truck advice please

[jeffsw6]

I'm having a really tough time deciding what to do about a bigger truck. As you may know I foolishly bought a much bigger trailer without being sure my Suburban would be happy pulling it! It's not going to break me if I can't use it this summer but it will make me work harder doing some jobs.

I am considering a few trucks I have seen on Craigslist that I can easily afford. Mostly these are 95 to 99 Chevy K3500 DRW 4x4s some with the 5.7 and have seen a couple with the 7.4. I think the 7.4 equipped trucks would be okay for this trailer, the 5.7 would probably feel pretty under-powered. The typical asking price for these trucks seems to be about $3500 to $5000 and if I bought one I would hope to use it for one or two years and then re-evaluate. Not worried about MPGs by the way, I don't drive enough that it matters to me.

The next thing I am considering are late-90s / early-00s F350 7.3 PSDs. I have seen several SRW not a lot of DRW for sale near me. These are a little more expensive of course and I feel like that would still be a temporary solution for me, not exactly what I want, prices seem to be around $9k to $15k, and I hate the idea of spending that much money on something that is not a long-term purchase even though they should hold value pretty well.

Then there are the newer Duramaxes, in the neighborhood of $20k I could get a 3500 DRW 4x4 with lots of gadgets and be really happy with it. This is what I planned to do later this year but right now, with the equipment I plan on buying in the first few months of summer, it would be a stretch financially.

I am really trying to talk myself into the 90s Chevy 3500s. I would really appreciate opinions from anyone who has owned one and done a good deal of towing! FYI the trailer is a 8.5x20 10K 7'6" box bumper pull, towing it is very similar to a larger travel trailer.

And on the other hand, I really can just wait until later this year and save more money.

 

[Wnc3]

Wait for what you want....
But if you go gas get the 7.4. With that large of a pickup with 4x4 DWR,
You could even get worse milage with a 5.7 (the 6.0 is a dud IMO) pulling a trailer and be miserable doing it.
I have a diesel and love it (5.9 cummins) , but everything is more expensive with diesel when it comes to maintenance and repairs. The winner on diesel is the fuel milage and tow ability.

 

[jeffsw6]

The older Chevys are just so inexpensive that they fit "what I want" in a different way, not as nice but so cheap that it would (I hope?) allow me to quit worrying about how to get equipment from home to job site and back without making an extra trip, and so cheap it would not affect my plans for other things I want to buy.

 

[Diamondpilot]

The big issue on these trucks is reliability. If you are making a living with them I would not trust a 20 year old anything. Another issue from taking on this forum with you is turning radius. The older GM duallys and all brands for that matter were bad until 2005 and later. I have had them all, Dodge, Ford, and GMC and they take a acre to turn around with a trailer. The Fords after 05 are by far the best.

If it was me I would get a late model F-350 Gas truck with SRW's. They are plentiful, will pull that trailer no problem, and are just good all around trucks.

If you are going to spend the dime on a new late model truck skip the diesel and pick up a new Toyota Tundra. It will run circles around a Suburban power wise and towing and the new F-150s will do the same. To be fair, Nissan has a Titan, GM has a 6.2L, and Dodge has a Hemi that will all be a step up from your current rig but will come at a cost of mpg.

Chris

 

[Egon]

Older Used Trucks; you have to look them over to determine their condition and what it would cost to make them roadworthy for your purpose.

Think I'd stay away from Diesel unless it had a Cumins in it.:thumbsup:

 

[QRTRHRS]

Have you checked out Stieger at I-64 and Rt127 at Lawerenceburg? They have a lot of trucks to look over. Or, pick up the Autolocator. He runs four pages or so every week.

 

[tcartwri]

I went back and read your other posts. If it was me and I was just towing that trailer occasionaly, I would probably pay to have 4.10's or even 4.56's put into your suburban with a weight distributing hitch. With your OD those gears are not that much of a penalty in fuel consumption.

That's what "I" would do. Your right on the limit though.

 

[deerefan]

I'm having a really tough time deciding what to do about a bigger truck. As you may know I foolishly bought a much bigger trailer without being sure my Suburban would be happy pulling it! It's not going to break me if I can't use it this summer but it will make me work harder doing some jobs.

I am considering a few trucks I have seen on Craigslist that I can easily afford. Mostly these are 95 to 99 Chevy K3500 DRW 4x4s some with the 5.7 and have seen a couple with the 7.4. I think the 7.4 equipped trucks would be okay for this trailer, the 5.7 would probably feel pretty under-powered. The typical asking price for these trucks seems to be about $3500 to $5000 and if I bought one I would hope to use it for one or two years and then re-evaluate. Not worried about MPGs by the way, I don't drive enough that it matters to me.

The next thing I am considering are late-90s / early-00s F350 7.3 PSDs. I have seen several SRW not a lot of DRW for sale near me. These are a little more expensive of course and I feel like that would still be a temporary solution for me, not exactly what I want, prices seem to be around $9k to $15k, and I hate the idea of spending that much money on something that is not a long-term purchase even though they should hold value pretty well.

Then there are the newer Duramaxes, in the neighborhood of $20k I could get a 3500 DRW 4x4 with lots of gadgets and be really happy with it. This is what I planned to do later this year but right now, with the equipment I plan on buying in the first few months of summer, it would be a stretch financially.

I am really trying to talk myself into the 90s Chevy 3500s. I would really appreciate opinions from anyone who has owned one and done a good deal of towing! FYI the trailer is a 8.5x20 10K 7'6" box bumper pull, towing it is very similar to a larger travel trailer.

And on the other hand, I really can just wait until later this year and save more money.

You cant go wrong with the mid to late ninties chevy with the 454. Not gas friendly but very reliable, cheap to maintain, easy to work on and run well to 300k miles with few problems. I had 2. When i was 20, i had a small dozer business to help pay for college. I pulled it (jd 450) on a 30ft gooseneck with a diesel tank (100 gal) in the bed. It was a reg cab 4x4 with 4.11, a 93. I traded it with 240k miles in 2003 and bought a 98 ext cab same drive train as above. I sold it with 285k. Both had the original auto trans and motors and routinely pulled 12k pounds. I wish i kept the 98.

 

[foreman Etexas]

1996 3500 Dodge click to see pics $5500

Something like this is what I would look for.....

 

[Dmace]

For a 10k trailer, SRW would be plenty. Also with rising fuel prices, the big blocks (Dodge V10, Ford V10, GM 8.1) should be cheap. Go 1 ton for the 99 and older trucks. If you can go without 4x4, a 2wd would be much cheaper as well.

 

[jeffsw6]

The big issue on these trucks is reliability. If you are making a living with them I would not trust a 20 year old anything.

With a two-truck solution I feel pretty comfortable with one being older. I also have several friends who all trade extra work with me, we help each-other whenever needed, etc. so if I had a breakdown on the way to a job it would be a bad day but it would not be a huge problem.

As to turning radius / parking trailers in the city, you are right this is a concern for me. I decided to make smarter use of my small trailer, I guess it won't be on 100% mower duty after all. I am going to re-do the inside of it and add some e-track.

The Tundras, they hold their value so well I would sooner buy a mid-00s duramax. I am convinced I would still have to be really cautions with tongue weight / proper loading with a Tundra. I do not think anything smaller than a F350 SRW will give me the margin of error I would like to have.

I went back and read your other posts. If it was me and I was just towing that trailer occasionaly, I would probably pay to have 4.10's or even 4.56's put into your suburban with a weight distributing hitch. With your OD those gears are not that much of a penalty in fuel consumption.

A two-truck solution is really smarter for me for many reasons.

You cant go wrong with the mid to late ninties chevy with the 454. Not gas friendly but very reliable, cheap to maintain, easy to work on and run well to 300k miles with few problems.

This was my thinking as well. The one I am waiting for a call about is a 96 with 165k and the guy's ad says the only problem with it is "could use valve cover gaskets," which I think is every Chevy of that era. I have a friend who can maintain gassers like nobody's business for a fair rate too. Don't have any diesel tech friends though!

 

[alaskakubota]

I would get a 94-98 dodge with 12v cummins and a 5 speed. Bulletproof. That motor tranny combo is hard to beat.

 

[Soundguy]

if you like the f350 7.3psd, but not the 10-15K tag price.. look older than 03 and in the 96-99 range. in 97 the new look came out.. but a clean 96 should be fine if you don't mind the boxier look and different door handles. And should last WAY longer than 2-3 ys..

i just got a 99 350 7.3 drw 4x4 in the 10k range. I seriously looked at a couple 96-97setup in the 3.5-5k$ range.. almost pulled the trigger onthe 96 due to how clean it looked...

some don't like the drw. if you don't need the slight extra capacity.. that should make it a lil easier..e tc..

soundguy