Due to a faulty intake gasket design, 95% of the problems with the 4.2 can be directly traced back to that. Keep on top of that and they are a good engine.
Cutting the 6 cylinder was a good thing, now if you want V-8 milage at least you get V-8 power as well.
This is really evident in tractors, the ol' John Deere 2 bangers under a heavy load would rip out gearboxes on shredders and grain augers, they would get to pulling down and just hammer away and jar things until it something broke. The four cylinder Farmalls, M-M's, Cases and A-C's were much better about it, and the 6 cylinder Olivers were almost as smooth as an electric engine by comparison. Aside from much larger tractors 8's were unheard of, and even then they usually a V-8.
I thought most 4.9's and 5.0's got the AOD/E and the M50D in half ton's. Neither were really common in anything heavier, 300's were way back, but fell out of favor later on.
Kinda funny everyone is worried about getting half a million miles out of an engine in a vehicle that will be lucky to hit half that before before it is junked because of something else anyway.
My parents have a '94 Ex with 180k on it. The thing runs and drives like a top, but cancer is really starting to kick in now, it would run a lot longer than I would drive it... it ain't just the easy stuff to fix like fenders, it is also the hairy stuff like the doorjams. Hard to pencil out for a rig with that high of miles to fix.
And I do like the sound of the big 6's, that Chevy truck in Hatari! with John Wayne sounds so cool bellering across the African desert.
Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and 
.
get it in thar...
