Preferred gas engines for 1 ton pickups

[Raw Dodge]

I have read that on here many, many times. Anyone that claims that is so full of it or just plain doesn't know what they are talking about.

We have diesel machinery that sits for 10-11 months out of the year.




IMO a diesel will sit long periods far better than a gas model.

But I am sure whatever you decide on will do you well, good luck with your purchase.

Diesels with VGT turbos do not sit around well.....if the truck sits long enough corrosion and soot will make the vanes stick,shortly after the turbo catastrophically fails....what worked with older equipment doesnt work with today diesels that need to meet rediculous emission standards.If you do not plan to use a newer diesel a lot and work it,dont bother buying one,you wont be happy with it.

 

[FlaDon]

If initial cost isn't the main reason you're thinking gas, then I'd go with a diesel any day. You'd be happy you did on the first hill with the trailer behind your truck.

Tell that to someone who actually has a GM 8.1L powered truck. I'll wait till they quit laughing at you.

And as others have said, California is basically killing Diesel trucks right and left. CA, the place where the air into the engine is dirtier than the exhaust coming out.

 

[Diamondpilot]

So you would consider the 360 that made 245hp/333lb.ft over the completely new and now very well proven 345 HEMI that makes 345hp/375lb.ft. I don't know what you have against the HEMI but I highly doubt you ever even owned one, I have never heard anyone complain about that engine except for fuel mileage. Sure it uses fuel (17hwy/14city/11 towing max capacity - my real world numbers) but makes more power at any RPM per cu. in. then any other gasoline engine ever made.

The HEMI wasn't available in the 2500/3500 until 2003. It actually makes about the same power as the GM 8.1l but gets much better fuel mileage. The auto tranny behind the HEMI also has been mostly unchanged since 2003 and has been very proven as well. People like to remember the old Dodge tranny's of the early 90's that had problems and think they are still problematic but the new tranny started in 2003 has proven to be very stout and very reliable. I wouldn't hesitate one second to get a 1-ton with the HEMI and 5-speed auto but you stated you only wanted up to 2002 model year.

I had a 2004 2500 that was Hemi powered. Engine was fine but I had buddies who had 360 powered trucks and they had much more low end grunt. HP and TQ mean nothing too a point. Look at the old first gen Cummins. Made about 180ish HP and 400 TQ but did a heck of a job towing because it made the power in the right area. Same with the 360. They should have left the Hemi in the cars and built upon the good engine they had in the 360. Same thing with all the older engines like the 454, 350, 351 Winsor, 460, ect. The HP wars made the manufactures go stupid and forget the basics.

You kill me with the whole spitting spark plug thing and tranny stuff for Ford. What maybe 1/10 of 1% had spark plug issues. I gave the guy my honest opinion of all the trucks with praise and and not to all brands in post #2. You just can not handle the truth. I swear you must be builders long lost brother or something.

Chris

 

[ME83]

For your needs and model year requirements, I would go with a GM V8 8.1l. The Dodge 1-ton up to 2002 model year (old style) only came in dual rear wheel which you are probably not looking for. The Ford has a decent engine but there were still many problems with it (like spitting spark plugs out of the head), it gets horrible gas mileage and the tranny is made of glass.

So you would consider the 360 that made 245hp/333lb.ft over the completely new and now very well proven 345 HEMI that makes 345hp/375lb.ft. I don't know what you have against the HEMI but I highly doubt you ever even owned one, I have never heard anyone complain about that engine except for fuel mileage. Sure it uses fuel (17hwy/14city/11 towing max capacity - my real world numbers) but makes more power at any RPM per cu. in. then any other gasoline engine ever made.

The HEMI wasn't available in the 2500/3500 until 2003. It actually makes about the same power as the GM 8.1l but gets much better fuel mileage.

The Hemi may be a decent engine, but it doesn't compare to towing with the Ford V10 or GM 8.1L. If you do look for a V10 Ford, get a 2003 or later that has the 3-valve per cylinder head, the earlier ones had no top end power.

BTW, the 8.1L had 340 HP and 455 ft*lb of torque, it is more power than the hemi. The redline was about 4k rpm, hense why the HP is so low.

I would also go with the 8.1L, I almost bought one a few months ago but I am waiting to see what comes out of the 2011 redesigns.

 

[Steve C]

I had a 2004 2500 that was Hemi powered. Engine was fine but I had buddies who had 360 powered trucks and they had much more low end grunt. HP and TQ mean nothing too a point. Look at the old first gen Cummins. Made about 180ish HP and 400 TQ but did a heck of a job towing because it made the power in the right area. Same with the 360. They should have left the Hemi in the cars and built upon the good engine they had in the 360. Same thing with all the older engines like the 454, 350, 351 Winsor, 460, ect. The HP wars made the manufactures go stupid and forget the basics.


Chris

You are right, peak horsepower has little to do with comfortable towing. More is better but you don't need a lot. A broad wide power band is what you need. I have a 16,000 lb motor home that I used to pull a 5,000 lb trailer about 60,000 miles. It is powered by a 5.9 Cummins that makes only 160 H.P. It handles the 21,000 lb combined weight very well, probably because it is tuned to produce close to 600 ft. lbs. of torque at very low rpm's. It has a 4 speed Allison transmission. It can get away with using a 4 speed because the power band is so wide. It is geared to top out at around 72 MPH, and will run that speed all day long while still getting 10-12 miles per gallon. Even with the trailer attached it will accelorate from a stop faster than most traffic up to about 40 mph. It's a lot of fun to watch the mirrors when coming to stop at a red light on a multi lane highway. People naturly change lanes to avoid being behind the motor home and trailer. When the light turns green they are suprised. It ususlly takes a couple of blocks before they catch up. 513 gears and 600 ft lbs of torque can get thing moving in an unexpected hurry.

 

[RobertN]

It would be interesting to see the torque and HP graphs on those motors.

I also wonder, if the new Hemi as you describe, was a general production engine, or if they are cammed and chipped for trucks? Intakes and exhaust tuned for pulling? Do they make a Hemi for cars, and a hemi for truck, or just one motor?

Reason I ask, is my Uncles old car, and my Grandfathers old truck. My Grandfather had a '69 GMC 3/4 ton with a 396/TH400. For all the hoopla about today's trucks, that truck was a torquey pulling machine. My Uncle, had a '66 SS396/4sp Chevelle. It had the high HP motor(Think 375hp).

Anyways, it was very obvious that the two motors were different. One look and you could see. The intake, the carb, the exhaust manifolds all looked different. That pickup 396 was obviously made for grunt.

I had a 2004 2500 that was Hemi powered. Engine was fine but I had buddies who had 360 powered trucks and they had much more low end grunt. HP and TQ mean nothing too a point. Look at the old first gen Cummins. Made about 180ish HP and 400 TQ but did a heck of a job towing because it made the power in the right area. Same with the 360. They should have left the Hemi in the cars and built upon the good engine they had in the 360. Same thing with all the older engines like the 454, 350, 351 Winsor, 460, ect. The HP wars made the manufactures go stupid and forget the basics.

 

[Charlesaf3]

I don't have a dog in the fight (I'd get a Toyota Tundra myself obviously - that loads in factory spec) but I know a LOT of guys whose fords spit spark plugs around 2000. Granted there are a lot of Fords on the road, but still, it wasn't a rare problem around here, to the point most mechanics and people know the helicoil fixit trick.

 

[Steve C]

I've been getting advice in threads I've started in this forum ( and by reading other threads here) to check out gas engine powered 1T PUs for my needs (pull a 10K GN flatbed trailer, less than 5K miles per year). So far I've been looking at older 1999-02 one ton diesel-powered PUs.

People tell me that since my annual mileage is so low, gas powered one tons are a better bet (diesels have to be run frequently and hard, diesel repairs are more expensive, etc). And since my trailer load is not that great, the torque advantage of the diesel is not that important. And since my annual mileage is so low, the fuel mileage advantage of the diesel compared to the gasser is also not that important.

So, which gas engines should I consider? I'm completely open to suggestions for any brand of 1T PU.

Prefered gas engine? O.K. I am only going to address the engine then.

I am a GM guy for no particular reson, well perhaps because I used to build Chevy Nova's and Corvairs in the late 60's at the Willow Run assembly plant, I have some kind of GM loyalty, anyway, they have worked out over the years better than some of the other makes I have tried. But I must admit my 69 ford 3/4 ton camper special with the 390 was a wonderfull and powerfull truck.,..in its day, but I did go through 2 motors in it........

I like the Big block GM motors, 7.4 or 8.1. The 7.4 can give decent mileage when driven with restraint (14+ miles per gallon in my sons one ton extended cab 2 wheel drive) when lightly loaded and it is good for 200,000+ miles if it is maintained.

However the Ford V-10 is possibly a great engine

The crew that built my pole barn has over 400,000 miles on a much used and abused ford crew cab with the V-10. The motor just keeps going....it will pass almost everything except a gas station. They also have another one, the bosses truck with over 300,000 miles. No motor issues at all with either truck. These are a lot of highway miles...but they are still a lot of miles. If fuel economy for daily driving isn't an issue, the Ford would win hands down in my opinion.

If you include the engine/transmission package the obvious winner by a large margine is the 8.1 GM with the Allison transmission. It is the toughest stock automatic transmission of the bunch made in the early half of this decade.

I have to agree with a lot of the other posters though, once you go diesel you will never go back. I get horrible mileage with my 2003 one ton extended cab dually GMC compared to some of the newer trucks. I only get 17 when running empty or pulling a small trailer. On my last 700 mile trip to deliver horses to central Ohio I only got 13.5 miles per gallon round trip hauling 8 horses in a trailer. On the way back the trailer was empty but my mileage didn't change. I ran the speed limit all the way, mostly 70 in Michigan and 65 in Ohio on the roads I was on.

 

[flusher]

If initial cost isn't the main reason you're thinking gas, then I'd go with a diesel any day. You'd be happy you did on the first hill with the trailer behind your truck.

Initial cost is not the primary driver. If I go with an 8-10 year old 1-ton PU, it'll likely have well over 100K miles on the odometer. I don't have any experience buying such high mileage trucks (I bought my 2001 F150 with the 4.6L Triton engine in 2004 with 30000 miles on the odometer).

My concern is to avoid as much major engine/tranny repair cost as possible by making a smart truck purchase. I hear that gas engines for 1-ton PUs are less expensive to repair than diesels. And, as you can see from some of the posts to this thread, apparently some of the automatic trannies in 1999-2003 1-ton PU are not that reliable. The automatic tranny in my neighbors 2001 F250 failed a few months ago and he spent $2800 to get a rebuilt installed. So I guess I'm being pointed in the direction of a manual tranny. Problem there is that 1-ton PUs with manual trannies are a lot harder to find than automatics.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Initial cost is not the primary driver. If I go with an 8-10 year old 1-ton PU, it'll likely have well over 100K miles on the odometer. I don't have any experience buying such high mileage trucks (I bought my 2001 F150 with the 4.6L Triton engine in 2004 with 30000 miles on the odometer).

My concern is to avoid as much major engine/tranny repair cost as possible by making a smart truck purchase. I hear that gas engines for 1-ton PUs are less expensive to repair than diesels. And, as you can see from some of the posts to this thread, apparently some of the automatic trannies in 1999-2003 1-ton PU are not that reliable. The automatic tranny in my neighbors 2001 F250 failed a few months ago and he spent $2800 to get a rebuilt installed. So I guess I'm being pointed in the direction of a manual tranny. Problem there is that 1-ton PUs with manual trannies are a lot harder to find than automatics.

I can tell you from the experience of me and my friends the tranny is the first thing to go if the vehicle has been maintained. I have replaced 3 autos, 1 GM and 2 Dodge and 2 manuals clutches and associated parts, 1 Ford and 1 Toyota. Just the simple truth. We replace the one in our airport truck, my boss replaced 3 in his family cars, ect. These range from Dodges, GM's, Honda's, Fords, Toyotas, ect. Its just a fact $2000 to $4000 to do.

Chris