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Something else I forgot is whatever one you get, if it doesn't already have a K&N airfilter get one and install it right away. Any turbo-D loves this quick and cheap mod and 2-3 MPG increase is common.
Dodge, they were my least favorite in the beginning, as they seemed to need more attention, and often that attention came in dealer only form. There's no doubting the Cummins, and from everyone else I have talked to, by 2005 they had transmission issues squared away. Other than that, my partner at work has one, and he dragged the afore mentioned trailer for me once, getting 21 mpg.
Ideally, Someone find me a crew cab, long bed, F350 SRW with a Cummins hooked to an Allison, and I'll buy it
Thanks guys, I'm liking all of this input without it being a pissing contest.
I would put a 12 valve Dodge with an NV4500/5600 against any Ford or Chevy of the same vintage and even later models. Can't go wrong with a big Dana 80 in the back and a Dana 60 up front which comes as standard on the diesel/manual combo. Spend a few bucks on gauges and a get a modified fuel plate and that 5.9 will be screaming. My only qualm with these Dodges is that they were designed purely for working... ride is stiff until you throw 1/2 ton in the back then it rides like a passenger car and also it takes a while for the cooling system to equalize (cools far too well for short trips).
I spent a couple years really deciding what I wanted through using various trucks and researching and I ended up with 12 valve 4x4 with the NV4500. I also run 100% vegetable oil and these are really THE ideal engines for it. The p7100 is arguably the best injector pumps for this class of diesel. I have never done worse than 17mpg around town and it gets about 23 - 24 on hwy. However none of that really matters since I only use diesel to warm up the engine then switch over to veggie.
If money were not an issue and I were to choose again... I would choose the same!
I notice someone mentioned about not going back to gas after having a diesel... so incredibly true!
Ford, the ONLY one I would have would be a 7.3 But that goes back to 2003 and most available have 200K miles on them.
Miles are almost a non-issue on the 7.3, especially '99-02. My neighbor is a government contracted landscaper with a huge fleet of trucks, from F250s up to F650s. He swears by the 7.3 of those years and many of his trucks are cresting 400-500k miles. When I was looking at them, 200k miles was the lowest I found, and I was finding daily use '99-02 F350s with 350k miles on them still in great shape. And, still out of my price range.
This is pretty much what I do for a living and I just wanted to reiterate what others are saying.
When it comes to Ford, don't even look at anything outside of the 7.3. The 6.0 and 6.4 are both complete junk and will cost you an arm and a leg to keep running. The jury is still out on the new 2011 6.7, but we'll see what happens. I wouldn't personally jump into one of those until they've been out for a year or so. Let the commercial fleets deal with the issues and come up with the fixes.
When it comes to Dodge the recommendation is to find the lowest mileage 6BT you can. These engines are bullet proof. Outside of that I would look for the ISB CR motor as they had ironed out the initial problems with the ISB for the ISB CR version. The B6.7 has similar issues to the emissions compliant Ford motors and I wouldn't recommend it.
I wouldn't recommend any GM unless you are going for a newer emissions compliant truck. The Duramax/Allison combo is the most reliable setup on the new 2008+ trucks.
So, if you want a "real" diesel you need to go with the Ford 7.3 or the Dodge 6BT mileage and age be damned, they run forever. Outside of that I would go with the Dodge up to 2007 and then stick with the GM trucks after that. If the new 6.7 shows that Ford has finally ironed out the issues, that would be my recommendation, but it's still too early.
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