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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
  
| Went from a half ton gas, towed same trailer a little with a 3/4 ton gas, and now have a 3/4 ton diesel. Night and day love my diesel.
I'm a spreadsheet freak. I was really in the same boat as you and bought a car to keep miles off the 1/2 ton as it was starting to show wear. Then it took a crap. I worked out a sheet with miles traveled daily, the price of gas, etc etc to show if it was worth keepin the car.
For me once I move in the spring the car will make its own payment each month in gas savings as my commute will be longer. And it keeps miles off the truck which is super low miles for the year as it is, I shouldn't have to buy a new truck for a long time if I treat her right.
I'd look at it like that, buying an older solid 3/4ton to haul with (it might take some looking to get good financing terms though on an older one) and keeping the car. | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
 
| Three 4 Luck - 2016-01-06 8:08 AM
My husband's half ton gas truck (gmc) averages about 18 mpg, but you're right, you need a 3/4 ton. I've never seen a 3/4 ton gas truck, much less driven one, so I have zero idea of their mpg. A diesel 3/4 can get you those mpg naked, but it's going to cost more to purchase, so...6 of one, half a dozen of the other.
I agree. My husband has the f350 Super Duty with the 7.3 engine...it gets about 19mpg naked or hauling our 3h into the mountains, along the highway, etc. I also had a GMC Suburban 2500 with the 454 engine. It could haul just as much as hubby's dually...but it got about 8mpg naked and 6mpg hauling. Uggh. Right now in California diesel is $2.39 per gallon and gas is back up to $3.09. Its a wash as to whether or not it's cheaper to drive the truck or my little passenger car as we also commute 30 minutes one way. I feel your pain with this.
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | luckyjo - 2016-01-07 11:55 AM The old 12 valve Cummins are hard to beat, but you have to find one that has been taken care of and that the owner is willing to sell. I have a 95, 5 speed, an an '03, 6 speed. Both get an average of 18 to 20 mpg with Hyw/in town driving. They get 16 pulling 3 horses.
Yes! The 12 valve Cummins engines are great (however, 2003's are not 12 valves, they are 24 valves, they changed them in the middle of 1998 from 12 valve to 24 valve). The one 12 valve we have has 228k miles on it and still going strong without issues and we just bought it this past year for me to use. Then the other 12 valve we bought a few years ago has about 148k on it now (low miles for that!) and is clean as new with no problems...I happened to be in Craigslist one night, and the old man who had it passed away and his kids were selling it. We feel lucky to have found that one especially, but both of them. But the good thing with them, if something breaks, you can practically fix them yourselves. My brother works as a mechanic for a company who has contracts for FedEx trucks. They have one 12 valve Cummins that had over 500,000 miles before they rebuilt it, and the only reason they rebuilt it is it had such low oil pressure. Those motors are amazing! | |
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 Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
Location: Missouri | Following...
I'm in the same boat, except it's my SUV that's on its last limb.
I would love to trade my 2003 Chevy 2500 and my 4-Runner for a nice truck. But, I'm scared of diesels and I would miss the extra space in the 4-Runner.
But, not sure either excuse is worth a payment... I'll probably replace them one at a time, eventually.
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