tony1

With the story and comments about Speed Factory's truck troubles, I can see there is a lot of knowledge here about diesel trucks and towing. I'm in the market for a diesel truck to pull a 28' trailer, I'd love to hear what to look for and what to stay away from. Any suggestions?

boostedh22a

There will be a lot of different opinions here, but I have always had very good luck with the 7.3l diesel.

I've owned and towed with a 99 F250, and a 00 Excursion, both with absolutely no troubles. I've never made a cross country trip with them, but I've logged 10's of thousands of miles on them with no issues. I've gone as far west as Dallas, as far east as e-town, and as far south as Bradenton.

I do maintain them religiously though. Both also doubled as daily drivers too. If they were just for towing, I would get a 1 ton dually. But the 3/4 tons tow just fine as well.

A plus, they don't break the bank either like some of the newer diesel trucks. I bought both of mine with fairly low mileage for less than $15k each.

john@apf

Anything with the 7.3 Powerstroke

germanegturbo

2007 trailblazer ss lol...it has adjustable back suspension..not a diesel though..ls2

johnls

iTrader: (1)

ahobbs

subscribed. No that I have another daily I want to upgrade my truck to a diesel

Enzo-Racing

I'm using a Dodge Ram Cummins with a 6 speed and it pulls like a freight train..
I would recommend it.. Get a 2003 and up..

PRO1

Ford F350 7.3L
If you really want the pulling power get the 6 speed manual transmission i swear you could pull a house down

boostedcivicsir

you arent pulling a 28' box with that.
maybe you are but it will be an arguement the whole way.

dan had his brothers f550 with the 7.3 this weekend pulling a 42' tri axle with my heap and the golf cart.

did pretty well, didnt set the world on fire, but pulled nicely.

it is a gooseneck though. i am assuming it is a conventional with a tongue.

061000rr

iTrader: (2)

no doubt the ford f-series with a 7.3 is the way to go. like i said on sf post the best investment you can make on one is to get a egt gauge. if you put a chip on it just make sure you upgrade the tq and upgrade the trans cooler just to be safe. if you stay under 18k in the trailer a single axle with a good set of e rated tires will be fine. anything over 18k i would rec a dually.

alopez84

I love my 96 F-250 7.3 its not the newest thing and wont set any land speed records but it tows great!

0Innes

iTrader: (3)

i have always used 7.3l diesels -- engines are beasts -- tranmissions suck -- broke 2 of them in F350 duallies pulling 48' goosenecks loaded - both were probably overloaded so i can attribute the damage to that

the excursion i still have has the 7.3l, have owned it for 6 years and towed from open trailers to a 30' enclosed with it all over the country and it has been a trooper (i have put 100k on it since i have owned it, probably 45-50k of that towing)

with a 28' enclosed you shouldn't have any worries -- there are smoking deals on 99-03 7.3l trucks now too and that leaves you room in the budget for basic upgrades (tuner and exhaust) and a maintenance budget

i have casually been looking at trucks to replace my Excursion but i can't find anything that can touch what the Excursion offers me -- i can use it for work, throw engines/parts in the back, can fit a 4'x8' piece of plywood in the back, tow whatever i need to, fit 7 people if i wanted and it is amazing for family trips with all the crap that comes with kids

Blown90hatcH

Yeah, no way. It may pull it, but not reliably. Definitely anything 7.3L and up Tony and aim for something with a GCWR beyond what you think you will be towing. The 6.7L Ford will get it done, but if you can swing it, go up.

mrbsponge

The Cummins is a strong competitor either in the 5.9L or the new 6.7. Problem with the 5.9 is alot of them are manual trannies and I dont know about you tony but im just to old to be driving a lot of miles with a manual. The auto cummins really require a tranny mod which isnt very hard to do, because letsface it were not gonna leave any of the diesels stock with as easy as they are to modify them.

The duramax stock is a really good truck, it will hold good power and its tranny is pretty decent and smart, it will limit tq output to a certain extent with the tq management system.

The 7.3 power stroke is great, they are hard to kill under 450hp and the trannies are good, problem is they are just old and personally ford interior features back then were kinda wack.

Im not a fan of the 6.0 as we had horrible injector issues and oil leaks hence the injector issues.

We use a 6.4L twin turbo Ford now and its a very badass truck, makes almost 40psi of boost stock LOL.

But I am in the market for a 2004-6 duramax again.


All fo the new diesels use a DPF system and to do anything to them you will need a good programmer and an exhaust to ditch the DPF, but once you do they are pretty amazing!



there is gonna be alot of opinions in here im sure though.


But personally like I said I want another duramax

rookiepains

Stay away from the Ford 6.4 superduty . It can tow a building but will go thru fuel like it's ****ing free. I get 7 mpg on highway towing my 24ft trailer .

tmar253

iTrader: (3)

x2
I have an 01 F350 Crew Cab, although I haven't had any issue with my auto trans I would much rather have the 6 speed. The 4r100's are know to have problems. My next truck will be a 03-07 dually 5.9l I6 6 speed, I would definately consider this truck if you are in the market for a truck.

ifiluky

We used a 2005 Dodge Dually Cummins and drove from So Cal to Jersey pulling a 28 ft Trailer. We Averaged 12 mpg and the trailer was packed.

No problems pulling that thing at all. Btw it had a Banks 6 gun

A2gt35r

I have an 02 f250 w/ powerstroke & a bullydog power pup, it has the auto tranny & I just turned 199,000 miles & this thing just keeps going. I chose the 02 because it was the last year of the 7.3. I avarage 15 mpg & the power pup is said to add 120 hp & 200 + tq, it also adds revs to the auto tranny.
Crank sensor kept throwing a code, but that was a recall so the dealer replaced on all 7.3 for the years with that.
I heard that the cummings has a hard time out of the whole & the duramax has seen tranny issues. As for the new 6.4 I have heard guys not even getting the milage i see & the premium is large for that motor.
This truck is a 250 w/ supercab, my next truck will be a 350 crew w/ 7.3 for sure.

nos3tc

my buddy has a 99 7.3 that all he does is basic maintnance to and has never had a problem.he tows a 53ft gosneck with lq and a 30ft.he bought a newer 6.0 and sold it in a month

BlakeJ53

iTrader: (1)

They all have their ups and downs. I have a 99.5 F350 crew cab long bed 6 speed. I can throw Five 6’4 300 pounds guys in mine and they will all have plenty of room. They are a little under powered in stock form for my liking but there are cheap modes to help them out. They are very reliable. The 2003 to 2007 superdutys blow and are very unreliable trucks I don’t want to go into it just don’t buy one. The Excursions aren't meant to tow heavy like there truck counterparts. Ford made many suspension adjustments to get them to fit in a standard garage compromising towing capabilities. Those problems can also be fixed with aftermarket suspension. Fords are cheaper to buy then the other two but you will spend more supping them up. The Dodge Cummins has a great powertrain. They have a motor to end all motors. They are considerably less to add modes to and the motor is the most reliable. If you are big and have big friends you will want a 2003 or newer. Dodge doesn’t have a crew cab before that year. They still aren’t as wide and roomy as Chevy’s and Fords but man they pull like hell. Chevys are the most expensive to start out with, and are considered the Cadillac of tow trucks used by all old people to tow campers. It doesn’t take much to add power to them. But the tranny will need to be built. As in every tow rig I own I like it to be a stick shift. Ford and Chevy both share the ZF6 a medium duty truck transmission. Very stout. Although you will have a hard time finding a 6 speed Duramax they are rare. Dodges 6 speed is the smoother shifting of the whole group, but parts are hard to find for the earlier 2001 to 2003 or 6 speeds. Also if I were in the market for a tow rig I would not buy anything newer than 2007. In 2008 allot of emissions crap was added and sunk there mileage in the drain. You can pull off the DPF exhaust filter and other crap, but if you get caught you get in allot trouble. If I had the money to build one it would be a F350 crew cab with a Cummins and a 6 speed trans. Best truck you could ever have. Last but not least whatever you buy get a set of gauges I.E. boost, Trans temp, egt. It will keep whatever truck you buy living longer. Off my soap box now.

nasteboyii

Mikey brothers truck is actually a f350 not a f550 (we both wish it was a f550) ahhaha
but yea pulls fine. As always i always want more power but nothing a chip couldnt take care of.

tmar253

iTrader: (3)

The 7.3L was produce until 2003. I wasn't aware there was a recall on the crank sensor on the 7.3L 99-03? I know when I first got my F350 it would randomly die which was caused by the cam position sensor,which was recalled.

Boostedld9

I agree with all of the above. I have a 01 f250 and the 7.3 is awesome, but like some stated can have tranny woes. I think the best upgrade in stock form is upgrading the trans cooler to a bigger unit. My truck before lift and tires could get 18-20mpg hwy, and 14-16 towing hwy.

htx_jr.95eg

I don't have a enclosed yet but damn we just got one about a month ago.... lol... so far it has already let me down going on limp mode... I think thats the only flaw of these types of trucks, get rid of the emissions crap and put some sort of programmer to fix the mpg , I think we have our self one pretty good truck... I have a f-450 dually... should be able to do anything at least i think....

j-bird20

I have a 6.4L Superduty. The problem with these trucks are the DPF filter setup. Delete the DPF and get Spartan or SCT programmer and ur good. I love my truck. Tows my 24ft box,car,quad and everything else i have in thier NO PROBLEM. Also on the plus side it runs 13.3@95mph. The 7.3L are work horse motors and are also great they will run forever. DO NOT get a 6.0 they are garbage. If you like the way the older fords look they i would get the 7.3L but if u want something that looks great and performs great i would go 6.4L. All the new diesel trucks in general are way to overpriced now anyway,wether it be the powerstroke,duramax or cummins.