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TXGunNut said
You have a very desirable truck, Chris. As you probably know the7.3 engine takes about 300K to get broken in good and the only weak links in the drive train are probably related to the front drive axle but since you probably use it regularly you may have slipped by with hub replacements or maybe not even that. Bert is right about the 7.3 and the 5.9 but we may disagree about the rankings. Both put food on my table and kept a roof over my head until the 6.0 and the 6.4 came along and helped many diesel mechanics make a comfortable living and made the tuners and their suppliers rich.
Don’t worry about those South Texas pin stripes, my pretty red 2016 pickup picked up its first set early in its life (shortly after the 2016 Cody show) and it still looks great with the last payment due before the 2021 Cody show.
Mike
No doubt, some of them old Dodges are good ones. The weakest link on the 7.3 diesel trucks are the ball joints. And if your doing the ball joints every 100-150K miles may as well do the front wheel hubs and axle seals. Not a hard task fixing yourself. Not a fan of the automatic transmission. Went through one of those about 300K miles back. Other than that, just batteries and alternators about every 3 years.
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
I have a 2003 F350 crew cab with the 7.3 diesel with a 6 speed manual transmission. It has the solid front axle and have replaced the ball joints once. Just turned over 104,000 miles so have a lot of life yet. Literally one of the last of the good ones. Ford changed to the 6.0 diesel mid-year 2003.
Don
Don,
Hold on to it… you have a good one! If you are easy on the clutch, it should get you to at least 300K miles before needing any work.
In my 2005 Ram 3500 Quad Cab LB 4×4, I have replaced the upper & lower ball joints once, and nearly all of the sealed bearings in the drive train with Moog components (with grease fittings). I have also replaced one water pump, one set of batteries, and one alternator. The original Mopar batteries went 10.5 years before failing, and a year later the alternator died. I have only had to replace the front brake components twice and the rear brakes once, though I expect the rear breaks will need to be replaced sometime late this year.
The reason I am a big fan of the Cummins power plant is the bottom end torque the I-6 engine develops, and the better fuel economy. You guys driving a Ford with the 7.3L are lucky if you can get better than 16 mpg overall. I get 19.5 mpg commuting, and 23 mpg out on the open freeway. With the 40-gal tank, I can get a long way down the highway before stopping for a refuel. The longest distance I have run it without stopping was from my home in Kingston, WA all the way to Billings, MT, 839-miles… it was nearly on fumes when I arrived.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Scott Tarbell with New Frontier Western Collectibles and Firearm Shows is having Dallas TX show Feb 25-28 at the Gaylord Texan Resort. I’m going, Scott puts on a good show
Russ
Russ, I’ll put it on my calendar. What are you doing lurking on this site? 
Hi Chuck we are having a snow day, so I went surfing the web. last July is a long time without a show!!
Russ
Russ, Good to ‘hear’ from you! Yes, July to July is a long time! But Cody is about all I do now days. Ought to get back to Ohio, but the time of year tends to conflict with hunting prep, or trips. Tim
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