Tow rigs(aka pickup trucks)

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,927
201
Lake Villa, IL
What are you guys using?

My next vehicle will be a pickup truck due to ability to haul supplies for home projects and my ice fishing gear. I also want it to be able to safely and comfortably tow my 94 D1 out west to Colorado and Utah.

I have no brand loyalty, though I'm wary of Dodge due to rust issues I've witnessed and a transmission failure I've experienced on my 05 Grand Caravan.
Must haves: 4wd. 4 doors/comfortably seat 5 people. 6ft bed. Ability to tow a built 94D1 on a car trailer. Reliable. No premature rust issues.
Don't care about lifted, diesel, big tires, or 1000 bells and whistles. Not looking to spend over 50k. Would prefer it closer to 30k even if that means buying used.
 

K-rover

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2010
2,163
62
Raleigh, NC
F150 ecoboost or the Toyota Tundra. Ive been contemplating the same thing for a while. Problem is I cant justify the price of the truck for my needs. Which is only occasionally towing the Rover to events.
 

jprover2

Well-known member
Apr 8, 2017
146
10
Birmingham,Al
FWIW. Having operated a transmission shop for 15 years all trucks have problems. Some less than others. We also rebild and repair engines, suspension... everything but tires and alignment. Most of the newer trucks(ford, ram/fiat, chevy, nissan) are 6 or 8 speed transmissions and few go past 150-200k miles, this means big $$ to rebuild or buy trans. Toyota and nissan are the exception for trans life. The chevy engines with drop cylinder (DOD) are garbage, ford has eco boost and forced induction never equals lifespan. Dodge has electrical grimlins worse than a Rover. None of these trucks are worth what the stealerships want. I have a 2013 f-150 crew cab 4x4 with the 5.0L, bought in 2015 with 10k mi. for $18k Did I choose right? Time will tell. It pulls my D2 on my 22ft car hauler with ease.
 

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
Roll some coal or something, right?

I thought it was blowing coal. If you don't like to tow then your truck is probably not big enough. If I was looking I would get a bigger GM truck with the Alison Trans. Common rail diesel engines are just to expensive to fix. So I would stay away from those since your really only talking 6,000 lbs plus the trailer. Seems like a good gas engine should do that.
 
Jan 3, 2005
11,745
71
On Kennith's private island
I've never driven a Dodge that drives straight own the road after 90k miles.

I've owned Ford and Chevy diesels. Hands down the Duramax has the most power and comfortable ride. If I were to ever buy another diesel it would be another Duramax.

That said, I have a 2008 Duramax for sale. 4x4, 4dr, short bed, goose neck, deleted and EFi Live w/DSP5. You can cruise at 80mph towing a boat and still talk on your cell phone. Very powerful and quick. $28k
 

disco_drum

Well-known member
Jan 27, 2006
1,990
13
41
Woodstock, GA
My LR3 has been awesome. Sure...its not the most practical "tow vehicle", but with the air suspension it does great! AND it get 12-13 mpg while towing. That is significantly better than the D2 gets just driving without towing. Those 35" tires take a lot of gas to turn!With a good brake controller the LR3 does a great job!

a>
 

mgreenspan

Well-known member
Feb 28, 2005
4,723
130
Briggs's Back Yard
I really liked the 2003 2500 hd 4x4 dodge ram that had a 5.7 hemi. It had 195k I think when I traded it to carmax. It was maintained really well by a private company before I traded for it. It drove really well.

I think high mileage trucks need to have been owned by companies or people who cared to make the used purchase worthwhile.

If you don't buy new I'd recommend carmax only to get their outrageous warranty.
 

Maximumwarp

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
836
26
Fairburn GA
I got a good deal on my 7.3 F-250, but I wish I had saved up more and gone with a bulletproofed 6.0. The positives of the 7.3 (will run forever, relatively simple/cheap to work on, no emissions components) are largely offset by things like its atrocious ride (leaf springs on the front axle vs. coils on the 6.0 trucks), 0-60 pace of mid-sized glacier, and general lack of creature comforts. It really doesn't give a shit what's behind it, though, I'll say that for it.
 

ERover82

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2011
3,899
450
Darien Gap
Made the same move a few months ago. It came down to the F150 or Sierra.

RAM: I dislike most Chrysler products and RAM seems to have capitalized on the fat cowboy demographic. I do like the four corner coil suspension though. Nice ride. Terrible design.

Chevy: Looks like megatron. Not interested.

Toyota: Ancient platform with terrible economy far overdue for an overhaul.

Nissan: Slightly underwhelming in most measures

That left Ford and GMC. I wanted the newer designs which meant 2015+ F150 or 2014+ Sierra.

Almost picked up a cheapo 2014 Sierra 1500 with Z71 package for 22k, but after having second kid, decided we wanted all optional safety features.

Extended cabs are adequate for loading kids and some gear. Crew cabs are huge now and feel like they have twice the room of an LR3/4. We decided on the crew so we could load as much people/stuff as possible and those little fuckers in the back can't reach out far enough to kick the back of our front seats.

We decided on the short-bed as well to keep the wheelbase shorter for our mountain adventures. A longer bed would have been useful a few times, but every choice is a compromise.

Ultimately got the F150 because:
More features we were looking for, due to being a newer platform
Better fuel economy to power ratio
Preferred the interior design
Lightly used Sierra 1500s were unobtanium around here

I'll sum up the Ford engine options:
2.7 EcoBoost: Best daily driving economy
5.0: Best towing economy
3.5 EcoBoost: Most power

The Chevy/GMC 6.2L V8 is a sweet engine though, if you don't care about efficiency.