I owned a 97 F350 4x4 crew cab and loved it. My current ride is an 06 F350. The 97 will get better fuel mileage than any of the post 02 EGR diesels. I haul a 6 horse trailer. The trans would overheat with the big load only in back country dirt mountain roads. I had a large cooler on it. It was chipped with big exhaust and low restriction air cleaner. I smoked the trans at 150,000 miles. The truck was burried and we were winching it out and slipping the torque converter too long. Not the trucks fault.