I have 15K to spend on a tow vehicle. I need help!

Sounds nice, congrats on the new Dodge!

Just thought I would update you all. The 2006 F250 was gone by the time I was able to go look at it, but just put a deposit on a 2008 Ram 2500 crew cab hemi. Great shape. 100K miles. Used by an older lady to haul her horse around, visit her grandkids 100 miles away and get groceries. She just bought her husbands lease truck so selling this one. Got it for 14K. Very nice truck and should give me years of reliable use.

Thanks everyone for the help!

slabm7 wrote:
Thanks everyone for the help.

Sorry for the late response. I liked the idea of a van or SUV but my wife drives a Lincoln Navigator and I like to have a truck around just for the odd load to the dump or hauling a motorcycle.

I'm currently hoping to go look at a 2006 F-250 Crew cab with 100K miles on it. It is a 5.4L and looks to be in great shape. It is listed for 7500. Hell of a deal. I have also found a few Ram 2500's with 130K miles on them for around 15K. Just keeping my eyes open for a good one.

I would ideally love a V10 but they are hard to find in decent shape for a decent price.

Thanks for all the replies!

That sounds like a great deal, You can set aside the savings to keep it going another 100K miles.

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
You can change out the axle gears for a lower ratio if you choose a truck with the 5.4 V8. Cost is about $750/axle for a gear change.

Yes! The 5.4 (Ford) geared properly will perform well.

The Dodge trucks are also a good buy. Hemi 3/4 tons are everywhere! You just have to find one that wasn't driven into the ground!

You can change out the axle gears for a lower ratio if you choose a truck with the 5.4 V8. Cost is about $750/axle for a gear change.

Thanks everyone for the help.

Sorry for the late response. I liked the idea of a van or SUV but my wife drives a Lincoln Navigator and I like to have a truck around just for the odd load to the dump or hauling a motorcycle.

I'm currently hoping to go look at a 2006 F-250 Crew cab with 100K miles on it. It is a 5.4L and looks to be in great shape. It is listed for 7500. Hell of a deal. I have also found a few Ram 2500's with 130K miles on them for around 15K. Just keeping my eyes open for a good one.

I would ideally love a V10 but they are hard to find in decent shape for a decent price.

Thanks for all the replies!

You have to be shopping in the right place. In rural Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas I know of used vehicle dealers that specialize in trucks coming out of fleets or coming off long term lease.

Right now, here, it looks like under $10,000 is good for a 10-15 year old "work" truck, usually extended cab, with around 200,000 miles. Under $15,000 gets in that age range with 100,000-150,000 miles or newer with even higher mileage. Diesels, V-8s, V-10s, diesels often still $3000-5000 higher for similar age and mileage.

These aren't going to be the consumer models with fancy trim and $15,000 worth of optional equipment, rather base equipment on XL or XLT for Ford, LS or 1LT for Chevy, and most of them will be white.

Cargo vans (3/4 ton to 1 ton) tend to be somewhat cheaper than pickups (or stake trucks) of similar age and mileage. They are harder to find with towing options, as most commercial users of these vans don't buy them for towing, they buy pickups for that purpose.

Sample the inventory at Green Country Auto which is the first place I look locally when I think I want a good, cheap work truck. I'd venture to guess there are dealers like this in southern Alberta, as the market that buys these new is in oil field service, and the dealers are collecting them to sell to farmers and ranchers on a budget with expectations of adding not a whole lot more mileage over the next ten years, just hauling feed, moderately heavy trailers, and other equipment between their various fields.

Our '05 E350 with 6.0 diesel was a very good van with no problems at the time we sold it in '14. We did the coolant filter modification to it in '08.

A lot of people bag on the Ford 6.0. But you can find an 05/06 for cheap and do the required mods. Coolant filter, egr delete, turbo back exhaust, and tuner for about $1,500. I had one and it ran well, better than my current stock Duramax. I only got rid of it cause the prior owner had other abuses, like clogged radiator, cracked then welded wheels, and stuff like that.

The van is a fine TV. We've towed our 25'TT over 35,000 miles with our E150 5.4/3.55 conversion van. You'll need at least 3.73 rear end, and the Ford 5.4, V-10 or GM 6.0 will give you enough power. You and the kids will like the extra storage space. You should find some decent passenger vans in your price range.