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Tow Truck Shopping Part Deux

I do really like the look of the Tundras, but man they are pricey!!! You could be into a heavy duty diesel for what they cost.

Now I did talk to a guy at the launch ramp last year that was pulling a 33 AVS Scarab with twin blown 572's with a Ford Ecoboost and he said the truck did awesome. And he loved the fuel economy the truck got daily driving. Just throwing that out there as food for thought.
 
You know, the repair costs and maintainence is what kind of soured me on deisels. Seems that the automatics are just marginally able to handle the torque stock and if you bump up on the power the trans is not happy. Around here, a lot of folks have livestock and such and work their trucks pretty hard. I see the problems that they encounter and hear about the repair bills. I am fortunate enough to be able to repair my own and save big on the repairs but that is one of the resons that I'm playing with this big Ford. I can rebuild the whole engine for the appearant cost of an injection pump on a diesel. Don't have to plug the thing in on cold nights either. Takes less oil to refill the sump and it runs on unleaded. Seems like the cost of fuel oil and filters outweighs any mileage benefits. My old 73 International has pulled more diesels home than Fred's Towing and Drywall. Pulls off 11.5 mpg doing it too, which is about the same as my buddy's powerstroke which I've personnally towed home three times in it's life so far and went back for the load he was carrying too. First time was for injectors and glow plugs. second time was for the transmission and third time was for the rear axle that couldn't handle the upgraded injectors and trans. Lube oil and filter is less than 20 bucks on that old warhorse. Maybe I'll be singing a different tune when I get this one up and working?
 
Modern ones are more problematic Jim. My 12v will run on whatever I throw in it. When we were snowmobiling this winter she fired up at sub zero temps without being plugged in and it's an old school all mechanical system. I prefer to not do that to it and plug it in if I think I'm going to use it the next morning but it fired up anyway. Cummins has a single heated intake grate instead of 8 glow plugs so 7 less things to go wrong and no one can argue that it's not easier to work on the inline 6 than the V8. Oil change is a little more but I never need to buy spark plugs. I get about 13 pulling the enclosed trailer at 75 or 80 compared to 9 straining to do that speed in a gasser.

I tried going back to gas, couldn't do it. My first Cummins ruined me.
 
My dream truck is actually a mid to late 70's Ford heavy duty crew cab with a 12v cummins and 6 speed manual. All the fancy stuff on the newer trucks scares the crap out of me, but sometimes its easier to make a monthly payment rather than shell out $20K+ cash on a build like what I want.
 
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I think either an older solid axle Suburban with the frame boxed or an older Land Cruiser with my Dodge's drivetrain in it would make a perfect towing/family hauling machine but I'm not in a position to do that. For now I'll keep my current rig running hopefully until I have the facility to do a nice swap. An early 90's 4 door F 350 would be one of my picks to swap my powertrain into as well.
 
I would agree with Corey somewhat. I love old school stuff! but I also love the comfort of the newer stuff. I have already thought about doing a 12v 6 speed swap in the truck I just bought! and then i would have a good iron 6.0 liter Ls motor to build for a toy car or boat!! Its only money right!! :poke:
 
Prepare to do a solid axle swap too dream4ta. I don't think the IFS will like that heavy engine.

The guy selling the 4 door 12v is on a FB diesel page I frequent. I think a same era F 350 is a better candidate rather than doing that. You still have that crap front end Dodge used, stupid sealed hub/bearings up front, and no locking hubs. The front end set up in the Ford is what makes the deal for me then factor in tons of Fummins swaps have been done and you can buy all the bracketry to bolt it in and it's a done deal.
 
I found another.
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/4415668075.html
00R0R_4TzRW1Jcrlt_600x450.jpg
 
Nice price for the mileage it has. Ask about the transmission service history. Should have been flushed at least once but hopefully twice since those 56k have probably been all towing. Most people who tow campers are anal about maint.
 
Car fax is over rated and should be taken with a grain of salt. It only shows what's reported to them. We do not report anything to car fax at the body shop or service department. Most customer pay work is never listed. There is a dodge viper for sale at the lot next to us, the car fax is clean but the front end doesn't line up well. It has been in a good collision at some point in time.
:poke:Either way it's good to know that the trans has been serviced.:thumb:
 
They hold them value but they may be a little optimistic on the price. I wonder which gear ratio the rear is. The auto will be OK at stock power but I'd be concerned if you up it and especially of your gonna pull a 30 footer. Only other things that come to mind are adding a fuel pressure gauge to keep an eye on lift pump pressure and finding out if is a Mexican block. If the lift pump starts to go, it won't feed enough fuel to the injection pump. The fuel lubes the pump so it will get ruined by running without sufficient funds pressure from the lift pump. The ramp I use is gravel and steep so I kind of need 4WD to pull out at it. Your results may vary. :D

John
 
Of those two trucks i think you would be much happier with the chevy and not cause i am a chevy guy... But because it will be much more comfortable for your road trips and being that it is an 07 it will have the 6 speed allison in it so stock for stock it will tow batter and get better mileage. with that said i would take the chevy over the dodge but at the same time man that dodge is f**king clean!!!!!
 
I have had both 4wd and 2wd. The only time I got scared with my 2wd was at Ceasars Creek where the ramp is really mossy. I didn't think my truck was ever gonna stop sliding, but it did, and got the job done. I only saw one other instance where a 2wd was struggling and that was last year at Cumberland. We were pulling out in what could only be describes as a typhoon. I mean, it was pouring buckets. Dads truck didn't have a problem pulling my boat out, but the guy next two us was pulling out an older 35 Fountain with a 2wd OBS Ford Dually. He would get halfway up the ramp (about a 100-150 foot ramp) and where is was raining so hard there was literally a small river running across the ramp. As soon as he would hit that, he would starrt spinning and going backwards. He backed back down to the water and about 4 of us bigger guys got in the bed for weight and then he made it up the ramp with no problems. Funny side note to that story, the guy had a single stack in the bed. Well, my brother-in-law's best friend AJ made the major mistake of sitting right behind it on the bed rail. Needless to say, by the time we made it to the top of the hill, he was covered in so much soot that he looked like he was trying to change ethnicity. Good times....

For me, I love the look of a lowered truck, so I am looking at 2wd crew cab duallies.
 
Just knowing how much room there is underhood and how cheap/easy it is to work on that Cummins sells me on whichever truck has it between the fenders.
 
They created all that room because they knew you'd always be working on them.
Everyone comments how much easier it is to work on old cars. It's true but with old stuff it seems like you always have to work on it. I've had a few cars out of the 60's and it seemed like the hood was up once a month.
 
I would drive any brand of truck, and people have there pros and cons about there trucks. But you can argue all you want Cummins is the best for a truck. You get so many miles out of them 500,000 to 1,000,000 miles. We love our cummins it pulls like a scalded dog! But it's whatver a person wants, in my option your a idiot if your going to try and argue that cummins isn't the best lol. Six in a row make it go :thumb:
 
You can say a lot of things about the Dodge, but saying you'll be working on the Cummins a lot is not one of them. Pop the hood on all 3 American diesel pickups and tell me honestly which you'd prefer to wrench on. :bigthumb:
 
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