Ok so after Dale Earnhardting a no driving money off highway that never learned two objects can not be in same area at one time. Good news just messed my old Dodge up some sent his butt flipping thru field after breaking power pole. Bad news he did not look to hurt,ok maybe just my opinion there.

So going to be getting newer truck but still will have to be used. Looking at Chevy 2500 minimum and probably 2015 to 2018 at best,

Any extreme things to avoid in that time from? Not stuck on diesel or gas,but more leaning towards.Not married to diesel or gas,but lean towards gas.

Will be daily work truck and tow for 32' trailer on close race weekends. Motor home on long hauls.

You'll be overwhelmed with diesel recommendations. Survey says......

Understand and expecting. More interested in what to avoid then what to get.

My family has 3 88-98 Chevy trucks with gassers. My 96 was my first car. It's rust free and down right bullet proof (except fuel pumps) and has been retired to a cruiser now. My dad's 96 dually with the 350 was my second favorite truck til it got totalled. If I found a clean 88-98 dually today I would buy it in a heartbeat no questions asked.
- We also have 4 04-06 gassers. Few electrical issues, doors all rust, brake lines are trash, but pretty good trucks. I love driving my 05 but I don't nearly as often anymore for worry of something happening to it ( I don't trust other drivers at all ).
- my dad replaced his dually with a 2005 (I believe) Kodiak and it has been perfect except for a gauge cluster.
- 2 friends with 07 and 09 gassers, bother traded in for tundra's a few years later.
- Family friend owns many Duramax trucks of every generation (hauling business). He told me don't buy a diesel though because of the emissions maintenance now and the older trucks without emissions are still somewhat expensive and are going to start wearing out components and it becomes expensive because diesel maintenance is just more expensive.
- From working in a body shop, I can tell you Toyota builds what seems to be the most well built truck. If they made a dually I wouldn't hesitate to buy one. GM Ford and RAM were all basically the same in quality. One would be better than the others in some areas and vise versa. None were perfect.
- The mechanic portion of the shop had many more issues with Rams (hemis) and 5.3 Silverados (multiple cylinder mode stuff casing lifter/cam problems) Ford's tended to have many more suspension issues than Ram or GM.
- That said I'm about to buy a new truck and it will be a 7.3 Ford dually. I couldn't be given a new gm with the adaptive oil pump and direct injection. That just seems to me to be a terrible idea. I would buy a Duramax, but I can't justify the 10 grand. Ram still has no answer for their multiple displacement system wiping out lifters and cams and to be honest, I can't trust a company that is being bought and sold over and over again. Just the same way gm lost my trust with their bail out and how that era truck just seemed to be trash. I don't think anyone builds anything new that is the quality they were 25 years ago. Sure maybe fancier with more power but I don't see any of these new trucks being as durable and trouble free as my 96 is in 20 years.

looking at cpl with 6.0 gas motor. Anyone with input good or bad. Dependability and towing power wise.

My truck, “my ol gray mare”, is an 06 2500 HD Chevy. 6.0 gas, with 347,000 miles. I did have to get the trans rebuilt, after I let a shop “flush” the trans. Other than that, it’s been across half the country, multiple times, and I’ve only had to change a couple small normal replacement items.
It has towed my junk from Texas and back to Ga and to Chicago and all over the NE, and to S Fla.
It doesn’t owe me a thing. Drug my 28 ft trailer at 9500 lbs and it never go a speeding ticket towing, but it never gets better than 12 mpg. either. Usually, towing, it’s about 9/10. I’d still tow with it to Texas and back.

Chris I would not be afraid of a 6.0 ! It's a really good motor but it's not going to be as powerful or as good on fuel as the diesel ! I bought my 2012 used through Car Guru's !

I would not have issue with truck few years older. Except cash vs finance. With three projects going and all require cash to keep them rolling and as GC I don't really know my exact profit till close to end. I can't turn cash loose to easily and financing would just allow me to carry that longer.

I don't think anything over 5 years old can be finance,not sure,Got to check all that tomorrow. Plus see what insurance does on my Dodge. His fault 100% but does not mean he has insurance or I don't get enlarged for my next colonoscopy in advance.

Chris if you buy a GM gas truck disable the active fuel management if you you want the valve train to survive. That is the main thing we see failing on the gas trucks from about 08 up. About $200.00 will take care of it.

If you also put many miles on not towing consider looking at the Ram 2500. These have rear coil springs and ride better than others unloaded. With gas I’d opt for no less than a 4.10 diff gear for towing.

Sorry Chevrolet this time. I have 2005 Ram and been pain in azz on few things. Plus always been Chevy guy.

I am looking at two Duramax's right now and going to check them tomorrow. As I stated not stuck on gas or diesel. One longer life and better milage. The other cheaper to work on or have repaired. Like most things a good and bad.3500 is not a negative.

Will be used for work. Figure ride will be little rougher which not issue for me. Also Give me good reason to work on my 69 Panel some and get it dolled up and thumping. Now where did I hide that big chunk of cash?

I bought a 96 GMC 2500 hd 4x4 new. 454 4L80e trans. SRW Kept it till about 2010

Carried a Lance camper and towed trailers with various cars. Was a good truck but road hard and was a dog on hills.

Bought a used 2007 GMC Duramax/Allison, same type truck 2500 HD 4x4 SRW

Way better truck than the ‘96. Rides better, Not even close on pulling power and is just an overall better truck that has everything

The 96 was a WT with some options. The 2007 is an SLE both extended cab but the 2007 has door access to the rear seat.

My buddy had 2 newer Chevy pickups. One lost oil pressure at the track. An LS engine, 6 litre. We had one work van at work do it too. What a pain changing the oil pump on those. They s-u-c-k. Trash in the pan probably stuck the relief for the pump.

My 454 puked the PS pump, sheared an idler pulley, plugged the heater core, Water pump leaked.


Had 85,000 when I sold it.

Duramax has 96,000 on it now. Runs, rides the same as when I bought it and I like to floor it sometimes just to blow some carbon out on the way home from work. Did it today! Was flyin in no time.

I've got a 2003 Silverado I bought on fleabay in 2006. Extended cab DRW. It had 55k on it then I've put 100k on it since. Little things have gone wrong like injectors, leather seat on drivers side seat cracked from the Florida sun.

A couple of years ago I found a body shop that would blow it apart to paint the it same color, cost 6k. I replaced the headliner after the paint job.

It tows a 6'6" tall 24 footer that weighs 8400 while getting 13 miles to the gallon at 65-67 MPH.

I'm not planning to get rid of it now.

Used trucks can be good.

Yea I have had cpl good used vehicles. A huge up is someone else has already taken the drive off lot dive in value that comes with new.

As for gas motor. We had a 1988 Chevy dually with 175000 on it when we sold it.we put one trans mission in around 150,000,a alternator little over 100k and ignition coil about same. I have seen it at Track 3 times since and then and that was 10 years after we sold it. It would not pull off as quick as a diesel,but normally I would pull paint off them when we hit a big hill.LOL This was back in early 90's and diesels where not as stout as they are now and that was a Ford I was passing most of the time.

Thanks for suggestions. Idea cancelled. Too much money wasted. Cheaper to find older truck and rework and easier to work on in future.

Plus no monthly payments!!

Asking prices on nice used trucks are so high it makes it difficult to justify. Almost makes more sense to buy new and that way you know it was well taken care of from the start.

quote:

Asking prices on nice used trucks are so high it makes it difficult to justify.

Chris's needs are immediate, but many say during these economic times the price of vehicles is likely to plummet, both new and used, in the not too distant future. Of course no one can know the future for sure but......

Ole reliable. What DEF ? lol... It owes me nothing

Yea when a 2010 with 160k asking is same as my 2005 was new. Its real hard. I need bigger truck for towing.I need nicer truck for work,appearance counts. I need my rich uncle to kick the bucket,as soon as I find out who he is.

I all honesty of not for towing the race car I would not be looking near as hard,

Also figuring I have FL70 with 28k miles and 24' box that we need conversion on.Not patting my own back too much but its does rival most any factory conversion. It needs some work because dad thinks letting it sit is better than using and chance of something happening to it. Spend cpl to 3k on it and towing issue is history. Take some elbow grease,but they have a little left in them.

A truck would work for lots of my towing w/o the extra size of motor home . Plus 1500 and 2500s are about equal in price.

On the fence.Biggest thing is having a damn monthly payment.Have not had one for 10 years and its nice that way.