"NEW"- 99 7.3L long bed crew cab manual - mbryson support vehicle

mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
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I've had a KSL search going for years for a manual 7.3L. Here it is.


More accurate picture of the color. Kind of a teal. Not quite the same color as my Buick but kind of similar. The truck checks all the "mbryson" boxes: manual trans, floor shift 4x4, XLT (has floor mats rather than carpet but whatever), cloth seats, no lift, etc. I wish it had the power mirrors but that's not a biggie and possibly solvable. Cab and such is in really good shape, a weak 8 out of 10 rating there. The bed is maybe a 6 out of 10? Interior of the bed is quite nice to be honest. Tailgate exterior and paint exterior has some blemishes. Someone will tell me to flatbed it. Could happen but then I'd want F450-F550 axles/tires/wheels (I think?) and then I'd have an F350 with it's not matched frame with heavy axles and springs.... probably not wise. I'll just keep it as it is for a few years at least.

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Doesn't hold a candle to @Rot Box purple but almost
 
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mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
bryson said:
I miss my '99 7.3 6-speed... If it had been a long bed I think I'd still own it. Hell, if it had been a long bed @Vonski may have kept it!

What are the plans with this beauty?
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For now, pay it off. I'm a little more than halfway there. Should be done in a couple months. Make sure it's all sound and such. Tow a bit. Trade @ebryson trailer and my trailer for a two car hauler (two Buicks or two Jeeps) and live happily ever after.


Gravy said:
That's a nice truck!

I just got ride of some nice OEM 18" Alcoas. Literally gave them away. Would have spiced it up a bit.
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I'm cool with the 16" that are on it. Can't go wrong with the Alcoa though
 
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Bart

Bart

Registered User
Location
Arm Utah
Very cool and big congrats. I was just thinking this morning that I wish I still had my orange 2001 F350 long bed. They are such great trucks.
 
Mouse

Mouse

Trying to wheel
Supporting Member
Location
West Haven, UT
I still have camper ties downs for a truck camper if you're interested. I have 2 hitches, but looks like you're already go to go. Do you need dually wheels and tires?
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
Mouse said:
I still have camper ties downs for a truck camper if you're interested. I have 2 hitches, but looks like you're already go to go. Do you need dually wheels and tires?
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I waffled a lot on the dually vs SRW. In my experience, I think I'll be ok with the SRW. Ultimately, I went with the nicest truck I can find that fits the parameters. If I go dually, I think I'll go to the 2005+ F450 stuff just to remove the leaf springs (they aren't THAT different in ride quality but ARE different in turning radius). I bet the F450 tires/wheels will ride like trash?

I want to want a slide in camper but we've had one before and I don't know that it works for my wife, unfortunately. She seems to have given up on the camping thing all the way. For me, campers are barely adequate but are adequate. Having a shower/bathroom is my key to enjoying camping for 3-5 days. She gets nervous with the slight bobbing and such the camper has vs being able to ignore it in a trailer. I'd like to get a race trailer with living quarters. That'd be massive and I don't know that the F350 is the right platform for a big dawg like that.


Working from home is kind of taxing me a little bit. I needed to get out of the house so I took the F350 (previous owner named her "Sally"--not sure if that'll stick or not?) for a drive yesterday 40-50 mile drive and noticed a few things. This is just a list
  • The diesel tank is good sized. I put 34 gallons in that thing and it had just hit the fuel light
  • I love not having DEF (it's not a big deal but kind of a bullshit annoyance)
  • The manual trans is pretty cool and kind of interesting. I'm sure I'll get used to it and intersections, stop signs and such will just become 2nd nature a bit
  • 75 mph is about 2300 rpm... I must have driven all my 7.3L trucks at 70 mph as I thought they were all at 2000 rpm (maybe the 4R100 has a different OD than the 6 speed?)
  • I found the 1st gear the other day. Same gate as the R and down. That's a pretty low ratio. ZF-6 5.79 3.30 2.10 1.31 1.00 0.72 (https://www.powerstrokenation.com/threads/5-speed-vs-6-speed-psd.142403/). 4R100 is almost the exact same at 0.71.
Things that need attention:
  • Cruise control isn't working (kind of mandatory)
  • rear passenger window isn't rolling down
  • power door locks (I've been down this road before)
  • hitch fixed
  • gooseneck hitch install
  • Sell two car hauler trailers and buy one muscle car/Jeep worthy gooseneck or bumper tow (30' +) -- Hoping I only net spend $3-6k after disposing of the trailers. (@ebryson may have a difficult time selling his? He seems kind of emotionally attached? )
 
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Mouse

Mouse

Trying to wheel
Supporting Member
Location
West Haven, UT
My wife has no problem showering in our truck camper. Its a little tighter than a dry bath, but definitely doable. ;)

Congrats on the truck, its a great combo!

If this truck has the original engine, it will have forged connecting rods. If you want to hodrod it, it can handle a bit more power than the later 7.3L engines with powdered connecting rods. The manual transmission should survive better with more power than the auto as well.

Like Rot Box's comment, if its an "early-99" model, it will have some oddball parts on it (turbo, spider, brakes, etc.). Be sure to know if it is so you can buy the correct parts for it. I believe most of the different parts can be updated to the late-99 to 2003 7.3L configuration, but some pieces require other components to be changed to make them work (i.e. turbo).

As a long bed, the tank will be a 39 gallon unit. The last 4 gallons are difficult to fill because the fill neck goes into the tank a few inches and foaming will kick the pump off when filling it. Patience will get it all the way full, or you can pull the tank and cut the extension inside the tank so it fills quickly. There are other mods to do in the tank to help prevent issues - the socks are known to cause problems, but can be eliminated (its commonly called the "hutch mod").
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
My first 7.3L was an early '99. It has been the truck all of my others have been compared to. That truck ran VERY well with some pretty heavy loads. I sold it with 270k on it after buying it at 132kish.

I don't know that there will be any real hot rodding of this truck. I want to tow two Jeeps, a Jeep and a Buick, two Buicks, etc with it. I would bet it'll be fine with the intake that's on it and maybe a performance exhaust? My early '99 had the Edge with Attitude and it towed very well with those mild mods. That would be extent of the manual truck being hot rodded. (at least to me). I want reliable and to top summits at about 65-70 mph with those heavy loads. I'm even fine if it's 62 mph or so on the summit's


mbryson F*rd truck history
-'99 F250 CCSB auto
-'01 Excursion auto, (maybe put 10k on that one) ---super nice XLT that I had just put a fresh trans in. Hated the suspension but kind of a cool wagon. Sold the F250 and Excursion on the same day with people traveling from far away to get both.
-'96 F250 ext cab long bed auto (20k miles on that one) ---clapped out old dawg I used as a yard truck. Killed by kid drivers
-early '99 V10 CCSB ---lifted WAY too high but a solid old dawg. Put about 35-40k on that truck. Had a fuel pump go bad. Nothing to complain about at all.
-'01 F350 CCLB, auto (bought cheap with fresh trans and significant body damage--- Lariat with the interior that was coming apart. Needed injectors and glow plugs. Sold for double what I had in it (maybe should have kept it?). Put about 15k on that truck)
-'10 F350 CCSB V10, known as "Sweaty Betty". AWESOME truck... tough call if I liked this truck or the early '99 more. Early '99 could pull a little better but the V10 didn't suck to tow with other than using gasoline. Bonus points on that truck is that it's dirt simple. No injector issues, turbo, injector pump, etc. Just feed her gas and use the skinny pedal. Betty will give you what she has even though she has a drinking problem.


-current early '99 F350 CCLB manual, .... 100 miles on it by me? bought with 301k. Time will tell about the manual.

I am still VERY tempted by the '05-07 6.0L trucks but just don't want to deal those dawgs. I'm NOT interested AT ALL in the 6.4L trucks unless there's an equivalent year Cummins swapped into them (and I don't know the Cummins issues well either). That leaves me with 7.3L SuperDuty, V10 from 2005 up, 6.2L 6 speed auto and I'd probably roll the dice if I could buy a warranty on a 6.7L deezel. I'm a bit of a cheap bastard as all of you know and this '99 will likely serve my needs for many years at 4-8k miles per year? We'll see how it goes
 
J

J-mobzz

Well-Known Member
Mouse said:
I should have mentioned - a common cause for a non-functioning cruise control is the brake switch on the master cylinder. I believe its a $15 part, 2 minute swap out thing.
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@mbryson I ended up buying a pretty fancy scan tool for calibrating the pressure switch on my Tahoe. It will let you see lots of live data, including switch pressure and position and all sorts of stuff that makes diagnosing those kind of issues a lot simpler. If you need to borrow it for a few weeks, you’re welcome to it.
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
J-mobzz said:
@mbryson I ended up buying a pretty fancy scan tool for calibrating the pressure switch on my Tahoe. It will let you see lots of live data, including switch pressure and position and all sorts of stuff that makes diagnosing those kind of issues a lot simpler. If you need to borrow it for a few weeks, you’re welcome to it.
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Awesome! I'll let you know if we get there. Could definitely come in handy
 
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