Diesel Dually used truck recommendations? I know nothing basically...

[SUPERJET-113]

I'm not really brand loyal, they all have their issues, but what would you guys recommend for a used diesel dually for 25K-35k. I want to pull a 34-36 ft. 5th wheel toy hauler. Do I need a 3/4 or 1 ton? Ive never had a diesel of any kind. I'm looking for something maybe around 2010-2020 in years. Chevy HD Duramax? Dodge Ram cummings diesel? My Dad says stay away from the Ford diesels, but I dont know anything about them.

Thank you for any helpful replies!

 

[sturat]

Whats the weight of the trailer?

edit: no offense to your pops but hes flat out wrong lol ... i might be biased

 

[Chad24384]

They all have pluses and minuses about each brand. I would say stay away from any engine that has the cp4 pump in it. Allison transmissions are really durable if they haven’t had power added to the base setup. Key to all newer engines is the maintenance. Anything with common rail should be using an additive every tank. They will all go plenty of miles. Stay away from ford 6.4l engines. I’d say the ford 6.0 sucks too, but they can be really good if the right modifications are done. We have a fleet of all of the major brands, with more fords than the other two. We see a ton of problems, but our guys really beat their trucks (utility industry 50% off road 90% idle time). I tell people that a dodge is like a bulldozer, will pull anything but not the most comfortable, a Chevy/gmc is like a Cadillac, quiet and has all the bells and whistles, and ford is in the middle, good power, and comfortable. You have to kind of know your weights to decide on 3/4 ton or 1 ton, and cab configuration as tow capacities change by year make and model. My preference is a gmc, (current truck 2024 3500 at4). It pulls my toy hauler just fine, and my 12k lbs mini.

 

[sturat]

(current truck 2024 3500 at4). It pulls my toy hauler just fine, and my 12k lbs mini.

$100k truck... lol. The 7.3 is "THE" million mile engine. 6.4 and 6.7 are good engines with unfortunately mildly expensive prevention, CP4 pump mainly. For under $15k you can get a relatively babied 99-03 7.3 that needs nothing and is ready to go. Most chebbys and GMCs have been ragged out or are pushing major mileage for the chassis. Anything dodge is just a no from me. If you can find something with under 180k for under 20 I'd jump on that. No def, either.

definitely want to try and find something that wasn't used for hauling previously, could be a ticking time bomb, just like Chad said diesels are veerrrrrrry maintenance dependent and intensive, you need to stay up on routine stuff or you pay big bucks very quickly.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

Hey, I dont mind Fords, I drive a Expedition that was a friends and I got a killer deal and its been great for 8 years now and I plan on keeping it(120K now). Before that I mostly always bought Chevy's. That's a sharp looking truck @sturat! I really have no problem with a older truck like yours with the 7.3 either as long as its not clapped out and decent lower miles like you say.
So, it's some certain Ford diesels that can have that CP4 failure I see. I had to look up what a CP4 pump was..lol Ive always been great at doing my own maintenance, so I think I can handle it. This has been great valuable advice already, thank you guys! Keep it coming if you have more info.

 

[Chad24384]

Duramax engines ran a cp4 from 2011-2016 and dodge ran them in 2019, and 20. Highway miles wouldn’t scare me on any trucks. Also if you found a ford with the cp4 you can always change the pump over to the dcr pump. That’s what we do, and always run the disaster prevention kit. All duallys should have been used for towing, and not mall crawling…. That wouldn’t scare me either. (It wasn’t quite $100k…)

 

[C00l_Whips]

Just get a 4th Gen ram dually with the aisin and your avoiding all of these problems these Chevy and Ford guys are talking about. If you really want to avoid problems. Get one with a stick

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Just get a 4th Gen ram dually with the aisin and your avoiding all of these problems these Chevy and Ford guys are talking about. If you really want to avoid problems. Get one with a stick

Agreed Chey and Ford do some really stupid stuff on their Diesel trucks. , a friend of mine that used to hotshot used Dodge Rams and never had any real issues .

 

[sturat]

Bang for the buck if you just need something to haul, a good 7.3 cannot be beat. It just cant. And interior all the way up to 2010 is a direct bolt in swap... parts support is unlimited, cheap to own and maintain compared to most other diesels, no DEF, and with a VERY affordable tuner chip (300 bucks or so) you get great power or towing tunes. Any dodge is is going to fall apart with you inside it, piece by piece bit by bit. Any plastic component is on it's way out if it's not broken already. They also seem to rust faster than any others.

And no, not all duallys have been used to haul heavy. Plenty of street crawlers out there or people who are just not looking to abuse a SRW. My 350 dually was not used to haul outside of moving my RV a few times, the guy I got it from was an iraq vet who stored it most of its life, and it was FAR too clean. I paid 16k out the door for my red 2000 with manual transmission 4:10 gears and 140k miles in 2022.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

I want to haul something like this 36 ft. toy hauler, it's 12,000 lbs. dry, then have a Superjet and a couple motorcycles(a dirt and a street) in the 12' garage.
Does that warrant a 1 ton or will a 3/4 be more than plenty? Thank you guys again for the comments, I'm learning so much about these.

 

[Chad24384]

I’d say 1 ton. Not necessarily a dually though. The older the truck the less tow capacity it’s going to have, legally. My 2006 dodge 3500 2wd dually has less tow capacity than my 2012 srw 4x4 quad cab. And they both have less than my 2024 srw 3500 gmc. I tow a lot. And everything is heavy. They all will do it, some better than others.

 

[wydopen]

I want to haul something like this 36 ft. toy hauler, it's 12,000 lbs. dry, then have a Superjet and a couple motorcycles(a dirt and a street) in the 12' garage.
Does that warrant a 1 ton or will a 3/4 be more than plenty? Thank you guys again for the comments, I'm learning so much about these.
View attachment 452998

If you havent gotten a trailer yet I have a 37' Forest River with 12' garage that I spent months and allot of $ remodeling. All new floors, paint, corian counters. Took all decals off and wet sanded and buffed entire outside. New tires/wheels. Only problem is the frame cracked. Would let it go cheap. It's fixable, I did it once quickly without removing entire bedroom floor and just welded crack and gusseted over it and it lasted awhile. If you or someone you know can weld/fabricate good it wouldn't be bad...need to remove bedroom floor and replace both frame rails in the front where they attach to pinbox.

Towed it with an 04 LB7 duramax 2500 SRW with compound turbos and a few other mods. Definitely don't want to be towing a trailer that big with a 7.3 ford. I would probably get an LMM duramax and delete it if you don't mind the newer style seats/interior.

 

[E350]

A must watch for all diesel owners:

2002 7.3 V8 Diesel Ford E350 4x4 Extended Non-Dually (tows heavy because body on frame)
2016 Sprinter 3.0 V6 Diesel 3500 XD (170" Ext.) 4x4 Dually (tows 5,000 lbs. max. because unibody)

Dually does better in the snow. Floats up and over the CalTrans snow berms at snow park entrances.

 

[Quinc]

Bang for the buck if you just need something to haul, a good 7.3 cannot be beat. It just cant. And interior all the way up to 2010 is a direct bolt in swap... parts support is unlimited, cheap to own and maintain compared to most other diesels, no DEF, and with a VERY affordable tuner chip (300 bucks or so) you get great power or towing tunes. Any dodge is is going to fall apart with you inside it, piece by piece bit by bit. Any plastic component is on it's way out if it's not broken already. They also seem to rust faster than any others.

And no, not all duallys have been used to haul heavy. Plenty of street crawlers out there or people who are just not looking to abuse a SRW. My 350 dually was not used to haul outside of moving my RV a few times, the guy I got it from was an iraq vet who stored it most of its life, and it was FAR too clean. I paid 16k out the door for my red 2000 with manual transmission 4:10 gears and 140k miles in 2022.

This ^^ Buddy picked up a 2001 7.3 for 10k put another 10k into, all new leather interior, backup camera, paint job, upgraded the turbo and a few other things. Gets 22mpg highway and tows his 38ft 5th wheel with ease. And doesn't have any of the issues the newer trucks are having.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

I've been doing a lot of research and the more I read about the newer diesels the less I want one(same with the newer gassers). Stuff like the new RAM Cummins not using tried and true cam tappets and using hydraulic lifters is a real turn off, not to mention how the EPA just keeps squeezing the manufacturers till the engine design and fuel management systems turns into a over engineered POS.. lol. I have no problem doing a nice 7.3 dually or maybe a old school Ram w/ 5.9 Cummins 12/24 valve. Also the 4th gen Ram 6.7 Cummins is about as new as I would want to go. I am learning a lot about these, then I wonder if I really need a diesel, and could get by with a gasser, but the torque, fuel economy, longevity and never having one, keeps me wanting the diesel.. haha

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I've been doing a lot of research and the more I read about the newer diesels the less I want one(same with the newer gassers). Stuff like the new RAM Cummins not using tried and true cam tappets and using hydraulic lifters is a real turn off, not to mention how the EPA just keeps squeezing the manufacturers till the engine design and fuel management systems turns into a over engineered POS.. lol. I have no problem doing a nice 7.3 dually or maybe a old school Ram w/ 5.9 Cummins 12/24 valve. Also the 4th gen Ram 6.7 Cummins is about as new as I would want to go. I am learning a lot about these, then I wonder if I really need a diesel, and could get by with a gasser, but the torque, fuel economy, longevity and never having one, keeps me wanting the diesel.. haha

It's a catch 22 the gasser is going to eat you alive on fuel costs if you tow much with it because you can't tow with it ion overdrive , as stated before the diesels are maintaince heavy , pick your poison it's going to cost you either way.

I picked up an old 93 Dodge 3/4 ton last year I am slowly working on to tow with , it was the only year they put the 318 magnum in that body style truck and it has the super heavy duty 5 speed tranny that has both a granny low and an overdrive, it will pull anything I want to pull. but I am not pulling nearly as bag of stuff as you are though .

 

[E350]

@SUPERJET-113 continue your research.

DPF/DEF sucks.

ULSD sucks.

I love diesel.

But you will have to learn allot to correctly fuel, maintain and repair a diesel.

Once you start down that road, you will never go back.

But in all reality, California needs to end CARB and Trump needs to end the EPA to make diesel great again.

 

[mxmark4]

My 99 f250 has 102k on it. It was used to haul my grandfathers 36 ft fifth wheel camper to florida and back twice a year. Truck is easy to work on and doesnt have any issues. Been great for hauling my boat.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

My 99 f250 has 102k on it. It was used to haul my grandfathers 36 ft fifth wheel camper to florida and back twice a year. Truck is easy to work on and doesnt have any issues. Been great for hauling my boat.

Hi Mark, is it a diesel or gasser?

 

[mxmark4]

7.3 diesel. Slow but solid. 2wd long bed ext cab. Barely fits my boys in the back seat. My grandfather bought it new.