying that he knew where reverse was and never had any trouble. But then admitted that his son and other people who test drove the truck noticed the problem as well.

The engine had a noticeable tick under acceleration. We have a 1995 Ford E350 with the 460 here at work that has the same issue. That van has 218k miles and didn't start ticking till 180k miles.

Gas mileage is not much of concern for us since we use the vehicle on our property which has steep hills. Our 1/2 ton trucks get about 9-10 MPG, and our Chevy 3500 gets 3-4 MPG while plowing and 8 the rest of the time. Even when we ran a Nissan pickup for a while, it only got 12-13 MPG.


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