Thinking about Buying a New Diesel Truck

My Ol F-150 has been a Great Truck, it is a 1997 and in the time I have had it, I have only put $36 dollar O2 censor in it thats it. But pulling full tanks of water around is taxing it more then I like, without full tanks it does fine but I have a couple of centers that I need to go in with full tanks and two of these centers are in Carson City so I have to haul water.

Ford has an All New Power Stroke coming out this spring and they build the motor them selfs and a New Tranny too. I don't really care for the Diesel they have in the new fords right now it seems they have a few problems with them.

I'm looking at maybe a New Dodge, I know a few have Dodges on the board.
I would like some input on what you like about them and how they are holding up for you. I did get STICKER SHOCK at the price of the new ones WOW they are not cheap but I need a good truck and buying used, the interest rates and the prices they want for them, it makes more sense to buy a new one from what I'm seeing around here.

The Chevy has a Good Motor too but I don't know if I want a Chevy or not. I guess I will look them over too. I want the Ford but I don't want the first year of an all New Motor and tranny to test for them LOL not at $50,000 let somebody else do the testing. :grin:

Dodge Guys let me know your likes and dislikes.........Thanks.

Terry, I have a 2005 Dodge Ram SLT Quadcab Longbed Cummins Turbo Diesel.

It is automatic with 2 wheel drive (no real reason for me to spend the extra 5k for 4 wheel drive as of 4.5 years now but you never know, maybe later I will need a 4 wheel drive truck).

Within a year I spun a bushing in the overdrive unit but that was a factory defect and it was replaced under warranty.

It is a very strong truck, when my trailer is full of water it is almost 7,000 pounds, I was heavier until I bent an axle then took a lot of tools and weight off to be more careful and it pulls it easily, it is not a quick truck but it will pull that trailer easily at 90mph (it is easy to go that fast in the truck but off the line it is slow) I was not purposely trying to go that fast, just was not paying attention but I did slow down and keep it at the speed limit.

I know Chris T in Mississippi has the larger engine and I think that he does not like it all that much.

Without a trailer, I get 21 to 25mpg on the highway and pulling my trailer it will get from 14 to 18mpg (full of water or empty water tank).

I really love this truck, I have taken it all over Texas, into Mexico, into Louisiana, into Oklahoma and into Arkansas.

The truck is very comfortable to drive, especially on long drives out of town or out of state (8 to 12 hour drives each way) and holds up great.

They say that the Cummins engine is engineered to last about 600,000 miles, just keep changing the oil at regular intervals and you will be ok.

I did have the #4 injector tube go bad but that was under warranty also but I think that is about it, I would definately buy another Dodge, new if I could afford it but used would be ok also.

Thanks Chris, My Brother swears buy the motor and loves his truck.

The only reason I'm looking at new is they want way to much here used with TONS of miles on them and I can get $6000 cash off or 0% on a loan so it makes it worth looking at the new ones for me anyways. I have not had a truck payment or should I say Pickup truck payment in years LOL my F-150 has been one hell of a truck and still is, but more power is needed to pull trailers around and mileage is a plus over my gas motor too.

I just looked online at the Chevy and it has good things about it to, but I think I like Dodge better right now.

Thanks again Chris for the reply......

Terry, don't get the new 6.7 in a dodge. I have one and its in and out of the shop all the time due to the DPF filter and egr thats been added for emissions. There are fixes for this but you will not get warranty from Cummins if you remove the DPF unless you know a service advisor or service manager. Mileage on the 6.7 without the dpf is good but with it youll get only 10-12 loaded and 13-15 unloaded in town. As for power, they are all 3 comparable from the factory. The new fords with programming will leave the others behind when tuned comparably. The transmissions in the new dodge's are tough as nails and not too many problems reported in the auto.

The new fords I really like and thats my next truck more than likely especially if I can find a f-450 used under 20k miles.

Terry Campbell said:

Thanks Chris, My Brother swears buy the motor and loves his truck.

The only reason I'm looking at new is they want way to much here used with TONS of miles on them and I can get $6000 cash off or 0% on a loan so it makes it worth looking at the new ones for me anyways. I have not had a truck payment or should I say Pickup truck payment in years LOL my F-150 has been one hell of a truck and still is, but more power is needed to pull trailers around and mileage is a plus over my gas motor too.

I just looked online at the Chevy and it has good things about it to, but I think I like Dodge better right now.

Thanks again Chris for the reply......

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see what extra warranty cummins offers to extend the original 100k engine warranty to possibly 200k to keep from having too many expenses on fixing the truck if you plan on keeping it

Dodge offers a 3 year 36,000 factory and the Chevy is 5 years 100,000 factory, I'm not sure what ford is. I love the fords but I have heard bad things about the ford, I think it is the 07 -09 power strokes lots of bugs from what people are saying so I'm kind of staying away. They have an all new motor coming out in Q2 of next year and it looks good on paper but who knows.

cummins gives 100k on the engine but dodge only offers 36 on the other parts of the truck. All of them have the same problems with the new emissions especially dodge and fords. I personally like the power levels of the fords however if a perfect truck was to be made it would be an f-450 with a cat engine

I thouhgh I read that Ford broke the contract with International who was building their PowerStroke Diesel engines and started to build their own. I also have heard some bad things about the last year or two diesel engines in Ford trucks, maybe they have the bugs worked out by now?

Usually after a year or two they get the bugs worked out and everything is good.

Terry Campbell said:

My Ol F-150 has been a Great Truck, it is a 1997 and in the time I have had it, I have only put $36 dollar O2 censor in it thats it. But pulling full tanks of water around is taxing it more then I like, without full tanks it does fine but I have a couple of centers that I need to go in with full tanks and two of these centers are in Carson City so I have to haul water.

Ford has an All New Power Stroke coming out this spring and they build the motor them selfs and a New Tranny too. I don't really care for the Diesel they have in the new fords right now it seems they have a few problems with them.

I'm looking at maybe a New Dodge, I know a few have Dodges on the board.
I would like some input on what you like about them and how they are holding up for you. I did get STICKER SHOCK at the price of the new ones WOW they are not cheap but I need a good truck and buying used, the interest rates and the prices they want for them, it makes more sense to buy a new one from what I'm seeing around here.

The Chevy has a Good Motor too but I don't know if I want a Chevy or not. I guess I will look them over too. I want the Ford but I don't want the first year of an all New Motor and tranny to test for them LOL not at $50,000 let somebody else do the testing. :grin:

Dodge Guys let me know your likes and dislikes.........Thanks.

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Hey Terry, you can ask anyone here that knows me, I have always had diesels since I went into Buisness. I have had the Cummins, Powerstroke, Duramax. They were all fairly dependable trucks, but i always had problems with all of them sensors, and fuel rail problems, tranny problems, truck going into limp mode.

I will let you in on the best kept secret out there, Ford Superduty V10 with posi 4:30 rear. Truck pulls like a mule no smell no exspensive oil & fuel seperator filters, instant heat for you northern boys, no worries on cold nights.

The truck drives like a car, but when you put this thing in tow-haul mode it is a whole other monster, plus you still get the great heavy duty Torque Shift tranny that they run in the Diesel. I get 9mpg towing real heavy loaded with 600 gal water, and thats all I really got with the diesels. I am sure there are people that swear by the diesel as I always have, but I love this truck.

It's the total opposite of the diesel this truck makes it's power on the top end of the rpm's instead of the low end grunt of the diesel. But if you pair up the V10 with the 4:30 Gear ratio it's a winner.All the big RV's out there that arent Diesels are running the ford V10's in them, they will get 300,000 plus miles out of them and more if well maintained and it's $7000,00 less than a diesel. Just my 2 cents.:victory:

Terry Campbell said:

My Ol F-150 has been a Great Truck, it is a 1997 and in the time I have had it, I have only put $36 dollar O2 censor in it thats it. But pulling full tanks of water around is taxing it more then I like, without full tanks it does fine but I have a couple of centers that I need to go in with full tanks and two of these centers are in Carson City so I have to haul water.

Ford has an All New Power Stroke coming out this spring and they build the motor them selfs and a New Tranny too. I don't really care for the Diesel they have in the new fords right now it seems they have a few problems with them.

I'm looking at maybe a New Dodge, I know a few have Dodges on the board.
I would like some input on what you like about them and how they are holding up for you. I did get STICKER SHOCK at the price of the new ones WOW they are not cheap but I need a good truck and buying used, the interest rates and the prices they want for them, it makes more sense to buy a new one from what I'm seeing around here.

The Chevy has a Good Motor too but I don't know if I want a Chevy or not. I guess I will look them over too. I want the Ford but I don't want the first year of an all New Motor and tranny to test for them LOL not at $50,000 let somebody else do the testing. :grin:

Dodge Guys let me know your likes and dislikes.........Thanks.

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I know what you mean, water is heavy. I did not know that ford had new engines and transmissions for 2011. I had to go look them up, no more 5.4L super duty, that new 6.2L V8 displacement is close to the old 6.8L V10.


Nick nice truck!!

I 2nd the V-10. The local shuttle owner uses only the V-10 and sells them off at between 300-400K miles. He was telling me a story about one van he heard of that he sold to a band and now is nearing 600k. All of these are on the original engine.

My wife's V-10 Excursion was every bit as good performing as the 7.3 Powerstroke I had, and it was half the cost of the 'Stroke version. Mileage was only ~20% less too.

I am a Ford diesel guy. The 6.0 is the engine that is reputed to have the problems. There really have been no significant problems with the 6.4 The new engine is supposed to be something awesome, but they all are. I have a 6.0 and have had no problems with it. If you are pulling mountains, I would prefer a diesel. I would probably avoid teh 6.0, even though I have had no problems, just because of the stories I have heard.

A couple of friends have late model Dodges and have had a lot of trouble. I know a guy with a Ford van and V-10 and he says it's the best.

Maybe just around here but lease return trucks are going lower priced than ever. I go to dealer auctions and pay a dealer $200- $300 to buy trucks.

The Cleaner said:

Hey Terry, you can ask anyone here that knows me, I have always had diesels since I went into Buisness. I have had the Cummins, Powerstroke, Duramax. They were all fairly dependable trucks, but i always had problems with all of them sensors, and fuel rail problems, tranny problems, truck going into limp mode.

I will let you in on the best kept secret out there, Ford Superduty V10 with posi 4:30 rear. Truck pulls like a mule no smell no exspensive oil & fuel seperator filters, instant heat for you northern boys, no worries on cold nights.

The truck drives like a car, but when you put this thing in tow-haul mode it is a whole other monster, plus you still get the great heavy duty Torque Shift tranny that they run in the Diesel. I get 9mpg towing real heavy loaded with 600 gal water, and thats all I really got with the diesels. I am sure there are people that swear by the diesel as I always have, but I love this truck.

It's the total opposite of the diesel this truck makes it's power on the top end of the rpm's instead of the low end grunt of the diesel. But if you pair up the V10 with the 4:30 Gear ratio it's a winner.All the big RV's out there that arent Diesels are running the ford V10's in them, they will get 300,000 plus miles out of them and more if well maintained and it's $7000,00 less than a diesel. Just my 2 cents.:victory:

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Hey Nick, Ive heard that same thing about the V-10. A guy I met once has one and said he would never go back to running a diesel. Plus diesels are harder to work on, parts are more expensive etc.

P.S. Thats a NICE truck BTW. :love2::yes:

Johnson said:

Hey Nick, Ive heard that same thing about the V-10. A guy I met once has one and said he would never go back to running a diesel. Plus diesels are harder to work on, parts are more expensive etc.

P.S. Thats a NICE truck BTW. :love2::yes:

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I love mine, they are pretty bullet proof engines. I have a buddy in NY with an excursion and he has over 250,000 miles on his.

I am a Ford Man and my F-150 has been and still is one heck of a truck, I have people wanting to buy it from all the time it looks brand new and has never gave me any problems.

I will look at the V10 and see how it is, my friends motor home has the v 10 in it and runs real nice.

here is a Link to the new Ford motor.


http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/10/2011-ford-super-duty-to-debut-at-texas-state-fair-on-sale-q2-20/

My dad has one of the F-450 with the V-10 and it is a great truck also.

He had the welder make a steel box onto the flatbed to make a chipper truck out of it for the tree business. The truck is quick, even with a lot of weight in the box.

The most he has put onto that truck is right at 10,000 pounds of wood chips and logs. Trees do weigh a lot.

It is standard and very strong. I would not mid getting a V-10 if the truck was in good shape and well maintained.

I just bought a 2008 F-450 with 12500, love it. It pulls my 14k trailer like its not even there. BUT the 6.4 is a bit tough on fuel, empty @70 mph get 14 mpg -- @75mph 12 mpg -- @ 80 mph 11 mpg, loaded with 10k total weight it drops to 7.5 mpg @ 75 mph.

The 6.4 has a regen type exhaust cleaner, which means that it shoots some fuel into a catilytic type device to burn off the soot and junk, that happens way too much and drops the mpg and performance way low.

A great thing about the Ford super dutys is that they have and intergrated braking controll box that works seamlessly with the tow haul trans setting, the brake controller is pressure sensitive, which means that is does not COUNT up like normal add in controllers. It only works for as hard as you step on the brake, the harder you press the more power it puts to the trailer. And like I said it is seamless with the trans, just let off the gas and tap the brake and it will downshift nicely.

But overall if you want a truck to hall the weight and do it with style, the F-450 is the way to go. More then enough power and more then enough truck.

The funny thing is that when I went looking, I knew exactly what I wanted and Diesel fuel was @ $5.00 a gallon. Their were no V10's on any lots anywhere, so I ordered mine. It was going to be a special order anyway because of the gear ratio and single wheel 1 ton short bed 4X4 King Ranch.

Terry Campbell said:

I am a Ford Man and my F-150 has been and still is one heck of a truck, I have people wanting to buy it from all the time it looks brand new and has never gave me any problems.

I will look at the V10 and see how it is, my friends motor home has the v 10 in it and runs real nice.

here is a Link to the new Ford motor.


http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/10/2011-ford-super-duty-to-debut-at-texas-state-fair-on-sale-q2-20/

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Ford needs to develop a great diesel and stick with it. They change engines every few years and it has given them a bad name. Since the 7.3 went away they have had nothing but problems.:shrug: