Best 3 trucks you've ever owned.

[Snobdds]

I just met up with another farmer today. He was driving a Ford 6L. Sounded awful. He just gawked at my Ram the whole time, asked me all kinds of questions. Of course one was “Hey when did ja get the Dawdge CumminGs?“

I reminded him “Dawdge” hasn’t made trucks for over a decade.
Ford guys are kinda slow.

Man I miss the days when you could just talk straight up, you know?
Now it’s all about feelings.

Did you have to explain the difference between stellantis, dodge and ram...what years are what and who owned who when?

 

[herringchoker]

1. 1979 F100 - bought 1987, ran until December 2009, was still working great but the rusties got it. 300, 3 on the tree converted to 4 spd (Warner T-18), 3 extra leaves in rear springs.
2. 1984 Freightliner FLC-120, used as both tractor and straight dump, Cat 3406B-350 HP, RTO-14615, 14,400 front and 44,000 Rockwell rears on Hendrickson walking beam.
3. 1996 Freightliner FLD-120, Cummins N14-460 HP, RTX-14613, 12,000 front, 40,000 rears on FL air ride.

The worst:
1992 Kenworth K-100E (BJ and the Bear), Series 60-425 HP, RTX-14615, 12,000 front, 40,000 Rockwell rears on KW 8-bag air. Too many problems to list.

 

[timswi]

2019 GMC Dmax 2500 Denali---Should have bought one of these years before I did.
2013 GMC 1500 Denali 6.2 AWD --- Probably the most fun truck to drive.
1997 Chevy 1500 4x4--Barely had to do anything to it and traded with 200k on it
2010 GMC SLE 4x4 6.2--Someone ordered it and never picked it up. Sat on the dealer lot for 6 months. That was a fast truck and got a really good deal on it.

 

[Patches]

All 1/2 tons. 1'st was a 1970 Chevy C10 stepside, 235/6 standard. Crank windows/rubber floor;sweet little truck. Don't even want to talk about new '77 100 ; Ford Ranger standard cab, 300/6 standard tranny; junk. New '88 "Dodge" 1/2 ton, 318/ standard trans, regular cab 4 wd. Poor tower until i changed the drive line to 3;94 gearing. All GMC after that ordered with 4;10 gearing, '93 5,7 and 2001 Avalanch, 5.3 engine until my final Ford. New 2005, 150 Lariat, 5.4, 4wd screw; nice truck so long as you didn't hook a trailer to it/ pretty much helpless even with the 3;73 gearing. Traded that for a new '07 Tundra, 5.7 with 4;30 gearing. Now we're talking towing. Kept that until 2016 and another Tundra. The last Tundra I'll own after the demise of the 5.7

 

[RalphVa]

1996 Tacoma extracab & Dodge Rampage.

1994 Ranger was a POS. Don't like our 2005 Tacoma: too damn big.

 

[jjeff]

Well I can say Ford is my least favorite truck from various bad experiences with them and I never owned a Dodge/ Ram just towed a few of them lol. however despite my dislike of most fords if I was looking for another baby dump I'd most likely pay top dollar for a decent condition 4wd 7.3 power stroke super duty with a manual 6 speed zf560 transmission (I believe) . Is it a unicorn? probably

 

[Hay Dude]

Did you have to explain the difference between stellantis, dodge and ram...what years are what and who owned who when?

No he was too busy telling me 6L sob stories while asking me how much I liked my Ram.

Hey, the Ram could fail tomorrow. That’s why I avoid brand loyalty.

 

[Jstpssng]

1998 GMC Sierra
1991 Toyota (SR5?)
1984 F150

Honorable mentions;
any of my Rangers (1984, 1985, 2004)
My current Colorado

 

[Hay Dude]

A ram = dodge = F fix I it A again T tony.

SR

FIAT doesn’t own RAM anymore.
Do you say “CumminGs” too?

Funny thing about the FIAT and now Stellantis ownership of RAM. They have only gotten better and are now kicking Ford & GM’s teeth in.
Ram market share was once a distant 3rd place, now about a full 1/3rd market share in trucks.

Volkswagen buys International Harvester and fixes them.
Isuzu fixes GM diesel truck engines, too.

I see a pattern here.

 

[Stan B]

1997 Chevy K1500 5.7L (still miss that truck)
2007 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 4.7L former USDA truck (a little gutless)
2006 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 5.9L Cummins (NOT gutless at all!)

Honorable mention: 1993 Chevy S10 Blazer 4x4 4.3L (Sold with ~300K on the clock)

 

[WADFL]

2019 GMC 2500 Denali Duramax 4x4
2016 GMC Yukon Denali 4x4* (Replaced by a 2020 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4x4 - hope it's just as good)
2011 Chevy Silverado Z71 4x4

Honorable Mention - 1997 Chevy K1500 Ext Cab z71 5.7

 

[John0829]

Not in any particular order:

1966 Chevy C20 long bed stepside. 292ci with 4 speed and 4.56 gear with factory overload springs. Mpg same loaded or empty, put over 300K on it before I sold it. Biggest mistake I every made. Always said if you could anchor it good enough you could turn the world backwards, could that truck pull! Would buy it back tomorrow if I could find it.

2010 Tundra double cab, loaded, sweetest ride EVER! Main use was pulling the camper coast to coast until we sold the camper just before Covid hit. Now the heaviest work it does is haul my fat a-- around. Averages 18mpg mixed driving and have seen 23mpg on long trips (manually calculated).

1992 GMC K3500, 7.4L extended cab, flatbed, just a dependable ole worker. Averages 12mpg empty and 10mpg loaded.

I know it suppose to be three but two honorable mentions: 1985 S10 Chevy and 1995 S15 GMC both were daily drivers with close to 400K before they were traded off.

 

[wawajake]

Thanks jjeff for starting this thread, very interesting reminiscing......now most here have avoided brand bashing, so lets maybe keep it that way so we can continue on a positive note.

 

[masseyrider]

I'll start with the worst.
1977 GMC 2500 Sierra Grande 350 4barrel carb.
10mpg.
Bottom of the door fell off at 2 years old from rust, 30,000 miles.
4 years old and 47000 miles the body shop told me there wasn't anything to weld to for a body job. It would need all new body panels, door skins, floor pans etc.

Ford at that time had a bad rap for rotting out.
I bought a new 81 f150. drove it for 12 years and when I sold it on the body was still perfect. Not a spec of surface rust.
Fords ever since. I've had 1993, 1998, 2005, 2013 and now on with a 2020.
I've either been really lucky or they just build a good truck, but nothing to really complain about.
Don't really like the idea of eco boost engines, small displacement doing a lot of work. I always get the V8.
Good old dinosaur power.

Loved my fathers late 40s Dodge stake truck.
The whine of the tranny as you went through the gears. You couldn't just slam through them.
Each shift was a process and seemed to take forever by modern standards.
And the whine of the reverse gear backing up to the loading dock.
With a load on you only got upto about 45-50 mph.
Going to the canning factory there was a big hill you couldn't avoid. If you got a good run at it you could get to the top in second. If not you would end up in 1st crossing your fingers that you could make it at all

 

[9973720wb19]

Tonka

 

[m7040]

Mercedes Unimog model 404

 

[deserteagle71]

1. My current 2016 F150. In seven years/70,000 miles all I've had to do is change oil/filters and rotate tires...and average 20.5 mpg over its life.

2. My current 2004 Dodge/Cummins dually. All those years and only repair has been a water pump. It averages 14.3 mpg while hauling a big cabover camper and towing a Jeep on a trailer.

3. 1972 International 1 ton flatbed. Put that truck through hell for years and it just kept on running. Wish now I had kept it just to use as a beater farm truck!

To me, dependability is key. I live too far away from any dealers/mechanics to be having a rig worked on all the time.

 

[TugBarge]

1. 1996 Chevrolet 2500
Still own this one, but ABS issues have caused some irritating brake issues.

2. 2007 Ford Ranger - 3.0 V6
Amazingly reliable pickup and did plenty of work for it's size, my wife rolled this truck last year, and it amazingly survived, I rolled it the same year..... It's dead in my driveway now, pending scrap pick up.

3. 1992 Ford F450/SuperDuty truck with Crane - IDI 7.3
Never would have sold it if it was a flatbed w/crane and not a damn service truck, loved the crane. Slow as hell.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

FIAT doesn’t own RAM anymore.
Do you say “CumminGs” too?

Funny thing about the FIAT and now Stellantis ownership of RAM. They have only gotten better and are now kicking Ford & GM’s teeth in.
Ram market share was once a distant 3rd place, now about a full 1/3rd market share in trucks.

Volkswagen buys International Harvester and fixes them.
Isuzu fixes GM diesel truck engines, too.

I see a pattern here.

The "Cummings" is the only thing good about them, too bad they come with a dog-ge wrapped around them! lol

SR

 

[deserteagle71]

The "Cummings" is the only thing good about them, too bad they come with a dog-ge wrapped around them! lol

SR