Pick WinterDeere's next truck

[Fuddyduddy1952]

One idea is simply rent a new truck for a week or two. We've done that before buying a new car. Take a vacation or just to see how you like it before purchasing.
One friend/neighbor bought a loaded F150. He loves it, his wife won't ride in it. He was showing me how he controls all this junk on his phone with it, how it has electric tailgate & running boards. He's out there right now waxing it again. I've never seen him carry anything in the bed, but he can get in it easily to wax it.

 

[92blacksunshine]

That makes me wonder about GM's paint.
It doesn't bother Toyota or Ford paint one bit?

I don't know, he's the only one I know who used the stuff. Everyone else I know uses Fluid Film.

 

[92blacksunshine]

GM uses that stuff on their frames that's like a wax, a couple of undercarriage washes and it's pretty much gone.

Ford coats their frames in EDP, my '17 F250 has gone through 9 Ohio winters and still has the paint markings on the frame.

 

[sd455dan]

GM uses that stuff on their frames that's like a wax, a couple of undercarriage washes and it's pretty much gone.

Ford coats their frames in EDP, my '17 F250 has gone through 9 Ohio winters and still has the paint markings on the frame.

Had a couple old 60's GM muscle cars that had the dealer? applied thick tar like substance. No rust of any kind at 50 years, whatever that product was, it really did a good job. Probably added quite a few pounds to the car but well worth it to make a classic last.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

.

 

[Jstpssng]

I'm stealing TBN member BCP's photo again.

 

[WinterDeere]

a .22 shell is cheaper.
Or a 110 Conibear.

You clearly underestimate how many squirrels we have! That'd be almost as hopeless as emptying the Sahara desert of sand, with the FEL on my CUT.

That said, I do suspect it must be one squirrel in particular. I've been parking vehicles outdoors for 35 years in this corner of PA, and have never had this problem until this year. I'd be inclined to blame the material Ram used to mold this fuel line, but I've owned this truck 10 years now, and never an issue until this year.

I also saw a squirrel drop out of the front fender of my son's Mini yesterday. I'd bet it's the same one, so I left him a cube of rat poison atop the fuel tank on the pickup truck. We'll see if it's gone, after a day or two.

Here's the weird thing, though... I was under there today, and can't find any damage to the fuel return line. It's possible it's in some location I just can't reach without dropping the tank, but I was really feeling up and down that line, and couldn't find any damage.

Once I've convinced myself the offending squirrel is dead, I'll take the truck back to the dealer to see what's up with the fuel line. It's possible something just came disconnected, but I'm also not finding any evidence of that. If the squirrel chewed thru some of the wiring going to the fuel tank, that'd be harder to detect by feel alone, since the harnesses are wrapped in tape and feel rough all over. Of course everything is hiding atop the fuel tank, where I can't see, so all inspect is by feel.

 

[ruffdog]

Here is an old Ford with the modern 7.3L

 

[Rustyiron]

I don't know, he's the only one I know who used the stuff. Everyone else I know uses Fluid Film.

I didn't think there was a difference between the two other than the color.
Both lanolin products AFAIK.
FF is widely available around here at NAPA and honestly I've never seen or used woolwaxI brand.

 

[walnutman]

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?

We lived 20 miles out of Philly. Bought my 04 2500 Cummins brand new. 5 years ago we moved to East TX.
Yes shes got rust.. rockers are gone. Rear wheel wells rusted but covered by my Bushwacker flares.

Plowed snow for 18 years... when needed. Not commercial but did do a few jobs. We had a 1000ft driveway.

225k on her and going strong.

Wondering why yours is worse.

BTW my truck is a 2500 4x4 Cummins with 2" leveling springs on the front and 35" tires. Not sure I ever had an issue with parking garages.
Maybe have your truck repaired.. Put a new bed on it.

 

[walnutman]

One idea is simply rent a new truck for a week or two. We've done that before buying a new car. Take a vacation or just to see how you like it before purchasing.
One friend/neighbor bought a loaded F150. He loves it, his wife won't ride in it. He was showing me how he controls all this junk on his phone with it, how it has electric tailgate & running boards. He's out there right now waxing it again. I've never seen him carry anything in the bed, but he can get in it easily to wax it.

Made me

 

[jon171717]

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?

After three Rams, in the last 12 years (I put a lot of miles on them) I recently switched to a F150. It a 3.5L PowerBoost Full Hybrid. Its got a ton of torque and tows my 9,900 GVWR trailer with my tractor and bush hog with no problem. I've been very happy with it. The bed is made of aluminum so you won't have a rust issue. My son is currently driving a 2025 Ram and is having a lot of issues with it. In the last year, it's been at the dealership four times.

 

[tradosaurus]

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?

Concerning point 5, unless your towing trips are less than 100 miles round trip I would not recommend an EV.

I would go used from the southern states since you don't put that many miles on a work truck.

2020 F250 7.3L V8 - $48,000

I like all the bells & whistles when I'm driving, espeically the older I'm getting.


best engines for towing

 

[Oaktree]

But they lost me back 15 years ago or so. At least in Nevada, GM corporate bean counters decided to shut down all their dealerships in small rural towns. The two dealerships in the nearest town to me - one sold Chevy, the other GMC/Buick/Cadillac - were forced to shut down. Nevada is a huge state but if you want to buy a GM vehicle in Nevada today you have three locations - the Reno area, the Las Vegas area, and the Elko area. It is 300 miles from Reno to Elko. It is 450 miles from Reno to Las Vegas. Why would someone in rural Nevada want to drive hours to a GM dealer, whether it is to buy or have service work done or take care of a recall?

But just about every small town has a Ford dealer, and many have Dodge dealerships also.

I recall them ending some dealership franchises during the bankrupcy of the late 00s, but there are still more GM dealerships in my area than most any other manufacturer. Even some of those that lost their franchises seem to have gotten them back. Ford and most foreign makes seem sparser here.

 

[Oaktree]

Had a couple old 60's GM muscle cars that had the dealer? applied thick tar like substance. No rust of any kind at 50 years, whatever that product was, it really did a good job. Probably added quite a few pounds to the car but well worth it to make a classic last.

Had an early 70s Dart back in the day that had been undercoated with something like that. Had have been factory or dealership, I bought it new. I think it would have been better off with nothing, any small cracks that developed in that tar would just trap moisture and salt but the resulting damage was out of sight until it was well advanced.
Think it was there more for sound deadening than rust protection.

 

[neilpaku]

That makes me wonder about GM's paint.
It doesn't bother Toyota or Ford paint one bit?

Yeah, it's not the Woolwax which is pure lanolin (Fluidfilm is lanolin plus volatile solvents - that's the only difference so I always go with Woolwax - cheaper and I'm not paying for stuff that evaporates). My brother has used lanolin (brand unknown) for literally decades on his ag trucks and tractors and I've used Woolwax since 2015 on multiple brands of vehicle (Chev, Audi, Ford, PJ trailer, JD lawn tractor) and neither of us have had an issue with paint. There'd be a lawsuit against WW if it was down to the lanolin. I suspect it's the paint on that car or something else that has been applied to the paint.

 

[Colin1960]

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.

 

[mtnbikerva1]

JUST SAY NO TO ANY 10 SPEED TRANSmission’s.
Do some research on 10 speed transmissions my experience and impression is that they all are a horrible as far as reliability and durability. Low quality materials used, and the wrong materials used in the wrong places too many gears and too small a case...
Just make sure you research transmissions first for their reliability and durability before you make your choice.
And obviously stay away from the GM 6.2 L that has the camshaft made in Mexico. They blow up sometimes before they even leave the lot when you buy it brand new.
Engine wise my impression is the coyote 5.0 L is a reliable well performing engine.
But I don’t know if you can buy a Ford truck with anything other than a 10 speed transmission days thank you to the café standards.

 

[WinterDeere]

Wondering why yours is worse.

Yeah, I wonder the same. My prior Ram was a 2005 that I bought new, and was my daily commuter most of its life. Drive it back and forth to Allentown everyday on the turnpike, where the road salt can be so thick it's like driving on gravel. I started noticing paint bubbling around rear wheels in year 11, and then I could see orange telegraphing thru the silver paint with lots more paint bubbling in year 12. In that cae, it was purely body, mostly around rear wheel wells, lower edges of doors, and lower edge of tailgate.

The current truck is a 2015, which I ordered off-lease thru Chrysler Capital inventory in 2017. When it arrived, it already had a lot of rust on brakes and axles, and I'd thought about just rejecting it, but the body was clean and it was a very rare and difficult configuration to find. So I scrubbed and sprayed the affected areas with rust converting primer and paint, and that has held up well. But now I see frame rail lower edges have quite a bit of rust, and the inner walls of the bed are as delaminated as a stack of newspaper. Who knows what the prior owner did with it...

I also found it was a smoker's truck, which stank for about a year, and is still dusty with cigarette ash after 10 years and dozens of vacuumings.

This has kind of turned me off on ever buying another used vehicle. I'm not saying I'll never buy another used vehicle, in fact I just bought another used vehicle four months ago, for our teen to drive. But at $48k for used... I'd probably just go new. I don't need all of the bells and whistles, so that's not really a big selling point, for me.

 

[Len4707]

I did not see any replies that included EVs so here goes. Currently we have three trucks. First up is a 2018 Ram 1500 Tradesman. I bought that because we needed a truck when we moved to the farm. It is basic but it is a great vehicle. This is a third vehicle for us, we dont drive it every day, but when we need the eight foot bed it is there for us.

In 2023 my wife wanted a new car and an EV. She bought a Rivian. It is very fancy. It has all the technology. It does all the truck stuff. But it has a very short bed. Service is a 90 mile drive, in Philadelphia you might be closer to a service center.

Last year I wanted a new vehicle. I saw on Carvana that they had taken in a fleet of used Silverado EVs. So I traded in for a one year old, 7000 mile truck for about $42k. I have been so happy with this truck. It is like the Ram only better in every way except bed length. Very basic but I drive it everywhere. It is tall but fits in parking garages in Atlanta and Athens. It has a stout, regular suspension. The back seat folds up for an outstanding storage area.

Not towing I have a 420 mile range. If you can install a 50 amp service outside charging overnight is easy. 80 amp would be better but I have not gotten around to that yet. Check your electric rates but I drive the EVs at about 5 cents per mile. The Ram was 18 cents per mile last time I calculated but likely closer to 25 cents today.

What about towing? I call the Massey dealer when I need service because he's cheaper than me buying a rig that would safely haul my tractor. But you can expect to lose about 50% range. Watch Aging Wheels on YouTube, Robert has several videos testing EV towing.

EVs are made with a good amount of aluminum and plastics so might be better for not rusting. Anyway, good luck on your truck buying journey!