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Stay away (like the plague) the Ford 6.0L motors. I don't care who or what has been done to the motor. Between my bil & I we spent 20k in "miracle" repairs on two separate trucks
I wouldn't even tell anyone you liked those F250's with the 6.0I mentioned many times about the fleet of them we were "Issued" in Kandahar. All 6.0 diesel automatics. Some were up-armored, some not. Some were crew cabs and we even had some converted E250 Econoline vans which were lifted and had 4WD with big Dana 60 front axles.After the first year we had about half of the 10-12 trucks still running. I think four didn't make it to 1000 miles, some hajji blew one up, and of the others they wouldn't start, were suffering all sorts of problems, and best of all? No Ford garages, no ford mechanics. We pilots make a deal with the Army guys and scored a Humvee, and another deal with the Royal Marines who gave us a defender 110, easily the best truck we had over there.Don't get a half tom, definitely a 3/4 to 1 ton. I'd say a diesel because when you find one with 250K it will give you nearly that much more. Especially if its a Cummins. Look at Dually's for sure. Chevy's are OK, but for my dime second behind the 2005 Dodge 5.9 Cummins truck but slightly ahead of the later 6.7 liter Cummins. By 2010 you're all done. the 11's chevys have that terrible DEF, tree huger juice. I had to delete my truck to get the power and mileage I wanted. Now my huge Chevy, weighing in at 8,700 lbs can cruise to my farm and back and get 20.3 MPG. Towing a trailer, the lowest it will produce is high 15's-mid 16's.A 1994-1997 Dodge 2500-3500 are choice picks. All mechanical hosting the best Cummins 6BT engine ever made, the 12 valve. It will make 200 horsepower or 600 HP. Happy with 400 ft/lbs, cool. Need more you can turn it up to 1300 or more ft lbs easily. It will get 20's most of the time and when you wear the truck out, pull the motor and put it into something else for another lifetime!
It might help to keep the suburu if that is an option
I think you've gotten some pretty good advice on 1/2 ton v. 3/4 or 1 ton, and gas v. Diesel. The only thing I would caution you on and it's probably moot as you're in TX which is the biggest pickup market in the US, but make sure you're not getting a used one from the salt belt. Around here the Dodge's rust like the dickens....saw a 5 yo one the other day and surface rust already appearing on the outside of the bed over the rear wheels. My buddy's 2 yo Dodge has rust in the bed at the tailgate. So just check where it lived prior to you buying it. Like I say, probably moot for you, but double check.
For the price range you are looking at and from what it sounds like you are doing I think a 2500 gas would more than fit your bill. Saves you more than a few grand allowing you to find something a little newer with lower miles etc..
Oh forgot to mention, you should rule out the 1/2 ton trucks because everything on them suspension wise will wear out faster. Also the Chevrolet 5.3L engines with active fuel management have been failing at an alarming rate ever since they installed that system in 2007. Avoid ALL of them.
BUT, and this is a big BUT, the chevy rear doors are available full sized and the dodge rear doors are only small size. Maybe not for you, but this was a huge deal for me because of car seats.
OK fair enough, I did exclude the megacab. But if he really needed that much back seat space, then he would have already bought one and this thread would not exist. :)
Dodge trucks have been made in Mexico since about 1988....give or take a little depending on Model. Which is closer to the USA than the Suburu LoL
For the price range you are looking at and from what it sounds like you are doing I think a 2500 gas would more than fit your bill. Saves you more than a few grand allowing you to find something a little newer with lower miles etc..Sure a diesel is always nice for the power, and if you are going to be doing a ton of driving the fuel mileage is better. It really doesn't sound like you need any more power than a gasser would provide. How many miles you do you plan to put on it in a year? Unless you are putting a ton of miles on it you will never see the pay-off for a gas over diesel. For $20,000 I am guessing you could find a 2010 2500 gasser without to much issue.The half ton trucks would probably also get the job done for you if you needed it to. Depending on what make you are looking at be aware that in the older GM products atleast you are stuck with a 5"9" box with the crew cabs I think. Not real sure about the other makes.I bought my 2012 Duramax a few years ago and am in the process of trying to sell it now. I don't need the power etc.. and a half-ton truck would more than suffice for what I do. The money I spent on the diesel option and a 3/4 ton truck could be better used elsewhere right now.My brother just purchase a 2011 1500 Silverado last night. He also considered the Tundras and Titans. Around here anyway he would have been paying about a $2500 premium over a GM or Ford. I think he got the dealer down to $22500 for a 2011 extended cab (he wanted ext cab for the 6-1/2' box) with a little less than 50,000 miles.
If you are in texas I suggest giving this place a look. We arer in Nebraska and we went here to buy our dodge 3500 for the farm. Everything up here was all rusted out or had a ton of miles. They get trucks in from all over the country. No pressure sales. My boss and spent all afternoon in the lot. Every time we found one we wanted to drive I just went to the office and got the keys. Found what we wanted made the deal and went home.http://www.northtexastruckstop.com/
test drove an 05 silverado 1500 today. aside from how fricken comfortable the seats were, i wasn't impressed. mileage was high and had a nice amount of rust on it..we then saw a suburban 2500 LT with a 6.0. we said... what the heck, lets see it. lol, we fell in love. this thing is a tank. its an 07 with 124K. Its been sitting on the lot for a while so I am guessing the market for those here isnt all that great. Anyway, we're debating using that as a family/hauling vehicle, then getting a beater pickup when my granola burner is paid off and using that for farm use.we're still debating and discussing, but my wife rarely says she likes driving something, and its in our price range. I need to read up on that year and setup.
If in no hurry watch the GSA Aution site... they often sell burbs on there. In fact they have some low mileage ones on there now in Alaska LoL
I hated my 6.0 gm motor. Mileage sucked and really had no power. (06 1500hd)I loved my old burb too, but all the 3/4 burbs have the 6.0 or 6.2 now.If the deal goes south, check out west coast vehicles too. No rust and many have low miles.
We may trade a vehicle in but I need to see the #s.The k&n intake and all have this burb a lot of pep and the 6 speed felt great. I'm nervous about taking a note out on an 8 year old vehicle but it would serve duel roles for us.The only thing this truck would need on my end is new tires in a year. They're replacing 2 of them and I hate having unmatched tires.
Quote from: stewie on January 10, 2017, 11:49:03 PMWe may trade a vehicle in but I need to see the #s.The k&n intake and all have this burb a lot of pep and the 6 speed felt great. I'm nervous about taking a note out on an 8 year old vehicle but it would serve duel roles for us.The only thing this truck would need on my end is new tires in a year. They're replacing 2 of them and I hate having unmatched tires.Full time AWD or selectable 4WD on that Burb? if it's AWD, they can't change just two tires. if you purchase the vehicle would make that part of the deal to have all 4 changed at the same time. you're right to hate mismatched tires. it's bad news all around