Diesel Truck advice

[Husky]

Looking to trade my 2000 GMC 4x4 Yukon for a Diesel truck or just buy one out right. Looking for any advice as to good/bad trucks and years etc. Which were the good diesel engines and the bad ones etc. I really know nothing about diesels so any advice appreciated.

[Tylar]

I could talk for hours about this, but would need to know why you want a diesel (tow, power, economy, because you want one)?

Go to the magazine store and get yourself a copy of Diesel Power and Diesel World.

[Tylar]

Thought about this some more.

Used Ford? 7.3l, which is 2003.5 and older or 2008 and newer. If you REALLY want to get power from the truck, 2011 and newer. Teh market is there for aftermarket and Ford finally put a motor in the truck that can compete with a Cummins....finally. I own a 2004 6.0l PSD...and am one of the few lucky ones that hasn't had to turn the truck back in due to massive suckage.

Used Cummins? If it were me, I have a huge hard-on for the second generation 5.9l 24v with a 6-speed. YOu can get power out of it cheaply, the motor just works and the transmission can be cheaply modified to handle it. The rest of the quality of the truck is meh. You buy the truck for the motor.

Used Chevy? I don't know much about them, someone else will have to chip in.

Going new is another $60,000+ conversation

[stubbicatt]

Always preferred the Cummins over the Cat in my Kenworth.

[Graphite675]

Been thinking about moving up to a F250 diesel myself so also looking for any pros or cons. Not sure I can really justify giving up the decent gas mileage of my F150 (for a truck) to go to the diesel. I'm getting around 16mpg now and I am guessing the diesel is around 10?

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[Tylar]

My F-250 6.0l is 4x4, crew cab short box and I get a solid 15mpg. The Cummins can get better mileage and of course, any tuner will help you get a couple more mpg.

My father in law has a 98 5.9l 12-valve and gets right around 19. It is a 5-speed.

[The GECCO]

Been thinking about moving up to a F250 diesel myself so also looking for any pros or cons. Not sure I can really justify giving up the decent gas mileage of my F150 (for a truck) to go to the diesel. I'm getting around 16mpg now and I am guessing the diesel is around 10?

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My 05 Dodge/Cummins gets a pretty steady 18-20. If I have the discipline to set the cruise at 65 it gets 25-26. It gets 10-12 towing my 38' toy hauler.

[Husky]

To answer the previous question, I mainly want to move to a diesel truck for towing reasons. My Yukon struggles towing my enclosed trailer with bikes, and all other race crap. I was also under the impression that diesel trucks got better gas mileage vs. gas?

[#1Townie]

Ford guys stay away from the 6.0 and the 6.4. New 6.7 is supposed to be the save all. I will only run the 7.3 from now on.

[Tylar]

Ford guys stay away from the 6.0 and the 6.4. New 6.7 is supposed to be the save all. I will only run the 7.3 from now on.

Agreed. The fact my 6.0l is still running well is definitely not normal.

single turbo 7.3l is up through 2003.5 (I think they started putting a turbo on the motor in 1993, I may be wrong).

single turbo 6.0l is 2003.5 through 2007. Many, including myself, would suggest you avoid this.

compound 6.4l 2008 through 2010.

compound 6.7l is 2011 to current. While I've not owned one, I"ve read and seen that they are very easy to get to the 1500 lb/ft mark.

Surf YouTube and watch some dyno pulls and sled pulls. You'll see that it is predominantly Cummins. The motors just take a horrendous beating for the power you can add. Many like the comfort and finish of the Ford.

No matter what diesel you get, service is and can be expensive, you can save on this if you do it yourself. Keep the oil fresh and your filters, fuel and oil, changed regularly and you should be just fine along with routine maintenance seen for any vehicle. A good example is that my 6.0l holds 15 qts of oil total, 13.5 is required for a change (1.5qts remains in the high pressure oil system). So depending on your oil loyalties that would be rated for diesel, this is generally more than a 5qt change for a gasser.

[fasterlaster]

Used Chevy? I don't know much about them, someone else will have to chip in.

Until recently we ran one of the older 6.5L Turbo GM engines. It developed some issue which I was never able to track down, and ended up trading it in when the wife got tired of me messing with her truck every weekend. Like the Ford having a V8 will help with diesel rattle and how quiet the engine is. We also had 335k on the engine when we traded it in. These are the same engines put in the real Hummers so they can stand some punishment, but the aftermarket for these is poor. I can't comment on the newer GM diesels, but that Suburban we had really was a great truck.

[rybo]

I was also under the impression that diesel trucks got better gas mileage vs. gas?


This statement is true, but only to an extent. There is more energy in a gallon of diesel fuel than in a gallon of gasoline, so the economy is lost at the refinery and gained at the end user. It takes considerably more crude oil to produce a gallon of diesel fuel than it does a gallon of gasoline. Because of this diesel fuel is currently a bit more expensive than gasoline, because the cost of the crude oil they are both refined from is the major portion of the fuel cost.

Not too far in the distant past we saw diesel prices that were lower than gasoline prices - this is because in those times the cost of refining was the most expensive part of the fuel making process.

[Penadam]

Another component to the increased millage is that the higher compression results in higher efficiency. For the truck, the 24 valve 5.9 Cummins is solid. In general, look for something without the scr or dpf if you're looking to mod easily for big power.

[Wrider]

Yup to all of the above. I'll add the following:
6.5 GMC motor is good, but not great.
5.9 cummins - 12V is absolutely bulletproof, but long in the tooth now. 24V Cummins is a damned good motor, can handle slightly less HP/TQ in it's top end than the 12V if you want to modify it, but easier to modify.
6.0 Powerstroke = Oh God oh God please why me
6.4 PS = Mediocrity defined
6.7 PS - From what I've seen/heard they're pretty good.
6.7 Cummins - Same power ratings as the 6.7 PS and Duramax, but with 2 less cylinders and the same Cummins reliability
Duramax - Make power very easily, especially if you go to an aftermarket turbo. I've seen them with a turbo swap, a tune, intake, and exhaust get 19 MPG and still stomp modded (albeit slightly) WRXs, STIs, and EVOs.

Personally I learned to drive on a 24V Cummins 5 sp dually Dodge so I'm biased, but that thing was bought new by my uncle (owns a farm), worked to death for 5 years, and still ran like a champ when he sold it with 185K on it.

[Husky]

Thanks I appreciate all the tips and comments.

[Penadam]

Yup to all of the above. I'll add the following:

6.7 Cummins - Same power ratings as the 6.7 PS and Duramax, but with 2 less cylinders and the same Cummins reliability


Just a few things to be careful about on the 6.7. Back when I worked there, there were some problems with turbos sooting up. They came up with wash system that involved hooking up a hose, but they never really got it fully sorted out. People had problems with the DPF clogging up, but that was more of a function of how they drove it than the truck. The truck won't go into a normal regen cycle unless it has specific conditions, and the people who just tooled around town never hit them. Drive it fast and hard and you'll have no problems. The only other issue was with the transmissions. I would actually recommend the auto over the manual. The gear ratios in the manual are awful, 1st is useless unless you're pulling 15,000 lbs and 6th isn't high enough for good highway cruising. Additionally, engines with the manual are limited to 600 ft-lbs. The auto has much better ratios overall. Only downside is you're torque limited in the first few gears (i believe).

[Wrider]

Penadam actually reminded me of something else. If you're buying new, a manual isn't an option on any diesel out there. Dodge was the last one to call it quits in 2010(?). And I'm not sure but I don't think the Duramax ever came with a manual option/base model. I know the 6.7 Fords don't.

[The Black Knight]

I'll chime in more on this when I get home. But after having two Cummins I'd recommend a Cummins only. Also stay far away from the DPF shit the 08's and up have. It's such a waste of time and a good motor.

[Husky]

Well from reading the advice of this board and others it seems the majority consencess is to stay away from the 6.0 ford diesel and generally speaking the cummins is a good choice.

[Wrider]

That, and a EGR/DPF delete is your first mod. Before a tuner even.

[NUTZ]

Husky, how heavy is your trailer fully loaded and how many miles a month on average are you pullup the trailer?