Rare find

Local auto dealer has on the lot an 89 Ford F350 custom 4x4 cab and chassis. 460: 5 spd with 8000 actual miles. Appears to be a former fire department truck. WHAT A TRACTOR HAULER !!!

I wonder how many hours are on the engine though? Like buying a former fuel delivery truck that's been sitting a lot with the pump running.

460 and a five speed!!! 5-6 MPG loaded???

I bought a 2001 Ford Crown Vic back in 2004. It was a former law enforcement vehicle and had 94,000 miles on it. It was my primary vehicle to drive back and forth to work and never gave me any problems, aside from the usual maintenance, i.e, oil changes and tires.
It now has 226,00 miles on it and still running strong. And I know that law enforcement vehicles do a lot of idle time.

nice find

That's when going down hill.

A friend of mine bought a 78 Chevy 4x4 dually with a service body from a volunteer fire department with only 22000 miles. Had a brand new 454 in it. Some young kid was responding to a call on the interstate and drove it as hard as he could and blew it up. No rust on it and now is his farm truck.

Brush trucks don't run off of the truck. Engine on the tank runs the pump

Maybe not that high: but it will pull a mountain. I have owned some similar to it in years past

Never seen any fire truck shut down on scene, whether the engine was running the pump or not.

My advice is leave it at the dealer. I had a 1988 F-350 4x4 for 20 years. It wasn't spectacular by any means. Everybody that saw it thought it was but it wasn't. That 460 engine is not that ballsy at all. Pretty lethargic actually. Mine had the 5 speed and that thing was terrible too. Always had a really loud gear lashy sound in it if you lugged it at all. Body rusted out and I redid it two times and between the ball less engine and trans and the rust and repairs I'd had enough of it. Sent it down the road. Had it out on the highway for 1 hour and sold it to the first guy that looked at it. He was really happy with it. I talked to him a couple months later at some snowmobile races and it was still going ok. I replaced it with a 2000 Dodge quad cab 4x4 with auto trans and 360 and I've been much happier. Better interior, better engine, better having the auto trans and the drivetrain on the Dodge is built like a train. Has already done tons of work for me with far less problems than the ford. Funny thing was the Dodge was a better truck with 170,000 miles on it than the Ford was with 50,000 on it. Not a scientific comparison, just my experience with the two different trucks.

Fire apparatus responds using Lights & Sirens, which suck a huge amount of juice out of the battery. If they shut down the engine upon arriving on scene, they'd probably not be able to restart the engine when the incident was finished. Have to leave the engine running to recharge the battery.


:>)

I have a 97 F350 4x4 4 door crew with the 351, which is the same basic truck. I have no complaints about the truck. The long wheel base makes the ride acceptable, it handles well, hauls anything I've tried to do with ease. It could use more HP when towing, but OTOH I get 12-13mpg around town in summer and up to 15 trips. compared to my 2000 Chevy 1/2 ton plow truck or the 97 F150 that preceded it, the 350 is a far, far better truck. Being a Toyota guy, I'd say the 350 is like my old 89 and 91 Toys on mega steroids. Compared to my inlaws mid 90's Dodge 1/2 ton, it's way ahead again in every respect except mileage, but who buys a 1 ton for the mileage?

I know talking about truck brands is going to bring out the worst in many people, but I'm not a "brand specific" type of person and I have no complaints about this truck.

My 1997 Ford F-350 crew cab dually with 460 and 5 speed gets 10 mpg empty,9 mpg
with a empty 25 ft gooseneck,and 6-7 mpg with a loaded 25 ft gooseneck..I looked at
a similar 97 Powerstoke and they were only getting 9 mpg pulling a trailer..

had 1 of those -- make sure you carry a pair of pliers with you at all times. You will need to beat on the side of the carb every once in a while. floats stick shut going down the road. Only way to fix it is to buy a new carb.

This one is fuel injection: no carburetor