Time for a new work truck, suggestions?

[Ryland]

At work we are in the market for a new truck, for the past 5 years we have been using a 2004 Dodge 1500 with the 6.7L V6, double cab with a short box, we put about 5,000 to 7,000 miles per year on it 90% of the time it's towing a 18 foot trailer, half the time that trailer has 1,000+ pounds of granite and tools on it.
We've averaged around 10mpg and seen as high as 12mpg with the trailer, without it will get up to 16-18mpg.
After about 70,000 miles we are starting to see transmission troubles and I am sure that the engine has been over worked a bit, the body... well I had a little mishap with it yesterday and it made us start talking more about replacing it sooner rather then later.
Anyway, looking for suggestions on a work truck, the double cab is nice as small tools and supplies can be stored inside and locked up, the amount of weight we tow has been hard on it being a half ton truck but most of the issues have been more so in the transmission and brakes, today we borrowed a Chevy 3500 with a diesel and we were not impressed, it felt as gutless as our half ton gasoline truck.
Of course we don't need something that is way over kill, when we get a big shipment in or something we hire it out to a trucking company.

[ecomodded]

My folks have a 2011 chevy Silvarado HD 2500 Diesel,4x4, That truck is a beast yet he gets 22 mpg out of it and drives carefreely. It has the 6.6 L duramax 397 hp and 765 torque at 1600 rpm. They tow a 30 ft 5th wheel long distance and he thinks its the cats meow{his first diesel) and comments that the transmission is the best available, apparently..

[Diesel_Dave]

I'm biased, but it sounds like you need a Cummins I'll freely admit that I don't actually need as much truck as I have, but it looks to me like it might be just what you need. You can get a good deal on one 4-5 years old that you'll still get a ton of life out of. Average time to first overhaul is about 350,00 miles. I bought my 2007 w/ 70,000 on it for about $17k (about 1/2 the price of new). A pre-DPF truck (before 2007.5 w/ the 6.7L engine) should give you mpgs in the low 20's stock (unloaded). I think the better FE and longer life should pay you back for the extra cost of the diesel.

[redpoint5]

I bought the smallest truck you can get with a diesel engine (Dodge/Cummins 2500).

Without a doubt diesel is the way to go when towing regularly. There is a guy on this forum getting 30+mpg out of a rear wheel drive only Dodge 2500.

From what I know about the big 3.

Buy a Dodge for the engine (Cummins)
Buy a Ford for the interior
Buy a Chevy for the transmission (Allison)

[Fat Charlie]

If you have the smallest engine available, you're going to have the least capable transmission too. If you're doing a lot of towing then you're going to eventually have transmission problems.

That said, getting the transmission overhauled might be your best bet. Sure, the engine's working hard when towing, but it sounds like it's capable enough. The transmission made it 70k just fine. A reman unit lists for just under $3600- pricey but with an 80k warranty. An overhaul won't have the warranty but should cost a lot less. You're probably not going to get much better mileage with another truck. Your work truck is capable enough for the work you need it to do. Ditching it doesn't look like the best move.

[RH77]

Repoint5 has the equation figured out:

Ford chassis, Cummins engine, Allison transmission -- but that doesn't exist, so you have to prioritize each item, figure the budget and go with what you know. Diesels will last, but remember the upfront cost is much higher.

We always had Chevy trucks and each lasted forever with no major problems / complaints. There's still a '93 K2500 Siverado 350-V8/TBI roaming around my Parent's farm, which was bought new and thoroughly abused in work duties, yet well-maintained.

For work (emergency medical and fire) we always had Ford Diesels in that vehicle category. With the routine abuse, the turbos would fail at 100K and the transmissions shifted with brunt force. Small stuff would break.

The "RAM" brand (as Dodge is known now) isn't without long-term quality issues for anything but the engine -- but each brand can say the same.

Latest experience: I rented a 2011 RAM 1500 Crew Cab SLT 4.7L-V8 and was amazed at how much it rode/drove like a comfy car. The rear seat easily sat 2-3 adults with plenty of room and it hauled stuff with ease. The FE was higher than expected.

Jump up to the base 2500 ST Crew with the Cummins, and you can select a 6-speed manual and have a well-optioned rig for around $35K, and not have to worry about automatic issues (depending on your co-workers' ability to drive stick). Tow package is standard. No cost options include a Vinyl split bench, 9000-lb GVWR and a 3.73 rear end.

If gas engines are the fare, then 1500 can be selected, but the 5.7L HEMI is standard, and probably not good on FE. Ford's "EcoBoost" turbo V-6 is reported to not offer anything better in FE, so the 5.0L V-8 is probably best to tow (3.7L non-turbo V-6 is available). Chevy has an "XFE" model with standard tow package and 5.3L V-8, but regular cab only (and probably not a lot of XFE-ing going on).

Nearly all interiors are really like cars anymore, and offer lots of goodies. It might take some test drives to really get a feel...

Best of luck in the search!

-RH77

[Rick323]

Originally Posted by Ryland

At work we are in the market for a new truck, for the past 5 years we have been using a 2004 Dodge 1500 with the 6.7L V6, double cab with a short box, we put about 5,000 to 7,000 miles per year on it 90% of the time it's towing a 18 foot trailer, half the time that trailer has 1,000+ pounds of granite and tools on it.

How much weight do you actually tow? Trailer + 1000 lbs (another 1000 lbs of tools) is that it? Just about any truck could pull that on a regular basis.

I've towed 7000+ lbs pretty regularly with my 4.0L Tacoma (77000 miles since new, no problems). Tacoma 4 door trucks have a lot room.

In all honesty if I was to do it again I would get a full sized truck, half ton. They can haul more and get pretty close to the same fuel mileage. I'd check out Ford's 3.5L ecoboost. My $0.02

[slowmover]

You'll pay that much more for a diesel up front. If annual mpg went from 10 to 16 the difference would be about $1300 at $5/gl. The diesel purchase premium, used, is still worth more than [3] years of the "savings", likely.

Look for reliability first. MPG won't mean a thing at 5-7k annually otherwise. Look at 3-4 yr old half tons and don't worry about it past the above and personal preference. An aftermarket trans cooler (downstream of the in-radiator factory piece) with auxiliary filter, would be on my list of things to add.

Best tires [Michelin], best brakes [Brembo], best shocks [Koni], etc, would make a real difference -- if you are intent on spending money -- for, when the truck and trailer are well matched via hitch rigging (WDH; all it takes is a 350lb tongue weight to need one; look at Equal-I-Zer), the reduced effort and wear make premium parts worthwhile.

Weigh the current combination on a three pad certified scale. You might be surprised at how attending to hitch rigging properly makes a combination vehicle that much better to drive/brake/maneuver.

After that, some aero mods for the truck and trailer separately as would seem to work well for your use.

I'd also look at a one-ton or higher rated with a 12' bed and underbed toolboxes if that would eliminate the trailer. In that case, a pre-2007 Cummins with the man trans would be best. (See CM PL Model beds).

[oil pan 4]

If you want fuel economy stay away from the 6.4L ford. It makes great power with those compounded turbos.

How new do you want to go?

[Ryland]

I've thought about a small flat bead truck to get rid of the trailer but the trailer has a low deck height and a drop gate/ramp because even tho I load stone on with a forklift everything gets carried off by two people, one walking backwards, so the trailer has to have open sides (for loading) and we carry odd shapes so there is no way we could work with an enclosed trailer.
I suspect that fully loaded the trailer and cargo come to 4,000 to 5,000 pounds.
I've thought at times that an SUV like vehicle could work better but so far I haven't seen any that would do a better job towing.
As much as I don't like 4 wheel drive, we do use it, it helps alot in not ripping up peoples yards and we get a decent amount of snow, so although we never use it on the road, we do use the 4 wheel drive in peoples drive ways and yards.
Big annoyance is how high the bed height is on every single new truck out there, if there was a truck that had a lower bed height it would be my top choice on that alone.
Brakes are an issue, a set of brakes tends to last about 10,000 miles for us, just because once you get moving it takes a while to stop and we drive as much in town as we do on the highway so although it would be nice to just crawl along it's not practical and it gets factored in to the cost of driving.

As for how new... I would say 3 to 6 years old, showing up at a rich persons house in a vehicle that is ratty and they tend to stand around checking up on your more, making your day much longer, but it's a tool it's going to get used as a tool to do work, so buying brand new seems like a waste of money for something that is going to get dinged around a bit.