Older diesel to haul first, travel later

[Nomad_K]

Hi Everyone,

While I'm busy travelling and not driving much, Dad is actually looking getting back into some work where he will need to haul stuff around, and as such...

He is thinking about a used diesel, auto, 4wd optional, light to medium duty hauling and reliability being the major things he's after. We've talked about kitting it out for some adventures later on, so something that isn't complete crap so far as ground clearance and the suspension would be a bonus, but we can always sell whatever he picks up and go with something else later on.

In the $10,000 and under range Dodge Ram's (1994 - 1998.5) sound the best. For a bit more money the 2003 or 2004 Ram also sounds like a winner.

We've found some nice 2002 Duramax Chevy's for just over $10K but I've heard the injectors can let go in a big way and the ground clearance is not tops.

I've never looked at Ford diesels but as with the Chevy, we have found a few good deals floating around. Does anyone have an opinion on the 2002+ F250's with the 7.3? Are there any good years to look at or bad years to avoid with the F250?

Thank you!

 

[hillbillyjake]

in my opinion, the cummins is the way to go. i have never owned a duramax or powerstroke but i have ownwed a cummins. i used that thing like a farm tractor and it always worked. sold it with 230K. good friend had one used the same way, sold it with 268K. i would have driven both trucks across the country with these mileages, with a trailer in tow, and never worried. both trucks were 91.5's (intercooled). i believe the 2nd gen dodges are the best work truck to buy right now. my $.02. good luck

jake

 

[Nomad_K]

Hi Jake,
Thank you for the quick reply! I see you've gone over to the Toyota side of the house though... if you needed a truck for the type of work you did before, would you try a Tundra or would you go back to Dodge/Cummins?

Cheers!

 

[hillbillyjake]

toyotas are good for some things, cummins are good for others. if i were going to be towing/hauling on a regular basis i would definetly go with the dodge. although i have know experience with the tundras, dodge/cummins were built for this kinda stuff. just look at the spec sheet of say a 94-98 dodge. 5.9L cummins,d60,d70,nv4500,np241. i have seen these trucks locally sell for 4500 and up lately. on your budget that could build one great truck. and still get over 20mpg doing it. once again just my opinion

jake