Best Tow Vehicle

First the bad news. I don't think you will find anything out there, that would be dependable enough for full timing, in a diesel 1-ton, for $5,000.

A couple older diesel trucks to look for would be a Dodge, with a 5.9, or maybe an older Ford, with the 7.3.

If you were able to find an older GM, with the 8.1 gas, or an older Ford with the V-10 gas, they might work for you. Both were good haulers, but used a lot of fuel.

Good luck on your search, however, you may need to spend a little more up front, to get a reliable truck.

Jerry

When it comes to "best tow vehicle" such as your title, I was thinking for what size load and how many miles to travel each year.

Several have converted 4-8 year old class 8 trucks from 3 axle to 2 axle and have a great truck that can tow just about anything with a 400 HP diesel and 9 to 13 speed automatic transmission. These cost about $34,000 once you sell the extra rear axle and spare tires. While these trucks already have 350,000 miles on them, many will run 850,000 miles before taken out of line service when they are only about 8 years old. Yes driven more than 100,000 miles a year for 8-10 years is not uncommon anymore.

Yet with a $5,000 budget, you are not looking for the "Best" but rather the most economical. I don't know what to say, because someone willing to sell a diesel truck for $5,000 means they already know it is a money pit, they are getting rid of it for that reason, and you will probably pay $50 to have it inspected just to find out that the transmission might be slipping or the engine is about toast.

You might be better off paying $4,000 down and payments of say $150 a month for 2-3 years to buy a slightly better truck. You might be buying a truck that will have less breakdowns. This might save you more than the $150 monthly payment.

I agree that looking for a 7.3L diesel truck would be a great idea. Also consider a 7.3L equipped transit van, like a airport shuttle van. Complete with a wheelchair lift that might be sold for say $1,250 or so, you can sometimes buy a used airport shuttle van with about 200,000 miles on it for about $7,500 - $8,000. Getting a diesel, you would want to look for a E-450, with it's heavier 14,050 pound GVWR. The lighter duty E-350 would only have a 12,000 GVWR, and that heavy 800 pound diesel on the front axle means it might not have much cargo capacity for towing a trailer.

Doing a search for E-350 and Diesel fuel will quickly find some on TruckTrader.com.

I also agree that the older V10 Fords and 8.1L GMC's and even the Dodge V10's had great pulling power, just poor miles per gallon. This leaves their sales price fairly low cost, while driving costs will be higher per mile. This will work well if you are doing less than 4,000 miles a year.

Fred.

You might find someone with a 6.0 Ford Powerstroke willing to unload it for the price. Then plan on 3-5k to fix it up!

Chris

An OBS style Dodge 5.9 or a Ford 7.3 would be my recommendation for you budget. Either way if you have access to a mechanic for any work I would suggest paying him a few bucks to check out any used before making a purchase. But again expect a few surprises and budget some repairs.

For a $5,000 you are looking at a truck that is probably 20 years old. A F350/3500 diesel 10 years old will probably cost you $10-15,000. You might get a sweetheart deal in a private sale.

A truck prior to 2005 won't have near the towing number of the newer trucks either.

If you want a vehicle you would want to be seen in and you plan on getting to the next stop you may need to rethink your budget.

You want to find a full time TV for 5K?

Let me give you some prices.

I paid well over a grand just for tires for my TV two years ago.

My 8 YO diesel TV is worth 28 grand.

I would not take 5K for my 93 diesel TV with 175K on the clock. 8K may get it but not 5K.

Injectors for my diesel are worth 5K for them and installation.

You may be able to pull it off on some weird deal but 99.99% of the time you are just buying trouble for a TV for 5 grand.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
You want to find a full time TV for 5K?

Let me give you some prices.

I paid well over a grand just for tires for my TV two years ago.

My 8 YO diesel TV is worth 28 grand.

I would not take 5K for my 93 diesel TV with 175K on the clock. 8K may get it but not 5K.

Injectors for my diesel are worth 5K for them and installation.

You may be able to pull it off on some weird deal but 99.99% of the time you are just buying trouble for a TV for 5 grand.

I would pay $2,000 tops for a 93 Chevy 6.5 turbo diesel and $3k tops if the AC works.

A $5k full time tow vehicle is a oxymoron, IMO.
Even a blown 6.0 is not a TV, let alone full time TV.

I would pay $2,000 tops for a 93 Chevy 6.5 turbo diesel and $3k tops if the AC works.

That's fine. I wouldn't sell it to you anyway. :B

With ARP's and Fel-Pro head gaskets the thing is for sure WaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaY more reliable than a stock 6.0 PS and more than likely more reliable than a band-aided up 6.0 PS. And I can run my 93 DB2 pump on WMO for free. Try that with a 6.0. and see what happens. :p