Searching for a truck I may never find?

[Hay Dude]

I'm a fan of pre-CAN Bus vehicles too. So anything mostly pre-2008.

2002 RAM 2500HD with upgraded OE tow suspension package for 5th wheel, QC, 5.7 Hemi, 3.73 corp diff. Love the truck. Would not even consider plowing with it. The rear for having a tractor. Plowing puts a huge beating on a truck. And trucks cost more than a tractor. Nope, not doing it.

The RAM does all the other farm grunt work with ease. It's a great power house for towing and hauling. It can pull a tandem pair of hay wagons out of a cut field up a hilled incline. What a beast! The guy with the big Kubota cab tractor can't even do it in 4WD.

I too live up north now. Plow trucks are beater machines. Nope, not doing that to my trucks.

I hear ya, I really do.
I have 2 choices
Plow with cabbed tractor
Plow with 4WD truck

Done both for decades.

The tractor will do it, but its too slow. Truck is 2x faster. Time is money in my business.
In a blizzard, tractor is better.

 

[Joel/ak]

My guess would be since they are the industry standard for medium & heavy truck transmissions you are seeing the sheer numbers of them out in the field. They dwarf the next biggest in terms of numbers, so you would see lots getting repaired.
I have a 3000RDS in my IH dump truck. Seems like everyone uses Allisons and they get ABUSED.

I'm not saying they are bad, they have their issues.

Those 3k's are nice. My favorite to build. I just spent 2 weeks tearing down 67 3k cores (had too many so did a massive part out party). Honestly most looked great internally

 

[Hay Dude]

Yeah they are rated to 80,000lbs and I think 350HP input? I just read the specs on them a few days ago.
Found this, but just too damn far away and would need some $ put into it.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

 

[bmaverick]

I hear ya, I really do.
I have 2 choices
Plow with cabbed tractor
Plow with 4WD truck

Done both for decades.

The tractor will do it, but its too slow. Truck is 2x faster. Time is money in my business.
In a blizzard, tractor is better.

And money is time too. $20K or better for a truck to be 2X faster is a question.

You got a bunch of equipment in your avatar listing. If spending $10K for snow removal upgrades to arrive at 2X as fast, then it's a penny saved is a penny earned of the other $10K.

 

[Hay Dude]

And money is time too. $20K or better for a truck to be 2X faster is a question.

You got a bunch of equipment in your avatar listing. If spending $10K for snow removal upgrades to arrive at 2X as fast, then it's a penny saved is a penny earned of the other $10K.

It’s not just faster. It’s the time also spent taking the tractor from hay bale loading to another location and outfitting it with plow. It’s also subjecting my only loader tractor to being damaged, in which case it cannot load bales, mow fields or plow snow.
Then I’d have problems for sure.
The proposed GM 3500 would also be used for yanking a small trailer mowing crew around in summer. Much easier than using the Ram.

 

[bmaverick]

It’s not just faster. It’s the time also spent taking the tractor from hay bale loading to another location and outfitting it with plow. It’s also subjecting my only loader tractor to being damaged, in which case it cannot load bales, mow fields or plow snow.
Then I’d have problems for sure.
The proposed GM 3500 would also be used for yanking a small trailer mowing crew around in summer. Much easier than using the Ram.

You have many other tractors in your listing, add a plow to one of them or a snow blower. Or for about $10K, get a machine or ATV setup to move the snow.

My neighbor with the Ford 1500 tractor and bucket goes putt putt putt moving snow. When he took his ATV and added the snow plow and gear, it was more like 8X faster.

Grizzly 550 FI Auto 4x4 Yamaha​

He got the winter fairing added too.

His drive is almost 1,000ft long. He clears in way faster than I could even with my bigger tractor and plow.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yeah, thanks, but I have 12 contracts and more snow than that little guy could move in a week.

IF it snows.

I have plows on the 2 smaller tractors.

The Magnum is much too heavy & big for the contracts I have.

I’d rather jump in a comfy truck and get done fast. I have someone running the tractor(s). The proposed truck would be to run around town & hit the 12 driveways we have

 

[Hersheyfarm]

Preferred is ‘06-‘07 to get the best version of the Duramax but still be pre-emissions.
Funny that I owned an ‘07 3500 and sold it in 2013

Think you have to go to 2003 to get away from egr’s. You can block them off but the software is still looking for it.

 

[Skeletor]

I put a boss v plow on my ram 1500 and after using that for 4-5 years I wouldn’t even consider using an atv for snow. In some conditions it would probably be fun though. I picked up a 2020 ram 2500 this summer and got a used 8’ fisher straight blade but it dosent snow anymore. So it’s just sitting in the driveway. Maybe I’m spoiled I dunno I don’t wven wanna dick around with a snow blower. Just jump in the truck and push it away!

 

[eagle628]

This

So how to search for rust-free ‘06-‘07 Duramax 3500 SRW 4x4 outside of your area?

When I bought my truck a few years ago I wanted, very specifically, a single cab 4x4 long bed manual transmission with no rust. So I did a nationwide search with cars.com and by the time I finished applying all the filters it really wasn't an overwhelming number of listings to sort through. Probably not more than 100 at any one time, and a lot of them you can throw out right away. The manual transmission requirement really thinned it down in a way that auto wouldn't, but I didn't have a year or engine in mind. I used mileage as a proxy for rust, I think I said 100k or fewer and skipped past all northeast listings. I ended up with a Chevy from a dealer northern Illinois, and it has surely turned out to be among the best purchases I've ever made.

Edit: Autoland Outlets | Used Car Dealer | Roscoe, IL is where I bought from. They didn't really negotiate on price, but the truck was exactly as represented so all in all I was very pleased with them.