Oh oh gotcha! Yeah I want a 5.9 but idk I would like a old 12 valve or something but not havin much luck findin a 24 or a 12 valve

if you don't want emissions crap on the chevy lb7 doesn't have any. The LLY has EGR and a DOC.

03 and up 5.9 with the common rail injection is the motor to have. A straight six works wonders with towing. All the torque you will ever need. Manual 6 speed transmissions can be found easier than thought. That would be my reccomendation: To get a dodge. But if you are looking into the Chevy/GMC, the LLY (04.5-05) is a fairly sound motor, but the LBZ found in the 06-07 is the ultimate of the duramax. As is the case with motorcycles, things go wrong. You just have to replace as things do. Ive seen a Duramax with 279,000 miles on the first set of injectors, and ive seen a dead cummins at 120,000 miles. Sometimes it is just the luck of the draw. Whatever you are happiest pulling your trailer with, whether performance or cost, is what would be best.

08can-am, on 19 April 2012 - 03:18 AM, said:

Our work trucks get like 12-14 mpg on a good day down hill the whole way. Those are some pretty amazing figures for the trucks your talking about. Keep in mind everyone wants you to think there truck is just a lil better than it actually is. So if someone SAYS they get 20mpg they probably get like 17 or so. That's how I always think things through anyway.

Well I think I'll go with my first choice and get a 5.9 if I can find one

I was actually thinkin of findin like a 93 cummins with a standard trans. Cause when there nice I love the look

08can-am, on 19 April 2012 - 05:32 PM, said:

I put many, many miles on a 93 Dodge that was built into a wrecker.  Rock solid reliable, but gutless.  The upside was, it accelerated the same when empty as when towing a full size school bus.

To be honest, I think the school bus had better giddy-up-go than the truck pulling it.

Haha probably!

Which pick up pump would be better in a 05 duramax? A fass pump or a air dog?

As mentioned before, the LBZ duramax is one of the best diesel engines ever put in a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup. 360hp and 650lb/ft of torque stock, pre dpf/urea, and they are very reliable. The 01-04.5 duramax's(LB7) all had injector problems, the 04.5-05(LLY) had head gasket issues. All of these issues were fixed in 06(early 06 were stll coded LLY, but are mechanically identical to LBZ) with the LBZ...no more head gasket issues and no injector issues. In 06 the duramax's also got the 6 speed allison with tapshift, which is stronger than the 5 speed allisons in the prior models. The stock Allison at stock or mildly tuned levels will hold up great and is much better than the dodge 4 speeds. There's no way you will touch an 06 duramax for 12k unless it has a ton of miles or is beat up.

The earlier duramax's(LB7) will get better mileage (17-20) than the LBZ(I average 15-17), but can get up to 20 on a straight highway cruise. I get 11mpg towing my 9klb toyhauler.

As for the front ends of the duramax being "weak", there are many inexpensive upgrades to beef them up and a pair of $80 tie rod sleeves will really help.

Dodges are known for their front end becoming sloppy and falling apart.

All this being said, it comes down to whether you want the nicer truck that had some injector issues, or you want the more reliable engine that had the crappy tranny behind it and truck around it.

08can-am, on 20 April 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

AD2 165 for sure. How big of tunes are you running to necessitate a lift pump? or are you just doing it for extra filtration and better injector/cp3 life?

Edited by titan33, 20 April 2012 - 01:04 PM.

From personal experience, get a Dodge if you like doing front end work. They do not have locking front hubs so the front end is spinning all the time. They eat the undersized front universal joints like clockwork. Additionally the front wheel bearings, tie rods, and ball joints all seem to suffer from extreme wear. I've seen 03+ Ram HD's need the front end completely rebuilt in less then 60,000 miles. The 3rd gen interior quality (02/03+) also took a nose dive compared to the earlier trucks. The older Dodge trucks just start to feel "loose" with not too many miles on them too. The 4th gen trucks are far better, but out of your year-range.

The Duramax Allison combo is quite tough. As mentioned the Allison is far more durable than the Dodge 4 speed auto. I don't really have any experience with a Duramax truck, but based on experiences with other GM trucks of similar vintage - they start nickel and diming you to death. Just constant little things that go wrong/break. Usually cheap and easy to fix, but annoying. The trucks generally remain pretty solid feeling, and the independent front suspension really is not that big of a deal.

IMO, for the range of trucks you are looking for, the 98-03 Super Duty trucks with the 7.3 Power Stroke can't be beat. Beefy front end components with real locking hubs up front. Engine is indestructible, the auto transmissions are far better than the Dodges, but not quite as reliable as the Allison. The ZF 6 speed manual transmission they had available is bullet-proof. Interior quality and craftsmanship is acceptable, not that great, but the rest of the truck more than makes up for it.

I don't personally own a vehicle from GM, Chrysler, or Ford - I've got an '89 FJ62 LandCruiser - so theres no bias here. These are just my observations based on from vehicles I've personally worked on.

Edited by Lead Head, 20 April 2012 - 02:07 PM.

Urlosin, spoken like a true Chevy fan... whereas I don't care what 08can-am buys. In the HD world, whether it be trucks or construction equipment, it's Cummins, Cat, or Mercedes. The reason why this matters is because I choose to believe an engine that can stand up to the stresses and abuses common in this application will be better in the light duty truck world too. You, obviously, are free to believe whatever you want. 08can-am, go with the Fass pump, on the Dodge or GM. Good job too, just the fact that you ask that question shows you've done a good job of researching your subject!

urlosin, on 19 April 2012 - 07:53 AM, said:

That Cummins in the Dodge is heavy duty. It didnt start life in a light duty truck application(2500 and 3500 models), it started life out in medium duty application, ie fire engines, service trucks, UPS delivery trucks, LTL trucks. The Cummins ISB is built like a tank. But as many said, the rest of the truck was a little lighter built. In 10, they beefed up the front suspension. Seems before, they just used a front axle from a gasser. The extra weight of that diesel engine is huge.

Lead Head, on 20 April 2012 - 01:38 PM, said:

Not bashing the Ford, just pointing out-

The Ford ball joints are crap-50k and you're on borrowed time.  Once the stockers are replaced, then you're good to go as long as you don't put cheap chinese junk in and it gets greased.

The ZF did have it's problems-synchro's.  See more of this the more heavy towing the truck does.

To be honest, out of the three, I'd go with the Ford.  But I've spent enough time working on them to know the weak points.

E30 guy, on 20 April 2012 - 03:17 PM, said:

Chevy fan??? hardly...I owned one chevy over 20 years ago. Are you really going to tell me the older 466's are junk? I'm not bashing on the Cummins, everyone knows they build a good engine. I am simply saying the brainwashing you have been given (by yourself or others) is obvious.

I don't see none of this brainwashing since everyone brought out what to look up bout each truck and what I can do to fix it. I honesty don't care what year it is I will just have to save up longer. I just want a good truck that will do what I want it to without having problem after problem. I will look up the LBZ and see what it's like since I havent really looke them up very much. And after I get off work I'll ask a couple more questions I'll like to know. But what's a good website to tell me about the LBZ??

Still curious as to why your counting out the Super Duty?

I used to drive an 03 duramax that would get 22 hwy, avg was about 18. Chipping it makes a huge difference!

Oh whatever I get I will put probably a 90hp programmer but I'm not to big on the strokes I love the interiors of them like alot but I've never been a big ford fan and all the ones I actually like are way to much. And I haven't really heard any problems from them cause I don't know that many people that had them and the ones that did had the 05 and up and they were constantly havin them in the shop for transmissions or something and idk why? They didn't really pull that heavy of loads I think the heaviest load I seen them pull was like maybe 8000lbs and that's including the trailer. So seein their truck screw up all the time made me really not like ford oh and they said they get horrible mileage and they have a mild programmer that's like 90hp or less. But if I could find a pretty nice one that I knew wasnt ragged out im sure I could give it a chance too