Best NEW Diesel Truck on the Market?

[FellowTraveler]

6.2 or 6.5

Be advised all 6.5 turbo diesels up to May 1999 are prone to failures like cracked blocks, any GM 6.5td built after May 1999 are enhanced stronger block larger bearing caps. Hummer H-1 had kept using the older left over failure prone 6.5 td well into mid 2000 (s) if I remember correctly.

The enhanced GM 6.5 td can be found in some burbs, pickups and vans from May 1999 up 2002, I forget what year the military started using the enhanced 6.5.

To the best of my knowledge all May 1999 and up 6.5's use 7 bolt bell housing for 4L80e.

There are varied thoughts on what mods are good on the 6.5, however, I like Fluid damper balancer, timing gear drive, remote pump driver when using electronic injection pump, hi-pop injectors, good tune, 3" or 4" exhaust, higher flow canister air filter, evans waterless coolant, bypass oil filtration, synthetic fluids. I still use 1 oz 2 cycle oil to 1 gal fuel to lube fuel system this has worked for me for many years now.

On mechanical injection pump setups a DB4 pump can be used if enough cooling is available.

 

[Calplaya]

I too would recommend a 99-2003 7.3L Ford first.Great all around trucks. The only transmission problems i have seen on any of them were from excessive over towing (and i mean going WAY over what they were rated at) but even then, tranny issues remained at a minimum. My cousin had one I wish I could have bought, had a chip in it, 5 inch exhaust, was a crew cab lariat; 2001, nice, but the power was endless. we pulled cattle with that all the time and it just wanted more. we had a cattle trailer jam packed with steers one time i remember and we have what is known as Buffalo ridge, its a 6 degree hill, suuuper steep and long, well going up that hill with that load, at 80 MPH, it never downshifted. and the whole trip we got 8 MPG, not too bad considering the weight behind us. If I were going to buy ANY diesel, this is the one. My next choice would be the Duramax, Ive had friends with those that absolutely swear by them, and ive towed enough with them to see why, but even with a chip and other mods, they never seemed quite as powerful as my cousins 7.3L Powerstroke. But I would not hesitate to take one if I could afford it. only thing is I have heard of some head gasket issues. And the Cummins, believe it or not, ties the Duramax. I have equal respect for both. I have towed a lot with my buddies 93 Cummins Dodge and it never skipped a beat, and my foremans 2007 Cummins was better yet for power. But an engine I wouldnt discredit is the 6.4L. I have "heard" praises and death chants from both sides on it, but the fact is, I worked with one. actually Ive worked with all of these great engines if you cant tell haha. and all on the railroad we had every big engine super duty pickup, we had the 6.0L F550 (believe it or not, never had an issue with it, pulled the snot out of it too), 6.4L F350 (crew cab lariat, pulled quite a bit with it, at this time it has 150k miles, bought new by the guys who run it, not one single issue EVER with it), a 2010 F350 with a V10 (not really relevent to this topic, but it too proved to be a good engine) and a 2007 Dodge with the 5.9L Cummins, that also towed like mad, never phased it, and also a 3500 6.6L 2009 Chevy Duramax. all of these engines performed flawlessly doing hardcore railroad duties, never skipped a beat, but keep in mind, with the 6.0L, thats the exception, not the rule. The 6.4L was thirsty but powerful and reliable (but it still didnt have the power of my cousins 7.3L Powerstroke) and the others, well, good, but not my first choice. I think it also is fair to mention that when my cousin did sell his 7.3L Ford, it had 240K hard miles, no issues, no rust, but a few dents and torn up leather, and he still got over 12k for it (I would have been all over it if it had been under ten) and he went from that to a slightly used, 60k mile 6.0L Ford. It gave him nothing but problems and was anemic compared to his old 7.3L. He hated it so he finally sold it for less then he had in just the repairs and he used that along with money he had already saved up and bought with cash a brand new 2012 6.7L Powerstroke crew cab Lariat (even if i had the cash, I dont think i would have forked out nearly 60k for a truck). The whole urea thing has him kinda worried, but this is the year that Ford pumped out extra torque, going from 735 to 800 to match the Cummins. Its got LOADS of power! His wife was driving it one time with a big fifth wheel camper behind it and dilly dallying around merging on the interstate, and a semi was barreling down on them unable to get into the other lane cuz of a passing car so Ted told her to throw it down. She did. Even with a wind bucking, massive fifth wheel camper, the rear tires spun before getting traction, and it threw everyone in there way back into their seats and in no time flat was doing 100 before she realized she should take her foot off the gas. He was glad finally to be back in a truck with power equal to that of his old 7.3L. To sum it up, dont spend 60k on a new truck that is only equal in power to a slightly modded bulletproof 7.3L with unsure reliability. Just go for the best straight away!

 

[Calplaya]

Also, my buddy with his Duramax had a 2002 variant, dont think they had any urea or regen or anything then. pretty positive actually. But even so, he regularly saw 20-22 MPG. just another thought. And my buddy with the 93 Cummins has a sister with a 6.5L Chevy, she rarely drives it, it starts hard in the winter so she parks it and in the summer she uses it to pull her horses. has adequate power for the job, but i should really say HAD adequate power for the job. she has since had turbo issues so she essentially just by-passed it so its no longer a true turbo 6.5L anymore. it will get the vast majority of what she wants to do done, but it is significantly weaker now. I dont know if this is a common issue or not, but it did happen in this case with relatively few miles on it (its a 95, has 120K miles on the odo) so thats just another heads up really.

 

[2025 deleted member]

I have owned a 95 dodge, 99 dodge, 2002 chevy, 2006 dodge. 2007.5 dodge, and now a 2011 chevy, all were diesel. The best truck out of the bunch by far was the 2006 dodge with the 5.9 . It was the last year for that motor. I would have kept that truck, but I needed a cab-chassis.

 

[DoMiNiC1]

My 2002 dmax gets 22ish regularly... Love it, IFS is very nice ON THE ROAD. lol Mine came from the factory with no cats, egr, etc... nothing. =D LOVE my truck and dmax makes great power. Would diffidently run a balance test before buying an LB7 to make sure the injectors are happy.

 

[timzim]

Thanks for the all of the responses guys. I'm not ready to make a move yet -- too much transition going on -- but my first inclination was to buy a low mileage 7.3, but wanted to see if there was some other consensus on newer vehicles (even if it meant that I delay my purchase a bit). I think once I'm a bit more settled, I'll ramp up my search for a low mileage, four-door 7.3L.

But keep the opinions coming, I like reading them.

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

I've had a 98, 03 and 06 Cummins. All of the Dodge's were 4x4 (The 06 was my father's) and all of them had the dreaded "Death Wobble (DW)" All of them were bought new by us, serviced and treated well. I have two co-workers that also bought Dodge's. One of them has had the DW on one of his, but not the replacement truck, while the third guy has never had it in any of his trucks. I've also got a really good friend that is a popular off road writer, he just picked up a used Dodge and it too has the death wobble. From my experience, you can't beat the Cummins engine. It's just too bad that some of them have front end problems.

I've also had a 99, 2001 and 2002, 7.3 Power Stroke's. Again, all 4x4's. When I was looking for my current truck to haul the FWC around I had a good idea of what I wanted. It had to be a diesel, a manual tranny and solid axle was also on the list, followed by color. I didn't want to deal with the Urea injection and the new emissions equipment. That left the used market. The decision on a 7.3 wasn't hard to make. Waiting and finding the "Perfect" 7.3 for me was. Many times I almost bought one that didn't quite have everything on my list, but was close. I am glad that I took my time and found the one I have. I'm not crazy about metallic paint, but it had everything else I wanted. It's just a plain "Vanilla" truck, but it is exactly what I was looking for.

I don't think you can go wrong with the 7.3.

 

[DT75FLH]

I have owned many diesel trucks, from the 6.2 and 6.5 gm, I had a 7.3 ford and a 6.4 ford, also owned a 98 12V, (2) 04.5 24 V and a 6.7 dodge.
I currently own a 04.5 24V and a 2010 6.7 dodge.
...
The new body style dodge has a fantastic interior and like the above poster stated the urea does not get rid of the DPF.
...
both trucks get almost the same mileage empty although the 6.7 is running 33" tires and the 04 has 35" tires. the 04 feels more nimble than the 2010 and the 2010 is set up as our tow rig.
..
I just lifted the 04 (its the dirt road rig) and setting the caster to 3.5* drivers side and 4.5* passenger side and i have no death wobble even with the ball joints being a little worn. my old 04 with a 2" spacer and 35" also drove great with a little more caster then spec.
I did have to replace most of the steering components in the 98 QCLB but that was at 250K miles. I put in a redhead steering box, all new linkage, and new control arm bushings/ball joints..reset the alingment and no deathwobble .
....
the 12V got the best mileage at 17 with a cap on.

 

[Regcabguy]

2013 ushers in the DEF in Dodge's CTD's. One guy posted on a Dodge forum that he spotted a test rig out there. Hopefully,the DEF will enable Dodge to back the EGR off and cut the regeneration,thus increasing mph.

I had DW once after Discount Tire rotated and "rebalanced" my tires. Got it out on the freeway and noticed vibrations that led to DW. Returned to DT and the kid that had "balanced" the tires had quit. Upon examination,each tire was up to 4ozs. off. The tire guys balanced them right and no issues in 40K. Never had DW on my '99CTD either.

Two of my friends have 2000 & 2002 Ford 7.3's respectively. Both are street queens that aside from crank position sensor failures and minor issues have been good trucks.

 

[Redline]

snip...

Two of my friends have 2000 & 2002 Ford 7.3's respectively. Both are street queens that aside from crank position sensor failures and minor issues have been good trucks.

Probably cam position sensor, and yes those were/are problems.

If I was guying a new diesel it would likely be a Ford, but I'm a little (not a lot, I like Cummins) Ford biased. However, the last two new 4WDs I purchased were both gas-powered... and I'm a big diesel fan.

This thread is helping me keep my old 7.3/T444E F350!

 

[Rockin DC]

I've made the committment and bit the bullet and purchased a 2011 F350 Ford crew ab and 8-foot long box. Flat out best truck ever. My previous trucks was a 1994 Chevy truck with major electrical problems; also owned a 1973 Ford pick up with 350,000 miles with rebuilt engine- also great truck.

 

[bfdiesel]

2013 ushers in the DEF in Dodge's CTD's. One guy posted on a Dodge forum that he spotted a test rig out there. Hopefully,the DEF will enable Dodge to back the EGR off and cut the regeneration,thus increasing mph.

It doesn't effect the egr or dpf much which it shouldn't they are all just after treatment systems (happen after the combustion stroke) save the egr it is kind of a during treatment. The cab and chassis 3500 have had them since 11 and they get crappy mileage.

 

[bfdiesel]

I've made the committment and bit the bullet and purchased a 2011 F350 Ford crew ab and 8-foot long box. Flat out best truck ever. My previous trucks was a 1994 Chevy truck with major electrical problems; also owned a 1973 Ford pick up with 350,000 miles with rebuilt engine- also great truck.

Nice the fords are the only ones that put the DEF tank up under the truck instead of hanging down behind a front tire. Both dodge and GMC have been doing that.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

I know it's like asking "blond or brunette," but what's the most dependable new diesel truck in the market today? The big three I'm thinking of are the Ford, Chevy Duramax and Dodge Cummins -- all 3/4 ton or larger.

Related question -- is the old Ford 7.3L a better engine than anything that's new, especially by buying one that has really low miles? Uses include daily driver, camping, expo in the future.

Thanks everyone!

How much do you want to spend? I would like an International MXT 4x4 http://www.navistar.com/NavistarDefense/Vehicles/MXT-MV/MXT-MVA/MXT-MVA

 

[timzim]

^^ that might be a little TOO hardcore for me. I need some creature comforts, haha.