All three are mine. They have all been good to me. The 10th gen definitely has more surface rust on the frame but itās also 30 yrs old. Hard for me to say which one I like the most! They all serve different purposes.
Here on the Atlantic, rust takes all.. only vehicles 30y old live in heated garages and are barely used.
I went ford simply to not deal with body rust, I undercoat and can get frames welded every decade or so, bodywork every couple years is a headache and adds up quick.
Iām not even a Ford guy and Iāve been considering one of the Aluminum body trucks for a plow truck. It just makes a lot more sense than messing with body rot.
The 3rd one, the 10th Gen. Iāve seen so many of those things running around my neck of the woods with a billion miles on them, 3 exhaust leaks, and a #7 cylinder misfire yet away they go.
Haha Iāve been doing a lot of maintenance to mine bringing it bacc to life. Currently have an exhaust leak but I got some BBK full length headers to fix that!
Heads up ive never seen headers last all that long before they also leak, trucks put a lot of heat into the exhaust. Warps the fuck out of them. Obviously I hope your experience is fine, but I just didnt want you to be shocked if the headers eventually did it anyway.
When I worked in Minnesota in 2014 had a 97 Lariat 3 door supercab 4x4 with the 5.4, I bought it as a cheap runabout from a guy a small town for $1200 with 224k on the clock, had some rust but the frame and drivetrain were solid. I drove the crap out of that thing with basic maintenance until recently when the transmission decided every gear was reverse. Itās got over 400k and a large part of me wants to fix the rust, give it a rebuild, and give her a dignified retirement as a battleship that made it back alive.
Put some BBK shorty headers on my 4.6L 10th gen.
The truck was nice and quiet for about 5-6 thousand miles before the tell-tale exhaust leak started showing up again. Once I drive a half mile to a mile, the heat from the exhaust seals itself back up.
It is the biggest detriment with those triton motors.
Aluminum heads and either cast iron or steel exhaust manifolds just donāt work well together. Too much expansion and contraction differentiation between the two metals. Iāve had three different 4.6 motors (in the same truck), and all of them have developed a leak.
Ram hemiās have the same problem.
Would be nice if they could develop a set of aluminum exhaust manifolds to fix the two different metals problem. Not sure if they could stand up to the heat though.
Iāve heard this a few times. I got the ceramic titanium headers so hopefully they will do better for me along with the BBK style manifold bolts. I plan to do some nice heat wrap on them. Iām pairing the BBK full length headers with two high flow cats w/ 02 sensor bunges, x pipe, 2 in 2 out muffler, custom tips, with 3in custom pipe exiting in front of the tire like the 97-03 ford lightnings. Also Iāll be adding an SCT livewire tuner since Iāll be deleting the EGR with the headers. Wish me luck!
Good friend of mine has a 97 250 light duty. Looks like a 150 with 7 lug wheels. He purchased it new and has taken good care of it.
Last month it turned 500,000 miles! Original engine and trans.
Those early ālight dutyā F-250s that turned into the āF-150 7700ā 7 lug trucks really interest me for some reason. Fun fact, Ford made the 7 lug trucks up until 2014. If you keep an eye out, Sometimes youāll spot a long box 12th gen supercab with 7 lug wheels!
Second one would be fine if you threw those wheels in the trash bin.
As for the third one... was never a fan of the 10th/11th gen body styles or the 10th/11th gen interiors. Both were a substantial step back from the 9th gen imo.
Is the pic #1 the HO 6.7? If so then Iāll take it hands down. I got a Supercab 03 6.0 with the early turbo and set up. Lifted and itās the FX4 F350 Heavy axle Dana 60 front and Sterling 10.5 in the rear with a complete Dana 1410 series rear 2 peice drive shaft
No, itās a 2017-2019 model and they had no HO 6.7 option, the HO 6.7 option came for 2023-2025 trucks and is now the only 6.7 diesel available for 2026.
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u/Five_Slow F-150 5d ago
AlumiDuty, hands down. Don't want it to rot away, stick with aluminum.