Quote Originally Posted by showtime83 View Post
ive got a early 99 7.3 powerstroke crew cab long box srw, truck has around 180k hard miles on it, 4 inch lift, 35's, the front and rear leafs are aftermarket from the lift, they have 11 springs total each corner, it rides hard, however it does not have that sag that most diesel's have in the front, you can take your hands off the wheel and it tracks straight. however because of the wide tires it pulls if its in the truck ruts. the eninge is far from stock. my dad has a 04 crew cab long box, srw, but with the v-10, he uses his truck to tow a mile down to the gas station and put in and take out at the ramp, all within a mile, he choose the v-10 over diesel, for intial cost, not using the truck often enough to justify the fuel costs and more so, the maintance. the maintance is huge on my diesel compared to the gas, not lets talk other things on the diesel, the cost of a water pump, very expensive, injectors, the HPOP, 2 batteries, 99-04 ford diesels are hard on balljoints, wheel bearings. my dad went from a diesel to gas, his experience with his first 7.3 was great, but the overall costs for not using the truck hauling everyday was not worth it. i think if all your doing is 2 or 3 trips, and a mile or two to the ramp, i would get the gassser knowing what i know now. cant really beat the v-10 excursion or the gmc with 8.1.
Well stated. I try and convey this all the time.

I bought an 01 2500 with the 8.1L for a little more than an injector job on diesel would cost....well maybe a bit more. I'll drive it short distances to work in winter, and the occaisonal trip. At most a few k miles a year. A big block or 6 liter will run for well over 200K miles as well, ask anyone running fleets with these motors. If you aren't putting large miles on the truck, you will never pay back the milage savings, and it only gets worse after adding up the maintenance costs.

The 6.0 won't pull hard, but I'd put my big block up against any 01 diesel in stock form.