Considering a truck camper - truck advice?
Hello. We are considering buying a truck camper and truck. I'm going to buy a used truck and was wondering if there was a solid favorite among you guys. I started looking at 1999 - 2002 diesel ...
Forum Discussion
Advice: buy a STOUT truck. So many people buy light duty pickups then want to haul a camper... and they already own the wimpy truck and don’t want to sell it and buy another. You have the chance to do it right the first time.
Go for the one-ton dually.
Any American one ton dually ever built will haul whatever camper you want, and feel stable and secure doing it
All diesel pickups of all years are NOT created equal.
There are strategic good ones to look for.
If you’re looking at diesel trucks from the era you mentioned, the Ford is a good choice. ‘99 was a particularly good year for Ford diesels.
If you buy an older Ford diesel, don’t buy anything with a 6.0. Get a 7.3, they went up to the middle of 2003.
If you’re a Chevy guy, I’d avoid the earlier Duramax for a few reasons but if you can get your hands on an ‘06, grab it, that’s the Holy Grail Duramax, the “LBZ”. It’s got all the good parts in it, it’s got the better trans than the earlier ones, and it’s the last year of pre-emissions junk.
The ‘07 is second choice. It’s got emissions junk but that can be deleted.
The Dodge with a Cummins is an extremely excellent truck, but unfortunately Dodge had their head up their hiney and didn’t make them in a real crew cab until much later, so if you need a full-size crew cab, the Dodge is out.
Go for the one-ton dually.
Any American one ton dually ever built will haul whatever camper you want, and feel stable and secure doing it
All diesel pickups of all years are NOT created equal.
There are strategic good ones to look for.
If you’re looking at diesel trucks from the era you mentioned, the Ford is a good choice. ‘99 was a particularly good year for Ford diesels.
If you buy an older Ford diesel, don’t buy anything with a 6.0. Get a 7.3, they went up to the middle of 2003.
If you’re a Chevy guy, I’d avoid the earlier Duramax for a few reasons but if you can get your hands on an ‘06, grab it, that’s the Holy Grail Duramax, the “LBZ”. It’s got all the good parts in it, it’s got the better trans than the earlier ones, and it’s the last year of pre-emissions junk.
The ‘07 is second choice. It’s got emissions junk but that can be deleted.
The Dodge with a Cummins is an extremely excellent truck, but unfortunately Dodge had their head up their hiney and didn’t make them in a real crew cab until much later, so if you need a full-size crew cab, the Dodge is out.
