American Truck quesiton

a reply to: Irishhaf

I’d stick to diesel then. I’d avoid the newer ones with DPF as they’re kind of a pain, and expensive to maintain. If you do end up getting one, not the end of the world, just make sure you’re taking it out for a 30-60 min drive at highway speeds at least once a month to regen the exhaust.

I imagine most come with a block warmer, if not you’ll definitely want one, or get a kit that warms the coolant pan.

Diesel lasts longer, gets better mileage, and has better torque (typically).

I have a diesel car, I get about 45-50mpg highway and 30-35 in town depending on how warm it is (I heard the coolant warmers help with this though to help max out). Once my warranty is up I’ll probably software override the DPF system and turn it off.

Get a crew cab if you plan on keeping for a while. You'd be surprised how quickly the extended cab is outgrown by kids. Also, you'll appreciate the extra room it gives you and the full size doors.

a reply to: Irishhaf

Just an opinion from someone who had 7-9 3/4 and one ton trucks working in the oil field that ran day and night...

Dodge and Chevy are fine and ride a lot better unloaded, but both seem to need a new front suspension too soon all the time driving dirt roads for $1,800 a pop.

They also seem to go through front wheel hub assemblies every 80k miles or so at $450 a pop plus labor and a wheel alignment.

Ford has a stiffer suspension, but will drive like a Cadillac with a load on.

Now we get to diesel vs gas.

Diesel will give you more power, more torque and is pretty much a no-brainer if you are hauling loads every day or have a 2 ton toolbox bed with a welder and a winch on the back.

However, with more power comes more cost...

Let's take a 2015 Ford F-250, for instance.

The 6.7 diesel engine will allow you to tow comfortably a little over 20,000 pounds.

But the maintenance will kill you unless you are using it for exactly that, daily.

Fuel filter, every 30k at a minimum.... $100 for the filter alone.
Air Filter, $47.
Oil filter, $22. With the 15 quarts of oil needed for the change at $35 a gallon.
It has 2 batteries at $200 each and you pretty much have to replace them as a set.
Injectors will start to go out at about 160-200k miles at $400 a pop.

If you are not a mechanic, you will be paying a premium for a diesel mechanic as well.

And trust me, the 6.7 has its quirks.

Let's look at the 6.2 gas engine for the same vehicle...

Towing capacity tops out at about 16,000 lbs.

Fuel is cheaper.

No fuel filter needed and can run E85 all day long.
Oil filter $14, takes 7 quarts of synthetic 5W20 at maybe $10 a quart if you are using Mobil1.
Air filter $27.

That's just the engine maintenance, the rest of the truck is roughly the same.

Quirks on the 6.2 is that somewhere around 250,000 miles it will start breaking valve springs.

The fix for that is to replace them all at around 200,000 miles... 16 of them at $18 each plus labor.

The other downside to it is that it is a gasser which will need the spark plugs replaced every 100,000 miles... 16 of them at $16 a pop.

So just going by what you are looking for ( a truck to tow 12,000 pounds or so and then it lives a life of luxury) I would not go with a diesel.

Again, just an opinion.

I appreciate the feedback all, its not something I am going to rush into.

I might end up going down doing the uhaul (oh my aching back) and then go back for a truck, and get something a little more dialed down.

Either way a truck is in my future, as I sit here watching our 10th inch of snow since sunday night fall, the skid plate scraping over the snow as I drove to work this morning made me not happy as I already know I have suspension work to do.

a reply to: Irishhaf

toyota tundra,.... they are the preferred truck of
I.S.I.S. and everyone else in the middle east warzones
because they are the most dependable truck on earth.....

EXCEPT FOR KAMAZ!

My anecdotal experience:

Fleet sales specialty dealers.

In 2019 I picked up a 2016 GMC 2500HD 6.0 gas with 32k miles for $30k. It had been a lumber team supervisors truck in Canada previously. Well maintained with documentation, comfortable with power to spare (I've towed well over the weight limit on a few occasions without issue) and absolutely reliable.

10/10 would buy again without hesitation.

Addendum: It is a 4x4 crew cab.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: DAVID64

a reply to: putnam6

Valdosta GA, to Fairbanks Alaska bringing up the last of the household goods, storage unit fees are killing me.

If I can figure out the truck side of things, ill buy a new trailer out of a local company in GA and sell it up here can probably sell it for twice what its worth new.

Yeah, I remember now you have a property in Valdosta Ga, I used to have clients in Valdosta and they have a helluva football program. I know they were hard hit... used to spend a lot of time in South Georgia wonderful people and good communities.

I have a relative at Enterprises and there are locations in Alaska that should let you rent and drive to Georgia, its just the cost per day, but we rent vans and trucks for 2 weeks at a time 2-3 times a year.

I want to add you ought to get a dashcam and consider videoing and posting your trip, even a static view would be cool to watch.