Moving up to a Diesel...

[GoneCamping]

My fingers are crossed, going to look at a Diesel Ram 3500 Dually tomorrow. It's a 2nd Generation Ram, and I actually already have a 2nd Gen Ram 3500 dually, but mine is gas motor and it's been a real struggle to pull 12,000 lbs 35' 5th wheel up any kind of hill with that thing. Been wanting a Diesel for a while now, and ran across one that is within my "Cash" range, has only 102k miles on it, has the 5.9 Cummins that will get me almost 3 times the mileage I get from my current truck, so the extra cost per gallon for diesel will actually provide a significant savings!

Since the one I'm looking at has a flat bed on the back, thinking of combining the two trucks into one that will get the job done.

We'll see tomorrow!! 

[4Campers]

Well good luck on your decision. After driving a diesel fuel truck for work years ago found out the fumes give me headaches. Now if an older diesel truck is blowing fumes near me that will lead to a migraine. But you can't ask for more power, diesel over gas will win every time.

[GoneCamping]

My first truck for the 5th wheel was an F250 Power Stroke Diesel, but that 6.0L engine had a "Stroke" of it's own.

That being said, we drove from Maine to Mass to look at this truck, and all I can say is that it looked a lot better in the pictures than it did up close. Wire's dangling everywhere, exhaust system cut off short, parts & pieces missing from the interior, and just generally in poor shape. Another thing I noticed was the truck had an 8 foot flatbed, but there was like 18 inches of frame showing from behind the cab to where the bed started. That told me the truck frame was built for an extended cab, but had a regular cab on it.

So in short, things looked very peculiar about, and I backed away from it gracefully. So I'll just keep looking!!

[dno]

I really liked my 2001 Ford Excursion with the 7.3L diesel engine. It was a pretty good truck and pulled our trailer like a champ. Good luck with your search.

[CamperDan]

that's too bad it didn't work out. I used to have a Diesel F-250. I never pulled anything very heavy but what I did pull you couldn't tell there was anything behind you. It was a good truck but I needed more passenger space.

[GoneCamping]

Went to look at another truck today, right here in Portland Maine. It was an 03 Silverado with the 6.6 DuraMax with Allison Transmission. Didn't really see any rust in the pictures, but up close and personal you could see how they hid the cancer. The engine was super strong and fired right up, and the Trans worked well too. But between the rust, and something loose in the front end (ball joint or tie rod end), and the fact when I plugged my OBD reader into the port I couldn't get it to even power up let alone give a reading. Well, decided to pass on this truck even though I probably could have bought it for $2-3k (motor & trans are worth more than that). Oh well... Keep looking I suppose!

[JoseInLA]

Need to buy one from the west coast... usually no rust

[GoneCamping]

I'm holding off at this point until I get back to Florida, no rust there either!!