Diesel owners , do we have any on board ?

[ErichKeane]

Yep, I've gotten estimates of $1800-$3000 if I pull it and bring it in. And I just don't have the 'oomph' to drop it and reinstall.
Now if I had a lift, a trans hoist, then maybe. . .

I read on one forum about (3) bolts up under the first valve body that come loose.
Though there are others that say that isn't the problem.

We were coming home in it one night after our first long drive in it and went through an intersection that was washboard from heavy truck traffic.
This beast has a very stiff suspension and we rather bounced a lot through the intersection.
It immediately started to rev out in 'D' as if it had been put into neutral. I coasted into a gas station and got it to move in 2nd.
Nursed it home. Next day tried topping off the fluid, nogo in 'D' but was still somewhat functional in 2nd.
Took it for a run down the road and 2nd started to fail. Crawled home in 1st.
By the time I parked it where it sits today, only 'R' and 1st were working.
Dropped the pan a couple of weeks later and the fluid was very clean, no debris in the pan at all.
Was hoping that maybe the filter had failed - nope.
And that it where it has been at for two years now. . .

The truck is high enough I'd figure you could pull the transmission on the floor and use a floor jack to lift it into place (plus a buddy or two ). I just googled quick go find the 1800 reman price (and perhaps only $2700 new from Ford?!?), But am enough of a DIYer that I'd just do it myself in the garage.

Of interest, I ALSO found a replacement for $2500 or so that has a PTO! That sounds like fun...

 

[7milesup]

Look for a tranny on --->Car Part.com<---. You might find a decent used one for not a lot of money.

I have a Dodge EcoDiesel. Yep, not a 3/4 ton but I sure do love my little diesel. Put a Green Diesel Engineering tune on it before they got temporarily shut down by the EPA. I am surprised that any of these tuners are still in business. The EPA is getting nasty.
When our government decided to put EGRs on diesels, that was essentially the end of diesel engine longevity. The GDE tune I have electronically turns off the EGR valve but all of the actual hardware on the truck is still there. I like to breath clean air and get ****** when these kids delete their trucks and blow gobs of black smoke out the tailpipe, but there are ways to eliminate that EGR and not pollute the crap out of our earth. The tailpipes of my truck are cleaner than my wife's 4 cylinder Hyundai Santa Fe.
If I could, I would buy a newer Ram 2500 Cummins. Can't find one though, and if I do, they want an arm and a leg for it. Laramie or Limited is my choice of trim levels. I love driving a nice vehicle, just don't like paying for it.
As a side note, my EcoDiesel had a huge issue at 87,000 miles. Dealer couldn't figure out what the issue was. $9000 in parts. I did not pay a dime. My dealer is awesome. They treat me like gold. Just had a water pump replaced yesterday. $700 for the water pump plus labor and other parts. My extended warranty covered it all. Don't normally buy extended warranties but this one was worth it. Didn't pay a dime for my $1200 water pump bill. My extended warranty originally cost me $1300.

 

[middle.road]

The truck is high enough I'd figure you could pull the transmission on the floor and use a floor jack to lift it into place (plus a buddy or two ). I just googled quick go find the 1800 reman price (and perhaps only $2700 new from Ford?!?), But am enough of a DIYer that I'd just do it myself in the garage.

Of interest, I ALSO found a replacement for $2500 or so that has a PTO! That sounds like fun...

Definitely high enough that is for sure. It's one of those sits up a mile-hi.
I'm game for it, though my back has lodged protests, that's really what is holding me up.
Shoulders down into my upper back get rather sore laying on the driveway. Though thankfully it is concrete.
Honey scored me a bunch of those 3x3 gym mats and those help quite a bit.

 

[ErichKeane]

Definitely high enough that is for sure. It's one of those sits up a mile-hi.
I'm game for it, though my back has lodged protests, that's really what is holding me up.
Shoulders down into my upper back get rather sore laying on the driveway. Though thankfully it is concrete.
Honey scored me a bunch of those 3x3 gym mats and those help quite a bit.

Those mats are a great idea! I just use cardboard (or the lift for my cars), and have been thinking about getting a rolling creeper, but never did.

I ended up helping someone with a transmission on a 240z, and me + his creeper was his transmission jack

 

[7milesup]

I hate rolling creepers. They always catch on some little rock or something or the wrench is always under the creeper. I use a $7 Walmart yoga mat. Works great.

 

[ErichKeane]

I hate rolling creepers. They always catch on some little rock or something or the wrench is always under the creeper. I use a $7 Walmart yoga mat. Works great.

My problem with creepers is that they roll when you need to apply torque to a tight bolt. I end up flopping around the floor like a fish

 

[7milesup]

My problem with creepers is that they roll when you need to apply torque to a tight bolt. I end up flopping around the floor like a fish

Ha! True. My father in law called it the crappie flop.

 

[Aukai]

My friend has a repair shop, and would rather do an R&R on a Ford AOD transmission, something about not liking to rebuild, and dealing with the electronic internals. His specialty is automatic transmissions too.

 

[mmcmdl]

My opinions are based on the day to day operations of a Ford dealership general manager.
Yes the 7.3 is a no frills under powered run forever diesel.
In 2003 Ford brought in the proven 6.0 engine. I say proven because it was a very dependable, durable engine until they added the EGR system, EGR cooler and all the other emission related components that were poorly engineered.
In 2004, Ford realized they had a big problem. They came up with all kinds of de-tuning programming, mechanical patches to retrofit the 2003 motor etc.
Someone mentioned the, Bulletproof brand components, these products are what Ford engineers should have used.
In 2008 Ford came out with the 6.4 which had it’s own problems but was considerably better imho. It was a stop gap until the 6.7 was ready. I understand Ford put millions of miles Testing it to make sure the 6.7 was going to be the engine that would bring back the Ford brand.

Jeff , sounds like you are "da man" I need to talk to on this matter !

 

[mmcmdl]

I’m running the Edge CTS on my dodge, I like it it’ll tell you anything the computer monitors and EGT.

Thanks dlane , this is exactly what I wanted to hear without 15 pages of other info . I'll be looking at the CTS3 and probe when I get time off .

I have the SCT tuner already and am running a stock tune and don't want to pump it with juice until I get the monitor .

I also read you can download a Forscan program for monitoring other parameters , that'll be awhile out in the future . Still trying to learn the weak points and basics of this 6.0 . Thanks for the info . Dave