Honest opinion on diesel trucks...

My buddy has a 2010 I think ram and he absolutly loves it. Diesel Crew Cab Dually... Even when hauling his show car it has lots of power. I have only been in Dodge Diesels but I will say the Ram has impressed me. Then again I have alot of friends with the Chevs and they love those too...

I drove a 99 F350 SRW with the 7.3 in it from 58k miles to 125k miles. Cant say enough about it. Hauled my cars around and a backhoe, Couldnt even feel em. Made many road trips with it and it was big and comfortable

Well I love my 03 Dodge. I have a tune on my truck so my digital readout reads higher than what I actually get. Empty I probably get around 22 mpg and when I put my enclosed trailer behind me I was getting around 14-15mpg (I weight of this setup is just under 22,000 lbs for everything). My "lie meter" as I have seen it called told me I was getting 24-25mpg empty but was pretty much on when I had a load. I have a 6 speed and love it when I see a hill, but alot of newer trucks have an exhaust brake so its not as much of a factor to own an automatic if it has one. If you look at an older dodge truck I would stay away from the auto because of the breakage factor but I hear with in the past couple years the auto is much better. I myself will always have a stick if I have an option.

Like others have said it more depends on what your going to use the truck for. I hear that a ford or chevy can beat a dodge off the line no problem but put the same load on them and run up a hill is another story (I would say a load would be atleast 6,000 lbs or none of the trucks would even feel it).

My first mistake was I got a 1994 Chevy with the 6.5l diesel, uh stay away unless you have alot of money to put into it. To give a comparison I hauled 7,000 lbs down I-24 from Nashville to Chattanooga. There is a pass called Monteagle, in the chevy I was floored doing 45 mph with the temp guage reading 230 degrees and climbing when I hit the top. Needless to say I knew at that point I was screwed for anything heavier. I ran that same route with 6,000 lbs in the dodge and ran up the hill at 70 mph on the cruise control and the temp never went over 205 degrees and normally sits around or just below 200. I am sure others have driven this before but for anyone that hasn't, heading south is the not so steep side of the mountain. If I was heading north I have no idea where the chevy would have gotten to but probably not the top. I only tell this story because I love that body style chevy and thought I could live with it, uh no, plan on a motor swap if you just got to have it.

From most of the things I have heard from people, best interior Ford, best motor Dodge, best transmission Chevy (my exception is any manual). I figured with the best engine and a good transmission I can live with a bad knob falling off the radio but I can't live with my butt stuck on the side of the road with an enclosed gooseneck trailer with two customs inside.

Overall its what you want to do with it, what makes you happy, and what you can live with or without.

I got my Dodge used three years ago with 178k on it and now it has 218k, the only problems I have had is the power steering pump died and my clutch took a crap about 2k miles ago. I figure 215k on a stock clutch towing at least part of its life is not too shabby.

first and foremost, getting into a diesel will cost you a lot more then a gas vehicle ever thought about costing you, in the since that parts for diesels are 5 times more expensive, mpgs are low and diesel is high.

best thing to do is before making your final decision on whatever one you pick out, take a day or two and read the forums on that vehicle (wished I had done that before buying mine, would of known more of what to look for before buying)

i just rebuilt my high pressure oil pump and if i hadn't done it myself and researched for two days for the parts it would of cost me nearly $1200 to have it replaced, but after reading the forums i only spent $220 on parts and found step by step instructions on how to do it.

i have a 03 F250 SRW CC 4x4 with the 7.3L Diesel with 230k on the clock, it gets shitting city mpg at best 12-15 mpg (unless granny footing it), on the highway gets upwards of 20+ mpg without towing anything, i run mine boosting a lil more then stock full time, most weight I've towed so far is 3000lbs and i couldn't tell it was there except it was in the bed of the truck so the ass sagged a few inches (helper leafs kept it from dragging ass), im currently looking for a small around town gas sipper maybe 4 or 6 cyl mini pick up.

have a buddy that has a 03 F350 DRW CC 2x4 with the 7.3L diesel with about 280k on the clock, he tows a 24FT dual axle enclosed trailer with all his kart racing equip. in it often and it does pretty good, 4 hr round trip with trailer in tow on a full tank, came home still had 1/4 tank but that was all highway.

From our experience at the shop of tow pigs from campers and our personel experience:

Ford: 7.3 is great all around and super reliable and tows good. 6.0 is junk. all around junk. lot of customers made dealers take em back after repeated problems. I'll put it this way. 6.0 with mods wouldnt move a 40' 18k pound trailer from a stop up a slight grade with 60k miles on it. we unhooked and rehooked to our 230k mile chevy 6.5 yard truck and moved with ease. All post 6.0 seem to be fine

Chevy. 6.5 we have one ^ as our yard truck and mover with 230k. good if watched and maintained. pull anything but not very fast lol. duramax great motors, bad injectors early years. power up good and great milage great transmission.

Dodge 5.9 awesome motors. auto trans suck. manual good. later motors good so far and trannys are much better.



I had a 2002 gmc 2500hd. great truck, towed amazing, great milage. did hafta replace injectors. sold at 179k miles. just didnt use it enough to make up for extra cost of owning as i didnt tow alot. bought a 2002 chevy 2500hd with the 6.0 gas and it does fine on my loads