opinions needed on diesel truck situation!

[woodtrucker]

Ok. I am in real need of some opinions here. It's not to discuss which is best out of the big three. It's to discuss what is my best option here.
The Good: I came upon an unbelievable chance to buy my dad's 2006 LLY duramax with ally 6 speed auto transmission for payoff. This left me selling my 1995 power stroke that had a lot of blood sweat and tears poured into it to get it up to snuff so while I'm sad about that, I have gained an awesome truck.
The bad: I will now have to sell me stroke and pay probably about a year on the duramax.
7k will probably be what I owe when everything shakes out.
I'm getting a crew cab duramax for 13500!!!!
So my needed opinions are:
-should I be worried about the repair costs and ability to repair my new 06 dmax from home vs say a 7.3 or cummins older models?
-should I sell both the powerstroke and duramax and pick up say a 99-02 super duty 7.3 since I know the engine and feel they would be easier to maintain and possibly come away almost debt free.

I don't like debt but I sure like the duramax…tough decision here and some opinions would be VERY helpful guys! Regardless, we just had the best camping trip of our life last weekend so life is good no matter what! thanks RV.net

[rhagfo]

lpxguy wrote:
Now it's time to loose those stock mirrors for some tow mirrors. You'll sleep better knowing your the only one with 6 head bolts per cyl.!!! Go D/Max!!!

Well Cummins was 1st with six studs per cylinder, and still have them!

[Redsky]

Debt free is always the way to go. Only problems with older diesels is with biodiesel fuel which you can hopefully avoid.

With early LLY engines there was a bad head gasket design that caused problems for owners but this was fixed later in the model run.

With the newer truck you have a safer truck in the event of an accident with stronger side impact protection, ABS, and air bags. Not that anyone every has an accident.

[Eric45653]

oughtsix wrote:
2006 Duramax's are a piece of junk... what is your fathers phone number?

LOL but I can only speak for the 6.0 PSD. But still LOL.

[oughtsix]

2006 Duramax's are a piece of junk... what is your fathers phone number?

[Paul_Clancy]

Get one of the aftermarket trans lines kits when you are ready. Cheaper than gm and no crimps to leak. Permanent fix. Alligator has them.

[woodtrucker]

I hope those hoses will hold out for a year so i can keep the truck!

[TRIPLE8]

Nice truck, Mines the same year and color, except Lbz and towing mirrors, congrats

[lpxguy]

Now it's time to loose those stock mirrors for some tow mirrors. You'll sleep better knowing your the only one with 6 head bolts per cyl.!!! Go D/Max!!!

[C_Schomer]

Bummer. Gotta do what's best for you. Craig

[kaydeejay]

woodtrucker wrote:
Well i've had a few discoveries today on the dmax. Tranny cooler lines leaking and psteering lines leaking. Common problems but no way can I afford to invest $500 in hoses now while I am paying on it for the next year. Grrr.

If they are only weeping slightly I would just leave them. This is common but if you really don't lose any fluid so why worry about it?

[BurbMan]

I wouldn't worry about the trans lines...they "seep" where the hoses are crimped to the hard lines. Most just seep like that, very few if any outright fail. You can get GM parts at about half of what the daler wants at GM Parts Giant. They also have good exploded parts diagrams so you can see what you need.

[roper]

I owned a Chevy 04 DMax/Ally LLY for 10 years. It was a great truck. The only issues I had were with overheating about 5 or 6 times pulling big grades. Just sold it and got into a Ram 3500 DRW Cummins/Aisin 4.10. The Chevy was a solid truck and I think they had fixed the overheating issues in the later years of the LLY. Congrats.

[woodtrucker]

Well i've had a few discoveries today on the dmax. Tranny cooler lines leaking and psteering lines leaking. Common problems but no way can I afford to invest $500 in hoses now while I am paying on it for the next year. Grrr.

[C_Schomer]

You'll think your 95 PS is up to snuff til you tow with the 06 C/D! I'd be all over it if I had what you have now. It's like comparing a BB gun to a 30-06. Craig