Towing Questions

[Simpleterrier]

It will all depend on what u wanna do with it. I have a Chevy 2500 with a 6.0 Gasser. I like it alot if you are planning on towing anything once or more a month I'd go with a 2500 or bigger. Cost wise I like gas cheaper to maintain then a diesel. I pull a trailer with metal on it with my 2500 trailer weight is around 2500 lbs pluss about 6000 lbs of steel. Also a 12 foot stock trailer with two to three Holstein cows on it. It does great no breaks on the trailer but it's mostly flat with small hills where I go. I've had f150 junk new Chevy 1500 junk finally got a new Chevy 2500 won't go back. I like a truck that feels like u aren't killing it with a load. I like it to feel like it still has more to give.

 

[Red the butcher]

Trailer brakes are ridiculously easy and cheap to fix. They are simple to adjust as well. Have never seen or had them fail on a well maintained trailer and I've worked on tons of them. Not having them isn't the end of the world but i personally wouldn't haul with out them. Remember one thing if they are on the trailer not working and you wreck and kill someone the victims family will own your but. You could also be charged criminally for the victims death. As you should be because you couldn't be bothered to get them fixed.

 

[Wolflord]

I think I'm set on a tuck now.
Silverado 2500.
I also just found out that my dad's truck that had been in 3 wrecks and running longer than I have been alive (over 21 years) was in fact a Silverado ... I'm going to be saving for a while... yep... fun... thank you all for the help! If anyone else wants to add to this thread, please do! I'm sure I and anyone else interested in towing livestock can look over your experiences and information be greatly helped. I know it has helped me.

 

[AClark]

Gas motors are definitely a LOT LOT LOT cheaper to maintain and fix, that's a giant pro to them. An average oil change for me is about $70 doing it myself, over $100 for someone else to do it. However, mine takes 15 quarts of oil to do a change, so I buy oil by the 5 gallon bucket and not by the quart.
The upside is that diesel motors last forever if they are properly maintained and they'll pull damn near anything, the down side is if something does break, it is extremely expensive to repair it.

 

[misfitmorgan]

We are looking at maybe getting a 99 ford f250 super duty lariat truck...problem is we cant seem to get a hold of the guy selling it and he only has it listed for $2,500...so im thinking something has to be wrong with it cause the absolute lowest it blue books is 5k. It also a diesel

Anyone own one of these? Supposedly it can tow 10k no problem and 14k with a weight distribution hitch.

 

[Red the butcher]

Diesel is more expensive but its not extremely expensive like stated about. They last longer with less major repairs. Yes those are really nice trucks! 2500 makes me wonder though.

 

[Latestarter]

I owned a late nineties Chevy 2500 4 x 4 and aside from it being pricey on gas when towing (like 7-8 MPG under load), I never had a single issue with towing anything I tried to pull. This was when I lived on the front range in Colorado and towed in the mountains. I had no problem accelerating up hill. I traded it in on a brand new 2005 Chevy 4 x 4 right before gas prices skyrocketed and though it tows, it doesn't have the same power and capability as that 2500 had. It was one of my better trucks.

 

[AClark]

Diesel is more expensive but its not extremely expensive like stated about. They last longer with less major repairs. Yes those are really nice trucks! 2500 makes me wonder though.

Really, ok, let's do a side by side comparison. 5.7L Hemi and the 7.3L Powerstroke.
Glow plugs: $10 each for Motorcraft, need 8 because like spark plugs you should replace all together
Spark plugs: most expensive ones $13 each, standard are $2-3 each.
HPOP for 7.3 - $450 for a refurbished, best price I could find, a common failure on the 7.3
oil pump on 5.7L - $150
engine oil cooler for 7.3L - $150 + replacing all your coolant after it's fouled with oil, another common failure
5.7 doesn't have one
Oil change - $75 for a DIY (5 gallons of 15w40 runs around $65, plus $10 for the Motorcraft filter) - 7.3
5.7 - $40 for 7 qts of 5w20 plus filter - if you want to get fancy, $50 if you put full synthetic in
Fuel filter 7.3 - $30, change it every 15k miles or once a year
5.7 - $10
Fuel injectors, are right about $640 for stock on the 5.7L, cheapest I found for the diesel is $775, plus you end up replacing them at least once on the 7.3L because diesel is dirty and clogs them up. I'm looking at this at 197k miles, oh and that oil in the coolant from them failing, yeah

So basic maintenance on the 7.3L is $180 a year for 2 oil changes and a fuel filter.
The 5.7 is around $80 - $90 if you want to change the fuel filter, though recommended is every 30k miles.

And the labor costs if you can't DIY, because as my wallet is well aware of, diesel specific shops exist for a reason and they charge a lot, we do most DIY, but the HPOP was out of my league and was $300 in labor alone. Not to mention when it went, it dumped an entire gallon of oil out on the road.
Glow plugs will be the same, I can change out spark plugs in my driveway, but the glow plugs are under the cover and beyond my ability. Not all diesels have them, but mine does, so it will be a repair cost.

That said, diesel trucks are great, they will run forever, but owning 2 gas pickups and 1 diesel, the diesel costs me way more for parts and repairs than either of the other two, one being a 1984 which breaks down constantly.
The big upside is the fuel economy (even though diesel is a good 25-30 cents more per gallon here) I get about 15 MPG towing, which I don't get with the other two.

@misfitmorgan
I drive a 2000 F350, so basically the same thing as you're looking at. It will be a 7.3L Powerstroke, and at that price, something almost has to be wrong with it because they are worth more than that.
Towing wise? It'll tow about anything
You can kind of see from my list on basic things that go out on those. Check for oily residue in the radiator because that can be the injectors or oil cooler, and either way it sucks.
Also, see if it leaks and how bad. A small leak isn't a huge deal, a big leak can be your HPOP, and where the leak is coming from. If it's in the valley and soaked...yeah. Also, see how it starts when it is cold, and see if it's blowing smoke when it starts, a lot of white smoke is not a good thing.

 

[Red the butcher]

All diesels do have glow plugs. And an engine that is known to have problems is going to have them. As i said before they are more expensive just not extremely. Bit then again a Detroit can be rebuilt for 125 a cylinder. Thats cheap, even cheaper than most gas jobs. An engine is an engine. Gas, diesel, both easy to work on in my opinion but im a mechanic. Diesel will cost you more in the end for regular maintenance but if you have a good engine it will run longer with less major failures than a gas. Often times with better fuel economy while towing. Really in the end if you have a good diesel engine and tow or haul alot they will cost you less at the end of the motors life.

 

[AClark]

Exactly why I mentioned they don't all have glow plugs, and that I do get better economy when towing by far. Actually, the 7.3L gets better economy without towing and being twice the weight of the 5.7L Hemi (Dodge 1500). It gets around 13-14, I get around 17 highway.
All engines have things that are common failures. The 7.3L is called the million mile motor for a reason, you can get 500k miles out of it, but it does have some things that do give up with wear and tear that are pretty pricey, compared to their gas equivalent.

Since you're a mechanic, you can appreciate these pictures of my HPOP when it went out (180k miles when it died). Wasn't the hoses, it literally blew all the guts out.






Fun part was, putting it all back together to get the $250 core charge back - they won't accept a ziplock full of the parts. The oil cooler we just did a month ago or so, maybe 2, my de-gas bottle looked like a chocolate milkshake - I'm on my 5th flush and still have some residue in the bottle. Towing with that truck can't be compared to a gas vehicle, that's for sure, but the maintenance and repair on it can be high - the 6.0 and 6.4L powerstrokes are worse, the head stud jobs cost in the thousands and they are a very common failure. The shop that did my HPOP had 2 of the newer powerstrokes with the entire cab removed to work on the motor - poor engineering, but those are made by windstar and not International.