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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| I'm replacing my half ton so I can upgrade to 3h slant. Looking at diesels and have never had one before. Have to keep under $15,000 so looking at 2002 - 2006 or so trucks. Any advice or opinions on duramax vs Cummins 5.7 vs ford 2007 with 6 power stroke or older 7.3 power stroke? They all seem to have pros & cons. Thanks |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
 
Location: In The Snow, AZ | We have an 04 Duramax and LOVE it. Wouldn't have gone any other way. It out-pulls any other diesel we've owned. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| For those year models, I would say Dodge first, then Ford 7.3. I have an 01 F250 with the 7.3 and it is doing well still. But everyone that had or has a dodge from those years loves them. Im not sure about Chevrolet, I know some people that had good ones and some that were a hunk of junk, so it may just be certain year models. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | I have an 06' F250. Mine is bulletproofed and I haven't had any issues with it, until the past month. I myself had to throw in a new thermostat on friday, and the transmission is now having issues.......I would probably look at a 7.3 if you were wanting a ford.
I would of much rather chose to buy a cummins, but the price tag isn't cheap even used.
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | We have an 04 Ford with the 6.0. Ours is still bone stock and has not been bulletproofed. It is a work horse. I am married to a diesel mechanic, so he keeps it running perfectly. We hauled with ours for the first time yesterday beyond just around town and it was a beast. I wouldn't shy away from a 6.0 motor at all. There are many on the road today still running and pulling. I see more 6.0 Fords than I do 7.3 or 6.4. I also like the Cummins 5.9. I had an 05 Chevy Duramax LLY before this Ford and there are some things I miss about that truck. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| hoofs_in_motion - 2016-05-23 10:03 AM
I have an 06' F250. Mine is bulletproofed and I haven't had any issues with it, until the past month. I myself had to throw in a new thermostat on friday, and the transmission is now having issues.......I would probably look at a 7.3 if you were wanting a ford.
I would of much rather chose to buy a cummins, but the price tag isn't cheap even used.
Not wanting a ford necessarily, always had Chevys, but I see the most fords in that price range. Cummings 5.7 is a 6 cylinder... How much can it pull? I get conflicting info on all trucks. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Fiancé has owned all 3 and all we have sitting in the driveway now are Chevys.
However we go 2004 or later. I guess there were injector issues before then. - don't quote me, we're just shopping for a tonner dually and he said 2004 or later.
We have an 07 and an 08 Duramax and they pull and stop my 23' on the floor Lakota no problem, the 8' wide trailer just makes parking and backing tight with the 6.5' box so we are looking to upgrade. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Definitely go for a Dodge: least problems and least maintenance. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| OhMax - 2016-05-23 10:34 AM
Fiancé has owned all 3 and all we have sitting in the driveway now are Chevys.
However we go 2004 or later. I guess there were injector issues before then. - don't quote me, we're just shopping for a tonner dually and he said 2004 or later.
We have an 07 and an 08 Duramax and they pull and stop my 23' on the floor Lakota no problem, the 8' wide trailer just makes parking and backing tight with the 6.5' box so we are looking to upgrade.
What I've gathered is 02 & 03 Chevys had injector problems, older dodges had transmission problems & fords after 7.3 had engine problems. Was told the 6 was better than 6.4.... But not sure what to believe. I don't like the 4x4 either. Think rwd more responsive |
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| We have owned one of each in the past and in my opinion the Dodge is the way to go. Runs great and gets great fuel mileage.
My second choice would be the ford. We liked it and found it to be a solid truck but got better fuel mileage with the Dodge.
I love a Chevy gas truck and have one for my daily driver but our diesel cracked the head and we had to fight tooth and nail to have them stand behind the warranty. Several others that I have know have had the same issues with theirs so I'm not a fan of the chevy diesel no matter what year it is. |
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 A very grounded girl
Posts: 5052
Location: Moving soon..... | Test drive all of them before you decide. I tried a Chev before I purchased my Ford. The Chev (3/4 ton short bed) on the highway never got above 15.5 mpg going 60. My Ford gets 20-21 empty and 14-16 pulling. I love it, but I am a Ford girl. I didn't try a Dodge. I have friends who have the new ones, but their mileage is not as good as my Ford. I did talk to a guy that is a Dodge man and he said that his new Dodge (1 ton) only gets 8-10 mpg pulling his cattle trailer full (36 ft). When you move up to a one ton, your mileage is not going to be as good as a 3/4 ton. I have a friend that has a Dodge MegaCab (3/4 ton) that gets 20-22 empty, but pulling he only gets 14-15. Everyone has their favorites. Good luck on your new purchase. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| mtcanchazer - 2016-05-23 10:37 AM Definitely go for a Dodge: least problems and least maintenance.
What can a 5.7 tow? I hear that is a great engine but it's a 6 cylinder. Any years to avoid? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 729
Location: south central usa | if you don't mind a standard, I would buy a dodge with a manual in that price range. if you want to go automatic, chevy or GMC. there were several years back then that GM had bad injectors and they warrantied them for 7yrs or 200k miles. most that are that old have probably had the injectors replaced so that is the one big thing to check on the GMs |
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | nance - 2016-05-23 10:02 AM mtcanchazer - 2016-05-23 10:37 AM Definitely go for a Dodge: least problems and least maintenance. What can a 5.7 tow? I hear that is a great engine but it's a 6 cylinder. Any years to avoid?
Any of the Dodges with the Cummins diesel will pull pretty much whatever you want. We have 2 of the 5.9's with 12 valve motors and one 6.7. We have used all three to pull my horse trailer; I currently have a 2-3 horse slant (depending if you leave the tack room as is or if you use it as another stall) bumper pull and you don't even know its back there. On one occasion, and this isn't really to our credit, but on one of our 5.9's we accidentally left the emergency brake on for a couple of miles, and it didn't slow it down at all going highway speeds. Luckily, we did catch it before it burnt up the emergency brake.
I can't really think of a year to avoid with the Dodge with the Cummins motor, as we have had several different years and all without any major problems (knock on wood). I'll break it down into 3 groups, by year and differences between the motors and pros and cons:
1: We prefer to the older 5.9L 12 valve motors (which are from 1994 to 1998.5) because they are the easiest to work on and the easiest to maintain and one of the longest lived motors ever (we have one with 148k miles, one with 228k miles, and my brother also has one and his has 260k miles). They will get about 12MPG pulling, but I don't know what they will do not pulling as we always have a trailer or a load on them. It is really hard to find one of these with low miles, and if you do, you will pay up for it as they are extremely high in demand. They are high in demand even with 200K miles.
2: The 24 valves (from 1998.5 to 2007.5) were almost as good and will run as far as the 12 valve (we had 2 24 valves, one with 190k miles and one with 210k miles and I know of one with 246k miles), has slightly higher horse power, and get you slightly better fuel mileage than the 12 valve (we have gotten between 16 and 17 MPG pulling), however for the individual they aren't quite as easy to work on, but still a really good motor. These are the 2nd most popular Cummins motor and very high in demand with up to about 200K miles.
3: The new 6.7 has the most horsepower of the them all, it will flat throw you back in your seat if you step on it too hard. The 2007.5 to 2012 did not yet require the DEF. In 2013 they changed that, and it does require the DEF. But the DEF isn't a big deal, you can get 2.5 gallons for about $10, and you maybe put it in every 3000 miles or so, at least that is what we have experienced with our's (its a 2013). We took our's on a trip and averaged 18 MPG over 3500 miles, that included snow, rain, cold, hot, up mountains, on plains, you name it. They are good motor, but their emission controls are so sophisticated, they are also higher maintenance than the 5.9's requiring two separate fuel filters (at least on our 2013 they did), and I don't know if you can work on them or not as they are so new. They are in demand as well, but new enough and expensive enough they are more readily available, especially with low miles.
All three you never know the trailer is behind them, and all have plenty of torque and horsepower. Our's with the 6.7 is geared differently so you could go 80 MPH comfortably pulling a trailer, but our 5.9's are geared where top comfortable speed is about 70-72 MPH. So I hope that helps, and if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Also, as someone else said, do try to get a Manul Transmission, much better for towing...Dodges have so much power they generally burn up an automatic transmission, within about 100k miles.
ETA: One of the down sides of Dodges is they have weak front ends: upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, tracker bars, idler arms, etc., and those typically need to be replaced in 80k-100k miles, depending on how hard you drive it. The reason they need replaced so readily is that the Cummins motor is so heavy that the front end parts can't hold them up. On another Dodge we had (I forgot about it earlier, it was also a 24 Valve), this one was a 2001, had alloy wheels...the motor was so heavy that it caused the alloy wheels to crack, so therefore on the older ones (2002 and older) I would be definitely take that into consideration...all of our Cummins trucks we currently have, have steel wheels and you don't have to worry about cracked wheels with those.
Edited by mtcanchazer 2016-05-23 6:26 PM
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | I would look for either a 12V Cummins or a 7.3 Powerstroke. Both are workhorses and good first diesels.
I would also suggest driving each of the big three. They are all solid, good trucks. It really all comes down to personal preference.
Edited by Murphy 2016-05-23 1:53 PM
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | nance - 2016-05-23 12:02 PM mtcanchazer - 2016-05-23 10:37 AM Definitely go for a Dodge: least problems and least maintenance. What can a 5.7 tow? I hear that is a great engine but it's a 6 cylinder. Any years to avoid?
I would like to introduce you to a 6 cyl. powered truck
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  Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | Engine wise, the Cummins wins hands down! In anything prior to 2010 that is. Now the Dodges will and are falling apart around the Cummins. But that goes for all three. The Diesel Powerplants will outlast whatever body/chassis they are installed in. (We currently have a 96 F250 Crewcab Powerstroke w/ 330k). In the criteria you have listed the 7.3PSD will be your best bet. The Duramaxs had injector problems in those years. The Dodge's had transmission and front end problems and the dashboard literally disintegrate.
I have been personally daily driving diesel pickups for twenty years plus, so my experience speaks as to what I am saying.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| foundation horse - 2016-05-23 1:57 PM Engine wise, the Cummins wins hands down! In anything prior to 2010 that is. Now the Dodges will and are falling apart around the Cummins. But that goes for all three. The Diesel Powerplants will outlast whatever body/chassis they are installed in. (We currently have a 96 F250 Crewcab Powerstroke w/ 330k). In the criteria you have listed the 7.3PSD will be your best bet. The Duramaxs had injector problems in those years. The Dodge's had transmission and front end problems and the dashboard literally disintegrate. I have been personally daily driving diesel pickups for twenty years plus, so my experience speaks as to what I am saying.
Yep - it's the truck falling apart around the engine that also concerns me, lol, I test drove several last weekend and liked the Ford best. Not a 7.3 but a 6, 2007 model with 130,000 miles. It checked out ok but it is at top of price range ($15,000) and of course I'd like to be lower. But finding anything with less than 150,000 miles is difficult. |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | for what you are wanting you are going to get much more truck with a 3/4 ton gasser.
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 352
Location: Texas | I vote for 7.3L Ford. I have 3. Love them all. One has been turned into the ranch truck because it is a single cab. I have a 2001 and my husband has a 2003. Mine has 175K, his 280K miles. Going strong.
After that I'd pick the Dodge 5.9 12V. Those things are pulling son of a guns. The guys I know prefer the 12 to the 24V in them. |
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