Did I pass up a deal?

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ChoppyChoppy

Tree Freak
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Auction yesterday that I forgot about until the last minute.
6hrs away, so I logged online to see what they had.

Came across 2 F-350s.

One an 04 6 speed, ~17,000 miles, the other an 05 auto with about 26,000 miles.
Both plain Jane XL trucks with the 5.4L, single cab, 2wd, 12ft beds.

The auction prices were staying fairly cheap, like 3-7k for decent 4wd diesel crew cab pickups.

I bid up to 7500 for each, mostly interested in the 6 speed truck though.
I hoped they would go in the 4-6k area, but at ~7.5k I'd have about 12-13k into it after making it into a dump box for firewood.

I figured they'd be fairly low desire.
The 5.4L being "meh" and a 1 ton being a bit light duty, and 2wd.

I'm using an 80s C30 with a 160hp 350 and 4 speed, so I'm sure it'd be better than that.
It was well used when I bought it and I've put about 35,000 miles on it hauling wood, mostly 2 cord loads. It's pretty much used up. I have a spare, but it's in worse shape.

The 04 went for 9k, the 05 for 11.5.

Kind of kicking myself a bit, but at the same time, I do have 2 trucks that need to be made into wood haulers, and have been on the to do list for a couple years.
A 97 F-Super Duty, 7.3L, 4wd (Quigley conversion). Ok shape, 178k miles but seems to run fine. I got a 14ft dumpbed for it. That needs to be modified, it's unknown brand or rating, but it's sturdy. 3/16" floor, ~8" cylinder. It only has 12" tall sides and a dirt style tailgate.

Other one is a 91 F Super Duty. 7.3L, 2wd. Has maybe 60k miles, real clean, though was a welding truck, so may be a low miles, higher hours. Has a 12ft bed, it's missing part of the floor where they had gas bottbles.

So would need floor fixed, bed beefed up a bit and a hoist put in. Do have a 7.5 ton hoist for it.

Tinkering on stuff I kind of enjoy, but I'm not keeping up with firewood as is.


I guess just thinking out loud.

Thinking of send out 1 of the trucks to an outfitter shop and just cutting the check. (As I would have done with the auction truck).
 
Personally I'm not that interested in heavier trucks with small blocks. I suppose the 5.4 came in several HP options, but I'm guessing the cab and chassis trucks you're talking about are gonna be on the low end.
 
The 04 I think was 260hp and the 05 300hp. 05 being a 3v engine, 04 a 2v. Least from my searching. The 6 speed is the same trans used in the diesels and F450-550. Not sure on the auto.

The 6 speed had an 11400 GVWR, the auto 13000.
Not sure if mostly because of tires or the 05 had a better gear ratio.
The 04 had std 235/85/16s, the 05 had 245/??/17s
 
I have a buddy with a couple F-350 with the six speed and 5.4 in them they run a lawn service so they pull trailers a lot. The 5.4 is ok in town but they use there F-450-F550 with the 6.2 gas and six speed for the out of town jobs. He likes the bigger motor and the heavier tires for running out of town.
 
I would of jumped on the 04 for that,
Crazy low miles.
 
We still have my Dads 1984 F-250 with 49,000 on it. He bought it new in 84 and it was the farm truck. Hardly ever went to town, just back and forth across the road from home to the farm. Still runs, we use it for plowing snow but it sits to much. You would swear it had 490,000 on it from all the rust and dents.
 
My cube truck is an 01 e350 with the 5.4 and is about 11k lbs. I drive it every day and it's not fast but gets around fine. I had a 06 f150 with the 5.4 and 4.10 gears and it would tow a 12 foot dump trailer loaded with wood. I would not want to do that every day but it did it. Then our other cube truck at work is a chevy with the 4.8 and weighs about 10k lbs. It's got over 260k on it and still going. I think small blocks will do the job fine but a diesel will do it a lot better.
 
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