Picking the right truck

Ignore the naysayers. There are lots of good trucks out there.

deltabravo wrote:

thatboyt wrote:
Ive heard the rumors about the Ford 6.0, but also i heard about bulletproofing them as well.

Run away from a 6.0

Truly reengineering Ford/IH's 6.0L diesel is doable, but to do it right, you're looking at about $10,000. You're better off just buying something that doesn't have major issues.

The Ford 6.4L wasn't much better, and may actually be worse due to the only 3 year run. It's an orphan now too. If you like Ford, the 7.3L and 6.7L ($ to $$$$) are much better choices.

With Dodge/Ram, the 5.9L Cummins is great, the transmissions are "ok" (not great), and the front ends were weak in early models (suspension parts wear quickly). The early 6.7L Cummins were fine, but all the emissions garbage bolted onto them - not so much.

The GM Duramaxes had their issues too. 2001 - 2004 had bad injector reliability (5k per set), and the 2004.5 to 2005 liked to overheat under load. The 2006+ are best choices here. 2007.5 to 2010 had some emissions related gremlins too. Allison transmissions are fine at stock power levels.

That's my take. Good luck with your search.

The best advice I can offer is buy one from an old guy that never chipped it. Somebody giving up the road that had to take care of the truck to get DW and the 5er home at the end of the trip.
OR........a used class 7 or 8 truck if you don't need the truck to get around on a daily basis. I met a guy recently that found a International cabover sleeper bobtail for $11k. Tires busted him up but he went in knowing that they needed replaced.
The class 7 Volvos are very popular also.

thatboyt wrote:
Ive heard the rumors about the Ford 6.0, but also i heard about bulletproofing them as well.

Run away from a 6.0

Durb wrote:
I bought my 2004.5 RAM dually Laramie 2WD five years ago in very nice condition and 62k miles. I use it as a tow rig mostly and it has 94k miles on it currently. It has been extremely reliable for me and a pleasure to drive and tow with.

That being said, it has about the same capacities as a current 1 ton SRW truck. I wouldn't consider it for the trailer mentioned. Gross combined rating on it is 21,000 pounds. I tow at 18,000 pounds combined and wouldn't want to push the truck much more. I know people tow more with 3rd Gen Rams but this is just my opinion.

This is an issue with 3rd Gen Rams, up until 2012 max GVWR on a 3500 DRW was 12,300# Ford and GM upped their numbers a couple years earlier, But in 2013 when Ram up their game the 3500 DRW went to 14,000# and huge towing capacity.
I am looking for a DRW, and want that 14,000# GVWR even with a budget about twice your pickings are slim.

The 5er you are looking looks nice, but for 42' it has a small payload at just under 2,000#. Our 32' is just a tic over 2,000# payload and we have used every ounce of it.

If you have children that will be traveling with you that all eats up Payload. This is why I am looking DRW. Our current 2001 Ram 2500 does the job well, but we are well over it's GVWR, and that keeps eating at me, even though it tows great.
If you look at our signature I actually am at a greater GCVW than Durb (20,500#).

A 4X2 DRW in the snow sucks. Weight with aggressive tires can help somewhat but they still are pretty helpless. You see guys pull one of the duals off the back, looks bad but that seems to help in the Winter. That is why 4X2 DRW's are cheaper and don't hold their value as well anywhere there is a decent amount of snow.

All you have to do is put about 600 lbs of weight in the back and it will do fine in snow.

I have a 2006 RAM Dually Laramie 2WD. I bought the truck in May of this year. This is my first Diesel so I am new to all of this and somewhat lacking in knowledge. The Truck had 83K on it when I bought it and it now has 93K. I used the truck all summer and fall primarily towing our 5'ver. My mechanic tells me this is a stock truck that hasn't been abused.

So why am I writing? I love this truck but being 2WD it has some limits in the snow. We had a storm just before Thanksgiving and I was really surprised and disappointed with its performance.

The truck in excellent shape, there is no rust on the body and the interior is great as well. However, I'm thinking I may need to go to 4WD.

I will entertain offers in the Mid 20K's.

Based on what I'm reading this is a fair price.

I bought my 2004.5 RAM dually Laramie 2WD five years ago in very nice condition and 62k miles. I use it as a tow rig mostly and it has 94k miles on it currently. It has been extremely reliable for me and a pleasure to drive and tow with.

That being said, it has about the same capacities as a current 1 ton SRW truck. I wouldn't consider it for the trailer mentioned. Gross combined rating on it is 21,000 pounds. I tow at 18,000 pounds combined and wouldn't want to push the truck much more. I know people tow more with 3rd Gen Rams but this is just my opinion.

thatboyt wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

thatboyt wrote:
Hello all, I am new to the forum and I am looking for a 1 ton dually to pull a 5th. I am looking for a used truck, I will pay cash, no more than 20K. I like all 3 brands but have no experience in the diesel world. Ive heard the rumors about the Ford 6.0, but also i heard about bulletproofing them as well. Basically i'm open for all options and opinions. I would just love to stay around the 20K mark. I also would like something that I wont have to be worried about being stuck on the side of the road either.

Question to the OP, what are you looking at carrying/pulling with the used/new to you TV?

Gen 2 Rams top out at 11,500# GVWR.
Gen 3 Rams top out at 12,200# GVWR.
Gen 4 Rams up to 2012 top out at 12,300# GVWR
Gen 4 Rams after 2013 top out at 14,000# GVWR



Just food for thought.

I was looking at the 2018 Chaparral 373MBRB

Nice Rig! 13,000 UVW and 41 feet! Very nice... I would say you need a late model vehicle to pull that, but I haven't researched it. You will want to look at the GVWR of the truck and make sure it's over 24,000lbs maybe even up to 26,000lbs. Happy Hunting!