To Repair or Replace?

Hi all - we're new to the 5th wheel experience, and are off to an interesting start (to say the least).

We fell in love with the Elk Ridge 29RKSA, and double checked our truck ratings - all looked well, so we bought it and brought it home.

We have a 1995 F250 4x4 supercab, 7.5L V8 EFI (gas) truck, 4.1 axle ratio.

We've towed the rig about 150 miles so far, home from the dealer and one short trip across town (a football tailgate).

It seems our engine is fine with the weight... but our transmission is not.
Trying to back the rig up a slight hill into it's storage spot we blew it.

So... do we rebuild the transmission with all the bells & whistles for towing - at $4k + (we don't have the full estimate yet), or do we patch the truck up and trade it in on something newer & heftier? (i.e. a 350 diesel)

Is it better to know we put the full monty transmission in, or buy a newer beefier truck?

Opinions please!
Thanks!
-TT

PS - we have two weeks 'til the next tailgate event... so time may become critical, too...

Hi Crumgater,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and Family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

It all comes down to your likes and dislikes and can you afford the upgrade. My personal opinion,,, your unit is 15 years old and gas. I would buy a new or late model diesel. Not gonna get into brands, they all have their good and bad points.

You will be getting some more opinions,,, I can assure you...

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

I agree with Jim. No sense putting gold teeth in a dying horse.

John

I agree with Jim on this one. Even if he's a Chevy man and I'm Ford. LOL

Jim is right on, but take a look at the Dodge Ram.Good Luck.

I agree with the rest. If you can afford even a used late model tow vehicle it would be better than putting 4 grand into the old beast. Just Kidding about the terminology. Truthfully though, it may be actually more than the value of the truck. There are good deals out there now so it may be a good time for a new/newer one. Good luck with your decision and travel safe either way you decide.

I would not put a $4K tranmission in a 95" 250, I bought and later sold a 94' 350 turbo diesel with a new transmission for $3k

Go find yourself a newer used diesel truck and enjoy.


A bit of advise for the future: when backing the trailer with the 4x4, use low range for a lot better gearing and less stress on the transmission.

Put a used transmission it. A used c-6 for a big block shouldn't be hard to find and should be priced real cheap. $300-400 bucks. $4 grand for a rebuilt transmission for that truck is extremely high. Should be under 2K. Shop somewhere else. I would go the used tranny route to buy yourself some time. Make sure you have a big enough cooler and be sure to flush the lines on the truck before the install to get the debris out and prevent the next one from going out right away. Lots of choices for good used trucks out there if you don't want to go new. I would stay away from the Ford diesel from 2003 to 2007 6 liter. Some have had good luck with them but not many. JMHO

B.O.

Change out the transmisson cooler. Dont try to reuse it. And I agree with the others, buy a used one. The rebuild price is well above the gonig rate. An overdrive rebullt should go for about $3000 installed and with a 100,000 mile warranty.

I have to agree with the rest.I know I would use this as a opportunity to up grade to a diesel.You will be allot happier and safer with a late model tow rig.

Don, I don't think the OP is looking at standard rebuilds, rater something along the lines of a Bowler HP replacement. they can be built to handle 550 ft-lbs

here is one for $3,485

I'm in Gottoys camp. Get the thing running and that gets the pressure off. Good advise about using low range from Alan also, and then if it's in the budget and you want to upgrade you can take the time to shop and get educated (lots of choices out there). We are new to this also and in my opinion the last thing you want to do, having found this cool new lifestyle is put a chain around your neck. By the way, new and nearly new trucks break too. Good luck.

Well I agree and I disagree. If you can swing the money or payment, a newer truck would be nice. With that said, my V10 does a great job pulling. But there are ALOT of guys that will disagree and think only a diesel will pull. I work on Diesels ALL day and I love my V10. And yes they ALL break down!!!! If you like your truck, then fix it and drive it. I would look at a BTS (Brians Truck Shop) trans. They are bullet proof. And I think you should have an E4OD, not a C6!!!


Shane

Thank you all for all the great information and recommendations.

Due to time and budget... we're getting the ol' truck fixed up. We had to get it in running condition anyway just to sell it and figured the cost of adding all the towing mods (hitch, brakes, etc.) to a new truck would probably put us back some $'s too. Plus, as mentioned here a few times, even new trucks can break or have issues.

So, here's the damage:
New torque converter
New pump
Adjusted shift locations
New temperature gauge (didn't have one at all before)
All designed to maximize towing strength and minimize friction/heat production.
Total cost: $2800

We're still waiting to pick it up from the shop and try it out.
... I'll let you know how it all goes.

Definitely good to hear others have good experiences with their gas engines, too.

-TT

Welcome to the forum, and especially welcome to the group who own Eagle/Elk Ridges. Our Eagle Ridge is a 34RLSA, so we are pulling a bit more weight than you probably are. We have pulled with Ford trucks since IH made their last PU in 1975, one of our favorite tow vehicles was a 79 E250 with a 460 and the C6. That van would really GO, pulling our 6000 lb travel trailer. Since then, other Ford vans and PUs, but none have killed the tranny, and I do use the trucks hard in farm use most of the year. I'm not saying that they are bullet proof, but they have been pretty good. If yours got a good rebuild, you should expect many more miles and years of service from it. With the E4OD, you need to use the button on the end of the shift lever to lock out the OD gearing when you are pulling hard or have a heavy headwind. The OD is the common weak spot in that tranny. As you will be pulling right up to the limit of what it is built for, be sure to pay attention to the tranny oil changes and real Ford filter changes. Do not accept any tranny oil change "special" which does not drop the pan and change the filter. I have been advised to have the tranny oil changed by a national brand tranny shop where they just suck the oil out of a little tube put into the dipstick opening, and they had the "nuts" to tell me this tranny has a "perma-filter" so it doesn't need service. There is so much BS out there that the usual consumer is subject to. So I suspect that your "real tranny shop" is doing a good job and is providing a minimum of 3 year warantee for their work. Even at $2800, you have paid them well enough to expect a first class quality job.

As one of the other posters suggested, if your truck has 4 WD, put the selector in low range when backing up a steep slope. This works even if you do not lock in the front wheel hubs (and sometimes because of tight steering needs, leaving the front hubs unlocked is much easier on the truck). This trick works just as well going forward at slow speeds requiring a hard pull.

Enjoy your new E Ridge!

Paul_in_MN

One other thing I would strongly recommend; have an extra cooler installed on the return line to the transmission installed as well. Use the weight recommendations from the cooler manufacturer as a starting point, instead go by how much room you have and install the biggest one that will fit.

Another update -

The ol '95 F250 is all fixed up and running again, but we decided to rent a 1-ton truck to feel the difference with the RV.
We rented a 2010 Dodge 3500 crew cab diesel. WOW. What a difference. Definately felt safer. Great truck - rode very nice. It was the Laramie package - tricked out with moon roof and leather. Very nice truck.

So... truck shopping we went.
We test drove a new Chevy 2500 and also the new F350 6.7 diesel. But both were a bit beyond the budget we'd set for ourselves.

We found a used F350 XLT, 2008 6.4 Diesel, 46k miles. I actually liked the way it handled better than the '11. It also has a moonroof and backup camera (not very helpful with the 5er in tow, but fun otherwise).

We just brought it home on Saturday. Still need to get the hitch moved over and setup to pull.

The F350 has an integral brake controller. We were planning on using that, unless you all think we'd be better off moving our Prodigy2 controller over from the old truck.

Thanks again for all the support - love this forum!!

I can tell you that my 08 F250 deisel pulls my BigHorn very well. You should have no problem with towing the Elkridge. Good luck and safe travels

Good luck with the 6.4......you are still keeping the 95 right?

We still have the '95, but it will be going up for sale shortly. No room to park two trucks at our place.