Should I run from any of these? Tow rig choice:

snappy said:
Let me throw this out there.... No more milage than you will be driving, consider a v10. Trucks will be way cheaper, gas being cheaper offsets the milage differnce(20% cheaper gas makes of 20% of milage difference)......
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I'm not ruling it out, I just didn't find one near by. Main criteria is black or white, 4x4, 4 door, preferably no lift, lowest miles possible, '06 or newer ('09 and up creeps out of price range).
 
Hurley said:
oh yeah??!?!?

I've had an autotrader alert for all 4x4 duramaxes within 100miles of Statesville, at <$20k going for the past two months.... I've seen about (2) 07 models, and those had 200k+ miles
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Well, Autotrader is always higher, but I just looked on Craigslist and you are right. I was looking around last summer/fall, and saw them pretty regularly in that price range, but now they are nowhere to be found. Guy here at work bought an 06 4x4 LBZ extended cab for $14500 with 130k miles on it last fall.
 
^wow.

Until craigslist comes up with a search engine similar to that of auto-trader, I will not have much interest. I recently spent an hour peeling through dumbass descriptions and listings on craigslist doing what would usually take me a few minutes on autotrader.
 
Any reason you ruled dodge out? I got an 07 2500 5.9 with 116k that I got in your price range. 4 door 4x4 found it on cars.com at lake Norman Chrysler. Now I wouldn't personally deal with that dealership again if my life depended on it but that's a different story.
 
jrmiller said:
Any reason you ruled dodge out? I got an 07 2500 5.9 with 116k that I got in your price range. 4 door 4x4 found it on cars.com at lake Norman Chrysler. Now I wouldn't personally deal with that dealership again if my life depended on it but that's a different story.
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No reason at all, I actually like the Dodge look and found a few in my target price range, but none of them were the right color.
 
REDLYNER said:
No reason at all, I actually like the Dodge look and found a few in my target price range, but none of them were the right color.
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Ah. That makes sense. I wanted black but ended up with white. I know a dealership in boone had a 4 door long bed white dodge a couple months ago but its probably gone now.
 
Stay away from the 6.0. Worst truck i have owned, and I have owned each of the big 3. I have probably driven the cummins and the duramax WAY harder than the ford. I wouldnt hesitate to buy a duramax or cummins again. Honestly, the 6.4 ford my brother has now seems to be a decent truck when you delete the EGR and DPF. Just a pain in the ass to work on.

- 05' Ford F350 6.0, blew 3 sets of head gaskets (two with ARP studs installed), blown turbo, cracked egr, 2 rear ring and pinions, FICM messed up stranging me in harlan and $700 tow bill.

- 05' Dodge 3500 cummins, no problems

- 07' Duramax 2500 , no problems

On top of all this, my brother takes better care of his trucks than 99.99999% of the population. Even with highway cruising and babying his 04' 6.0 it still had 2 sets of headgaskets blow, major EGR and FICM problems. Ended up trading it in as a non-runner.

Take it for what its worth, but im not spouting off some internet bullshit. Real world experience from a family that wasted alot of money on 6.0 fords.
 
Am I crazy to consider a Titan or a Tundra? '08 or '09 model? Theoretically towing a 4000lb TJ, a 2000lb trailer and a 1000lb UTV.
 
Don't they cost just as much an the 2500HD Duramax powered trucks you're looking at? Besides, when you're running empty, the diesel will still get great mileage.
 
I'd look at an 06 or 07 Duramax (the "Classic" not the newer body style), I had my 07 Silverado Classic for 107,000 miles and only had one PCM reflash, an EGR solenoid replaced, and one of the stereo speakers had to be replaced, that's it!!! (Heck, it didn't even wear out its original brakes in 107,000 miles, and I drove like a maniac!!!) Great truck! I still miss it and wish I hadn't traded it. Or I would look at a 5.9L Cummins. IMO, I would stay well away from 6.0L Fords, I almost bought one back before I bought my Silverado and over the years as I read about all their problems, I was quite glad I didn't!
 
REDLYNER said:
Am I crazy to consider a Titan or a Tundra? '08 or '09 model? Theoretically towing a 4000lb TJ, a 2000lb trailer and a 1000lb UTV.
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Yes
 
I'm planning on buying a truck next year. I need something to tow my jeep and get better than 12mph so I'm going with 04-05 Cummins 6 speed. I was surprised this was not on your list.

I figure if I'm gonna spend $20k on a truck, it's gonna be the truck I really like and the one I'm gonna have for 10 years or more. With that said I don't feel I should spend several thousand dollars on a ford 6.0 and have to immediately spend another 4k to make it reliable to get me and my jeep across the country. I like fords but hate the 6.0, duramax is very nice but out of my price range and I want to pick the gear I'm in so no automatic.

6.0 was garbage and if someone GAVE me a 6.0 truck for free I would sell it right away to get a cummins. I hate that it's that way cause I think dodges are ugly and I hate their interior but I cant ignore the facts. My buddy has had several, they all pull like crazy, get ridiculous mileage while doing it and don't have any issues. Facts are facts.

I won't be one of those punks riding around with the mirrors all the way out and a gigantic Cummins sticker on the back though!

And just for example, I used my buddy's 05 6 speed cummins with a 3 car hauler to tow 3 cars to the scrap yard, we got 18.5 mpg at 65 with cruise and AC. Same truck averages 23mpg while not loaded and driving highway. Bolt on mods.
 
77GreenMachine said:
And just for example, I used my buddy's 05 6 speed cummins with a 3 car hauler to tow 3 cars to the scrap yard, we got 18.5 mpg at 65 with cruise and AC. Same truck averages 23mpg while not loaded and driving highway. Bolt on mods.
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Bull. Shit.

A 2wd truck will do a little better than 20 if you drive like grandpa. 4wd trucks will do 20 if you drive like grandma. 18 is more realistic for empty. Mine does 9-11mpg pulling the big trailer, 14ish towing a tag.
 
I went and looked at a few trucks today and was most impressed with the Tundra Crew Max limited. This is based purely on fit and finish, I didn't drive the Ford or Toyota, just cranked them up and sat in all of the seats. I'll test drive a few this weekend to hopefully narrow it down.
 
shawn said:
Bull. Shit.

A 2wd truck will do a little better than 20 if you drive like grandpa. 4wd trucks will do 20 if you drive like grandma. 18 is more realistic for empty. Mine does 9-11mpg pulling the big trailer, 14ish towing a tag.
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Maybe I should clarify the circumstances... 2wd single cab dually with intake, straight piped, and smarty box on level 5 on flat all highway (220) on the way to Biscoe.

I know not to expect that all the time, that was driving with extreme care trying to see just how high we could get it. Thing in the truck said 19.5 so I checked it with the math. 18.5 is what I got. I know it sounds crazy but I am not the only one to experience this.
 
Do it over a full tank, verify the actual mileage traveled matches the odometer, then divide it out by 35 gallons or whatever it takes to fill the tank back up.

2wd will do better than 4wd, but they won't do 18-19mpg grossing 26k.
 
shawn said:
Do it over a full tank, verify the actual mileage traveled matches the odometer, then divide it out by 35 gallons or whatever it takes to fill the tank back up.

2wd will do better than 4wd, but they won't do 18-19mpg grossing 26k.
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Your spoiling my hopes Shawn!

You are probably correct, this was done a few years ago and not on a full tank. But, there's no doubt that a cummins gets excellent fuel mileage in comparison to others and if you get a 6 speed it's a pretty reliable truck.
 
The problem with a short trip is that you can't work out the averages. First off, the Bully Dog or Smarty or whatever throws off the overhead computer (and they weren't that accurate on a stock tune), so it's ... marginally reliable. Then if you're talking about a trip from G'boro to Biscoe, for one thing, it's downhill. It's also only about 50 miles. So if you start with a full tank of fuel, drive to Biscoe, fill up again, it all comes down to whether or not you fill the tank to *exactly* the same level. If you put in 2.5 gallons, you "get" 20mpg. If you squeeze in 3.0 gallons, now it's only 16.5mpg, etc.

That said, I see a lot of people buying dually diesels to tow dinky little Wranglers on dinky little car trailers to Uwharrie and back. A late-model half ton is more than capable of doing the job. It just won't run 70mph up the grade at Fancy Gap.
 
shawn said:
The problem with a short trip is that you can't work out the averages. First off, the Bully Dog or Smarty or whatever throws off the overhead computer (and they weren't that accurate on a stock tune), so it's ... marginally reliable. Then if you're talking about a trip from G'boro to Biscoe, for one thing, it's downhill. It's also only about 50 miles. So if you start with a full tank of fuel, drive to Biscoe, fill up again, it all comes down to whether or not you fill the tank to *exactly* the same level. If you put in 2.5 gallons, you "get" 20mpg. If you squeeze in 3.0 gallons, now it's only 16.5mpg, etc.

That said, I see a lot of people buying dually diesels to tow dinky little Wranglers on dinky little car trailers to Uwharrie and back. A late-model half ton is more than capable of doing the job. It just won't run 70mph up the grade at Fancy Gap.
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Well dang. I been telling that story and bragging on that truck for a long time now!

Anyway, your right a half ton will do most of what I want. I tow with an 06 ram 4 door with the hemi, it does good but I have to drive very conservatively to average 12ish and any hill or going over 65 ruins that. But, it's paid for. I will see how it does on the way to Harlan in August. That's when it will get down to 8 and be tacking like 5k in 2nd gear.
 
shawn said:
That said, I see a lot of people buying dually diesels to tow dinky little Wranglers on dinky little car trailers to Uwharrie and back
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Wait.... I don't need a dually to get to Uwharrie and back???
 
77GreenMachine said:
I tow with an 06 ram 4 door with the hemi, it does good but I have to drive very conservatively to average 12ish and any hill or going over 65 ruins that. But, it's paid for. I will see how it does on the way to Harlan in August. That's when it will get down to 8 and be tacking like 5k in 2nd gear.
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Well, figure up that the diesel truck is going to cost a bunch more to buy, that diesel fuel costs at least 20% more than gasoline, that oil changes cost $75, etc, etc... you're probably not doing that badly.
 
REDLYNER said:
Am I crazy to consider a Titan or a Tundra? '08 or '09 model? Theoretically towing a 4000lb TJ, a 2000lb trailer and a 1000lb UTV.
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It depends on how much/often you really want to tow. As the owner of an '05 Titan, I can say I love the truck, and it tows my 4200# truck, and 1600# trailer well. I can't say with towing in mind, I'd buy another. But, at the same time, I used to borrow my father-in-laws '96 Dodge 3500 2wd dually, using same trailer, and can't really say I'd like to own that over my Titan. If you look at the added cost the diesel adds, not only in buying premium, but added maintenance, and compared the MPG benefit, odds are, unless you tow once, twice a month, you will be ahead with the gas truck. If I had unlimited (so to speak) funds, I'd have a diesel. 5.9L Cummins in the coolest body style truck I could get. But I drive a Titan.......
 
SPOA87YJ said:
Duramax + PPE.
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This. My 03 LB7 Duramax with a PPE programmer on level 5 averages 18mpg as a daily driver, and my route is 50% country, 50% city, and 50% interstate. Yes, I know that's 150%, but considering that it is rarely below 3/4 throttle when accelerating, and running 80-85mph on the interstate, I think thats a reasonable estimate.
 
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