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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

Gooseneck/Fifth Wheel Questions also F350

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Kirk Grau

04-14-2005 03:52:56




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My old truck is giving up the ghost and I have started looking for a new/used rig. Went to look at a 2000 f350 yesterday. 172,000 miles, PS Diesel, Lariat, extremely clean outside, normal wear inside. Owner has every maintenance record, oil changed religiously at 3-4000 mile intervals. Asking price is below blue book. I know the diesels go a long way, but how many more miles can I expect this to give relatively reliable service.

Now the biggest concern. In the bed is a "retractable" fifth wheel plate/hitch. Truck has a cap on it and it doesn"t appear that this has been used much. Owner could not find tool to get hitch out. The fifth wheels I am familiar with are platforms that receive a "king-pin" and usually take up half of the bed. We have a gooseneck horse trailer so I am wondering what it will take to convert this. Owner also indicated that hitch might have option of gooseneck from manufacturer. Anyone familiar with this or anything similar?

Thanks,

Kirk

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T_Bone

04-14-2005 14:30:22




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 Re: Gooseneck/Fifth Wheel Questions also F350 in reply to Kirk Grau, 04-14-2005 03:52:56  
Hi Kirk,

I got to agree, with 172k miles, your going to start having other repairs than engine. If the price reflects that then no problem. A transmission alone is about $3k installed for a good one.

I would strongly urge a DRW vehicle if you pull alot of miles as the added stability alone is worth the extra cost, about $125yr for fuel and tires, vs a SRW.

Changing oil at 3k miles is a waste of money as most newer oils rated for diesel use, API- CI, can go beyond 5k usage without any problems. If you figure oil & filter change cost at 7.5k, your not loosing much vs with changing at 5k miles. Even at 10k changes the cost savings is not that much vs 5k. The bigest jump in cost is going from 3k to 5k. At 5k that's about 100hrs of road use and Chevron Delo oil has been tested (Chevron testing) to 400hrs with OEM filters without any problems. Most filters can not go that long.

I get 250k miles plus out of my gassers so getting 500k miles from a 7.3 PSD wouldn't be hard as the engines turn 1/2 to 3/4 the rpm as a gasser does.

Maintance on a diesel is cheap, fuel (15k miles or so) and air filters 25k or so. Diesel Fuel savings alone well off set any addtional costs if you pull by maximum torque rpm.

You only need a kin pin to ball coversion plate to switch from a 5th to a GN provide you can lower the GN stem adjustment enough to level the trailer or can pull the GN trailer at a slightly high pin level. Some of the people pull GN stock trailers high so the urine drains from the trailer floor.

T_Bone

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Engineer20

04-14-2005 07:37:02




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 Re: Gooseneck/Fifth Wheel Questions also F350 in reply to Kirk Grau, 04-14-2005 03:52:56  
The diesel might only have 172,000 miles but so does the rest of the truck! There's trucks with a lot fewer miles out there. I'd keep looking.
Just my $.02. Good luck!



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Brokenwrench

04-14-2005 08:39:11




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 Re: Gooseneck/Fifth Wheel Questions also F350 in reply to Engineer20, 04-14-2005 07:37:02  
Good point. If you are serios about this truck,
and if you have access to a hoist, it may be worth
your while to put it up. Check ujoints, springs, shocks, any leaks, and you can get a good look at the underside to see how much corrosion is going on. In my opinion miles don't scare me alot. I also do pretty much all my own work, so I can eat alot of the labor involved with a higher mile rig. One thing to consider is that these super duty's aren't built like a 1/2 ton. They have heavy axles that can take alot oof wear and tear that would leave a lighter truck alot more battle worn. You also have to go by what you can afford and what you do with it. If you can afford to spend more for a lower mile truck, that may be a good option. Just my opinion Brokenwrench

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Brokenwrench

04-14-2005 06:04:12




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 Re: Gooseneck/Fifth Wheel Questions also F350 in reply to Kirk Grau, 04-14-2005 03:52:56  
The fifth wheel ball on the truck your looking at
is a heavier duty set-up than the plate style.
We had the same thing happen with a camper we bought. Our truck already had a tip down fifth wheel ball in it, but the camper had the king pin style. Camper sales guy sold us an adapter
(goose neck) to mount on the camper to make it compatible with the ball. It"s a little harder to back into but not bad. I don"t know what your plans are, but for most stuff, flatbed trailers and even bigger horse trailers will all have the gooseneck/ball setup. From what I see it seems to be more universal and it takes up way less box space. I"d check into getting an adapter for your trailer. Now, about the truck. We have a 95 F250 w/150000miles, a 99 F350 w/125000 miles, and a 2000 F350 w/135000 miles. We haven"t had any major problems with any of them. Maintenance on a diesel is big. Changing fuel and air filters regularly makes alot of difference on performance. If your buying it from a private party that has all the records, that would make me alot more comfortable than buying it on a lot and wondering what"s all been done. In our neck of the woods there"s alot of cattle haulers that have 300,000 plus miles on these Dodge and Ford 1 ton diesels, and soon you"ll start seeing the Duramax in that group too. That said, my disclaimer is, you can have problems with any vehicle. If you treat them right, more often than not they won"t let you down. Brokenwrench

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