Choice between 2004 Ford Excursion or 2005 Ford F-250 - both diesel

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tgianco

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Jun 7, 2018
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Wife will drive when we're not towing. She only commutes 1 mile to work.

From what I can find, Excursion, leather, power everything, more amenities, with 200k miles at $12k, will pull 11,000 lbs, while the F-250 (150k miles @ $13,500) will pull 12,500, both more than what we're looking for in a travel trailer.

We have two kids (16 & 13) and live in/ near the country. Any thoughts on best for towing (like control, etc) and for future?
Excursion from used car lot, while F-250 from private party. Anything I/ we should consider?

Yes, we're total newbies, so excuse our naivete.
 
Get the biggest one you can afford. You might not need the pulling power now but the odds are in favor of you wanting to trade up your trailer in a few years and then the limiting factor of how large you can go will be higher.
 
F-250 and add a camper shell if it doesn?t already have one
 
Unless the f250 is an oddball with less payload then the Excursion, go for the truck.
You should check the actual payload on both.  Not the internet generic payload.

Everyone thinks they will never need more truck only to discover they're wrong.
 
Be very careful before purchasing any Ford diesel with the 6.0 liter engine.  We had a 2005 Ford F250 diesel.  Purchased new in September 2005.  We kept it for 10 years selling it in 2015 with 130,000 miles on the clock.  It looked like new.  Had it for sale for months.  Finally sold it for $11,000 which is $1,000 more than we could have got from Carmax.  In addition to all the known issues, turbos, injectors, control modules, egr, etc., etc., etc., the transmission was replaced after only 30,000 miles. 

Just google Ford 6.0 Diesel problems and you'll get lots of hits.  Also check the Ford Truck forums. 

 
garyb1st said:
Be very careful before purchasing any Ford diesel with the 6.0 liter engine.  We had a 2005 Ford F250 diesel.  Purchased new in September 2005.  We kept it for 10 years selling it in 2015 with 130,000 miles on the clock.  It looked like new.  Had it for sale for months.  Finally sold it for $11,000 which is $1,000 more than we could have got from Carmax.  In addition to all the known issues, turbos, injectors, control modules, egr, etc., etc., etc., the transmission was replaced after only 30,000 miles. 

Just google Ford 6.0 Diesel problems and you'll get lots of hits.  Also check the Ford Truck forums. 
Click to expand...

Yup, the 6.0 had its issues. That's exactly why you can buy them right. Most of them up for sale already had this work done. Good thing is the problems are well known and can be fixed better than original. If you are going to google the problems also google the fix's.....bullet proofing.
 
tgianco said:
Wife will drive when we're not towing. She only commutes 1 mile to work.
Anything I/ we should consider?
Click to expand...

Any vehicle, especially a diesel truck, will not like 1 mile runs, that is why they make bicycles. 
 
lynnmor said:
Any vehicle, especially a diesel truck, will not like 1 mile runs, that is why they make bicycles.
Click to expand...

A very good point diesel motors dont like stopping and starting they like to run and get hot otherwise they will foul up the injectors which is an expensive fix. Not that that will happen to you in the immediate future but its a consideration. I have a daily driver for that very reason and only drive the truck if its going to run for a while ( or. If its date night cause its nicer than the daily driver lol)
 
Welcome to the forum.

You didn't tell us enough to be super helpful.

Where do you live?  City and State.  Where do you plan to travel? 
You don't have a TT yet, right?  So how do you know what the weight will be?
Some people end up with a 5th Wheel which only works with a pickup in most cases.

What vehicle does your wife have now?  Do you have to sell it to get another to tow with?
I agree that a one mile run is not good for any engine especially a diesel.
In my diesel manual it states 3-5 minutes warm up and 3-5 minutes cool down.  Probably not practical for a 1 mile run.
 
I agree be ware of the 6.0 Ford diesel, now if you can find a 1999.5-2003 with a 7.3 diesel, grab it.  My 2000 crew cab F-250 with 7.3L diesel is still going strong at 225,000+ miles
 
Thanks for all the input. Great sharing on the stop-and-go. We may pull the trigger on a 2005 Ford F-350 dually with 193,000 miles (diesel, too). Out the door at $11,200. Leather interior, power everything.
 
You mentioned kids...How many seats are in the trucks you are looking at?An Excursion can carry an army.
 
If you're still sold on the 6.0 diesel, go for it.  But offer them less money.  Sold mine more than two years ago for $11,000.  It only had 130,000 miles on the clock, ran perfectly and looked like a new vehicle.  It also had a high rise cap and custom rug that cost more than $2,000. 
 
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