Pick WinterDeere's next truck

[Bocephous]

2022 and later Toyota Tundra and nothing else. If you want a 1500 this is going to be your best truck. It has a 3.5 TT that pulls all day. I have pulled over 12k with my Tundra for extended periods. It does just fine.

That's some insane advice.

https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2025/12/second-toyota-tundra-engine-failure-recall-issued-due-to-thousands-of-failures-two-fixes-confirmed/

 

[LincolnShieldArc]

Look at Ford, the biggest reason is aluminum bodies don’t rust. They will easily tow what you want but for a tongue weight over 500 pounds you are suppose to use a weight distributing hitch. My 2017 F150 has a payload of 1944 pounds.

No, they corrode.

 

[dodge man]

No, they corrode.

Got any pictures of the body showing corrosion on a Ford aluminum body truck? I know it can happen but I don’t think it is.

 

[Blue Mule]

Yet another truck has rusted out on me, this time 11 years. Bed walls are bulging due to delamination behind spray-on liner, and eye bolts are just falling out. But outer body still looks presentable... maybe it won't totally kill me on trade-in. Truck has 52k miles.

I've been a "Ram guy" the last 20 years, for one reason: Ram offered manual transmission with a V8 and extended cab, while no other brand did. Now that's gone away, so I have less reason to stay with Ram, although I will admit they've been the most reliable trucks I've ever owned... rust aside. I've also grown to like the feel and controls of them, in fact we have three Dodge's in the garage right now.

The requirements:

1. Must be 4wd. My primary use of this vehicle is "bad weather days", when I don't want to drive my sports car or sedan in snow and salt. I also take it off-road several times per year, mostly when pulling a trailer.
2. Must have integrated trailer brake system, and will favor highest tow rating. I use this truck for pulling a 7k# trailer loaded with logs or tractor over hilly terrain and offroad.
3. Would favor lower roof height, as I also take this vehicle into old parking garages in Philly, where roof clearance is a constant issue. This is the sole reason I've been buying 1/2 ton trucks, despite 3/4 ton being more suitable for my trailer's ~1000# tongue weight.
4. I will always choose highest horsepower and highest rear gear ratio available. This is another area where Ram seems to outperform everyone else.
5. Yes, I would consider an EV, if it actually looks and feels like a real pickup truck. When I see numbers like 1000 hp posted, I don't understand how you can't be interested in driving that. I am a founding member of the HA = "Horsepower Anonymous" support group. But I ain't paying $100k for a pickup truck, so that may be off the table, anyway.
6. Not interested in diesel. Slow, and unnecessarily expensive, when I never get more than 70k miles out of a truck before it's rusted thru.

I don't have a specific budget. But I don't like throwing away money on anything, so it's going to be a matter of seeing where the market is, and then choosing "good value" for my dollar.

If there's any truck of any series or brand available with a manual transmission, I'm probably buying that. If there's one thing I hate more than any other mechanical device on earth, it is the automatic transmission. But it needs to be 4wd extended cab, and capable of pulling my trailer at highway speed, so not a wimpy v6 configuration.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

Sounds like you are a perfect candidate for a Ford. Whether you go F-150 or F-250 depends on what you plan to tow with it. But in either case, Ford gives you the most horsepower in gasoline available, an aluminum body and e-treated chassis that will NEVER rust out, 4x4 with a rear locking diff, and great fuel economy.

Ford's aluminum trucks are now 11 years on the market and I have yet to see a single one with "corrosion". And where I live, we put salt, calcium, magnesium, and a few other nasty things all over the roads in winter.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Bidding ends in 3 hours! :

 

[not2old]

Sounds like you are a perfect candidate for a Ford. Whether you go F-150 or F-250 depends on what you plan to tow with it. But in either case, Ford gives you the most horsepower in gasoline available, an aluminum body and e-treated chassis that will NEVER rust out, 4x4 with a rear locking diff, and great fuel economy.

Ford's aluminum trucks are now 11 years on the market and I have yet to see a single one with "corrosion". And where I live, we put salt, calcium, magnesium, and a few other nasty things all over the roads in winter.

I have several Volvo's from the 80's and 90's when they had aluminum fenders, hoods, trunk lids and tailgates. Only one has any corrosion. It's on the tailgate and very minor. Apparently caused by a poor ground strap. No meaningful perforation on the rest of the body either, so I don't know if they are typical.

 

[WinterDeere]

That's some insane advice.

https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2025/12/second-toyota-tundra-engine-failure-recall-issued-due-to-thousands-of-failures-two-fixes-confirmed/

That's a surprise, but it doesn't matter. I would never buy a Japanese vehicle, let alone a truck, anyway.

Sounds like you are a perfect candidate for a Ford.

Agreed. I need to make time to get to a Ford dealer, and check them out. I really grew to dislike the early 2000's F150's, thought they were as ugly as sin, and knew some folks who had trouble with theirs. But have always liked their F250's.

We'll see if I like Ford enough to sway me away from my Ram comfort zone. I'd be plenty happy with a new 6.4L Ram 2500 4x4, but if Ford can deliver something that's going to hit all the same buttons on appeal, reliability, performance, and with a no-rust aluminum body... I'd definitely have to consider it.

Ford would earn some bonus points with me, if they could do an F250 with a decent back seat in a 140 inch wheelbase, as it seems Ram will only do 2500's in a 149 inch wheelbase in 2500 series. I feel my Crew/5.6' bed truck is already a nice length, at 140" wheelbase.

 

[deserteagle71]

That's some insane advice.

https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2025/12/second-toyota-tundra-engine-failure-recall-issued-due-to-thousands-of-failures-two-fixes-confirmed/

My thoughts also! Toyota had such a good engine in that 5.7 V8 - maybe not the best gas mileage but they would last forever and were by far the most dependable of the half-ton trucks on the market. They tried to follow Ford in replacing the V8 with a 3.5 twin-turbo V6 (more and better power) but someone didn't do enough homework. That new engine has been nothing but problems.

 

[Runner]

Bidding ends in 3 hours! :

That crunch going into third has me concerned....

 

[deserteagle71]

I would never buy a Japanese vehicle, let alone a truck, anyway.

Your loss. When you spend that much money on something you expect it to be dependable, to last. And if it weren't for the Japanese building such dependable vehicles and forcing American manufacturers to up their dependability because they were losing market share we'd still be driving the awful products they were building back in the 70s and 80s.

I believe in buying American too but only to a point. If Corporate America plays us for suckers..."buy American, despite our Corporate philosophy of having quality/dependability at #10 on a scale of 1 to 10", then I'll buy elsewhere. Their bean counters couldn't see past the end of their noses - all they could see was the immediate profit. Not taking into account that consumers would spend their money elsewhere once they realized how bad their products were and how much money they had to spend on repairs after the purchase. Americans CAN build quality products - most of the Japanese vehicles are built right here in the USA, including the Toyota Tundra, the most dependable half ton pickup. The difference is Corporate Management that emphasizes building a quality product.

 

[Highlandr]

most of the Japanese vehicles are built right here in the USA, including the Toyota Tundra

I'm reminded of a conversation at deer camp a few years ago. The Ford/Chevy/Dodge discussion was in in full swing when one of the crew turned to me (and my Tundra) and said, "Why don't YOU buy a truck that's made in America!?" All eyes on me now. I said, "Those boys down in Texas that put them together would argue that they ARE made in America." Then took a long pull from my red solo cup.

The Ford/Chevy/Dodge discussion continued.

I read a while back that, given the amount of parts that are sourced in the US, the Tundra is the most "made in America" truck there is.

 

[sd455dan]

Well this is New Truck news I had not heard before, did an AI search after hearing a rumor.

OBD2 scan tool blocker on new trucks.

"Secure gateway module "and need a special bypass cable.

Now anti right to repair attitude not just JD but RAM and Ford .

RAM is now intentionally making scanning your own truck even harder by burying that module way behind the dash instrument cluster!

Almost makes me mad enough to order a Smarty JR for my old truck, just because.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

That crunch going into third has me concerned....

I like the start where he "found" reverse.
I bet that tranny is full of dust.

 

[sunandsand]

One thing to be aware of with aluminum bodies is that if you drill holes in it and bolt things like steel eyebolts and tiedowns to it, you will get dissimilar metals corrosion. I've run into the same problem with copper ground wires for a lightning rod system on a galvanized steel building - they do NOT get along well. This isn't an "aluminum" problem, it is a physics problem.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

 

[newbury]

If I were to buy a new truck, and I'm considering it now, I'd want this...F250 4x4 work truck, especially no carpet. 6.8L gas.
A truck...nothing moreView attachment 5336841

How about like this?
2026 F250 XL Supercab, 6.8l, 148" wheelbase w/STX package. 55K OTD, until I added a maintenance package.
Note - be careful about taillights, some cost $4.5K EACH.

 

[Hay Dude]

Somewhat confused here.
OP says 3/4 tons are out because of height restrictions in Philly parking garages.
I know diesels are out-ok.
Why are 3/4 tons still being discussed?

 

[WinterDeere]

Somewhat confused here.
OP says 3/4 tons are out because of height restrictions in Philly parking garages.
I know diesels are out-ok.
Why are 3/4 tons still being discussed?

Not "out", but just one big strike against them. Every truck is a compromise, and I was primarily weighing parking convenience of the 1500 against hitch weight capacity of the 2500.

That said, I just got back from the local Dodge dealer, where I walked the lot and talked to my usual sales guy. I'm pretty nearly-sold on the Ram 2500 Big Horn, which is kind of funny, I never really liked the Big Horn edition in any other model or year before.

For the foreseeable future, we're going to have at least 4 vehicles here, which opens up options to take something other than the truck to the airport or the city. Heck... even Uber is an option today, which wasn't really the case when I chose my 2015 truck.

I'm also planning to erect another 4+ car garage, and can size it to fit the 2500, which makes getting it into the attached garage less of an issue. It also makes leaving it outdoors the other 350 - 360 days per year less of an issue, with regard to aluminum vs. steel body.

Another thing I learned that Ram has changed a lot of their frame and undercarriage coatings since 2015, and also uses a steel alloy that's more resistant to corrosion, since 2019. All of these factors combine to make me a little less concerned with the new one rusting out in the same 10 - 12 years.

I'll try to make time to check out a Ford in the next week, but I'm already having the old truck appraised on Thursday, and if that goes well I might just be ordering a new Ram 2500 then.

My head was spinning at the 1500's pricing, $90k was a number I saw over and over. The 2500, the way I'd configure it, comes in at $60k.

 

[Hay Dude]

Not "out", but just one big strike against them. Every truck is a compromise, and I was primarily weighing parking convenience of the 1500 against hitch weight capacity of the 2500.

That said, I just got back from the local Dodge dealer, where I walked the lot and talked to my usual sales guy. I'm pretty nearly-sold on the Ram 2500 Big Horn, which is kind of funny, I never really liked the Big Horn edition in any other model or year before.

For the foreseeable future, we're going to have at least 4 vehicles here, which opens up options to take something other than the truck to the airport or the city. Heck... even Uber is an option today, which wasn't really the case when I chose my 2015 truck.

I'm also planning to erect another 4+ car garage, and can size it to fit the 2500, which makes getting it into the attached garage less of an issue. It also makes leaving it outdoors the other 350 - 360 days per year less of an issue, with regard to aluminum vs. steel body.

Another thing I learned that Ram has changed a lot of their frame and undercarriage coatings since 2015, and also uses a steel alloy that's more resistant to corrosion, since 2019. All of these factors combine to make me a little less concerned with the new one rusting out in the same 10 - 12 years.

I'll try to make time to check out a Ford in the next week, but I'm already having the old truck appraised on Thursday, and if that goes well I might just be ordering a new Ram 2500 then.

My head was spinning at the 1500's pricing, $90k was a number I saw over and over. The 2500, the way I'd configure it, comes in at $60k.

Ram is better. Longer warranty alone worth 5 grand, IMO.

So once you get it, will you finally call it a “RAM” and not a “dodge”.