Heavy Duty Truck Options?

[olroper99]

I was a big block gas engine fan for years...pulled trailers for many many miles...

Then I got my first diesel awhile back...nothing fancy, just an old 1995 F350 crewcab 4X4 with a 7.3 in it.

WOW...am I impressed!

Ol' truck gats 25 to 27 mpg empty and about 17 pulling my heavy ol' 4 horse.

And gobs of power down low that I could never get out of a gas big block. The 454's I used to build have more power up high than this but I hardly ever used them there.

The diesels seem to need more maintenance...as in more frequent oil changes etc...but I'd never want to be pulling with gas again.

I've been looking for a dually truck now...an older one. Wish I could get a Ford with a Cummins in it!!!

All the older Dodges I've looked at have serious front end problems or the interiors are falling apart.

I like the old 7.3's just fine but they cost a lot more to rebuild than a Cummins and can't make the horsepressure that a 5.9 can.

Russ

[Shorts]

Wish I could get a Ford with a Cummins in it!!!

All the older Dodges I've looked at have serious front end problems or the interiors are falling apart.

Get crackin: http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/cummins-conversions-shop-talk-tools-fabrication/

Dodge for as long as I can remember have had crappy front ends. You end up renting them really As for the interiors I think Chevy won that battle. I found my K1500 to be pretty comfortable. I'd prefer a Chevy interior on a Cummins engine.

The nice thing about these big three trucks is there is a real good aftermarket market. You can find all kind of goodies for the truck from top to bottom, head to tail.

And I stand corrected on the DRW gears. Learn something new every day!

[Chris B]

Well guys thanks for all of the replies again. And just an update, I ended up with a Ford F350 srw. Its got the 7.3 and the six speed. All the dodges I looked at seemed to have right around 200,000 miles with the manual trans and they still wanted around 15,000 for them. I picked this truck up for 13 and it has 128,000 on it now. And so far so good. Although this truck has the 3.73s in it, it is nice on the highway btw. But as for pulling around the trailers I have a low hole on the trans to make up for the gearing. Thanks again for all of your guys help.

Thanks,

Chris

[MADMAX22]

Good choice if its anything like my dads rigs. Just info for ya, his first f350 with the 351Windsor did 200k miles between engine rebuilds. He did that twice, sold the truck with 500k miles on it. We beat that thing up pretty good and it towed horse trailers between wyoming and cali for some time. He replaced it with a 02 f350 fifth wheel 7.3l diesel. He rolled over about 250k miles and had to get the front end overhauled and the fluids changed. It still purrs like no other and I am sure will get many more miles out of it. All I can recommend is changing the fluids and watch the front end bearings and you should be good to go. Enjoy.