I am looking at replacing my old 94 Ford flat bed Crane Truck. Real pos! There are two trucks I am looking at One is 07 Sterling with MBE460 (450hp) engine may need a rebuild with automatic trans. Engine 220k miles with 7.5k hours The other is 98 Ford with Cat 3306 (300-350hp) and 8LL manual trans. Engine 158k miles with 13k hours This is also the same as my current truck.
I would go with the Ford with the cat and the manual transmission. For me, I would not even waste my time looking at the other one. Automatic transmissions are crazy expensive to repair. And why tie yourself up with the rebuild if the other truck runs right? Get in it and go. And if what you are saying is that your current truck has a 3306 and an 8ll I would get rid of whatever parts that you don't need and keep the rears transmission, engine whatever you can use. Use the engine for parts or rebuild. If your transmission is good keep that for a spare, if not you have another core for rebuild. If the year of the truck is close enough and they are similar enough you may have a lot of spare parts. I have been told that some parts for the Ford trucks are quite expensive, so save it if you can.
I would also go with ford with cat Lots of service available parts are easy to come by I would also suggest a freight m2 106 Or m2 112 depending on if you need air brakes or not they come with cats if you get used or Cummins new again alot of service areas for both Hope it helps
yeah, the ford and the cat. i thought i had heard that the M/B engines weren't really all that good. from what i also gather, when someone is specing a truck, and the truck has a standard M//B engine, most all go with a DD or cummins instead. even at the 225,000 miles, that right there tells you those engines are garbage. plus since the other truck is just like your current one, you may be able to cannibalize it for some needed parts, then scrap it, for what ever money you can get out of it.
the ford with the cat makes more sense, the sterling that needs a rebuild I would not consider unless it is at junk prices, meaning .10 per pound.
Maybe I should list to pros and cons on why the 07 with a bad engine is in the running. Dealers and parts- I have no ford dealer near me. Last time I called one he would not give me any info or cross references. Parts can be expensive and hard to find. Sterling is 18 mi down the road and are very helpful. Engines- Current truck uses the Cat 3306C and the 98 Ford as well. Some say the engine is under powered and I fell the same. Maybe it is my engine but it been bad for the last 100k miles or so. It has less then 350k and it leaks out of every seal and gasket, compressor is going bad, full pump is bad and some how oil is coming out of that. Is it has to drive a 16 ft drive shaft and the dual axles for (24ft flat bed total length of truck about 40 ft). It can take fever to reach 58 mph. If it is windy good luck trying to even reach that speed and even holding that. If you are driving on a flat area no wind you can reach 63-65 and hold it but get to a hill you will be going 50 maybe less, I have slowed down to 45 before. 3-5 MPG. So it is not much of a spare to me The 07 with the MBE460 more HP more torque better MPG at least that is what they say. Also they don't know what is wrong they had it 6 months and never looked at it. Trans- Basically I do a lot in town and city driving and my share. Doing deliveries and what not to residence. So it would be a lot easier having a automatic. Also help to keep my from slipping my foot of the clutch and taking someone garage out. Leg would fell better at the end of the day and so would shoulder. Also the general stupid stop lights of my city. So the 07 with an auto may be better here. My tans I know something is wrong with the fly wheel side and output side. I replaced both seals and they leak again also RPM are never accurate or never work so I have to do everything by ear. So it maybe not be a spare Body-My current truck shares nothing with the 98 ford or the 07 stealing both inside and outside. The 98 and the 07 are identical inside and mostly identical on the outside. However the plastic on the 98 inside looks cleaner and not cracked compared to the 07. Wheels- Current Truck and the 98 use daytons. Need less to say it is a pains to fix or replace tires, change kinpins, change breaks. If you don't get then on straight they wobble most shops can do that right and I have to fix it. The 07 uses standard buds much easier to do things but side loads might not be good. Axles- Current and the 98 uses 18k front end with 40k rear end. With leaf springs and no shocks. Hit a bump break some bricks or your back. The bouncing they causes when at a certain speed make it fell like you have boobs. The 07 uses 20k front and 46k rear end that however brings the height to 13'6 instead of 13'3 like it should be. That can be fixed correct and,lowered to 40k. It uses tuftrac with shocks so maybe that better. It also has push and tag axles. Will sell them since I wont use them. Price-98 is 20k but the 07 I can get down to 16-17k I believe. If it needed a rebuild I think it was less then 4k parts doing it at home. Heck it could be just some else. Either way with the 07 you get 70k more mile or the 98 nearly double to operating hours. Also financing is easier to get on the 07 then the 98. Owner of the truck told me if it gets fixed before it sells it list at 53-55k. If I fix it and want to get out of the bis I will recoup money back compared to the 98.
Maybe so but my 3306c less then 350k is not better other then it keeps going. It burns oil and makes it smoke a lot, leaks out every seal and gasket, lack of power (read above on that). Every month I dump about 3-4 gal of oil in to the engine. Also stated above the only thing that is the same is engine, trans, wheel, axles, and suspension . Engine and everything on it would need full rebuild. Trans going bad, wheel hate them, axles fells like they are going bad, and suspension hate it.
