“Is it worth it?”

[Bill-N-Donna]

I was at the dealership just yesterday having the 350 looked at. I had a suspicion about one of the wheel bearings and I was right. Did you know that on a Ford you have to replace the entire hub assembly to replace a bearing? (At least you do on one like ours.) Well I also had them look things over for a soon to be trip. With at least one other minor thing the total bill was $716.16. I later I drove it home confident that everything was good to go for our trip next month.

This morning I got in the truck to move it so I could cut some grass where it was at and it wouldn’t start. Kept trying to start it several times but it was a no go situation. Well thanks to Good Sam they took it back to my dealership this afternoon for another round. I suspect that a cam sensor is out again. I have already changed one of these twice now. I was looking back at my expenses for the past year and maintenance cost has averaged about $253.00/ month. Now I would expect this to level out and not stay quite as expensive where I’ve had so much work done in the past but right now it’s not looking too good for that. If this keeps up payments on a new one won’t look quite as bad.

I had several hours at the dealership yesterday walked passed a used 450 but didn’t even ask about them to a salesman. Can you believe $45,000 for a used one with 67K miles on it?

I have heard that the new 6.7 is a great engine and they highly praised them in the service department. Oh well I’m now waiting on a call to see what they got me for this time. Most of them at that dealership know me pretty good now. Maybe I can get a favorite customer discount or something. I think I'll ask them about that!

Oh yeah, to answer my own question “Is it worth it?”
Yes by all means it is if you enjoy it!

[bncinwv]

If it had a bow tie on the front, I would say definitely yes, however being that it does not have a bow-tie on the front, I had better refrain from answering!! Hee Hee!! That oughta add some pep to the thread!!
Bingo

[Bill-N-Donna]

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

If it had a bow tie on the front, I would say definitely yes, however being that it does not have a bow-tie on the front, I had better refrain from answering!! Hee Hee!! That oughta add some pep to the thread!!
Bingo

Most bow ties I’ve seen have been on a “Tux” lol

[JimF]

To add some real fire to the thread, I would rather push a Dodge than drive a Chevy, I would drive a Ford however, until my Dodge was fixed.

[NCFischers]

Since I drive a Chevy, it never occurs to me that I'd have to push it. I guess Dodges are different.

[CamillaMichael]

With 347,000 miles on your truck, it seems you have got your original investment out of it, and more...however, when frequent trips to a service provider become too frequent, it never seems you are on the winning end. Hope you come up with a plan that does not cost too much...and yes, it is hard to believe that a used truck with that much mileage would cost so much!

[thor]

all three brands are all getting expensive new and used.

[HOOK]

I'm with you Bingo. I'd rather drag a bent hubcap off of a GM across the
sahara barefoot than to ride around the block in an A/C some other brand......Please laugh.....
Seriously, we had some of each in our tow truck fleet. In our case the GM's cost much less to maintain. We drove one 1985 Chev. 1ton 550000miles put in crate engine sold it to a friend who owns a small shop, he's still using it dailey. Our 1st Duramax was in a rollback drove it 150000 in about 24 mos and traded it in for an Int. T444E. Nothing but oil ser , brakes and tires on the GM, just needed more weight capacity. The Duramax is still going at 300000 with just minor repairs. The Int. has about 300000 on it and has had very little problems. We beleive you service them, they service you.
Oh by the way, I hear the Fords have an option not available on any other brand....a heated tailgate.... so your hands don't get cold when you're pushing...teehee..teehee

[kramperD]

Come on now..... : ) I use to have a 1/2 ton Ford 500 with the slant 6 and shift on the column......I'd still have it today if I wouldn't have given it away just a few short years ago. Still ran like a top! I may have held it together with binder twine and bailing wire and it loved lots of good oil and it had it's share of hauling hogs, chickens, feed corn and fire wood and the lot to market, but what a dream truck! Sorry you missed it! Lol!!!

[scductman]

You Boys with those fords and chevys should be used to pushing and draging by now. As Waynem said let the rock chunking begin!!HeHeHe. Really they are all good towing trucks I would take a new one of any kind. Well not a 6.0 but anything else.
Bobby

[richfaa]

I think you got your money's worth out of that guy.

[steves]

Well I heard that 93% of the Dodge and Chevy's are still on the road. The other 7% made it home! Now you guys know this is just humor....all of the big 3 are putting out a good tow vehicle

[Fire5er]

Once you try the new Ford 6.7 you will want the new truck...we love ours!

[Bill-N-Donna]

Well just as I thought, it was a cam sensor. This is the 3rd time it went out on me. It happened twice within 2 days of having been to the dealer for something else. Hmmmm, is there a pattern developing here?

I started carrying spare parts with me now.
Turbo clamps
Turbo hose boot for fitting directly onto the booster
Cam sensor

I told one of the guys at the service dept. [thanks lsessoms for the idea] that I heard they were going to start putting heaters in the tailgates of the new Fords…to keep your hands warm when you have to push'em. He kept saying Bill, Bill while shaking his head.

[Bill-N-Donna]

quote:Originally posted by CamillaMichael

With 347,000 miles on your truck, it seems you have got your original investment out of it, and more...however, when frequent trips to a service provider become too frequent, it never seems you are on the winning end. Hope you come up with a plan that does not cost too much...and yes, it is hard to believe that a used truck with that much mileage would cost so much!

I did purchase the truck used and at the time it had just turned a little over 300K. I’ve gotten pretty good use of it for the most part. As a result of the extra high mileage I got it for a bargain price so I’m not surprised at some work needing done. I simply took a chance and figured it must have been a good one with that many miles on it. It is running the best it has ever run since I got it. I can’t complain about a few problems overall.

I have a Ford because of the purchase price, had another brand come along with a bargain I would probably have been the owner of that one instead of a Ford. I have a tendency to think with any of them there’s going to be some kind of a maintenance cost to keep it running in tip top shape.

[Parts Ed]

The best acronym for Ford is: Federal Ownership Respectfully Declined......

[Parts Ed]

I should add that if we didn't buy my wife a new 2011 Ford Edge Limited, then it would have been a 2011 F350 6.7L truck for the trailer.....

[cdaniels]

I feel your pain. We also have had numerous truck breakdowns.... Just does not seem to quit in the last 4 months. As I write we have just been towed off the highway 5 miles from our weekend destination. Again Good Sams to the rescue. Repair to the sum of $3500.00 and our weekend of pleasure gone... Oh well another day another time!

[mlh]

Ed I just bought my wife a new Ford Edge Limited, less than 200 miles on it.
Lynwood

[kramperD]

Commander Bill - Deb and I are with you...don't look a gift horse in the mouth....if that was provided at the time, that's what you go with. We did the same with our truck and Monty. Very thankful on our end the way things have turned out! Hey, we have family that say, "Must be nice!" We just say, "Yep, sure is!". D