F-series--transmission reliability

[Dargo]

So if you get an ATS tranny, where do you get warranty service on it?

I actually had an issue right as I was pulling off the repair shop lot with my ATS transmission. Clint Canon, the owner of ATS, shipped a replacement tranny to my local Dodge dealer for them to install. So, to answer your question, I think the answer would be at about any reputable and qualified transmission shop or dealership.

 

[flusher]

I actually had an issue right as I was pulling off the repair shop lot with my ATS transmission. Clint Canon, the owner of ATS, shipped a replacement tranny to my local Dodge dealer for them to install. So, to answer your question, I think the answer would be at about any reputable and qualified transmission shop or dealership.

Impressive service from ATS. Thanks for the info.

 

[Diamondpilot]

We have a Dodge Dakota for a airport truck. Its plain jane long bed 2 wheel drive V6. Anyway the tranny went out on it a month after the warranty went out so we had a Jasper installed. It had a with it a few months after install and we simply took it to the tranny shop and they fixed it. Turned out it was a bad electric valve or something like that. It was a no cost fix for us, Jasper took care of everything. So to answer your question on warranty work most shops work with major component suppliers.


Chris

 

[jayste]

Flusher,

I've got a torqueshift in my one ton. It's the one you've seen here before. After I got used to the way it operates and the RPM's that it and the 6.0L put out I was pretty pleased. I was used to my '99 with 6 speed manual so it took a little while to get comfortable with the way it shifted. Anyway, no complants here. I'm not sure of my weight but usually pulls a 20 gooseneck full of some sort of old contankerous animals!

 

[Dargo]

Well, after reading this http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/oct/09/owl-survives-collision-pickup-truck/ Owl survives collision with pickup truck Evansville Courier & Press[/url] in my local paper, I have to wonder about Ford's radiators. LOL! Can you imagine an F250 hitting an owl, the owl only receiving relatively minor injuries, and the truck requiring a wrecker?! Talk about one tough bird!!

 

[jayste]

Well, after reading this Owl survives collision with pickup truck Evansville Courier & Press Owl survives collision with pickup truck Evansville Courier & Press[/url] in my local paper, I have to wonder about Ford's radiators. LOL! Can you imagine an F250 hitting an owl, the owl only receiving relatively minor injuries, and the truck requiring a wrecker?! Talk about one tough bird!!

Ahha! That's why last years Thanksgiving bird was so tough! It was owl!

 

[flusher]

Flusher,

I've got a torqueshift in my one ton. It's the one you've seen here before. After I got used to the way it operates and the RPM's that it and the 6.0L put out I was pretty pleased. I was used to my '99 with 6 speed manual so it took a little while to get comfortable with the way it shifted. Anyway, no complants here. I'm not sure of my weight but usually pulls a 20 gooseneck full of some sort of old contankerous animals!

Your truck is really neat. Gotta get me one of those.

 

[Steve C]

Well, after reading this Owl survives collision with pickup truck Evansville Courier & Press Owl survives collision with pickup truck Evansville Courier & Press[/url] in my local paper, I have to wonder about Ford's radiators. LOL! Can you imagine an F250 hitting an owl, the owl only receiving relatively minor injuries, and the truck requiring a wrecker?! Talk about one tough bird!!

Yes some Ford radiators are a little soft.

A very good friend of mine is a superintendent for a very, very large electrical contracting company here in central Michigan. They work all over the country, lots of highway and airport work. Large projects. They work their vehicles very hard. They all have special trailer hitches installed because the ones you buy from Ford or GM don't have the capacity to haul the excavators and other heavy equipment safely.

When the new Ford F450's came out a couple years ago, they bought 40 of them. This is only a small part of their fleet of trucks. After having them less than 1 year Ford agreed to buy them all back in exchange for not being removed from their approved vendors list for future business.

They had many, many problems that can sometimes be associated with being a new model, but the one thing that they all seemed to have in common was bad radiators. I believe that 38 out of the 40 new trucks had the radiators blow out in the same manner.

No wildlife was injured during these failures

 

[Steve C]

Flusher,

I've got a torqueshift in my one ton. It's the one you've seen here before. After I got used to the way it operates and the RPM's that it and the 6.0L put out I was pretty pleased. I was used to my '99 with 6 speed manual so it took a little while to get comfortable with the way it shifted. Anyway, no complants here. I'm not sure of my weight but usually pulls a 20 gooseneck full of some sort of old contankerous animals!

Now that is what a truck is supposed to look like. I love the color it is similar to mine it doesn't show dirt. Now tell me it has rubber floor mats......

My dealer had to do a dealer trade with a dealer 400 miles away to get me a one ton diesel truck with an extended cab, 8 foot box and rubber floor mats. Dam city slikers always buy carpet he told me........why would you want that in a truck? I also wanted a manual transmission but he couldn't find one anywhere at the time.

 

[RobertN]

That's a doosey of a road. Buckhorn pass aint too bad(my cousin owns the old Buckhorn Station; she had the restaurant running there in the 70's early 80's). Once you get past Weaverville though, that is a twisty road! Have not gone far past Weaverville, but my wife did before we met.

Towing his travel trailer home from a jobsite in Willow Creek along Hwy 299 (between Eureka and Redding CA), the transmission crapped out. Total junk. $2800 for a rebuilt unit.

 

[jayste]

Now that is what a truck is supposed to look like. I love the color it is similar to mine it doesn't show dirt. Now tell me it has rubber floor mats......

My dealer had to do a dealer trade with a dealer 400 miles away to get me a one ton diesel truck with an extended cab, 8 foot box and rubber floor mats. Dam city slikers always buy carpet he told me........why would you want that in a truck? I also wanted a manual transmission but he couldn't find one anywhere at the time.

Yes sir, Steve. Rubber floor mats and crank windows and manual locks. First thing to go on my '99 was the door lock actuators! Anyway, when I bought this one I grimaced a little at the auto trans because I really wanted the 6 speed manual but once I got used to the torqueshift I've been fairly pleased.

Jay

 

[burnetma]

I would not hesitate buying a 2000-2003 Ford with a 7.3L Powerstroke and automatic transmission with under 150 kmiles especially if you can see the service records of the unit.

The keys to auto transmission life:
1. Change the fluid every 25 kmiles (flush & filter)
2. Add an aux cooler (bigger = better)
3. Use the correct transmission fluid
4. Fix ALL leaks immediately
5. Consider a larger pan (more fluid is better)

 

[Duffster]

I would not hesitate buying a 2000-2003 Ford with a 7.3L Powerstroke and automatic transmission with under 150 kmiles especially if you can see the service records of the unit.

The keys to auto transmission life:
1. Change the fluid every 25 kmiles (flush & filter)
2. Add an aux cooler (bigger = better)
3. Use the correct transmission fluid
4. Fix ALL leaks immediately
5. Consider a larger pan (more fluid is better)

You don't like the '99's?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

You don't like the '99's?

I think that the 99's that you are thinking about were actually considered 2000's. The 99's were left over 98's. The 99's were only available in certain configuration's due to lack of parts, end of the run sort of thing.

I know none of this to be fact, only what I had heard at my Ford dealer.

 

[Duffster]

I think that the 99's that you are thinking about were actually considered 2000's. The 99's were left over 98's. The 99's were only available in certain configuration's due to lack of parts, end of the run sort of thing.

I know none of this to be fact, only what I had heard at my Ford dealer.

The 99's are the same as the 2000's. There was no 98's.

 

[JESSE1]

The '99 SuperDuty came out in February '98. The fall of '97 was a short run for the old body style until the new SD came out after the first of the year. I ordered a new '99 in August of '97 and it arrived February '98.

 

[mikeyee]

Ford has been sour in my experience (gas trucks)

I always heard about their product process control (it varies greatly) on the size parts they use. Stricter process control gives a better bell curve in reliability but that costs more money. To save on costs they cut down on this adhering to stricter product selection of samples. But really I think its all about preference. I've had bad experiences with ford (f-150's mainly/overheating problems with brakes/transmission/electrical going bad at 70k miles. seems 70k is a magic number to go get a new ford?) all the time and others have great ones (my boss had 960,000 miles on his ford titan f-150).

Compared to Dodge, dodge has a great diesel engine and decent hemi but their transmission is worse than ford I've heard (made in mexico).

GM has the allison transmission wihich is probably the best I've seen and used hands down for a truck. When my transmission needs 5.5 gallons of transmission fluid, temp gauge with transmission lock at 230 degrees; you know its not going to overheat haha.

And also if you do have a diesel ford 1999-2003; go get a new cruise control button because your car will catch on fire! (no joke)
Ford recall hits 4.5 million more vehicles on fire hazard - Oct. 13, 2009

I can't see how a car company can mess up like that + deny/didn't investigate until in 2008... Fix Or Recall Daily!

 

[Soundguy]

my 04 f250 with 6.0psd has had a trailer on it for most of it's 86K miles.. never had an issue.. pulls way better than my 5.9l dodge gasser.

soundguy

I just talked to my neighbor next door.
He has a 2001 F250 extended cab with the 7.3L diesel.
Bought it new and now has about 70,000 miles on it.

Towing his travel trailer home from a jobsite in Willow Creek along Hwy 299 (between Eureka and Redding CA), the transmission crapped out. Total junk. $2800 for a rebuilt unit.

Question: is this a common problem with that vintage F250?
I ask because I'm looking for a 2000-04 F250 or F350 to tow a 10K GVWR GN trailer hauling my 4500lb (max) parade tractors (one at a time). And most of the stuff I've been eyeballing locally, on eBay and on craigslist has well over 100K miles.