Oppo: I need truck buying advice.

"DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully" (danceswithrotors)
10/09/2018 at 15:50 • Filed to: Car buying, truck, truck buying, omg a truck!

Question is, what do I want? I’m pretty split between trying to find a $cheap 6.9/7.3 IDI F-350, an Excursion, a big block Chevy 3500 or a big block Suburban...

Primary goals are to drag my stuff, my fiancee’s stuff and my Volvo 242 from the Bay Area to Kansas City with as little drama as possible. That, and it needs to have a back seat, because my fiancee’s family is coming over from Korea in a month, and I don’t want to put the back seat back in the Volvo.

DISCUSSION (29)

atfsgeoff > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 15:55

https://humboldt.craigslist.org/cto/d/1985-ford-f350-4x4-double-cab/6672302299.html

DONE

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > atfsgeoff
10/09/2018 at 15:56

Damn. I’d have to go to Eureka, but ZOMG it would be perfect if it was a manual. Because brown, diesel manual.

atfsgeoff > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:10

Even with the automatic that’s a DAMN good deal. It’d be worth a road trip to pick up, even budgeting an extra $500 in gas to fly or bus there and drive it home

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:21

https://lacrosse.craigslist.org/cto/d/fordidi/6703624011.html

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/d/lifted-1987-ford-fidi-turbo/6710761624.html

Of course the one I really wanted to post has sold since I last checked.

rillweid - Now with more TRD and less TDI > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:22

Would recommend the Ford options. Used to work in auto transport and almost zero of or pro drivers had Chevys.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
10/09/2018 at 16:27

$8100 seems steep for that many miles and that much rust.

jimz > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:27

heads up on the Navistar IDI engines- unless it’s a fairly fresh rebuild, oil consumption is a characteristic of them. after about 150,000 miles cylinder taper takes its toll, increasing blow-by and its thirst for oil. They’ll run forever like that, but depending on how much driving you if it’s got high miles you’ll want to check the oil level at least at every other fill-up. A compression test won’t indicate it; a leak-down test will. in my area there used to be a diesel shop which made good business out of rebuilding these; they dry-sleeved them with a longer-wearing material so (theoretically) they’d last longer. I think the guy retired a while ago and closed up shop.

also on the 7.3s; the 7.3 version had thinner cylinder walls than the 6.9 and are more prone to cavitation damage (pinholes) if the previous owner(s) didn’t keep up on the supplemental coolant additive.

further, the pre-’87 6.9s had an absolutely junk glow plug system. it had a fragile thermal switch assembly which screwed into the right rear cylinder head which broke all of the time, and 6 volt glow plugs which were easy to pop if you bypassed the controller and did the pre-heat manually.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:28

First off, what’s your definition of cheap?

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > atfsgeoff
10/09/2018 at 16:41

More like, “Drive the 3 hours in my Volvo, get it, rent a U-Haul trailer and drag my Volvo back...”

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
10/09/2018 at 16:41

Meh, those aren’t in NorCal...

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
10/09/2018 at 16:42

Under $5k preferably, since that’s what $new_work is giving me in cash to move from SF to KC.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > jimz
10/09/2018 at 16:44

I’ve been warned by friends with the IDIs. On the other hand, they also get the best fuel mileage out of the easily available and cheap options I can get in NorCal.

atfsgeoff > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:45

That would be epic and there must be pictures of this happening

Also, 3 hours?? That’s barely even a road trip. DO IT

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:49

Big block C hevy will probably be your best bet considering how stupid diesels are at the moment. V10 Excursion might work too but I’ve heard both good and bad about the V10. Anything diesel under $5k is probably going to be well over 200k miles.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > atfsgeoff
10/09/2018 at 16:49

Epic was what I did with my old Volvo 740, last time I lived in KC... (Pictured below)

Epic is going to be when I tow my Volvo from SF to Kansas City... This idea is just a tiptoe through the tulips.

Kinja'd!!!

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
10/09/2018 at 16:59

While I agree completely, I’d put money on a lot of people thinking it’s a great deal.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 16:59

Only a short drive.....

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 17:12

For that budget, I’d be looking at a hd GM truck with a big block. An IDI 7.3 is a deathly slow truck, and it would offer no advantages over a gm truck with a big block. . An IDI is a beautifully simple engine, but I can’t stress enough how under powered those trucks are. T urning onto a street, merging onto a freeway, every stoplight that turns green requires having the throttle buried to the floor just to avoid getting run over as a moving chicane by the traffic around you. This is when the truck is empty. When towing, acceleration is best described as eventually, and you’ll be dropping (lots of ) speed on every incline. They struggle to maintain 80mph on the highway when they’re empty and not towing anything.

In 2004ish I daily drove a 92 F-350, Crew cab/long bed/4x4 7.3 IDI with about 100k on it at the time . Even with the 4.10 gears, it was deathly slow. My boat accelerates to 50mph considerably faster than it did. For all the moving chicane impressions and cooling system maintenance , you don’t even get good fuel economy. I recall along the lines of 7 -9mpg in town, 6-7mpg towing and not more than 11 or 12 mpg on the highway unloaded. A gm truck with a 7.4 won’t be much worse , but they’ll have no trouble moving out their own way, even with 14 , 000lbs behind them.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/09/2018 at 17:20

There’s a 4x4 GMT800 Suburban 2500 with the Vortec 8100 I’m going to look at on Saturday, if it hasn’t sold yet.

Because Suburban with the biggest of the big blocks.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 17:22

Re- reading your last paragraph, another thing to consider looking into is renting/leasing a pickup. Hertz Equipment Rental, United Rental and pretty much any other equipment rental companies do both short-term rentals and longer-tern leases of pickups, almost always 3/4ton/ crew cab/4x4/diesels. They’re trucks set up to tow, and the contracts actually do allow for towing and otherwise using them as trucks. A month or two lease of new truck from an equipment company might be more attractive than buying a very old, very thirsty truck that may or may not be ready to tow across the country without some investment.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/09/2018 at 17:24

Eh, part of why I’m looking at buying is because I need something with a heater when I get to KC anyway, and part of it is because I actually do have a longer-term use for a truck.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 17:32

I also once owned a 2001 GMC 3500/crew cab/long bed/dually/4x4/8.1L. The Allison tranny was very, very good. That truck was a very capable (and very thirsty) tow vehicle, at least for less than 10,000lbs. I once towed around 14000lbs with it, for which it was a bit under powered. About 6mpg in town, 6mpg towing (3-4mpg towing more than 10,000lbs), 9-10mpg on the highway not towing, but it actually made power and sounded nice.

Fun tidbit about that truck, because the GVWR was high enough, it was exempt from federal emissions laws. It came from the factory with no air injection, no EGR and no catalytic converters (in 2001!). The lower GVWR on the suburbans means those actually do have emissions equipment on them. I don’t think they got the 5-speed Allison either, but made do with the 4 speed 4L60E.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 17:39

You might also broaden your search to look at slightly newer GM 3/4 tons with the 6.0. There were a ton of those sold, and the 6.0 would probably still be fine for your towing needs and not be as frightening at the fuel pump. I haven’t shopped for them, but I can’t imagine a 15 year old 3/4 gasser with the 6.0 is selling for huge money anymore, especially if don’t have to have a 4x4.

Pickup_man > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 17:56

Another option, a Ford with the 460, even a V-10 F-250 would work good for this job.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Pickup_man
10/09/2018 at 18:31

I’d rather go Excursion than F-250 if I’m getting a V10, just from the “hauling the in-laws around when they come in from South Korea” perspective, but I do like the 460 idea.

nermal > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/09/2018 at 19:43

Of those choices, the 6.9 / 7.3 IDI will be obnoxiously slow and expensive for what you get. The Excursion will be expensive for what you get, or thoroughly beat to shit, or both . A gas big blog GM truck / Suburban will cost more in fuel than it’s worth.

The correct answer is to go buy a new truck. A base Ram 2500 diesel / crew cab / 4x4 will be about $45k, and you can get it with a manual if you’re in to that. Works out to about $625 / mo on an 84 mo loan. Even the base model will have a nicer interior than anything 15+ yrs old, it will use much less fuel while having wayyyyy more powahhhhh and being extremely reliable as long as you keep up on maintenance.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > nermal
10/10/2018 at 00:09

That involves taking on debt, and my fiancee and I are looking at buying a house , so... No. I’m limiting myself to what I can pay for in cash, without touching a dime of savings.

Anyway, financing a depreciating asset for 84 months is a fool’s move, IMO. I’d rather buy at the bottom of the depreciation curve than the top, which is also why I choose to daily a $600 Volvo.

adamftw > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
10/10/2018 at 07:12

This is the correct answer.

adamftw > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/10/2018 at 07:13

*4L80E