Looking for a crew cab truck as my tow pig....need advice

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
So I need some advice here, since I am very jaded in my loyalty for GM trucks.

I got rid of the Tahoe, long story, but it was bought back from me and now I need a new truck. I'm daily driving my 71 C10 now until I find something, so I need a plan here.

I tow at least 100 miles a week with my business. It is normally a car on my flatbed trailer and then a car body on the flatbed. My business is picking up so I really need something that won't have a problem towing with. I also am building a race car and will be towing it, as far as Nebraska next year. This is going to be a very rare occasion, only a few times a year, but it will be something to consider.

I know my old Silverado 6.0L towed pretty good, the truck sucked, but it towed ok. Gas mileage sucked when I was towing. I'm thinking diesel for this truck, but don't know since I know nothing about diesels. I used to work an internship at Cummins, but that was working on the machines that built the engines and not the engines themselves. I like the Duramaxes because they come in a GM truck, but I am really starting to wonder about the Ford trucks. I see them with a TON of miles on them, so I guess they last. I guess there is something with the EGR and the 6.0L but I have heard that is a pretty easy fix.

School me here guys. I do like the Cummins engine best but I am not crazy about the Dodge that is wrapped around it.

Also needs to be a crew cab because it will be my DD and I haul kids around. Can be dually, I don't really care. I just want something reliable that I can afford.

So give me some unbiased opinions here (year right) :lol:
 
My opinion is they all have problems and they all have good points. Diesels can be expensive to maintain and parts cost more
 
All i have to say is my dad has a 7.3 thats got close to 400,000 miles and its beat to hell and back cause its his work truck. he has the mentality dont fix it till its so broke it wont move. he drove it with bad glow plugs for the last 6 years kept it plugged up at night started it during lunch on cold days. he just put his third clutch in it ( didnt do it till it wouldnt go in gear no matter how hard he tryed). he also just had to replace some kind of electronics, that being said he bought the truck new only ones hes ever bought new but hes drove it like he stole it and did the bare minimum on maintenance and we use it everyday and plan on using it for a 3,000 mile round trip for work this summer.
 
If you're partial to GM just go ahead and get the Duramax. All of the big three have issues but GM has no more than the rest. I had a 3500 Duramax for three years with zero problems. Only got rid of it because I didn't need that much truck anymore. Wish I had kept it now.
 
transman731 said:
as far as which one of the big 3, here's how i see it.(diesels)
i build 5-10 ford units a month
i build 2-4 dodge units a month
i build 0 allisons

i'm not saying that the chevy's don't break, i'm just not seeing them.
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That's not surprising when you run the numbers against sales.
In the 3/4 and 1 ton market Ford outsells the other two combined by more than 3 to 1, or at least has historically.

And the only reason you arent seeing more Dodge transmissions is most people were smart enough to buy manuals. When I worked for Cummins and we bought service trucks they were Dodge, CTD naturally but I dont think we bought an auto truck the last 5 years I was there.

I drive a Ford and recognize I may be biased, but IMHO their AT doesnt get the love they deserve. I think they are one of the strengths of the SD platform.
 
I tow with a gasser. But I only tow a few times a year. As much as you are towing, go with a diesel hands down.

Think hard about what Lee and Ron said. There is a reason Ford outsells everybody else. I would say that 90% of the trucks on construction sites are Ford. The Chevy will ride better and have more creature comforts. The only way I would consider a Cummins is if it were in a Ford.


Or, just wait a couple years till the Tundra has a diesel.
 
Ron said:
That's not surprising when you run the numbers against sales.
In the 3/4 and 1 ton market Ford outsells the other two combined by more than 3 to 1, or at least has historically.

And the only reason you arent seeing more Dodge transmissions is most people were smart enough to buy manuals. When I worked for Cummins and we bought service trucks they were Dodge, CTD naturally but I dont think we bought an auto truck the last 5 years I was there.

I drive a Ford and recognize I may be biased, but IMHO their AT doesnt get the love they deserve. I think they are one of the strengths of the SD platform.
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i agree with you ron, i'm just telling him what i see. i know for a fact that ncb stays extremely busy doing head studs and egr deletes on 6.0's. you also have to keep in mind that diesels are the "new" thing. instead of buying rice grinders, they are buying diesels, throwing tuners and chips in them and beating the piss out of them.
 
Really the more I think about it I am really neck and neck between the Ford and the GM trucks. As much as I love Cummins engines I just can't buy a Dodge. I am going to puss out and get an automatic. I have two other manual transmission cars, so I'll leave my clutch foot to the fun rides.

I am leaning heavily towards the GM stuff because that is what I am comfortable with, but Ford is really close. I used to have wicked brand loyalty to GM stuff, but over the last few years I don't have it as much. I found my mom a Ford Fusion and my brother a Ford Explorer recently, and put my other brother in a Grand Cherokee. My last Ford truck hated me, so I am just worried that they all hate me. :lol:
 
Do you HAVE to have a diesel? A V10 Ford or an 8.1 GM truck would suit your needs and cost a lot less in both initial investment and to maintain than any diesel out there. I towed with a V10 Ford for years with great service.
If I hadn't found a great deal on a 1 owner, untouched 7.3 truck I'd have a big cubic inch gasser any day of the week based on how often I actually "need" to tow.
 
No, I don't NEED a diesel. My main hangup with a V10 or 8.1L is the terrible gas mileage. This will be my DD, so even when I am not towing I'll be burning fuel hauling the kids to school. Plus a guy at work has a V10 Ford and he has had a lot of problems with it. Of course, he is also an idiot. :lol:

I know a couple of days a week I'll be pulling a 16' flatbed car trailer around, weekends might be too depending on what I'm buying and where it is.
 
FWIW, my 03 Duramax has 322k miles and is still going strong. The drivers seat is worn out, and the paint on the right front fender is faded from being repainted sometime before I owned it, but mechanically it is solid. And in the past 2 years, I've probably only used it for towing 2-4% of the time, but its averaged 17.1mpg since I've owned it. The worst tank was 13.7mpg and that was when I was moving my shop, and had several combined loads in excess of 20k pounds, and the majority of that tank was pulling a trailer. Also, I keep my programmer on the highest level and drive like a teenager, minus the rolling coal part.

If I were looking for one now, I'd want an 06-07 with the 6spd Allison and better NVH properties, but otherwise I wouldn't change much about it. Considering that the majority of the mechnicals on the gasser and diesel trucks are the same, the only maintenance cost differences are going to be motor and tranny. There are a lot of high-mileage trucks out there, and the issues are pretty well documented, so just figure out which issues you'd prefer to deal with. In my opinion, the smart move is the Duramax/Allison WITHOUT a programmer, as it really does beat on the tranny when you have it turned up.
 
transman731 said:
you also have to keep in mind that diesels are the "new" thing. instead of buying rice grinders, they are buying diesels, throwing tuners and chips in them and beating the piss out of them.
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^bingo. This is why its getting harder and harder to find a diesel that isn't beat to hell and back, overpriced by about $6-8k or a combination of both.

If you're driving it every day and using it every day its still decent idea to consider a diesel, but for what you are going to find one listed for with relatively decent history and what you hope is unmolested since chips/tunes are usually removed by dealerships to hide the fact they have been completely shitbeat before arriving on their lot, I would look into Chevy/GMC 07.5+ 2500's with a gas engine. Prices are semi-reasonable and its tough to argue with the reliability of the LS based engines. The 6l80/6l90's extra two speeds make for a little better feeling powerband IMO than the 4l80 in earlier model year trucks since the ratio between gears isnt so big. Someone like RPM or Mayhem can tune it locally and squeeze a little extra fuel mileage out of them.
 
Ford 7.3. I've got 405,000 miles on mine and it runs perfectly. I just had a Blackstone oil analysis done at 400,000 miles and the engine is still in great shape. They're not the fastest diesel, but if you leave them stock and maintain them, they'll last forever.
 
cj777 said:
Ford 7.3. I've got 405,000 miles on mine and it runs perfectly. I just had a Blackstone oil analysis done at 400,000 miles and the engine is still in great shape. They're not the fastest diesel, but if you leave them stock and maintain them, they'll last forever.
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i love the 7.3 but lets not give bad info.
Glow Plug issues.
Glow Plug harnesses.
TPS. TPS. TPS. (there is a reason everyone I know keeps one in the gloe box)
Injectors.
HPOP

At 400k if those havent been changed they need to be. or you are running on 5.5 cylinders...



Blaze dont forget this little fact.
(Using SC prices dont know NC but should be comparable)

14 mpg @ 3.25 = 23.2 cents per mile
18 mpg @ 3.85 = 21.4 cents per mile

$30 oil change every 5,000 miles .006 cents per mile
$120 oil change every 5000 miles. .024 cents per mile

23.2 cents per mile vs 21.7 cents per mile

Cost difference between gas and diesel ~ $5,000

$5,000/ .015 cents = 333,333 miles to break even
 
I have two trucks I'm looking at now, one is an F250 with the 6.0L diesel and the other is a 6.0L gasser Silverado. They are comparable but the diesel is $2500 more and 2 hours closer.

I'm not 100% sure what to do yet.
 
6.0 fords are really good trucks honestly. The reason they get a bad name is the bro dozer crowd. I've had mine since 2010 with 180k now it has 347k no unexpected problems
 
Ron said:
$30 oil change every 5,000 miles .006 cents per mile
$120 oil change every 5000 miles. .024 cents per mile
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Uh... wtf?

Costs me about $60 every 7,500mi to change the oil in the Dodge.

The rest of your points are valid.... but I have no idea where you're buying your oil.
 
So I think I am going to go look at and possibly buy the Ford on Thursday.

I don't plan on modifying it at all. I have other cars that I can put my money in to. This is my daily driver tow rig, no need to be anything other than stock.
 
Just make sure you plug the Ford in if it gets below 60F overnight.


:flipoff2:
 
Blaze said:
When it was really cold she was like "why are Scott's trucks plugged into the wall?"
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My neighbor plugs his 6.0L in whenever it gets below 50F. No joke. And it still barely starts. It's been to the dealer several times, I think he finally just gave up. Been that way forever.

Oh, and I did the math on oil changes. All told over 30k miles, you're looking at about $250. That's four oil filters, two fuel filters, an air filter, and 11 gallons of Rotella. $0.00833 /mi.

Also, @Ron, you put the decimal in the wrong spot. Dummy.
 
Fawk replacing head studs and removing EGR valves. My 2001 Ram has 228k and after 8 years of ownership, the only time a wrench has touched the engine was to replace the water pump and fuel lift pump.
 
FWIW, I have been on the diesel waiting list for a while now. Other priorities in front of a truck purchase. I have been pretty dead set on a 6 speed Cummins when that time comes. However, last weekend I had a good friend let me borrow his 05 duramax 3500 to drag my heep out to Harlan. I had been curious about a duramax as I think they are way more comfortable, look better, and don't sound bad.
After a 650 mile trip in that truck, I am sold on a duramax! That truck pulled so good, it was so comfortable. I love the seats (cloth) and the arm rest, the radio location, everything. Its all setup with the best ergonomics you could ask for. It was a crew cab and has TONS of room in the back seats. With just over 7000lbs behind it I got around 16mpg with just an intake and 4" straight pipe turbo back exhaust. I used cruise control 90% of the time with no issues, got on the wrong road on the way there and went up hwy 160 which was a 8 mile long twisty two lane that was nearly straight up. I had to pull over once because my buddy was towing with a 6.0/4L80E 3500 truck and the tranny got hot. I had no issues even with the steep grade except that one time the truck started spinning. All in all I was more than impressed with the truck. I should also mention it had over 230k on the clock and ran and drove like 50k. Never had a programmer on it, and its also for sale, I just don't need a 2wd dually and ain't ready to buy. Last year I made the same trip in an 06 dodge and my back was killing me after I got there and even worse after wheeling and then driving back.
I drive an 07 F350 6.0 everyday for work and its a pure turd. Its weak, gets 12.5 mpg, rides like a log truck and is very uncomfortable even though its a lariat. It hasn't been maintained well at all though.
Also, I know in rambling here, sorry. The gearing down feature in tow mode with the Allison transmission is great. 95% of the time it was always in the right gear, not searching even thru long rolling hills, and gave lots of engine braking.
I am all onboard with duramax now, hands down!
 
shawn said:
Uh... wtf?

Costs me about $60 every 7,500mi to change the oil in the Dodge.

The rest of your points are valid.... but I have no idea where you're buying your oil.
Click to expand...


My truck takes 15 quarts of oil.
Typically bought in 4 I gallon jugs.
I run Rotella t6 synthetic (as you should be in that dodge...or valvoline blue syn) at $25/gallon.
4 x $25 = $100. Then $18 for an oil filter.

Im not even taking into account the $60 fuel filter every other oil change...
 
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