Need / want a pickup truck

[Diggin It]

What would be the MINIMUM truck needed to haul 3K (Lil Blue on a 6x10 or 12 trailer)?. No chance of new, 80s/90s is fine, brand and appearance/fluff unimportant, reliability is.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

I wouldn't buy any less than 1 ton long bed for towing anything. But if you must go f150 i would look for 5.0. I also wouldn't buy anything new.

My next truck will be a flat bed or dump bed. I really want a f450 with a cummins. 4 door flat bed

 

[4570Man]

What would be the MINIMUM truck needed to haul 3K (Lil Blue on a 6x10 or 12 trailer)?. No chance of new, 80s/90s is fine, brand and appearance/fluff unimportant, reliability is.

I’d hate to tow 3k behind a ranger although it would possibly work. A 1500 would be a lot better. IMO the 99-2005 Silverados are the best America made truck ever built.

 

[4570Man]

I wouldn't buy any less than 1 ton long bed for towing anything. But if you must go f150 i would look for 5.0. I also wouldn't buy anything new.

My next truck will be a flat bed or dump bed. I really want a f450 with a cummins. 4 door flat bed

If you actually meant F-450 not 4500 that would be sweet. I’d like to upgrade my current 1 ton dump to a 450 dump but the opinions aren’t good. There’s a select few “new” body style 7.3s but they bring a premium. For the next 15 years they’re almost all 6.0 disasters. I don’t want a new dump truck. Unfortunately dodge and Chevy didn’t make 1.5 ton for a long time. I guess I’ll keep driving my 3500 until a 4500 dodge or 6.7 Ford is old enough I’ll pay for one.

 

[searcyfarms]

If you actually meant F-450 not 4500 that would be sweet. I’d like to upgrade my current 1 ton dump to a 450 dump but the opinions aren’t good. There’s a select few “new” body style 7.3s but they bring a premium. For the next 15 years they’re almost all 6.0 disasters. I don’t want a new dump truck. Unfortunately dodge and Chevy didn’t make 1.5 ton for a long time. I guess I’ll keep driving my 3500 until a 4500 dodge or 6.7 Ford is old enough I’ll pay for one.

once u fix a 6.0 ford they are good to go and much less expensive to update than a 6.4 or 6.7 with issues - i have had good luck with my 6.0 since repairs - does it need an injector every 100K or so - maybe but how many other diesels have an injector issue now and again?

I ahve 300K on mine and love it !!!

 

[nards444]

What would be the MINIMUM truck needed to haul 3K (Lil Blue on a 6x10 or 12 trailer)?. No chance of new, 80s/90s is fine, brand and appearance/fluff unimportant, reliability is.

anything built in the last 20 years with a v8 or better or v8 equivalent(ecoboost) 3k is pretty much handeled by anything on the road today, a 1/2 ton truck will have no problem.

 

[Imold]

Had a 08 F250 crew with a 6.4 twin turbo, lost a injector then motor and a used 6.4 turbo down with new radiator and oil cooler plus labor set me back 14k, if I only knew then what I learned the hard way I would of never bought it, the 6.0 once it has been bulletproofed is a good motor and then there is the mighty 7.3 diesel Which I have over 360k on and it is still going strong, my son has a 96 Ram 2500 with a 12 valve Cummings and he just rebuilt his tranny for 3k so now it will hold up to the 12 valve Cummings better unless he builds the 12valve up then he need to replace a few internal tranny parts.
I was so happy that my 2013 F150 crew cab has the 5.0 now instead of the useless 5.4 phaser piece of poo although I did put in the new phaser replacement kit in my 05 and It did quiet that rattler down I still ended up selling it. Won’t get into the guys I know that have had to replace heads on their Duramax trucks.
On a side note I kinda like the mid 2000 Silverado pickups as far as used pickups go.
Hope the OP finds a half ton that works for them, there out there just stay away from the Ford 5.4 motor if your going to pull anything, speaking from experience.

Jim.

 

[nikerret]

You might like pushing the limits of a truck where I would rather know I have plenty of capabilities to pull a load safely.

And there is no way in **** I would be pulling over 10K with a gas truck just to listen to the engine scream.

With the GVWR of 14k, I have over 5k payload capacity left, on the truck.

Here痴 some actual weights:


You can see with 10-15% tongue weight, on a sub 9k truck (8,880 lbs with me and tools and full tank of fuel), the truck can easily handle the weight of over 10k trailers, if properly loaded.

Yes, the RPM痴 will go higher, when traveling up hills, but it is an over square engine-made to rev. It痴 louder than when in sixth, going down a hill, but not prohibitive. Fuel mileage does suffer. My main trailer is a low profile dump trailer, there is minimal wind resistance. I知 sure I wouldn稚 be singing my truck the same praises, if I was always towing a large fifth wheel, in the mountains.

so for the 6.2 what are you getting mpg empty and towing?

Here痴 some pictures of my actual mileage. Anything with the trailer is marked. The B-body to Missouri is With an empty car trailer there and added a 1995 Roadmaster wagon, on the way back.









Picture of the truck and trailer:

 

[check 6]

Which begs the question, will your wife be riding with you at any time? Driving it? and how much of a budget did she give you to work with?

Yes she will be riding and probably driving it from time to time as we have had numerous pick ups in our 52 years and we have two diesel cayennes one with 96,000 miles and one with 62,000 miles ( grandkids are 1400 miles away) and we drive a lot. She has the higher miles one and loves it. Both are still under warranty so that makes it harder to trade either as they are bot paid for .

 

[searcyfarms]

OUCH on the mileage our old 460 did better than that empty - thats similar to V10 mileage and my old 85 windsor H.O. and those both only had a C6 with no O/D

I dont think i could take it watching my fuel gauge go down like that i would have an anxiety attack

Regarding the 5.0 vs EcoBoost - my neighbor has 5 different businesses and trades vehicles regularly. He keeps an F150 for himself and drags a box trailer for his motorcycles and flatbeds for his business and hauls other things - he bought a 2015 F150 and he said he didnt like it for pulling his trailers, so he gave it to his son and got a 2017 5.0 and loved it, he retired in 2017 and they travel to FL in the winter an he is here in teh summer. He has a 3/4 flatbed he leaves at the house now for trips to home depot etc.....He just traded ( torn he said ) for a Expedition MAX 2018 used. He said he may kick himself but for a winter vehicle in florida he wanted something bigger than his wifes Buick so they will drag it behind their Diesel Pusher to FL.