Looking for new truck

My brother just switched from a dodge to a 2011 f250 with 6.7 diesel.  Because he is a vet, he goes through a new truck every 2 - 3 years.  Everything on the dodge, sans the cummins, wasn't holding up.

Thought about trying the 2012 f150 eco boost, but got a 2011 king ranch f250 for the same price.

I like my cummins diesel, been real good to me and heard lots of good things about the cummins for dependability. But it has good power and fuel milage 20 to 21 mpg which is not bad for a 1 ton dually. The down fall for the Dodge that I heard was the transmission if it is an automatic. I have a 6 speed manual transmission in my Dodge, but I would only buy a manual transmission as I haul alot of heavy loads with my side business. With the weight and the hills or mountains around me, I like the manual transmission. So with the manual transmission I have not heard of the problems the automatics have had. I wish my truck had the exhaust brake alot of the new diesels have in new trucks but I do without.

I always find the small differences in ranches funny, especially in different parts of the country. We drive pickups here and trucks are whatwe haul grain with. You would be hard pressed to find anyone feeding bales in late winter using anything but a tractor. <cowboy>

DakotaCow said:

I always find the small differences in ranches funny, especially in different parts of the country. We drive pickups here and trucks are whatwe haul grain with. You would be hard pressed to find anyone feeding bales in late winter using anything but a tractor. <cowboy>

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it's not possible in most places- we only get by with it for a few weeks a winter.. when the ground is froze up good, or real dry.  in northern IL- where it stays froze most all winter- they do it quite regularly.  In Tx where they don't have winters-- they also do it dang neared all year long. 

North Texas Truck Stop was who I used as well.  They were great to work with and I had a shipper in my town that saved on trucking.  A lot of local used truck dealers were buying trucks from them and then selling them for $5000 more here in KY.  It worked well for me and would recommend based upon my experience.

iowahawkeyes1 said:

A family member of mine has an 2008 powerstroke and its in the shop more that it is being used. if i were buying a new truck i would have to look at the Duramaxs my neighbor got one last year and my grandpa has one and they both love them and have been problem free! But the dodges seem to be pretty good i just havent had any experince with them.

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Bought mine new in 08- its got 55k on it and never had a single problem. With a turbo back exhaust and a dpf delete, the twin turbo 6.4 is tough to beat.  Check out what International has to say bout the 6.4 without Ford's bs emissions.

Chandler said:

 Check out what International has to say bout the 6.4 without Ford's bs emissions.

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How much was to meet requirements for passenger truck versus larger vehicle use?

Thanks for your input on Texas weather Jody. I knew you would be an expert on that also.

I've got a 2005 Dodge Cummins 3/4 ton short bed. About 90,000 miles and only had to replace the water pump. I haul 20,000 lbs with a gooseneck in the summertime and a ton of feed in the bed every week. It's been an excellent truck and even at a trade in of somewhere around $23,000, a new truck cannot be justified even if I have to completely replace the automatic transmission here soon. All I here about are all the problems people have with Fords.

DakotaCow said:

I always find the small differences in ranches funny, especially in different parts of the country. We drive pickups here and trucks are whatwe haul grain with. You would be hard pressed to find anyone feeding bales in late winter using anything but a tractor. <cowboy>

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I feed my round bales with my skid steer, I have a bale spear attachment for my skid steer. The skid steer is 4 wheel drive and gets around in the snow and mud well, if the snow is deep then I will use my bucket and plow a path to the round bale feeders first then put my bale spear attachment on and drop the round bales in the round feeders, don't even need to lift the bale feeders up. I drop them in the feeders then cut the bale twine and pull it off the bale. My skid steer makes quick work of feeding and then makes it easy to load my flatbed truck easy if I want to haul a couple round bales of hay to our other place.

We are poor in Texas I cannot afford to have 8 tractors to feed cows some 30 miles apart.

I would look at a dodge with a 5.9 and a 6 speed, I had an 02 Dodge and put 100,000 on it in two and half years and had no problems and it got great fuel milage.  I traded it off on a Duramax and although I like the creature comforts of the chevy when it come to pulling a trailer the Dodge is the to go.  The Chevy pulled fine but was the going from 20mpg on the road down to the 8 to 10 mpg when pulling a load that I didn't like.  I have since went back to a 05 Dodge, it handles big loads way better and I will get 20 to 22 mpg on the road and 15 to 18 mpg pulling.  I don't know where you live but I have a friend that has a 03 Dodge four door dually 5.9 engine 6speed tranny and it has around 60,000 to 70,000 original miles on it for sale, he lives in Camp Point IL (West Central Illinois).  I don't remember what he is wanting out of it but I could give you his number if you want.

bart said:

We are poor in Texas I cannot afford to have 8 tractors to feed cows some 30 miles apart.

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Never said you did need a tractor, just noted the obvious differences!

I have a 04 dodge and I love it. The only problem I've seen is that all 04 05 are rusting out at the rear wheel wells.