A good friend

[Flashman]

A good friend of mine - new to RVing - bought a used 21 ft toy hauler to drag his and hers Harleys around the country and he is smart enough to know this is 3/4 ton and up country.

The 2 trucks on his short list are a 2005 Ford 6.0 and a 2009 Ford 6.4. They are on his list because they are way cheaper than Chevys or Dodges.

How to tell him to avoid Ford diesels - even though they are apparent bargains.

He is asking my advice and I don't want to come over as a brand loyal asphat.

[Cummins12V98]

justafordguy wrote:
To answer your question, Between those two trucks the 6.0 is much cheaper/easier to bullet proof. After the know issues on the 6.0 are fixed it is a very reliable engine.

Until it's NOT. 😉

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Flashman wrote:
He went and bought the 6.0. He is vaguely aware of "bullet proofing" and asked what I know about it. I pointed him to some of the Ford forums - but still wants my opinion.

I am a Dodge guy and don't know shite about Fords - other than watch out when buying their diesels.

I decided not to give an opinion.

You're a smart man. 90% of the time here is how it will go:

You give him advise where to bullet proof it. They will do the work and then the engine screws up or blows up 6 months down the line. You get the blame because the guy "you" recommended to do the work on the engine is not a good mechanic.

On top of that he will be 2,000 miles away from home when his engine blows up and he will want you to tow his trailer home because "you" recommended the place that screwed up his truck.

You're smart to stay out of this deal!

[Dave_H_M]

You better recommend that he go to google for advice.

If he cannot figure out why the 6.0 and 6.4 are bargains, you need to stay out of that quagmire.

[rhagfo]

Well decision made, I sure hope your friend got a good 6.0.

[JIMNLIN]

Flashman wrote:
A good friend of mine - new to RVing - bought a used 21 ft toy hauler to drag his and hers Harleys around the country and he is smart enough to know this is 3/4 ton and up country.

The 2 trucks on his short list are a 2005 Ford 6.0 and a 2009 Ford 6.4. They are on his list because they are way cheaper than Chevys or Dodges.

How to tell him to avoid Ford diesels - even though they are apparent bargains.

He is asking my advice and I don't want to come over as a brand loyal asphat.

Well he sure doesn't need a 2500 truck or a diesel for a small 21' toy hauler.....JMO.

I would tell him to look at the '00-'06 1500HD chevy/gmc trucks with 8600 gvwr...6000 rawr....load E tires and wheels...6.0 gaz engine.....3000 lb payloads.....10k+ lb tow ratings. This truck is the old 2500 model before the 2500HD came out.

The F150HD Ford with a 3.5 eb engine 8200 gvwr....4800 rawr/load E tires and wheels...2500-3000 lb payloads....10k tow ratings.

And the '00s era 1500 Mega cab Dodge...5.7 hemi...with 8510 gvwr...6000 rawr...E tires and wheels. This truck won't have any issues carrying 3k payloads and pulling 8k-10k trailers.

Now if he just wants a diesel then the old 5.9 Cummins or the 6.6 dmax or the older 7.3 engines of that era will work fine.

[IdaD]

I considered going this route so it's not a totally crazy idea to save a few bucks, but in the end my risk averse side won and I decided I really didn't want to deal with the headache and potential expense that goes along with these engines. A big part of my rationale was that one of my main motivators for buying the truck was to use it for family camping trips and vacations and I really didn't want to introduce unneeded stress/issues into what is meant to be family fun time. Life's too short.

[Flashman]

He went and bought the 6.0. He is vaguely aware of "bullet proofing" and asked what I know about it. I pointed him to some of the Ford forums - but still wants my opinion.

I am a Dodge guy and don't know shite about Fords - other than watch out when buying their diesels.

I decided not to give an opinion.

[rhagfo]

Flashman wrote:
A good friend of mine - new to RVing - bought a used 21 ft toy hauler to drag his and hers Harleys around the country and he is smart enough to know this is 3/4 ton and up country.

The 2 trucks on his short list are a 2005 Ford 6.0 and a 2009 Ford 6.4. They are on his list because they are way cheaper than Chevys or Dodges.

How to tell him to avoid Ford diesels - even though they are apparent bargains.

He is asking my advice and I don't want to come over as a brand loyal asphat.

Best advice to give your friend if new to RVing and Diesel trucks, is forget the Ford/ Corn Binder 6.0 and 6.4, and look at either a GM/Isuzu/Duramax or a Ram/Cummins.

I would only think about suggesting a Ford/CB to a person that is good at doing their own Wrenching.

[1jeep]

I had a 08 6.4, the truck was deleted, once that is done it will run great. They did have some with radiator issues, but by now I would think those would be mostly resolved.

I never owned a 6.0 but have a friend with a diesel performance shop, he can bullet proof one for under $4k, so if it hasn't been done I would plan for it.

For that size trailer and trying to keep on a budget like I can imagine he might be on, I would look for a gas engine truck, gm 6.0 or ford v10. Maybe even consider a 1/2 ton, I cant imagine a 21' weighting that much as most 1/2 tons can now tow 10k lbs.

[2001400ex]

Both are great engines once you put work into them. You have to remove the emissions stuff, which might not be practical where he lives due to emissions testing. The 6.0 had many other failures and you need a coolant filter ($100 fix). The 6.4 is stout but Ford did a terrible job implementing the DPF. Tell him to read on Ford - trucks.com before he buys one.

[justafordguy]

One of the best places to learn about any issues with those engines is powerstrokehelp.com , this guy really knows these engines,the good and bad.

[mkirsch]

You need to point him to some of the discussions about the 6.0 and 6.4 problems so that he can educate himself. Just telling him "stay away those are bad engines" he may not believe you.

I'm not a Ford guy but there are Ford forums out there with plenty of discussion about these engines and their issues. Head gaskets, clogged oil coolers, EGR...

There are indeed many 6.0's and 6.4's on the road without issues, but those aren't the ones for sale by and large. The truck is for sale because there is something wrong with it, 99.9 percent of the time. When a 6.0 or 6.4 is involved, it's more likely to be an impending engine disaster than not.

[justafordguy]

To answer your question, Between those two trucks the 6.0 is much cheaper/easier to bullet proof. After the know issues on the 6.0 are fixed it is a very reliable engine.

[Vanished]

We also lost our @$$ on a 6.0... Go Cummins in that price range..