My 79 Ford Plow truck, had the axle bolts... all but one rust off two years ago, and last year the oil dip stick rusted off. Needless to say, what a good truck... engine keeps on a going, but she needs to be replaced. My husband and I are looking for a truck. I see Ford has had a lot of problems with motors in the last ten years, but we are all Ford. We need a truck to mainly plow, pull a two horse trailer about 6 times a year, a 4 horse... 10,000 pounds about 2 times a year, and the rest just normal boat, snowmobile trailer. What is the best year/motor to get given these uses? I want something reliable. Our 99 F150 only has 116,000 miles on it, so we don't use our trucks a lot.

welcome to ftf, sorry to see no one else commented here, but your question is one of those open to debate types

what are the specs on the '79? maybe get a newer version of the same? most of the ford gas engines have a good reputation. there's been a few issues with the diesels since oh, say '04? when they came out with the 6.0, there was another thread recently about the 7.3 versus 6.0. My recommendation is look for a late '90s, early '00's Super Duty, either 350 or 250, auto for plowing, and just look for a good clean low mileage 7.3, good luck.

Are you looking to go diesel? Those are some pretty big loads.

For your money if it's not a daily driver, you might look for a 7.3L Turbo Diesel F250.

Ryan

O'Rattlecan said:

Are you looking to go diesel? Those are some pretty big loads.

For your money if it's not a daily driver, you might look for a 7.3L Turbo Diesel F250.

Ryan

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Agreed, the 7.3's are hard to beat, personally thou I would get at least a '90 model, the turbo International started puttin on these engines around that time makes a difference in power/MPG's. I believe the biggest issues with the 7.3's (in my experience) is that they can be EXTREMELY cold natured, but then agin my glowplug system never worked properly, so that could've been most of the problem.

As stated above , i believe i would look into a f250 with a 7.3

Stay away from the 6.0s