I am considering a diesel 4x4 truck 3/4 or 1 ton.  Right now I am leaning toward the blue oval.  Any suggestions, warnings or the like?

My 2000 F250 Powerstroke 4x4 has not yet let me down.  Just clicked 102k miles and still have the same clutch and brakes.  The only work I've had to do was replace the cup holder and shift knob 'cause it was spinning on the shaft.  

Standard transmission gets me a consistent 17.5mpg in the city and up around 21.5 on the hwy running 65mpg.  Drops from there but set it on cruise and I can run 600 miles on the interstate without stopping.

Has carried and pulled everything under the sun and just keeps on going...  Would recommend white in color for staying cool inside.

There's one for Ford

Quoted: There's one for Ford

My best friend has his '97 F250 Powerstroke with 168K miles.  Automatic and it just keeps on humming....

My other friend just sold his '98 F250 Powerstroke with up over 225K miles simply because he wanted a different truck.  Nothing wrong with it.  Just wanted a new one.

Another friend just picked up his F250 Powerstroke 4-door.  I think he just turned 1500 miles so not much to report there.

My father-in-law ran his '98 F250 Powerstroke about 80K with no problems, then traded it in for the Dodge/Cummins combination.  His 2004 Dodge will smoke my Ford in an out and out run each pulling 20' trailers with jeeps on them.  (you had to see it - pretty damn funny 'drag race' between trucks/trailers)

Finally, one for Chevy.  A fellow club member purchased the 3/4T Chevy / Duramax combo last year and pretty much likes what he has.

So, that makes it???  
Ford - 4
Dodge - 1
Chevy - 1

Well, I just went through the same thing.

I had a 2004 Dodge 2500 with the Cummins.  I already went through 1 tranny and was enticed by the GMAC emplyee financing.  I went to look at the Chevy's and figured, what the hell, let me check out the Fords.  First let me tell you, I'll never go back to a gas truck.  I love driving diesel, and now especially that is is roughly $.50/gal cheaper than regular, with better mpg to boot.

I have 2200 miles on a 2005 Ford F250 SD FX4.  

From my observations, here is what I came away with.

The Cummins is probably the best engine of the three.( Dodge has the weakest trannies of the three)
The Chevy had the most "car like" ride to it.
The Ford had the biggest, most refined interior.  I also liked to looks the best.

One other thing i didn't like was that the Duramax had aluminum heads, which I don't feel are conducive to longevity.

The final selling point is when I compared the front ends of the Chevy and the Ford side by side.  The Cevy has a independant front, where the Ford has a live axle, which looks about 10X beefier.

I get about 16mpg city and about 21mpg hwy.

If you have any more questions please ask.

Drive all 3 brands, (4 is you count GMC) and see what you like the most. If you are buying new, all the choices are good. If you are buying used, stay away from any 03-04 Fords with the 6.0 Powerstroke, there are a few on the lots around here that were buy backs from unhappy owners. If it is used, ask to see any and all warrenty work done on the truck , that goes for all brands, make sure you arent getting a truck that has had a ton of warrenty work.

Ford. We have a dozen or so superduties and are quite pleased with them. The new ones (05/06) should be even better. Live axle, coil front suspension, five speed auto, tough running gear. Ford has the toughest front axle currently in a light truck. The powerstroke is a great engine, although the Cummins is better. Dodges are not known for their build quality or longevity. Chevies are cars with beds, not trucks. IFS on a 1 ton? WTF are they smoking?

You can't beat a Cummins, that being said, we have 5 Fords on with Powerstrokes on my farm.

Our company runs several Ford diesels.  The 6.0 has been a problem child and seems like it's in the shop once a month.  So far in 150k we have replaced the intercooler (blew out),  turbo,  2 auto trannies, power steering pump, water pump, accessory drive belt multiple times,  several injectors, rear pinion seal and various other minor electrical & mechanical "issues".   The older 7.3's were pretty good engines for us other than the injectors.

I'm a chevy guy,  but I would much rather have a Ford with a cummins put in it.  I used to help do conversions (cummins into Chevy & Ford),  that was alot of work but there was no lack of customers.

Quoted: Drive all 3 brands, (4 is you count GMC) and see what you like the most. If you are buying new, all the choices are good. If you are buying used, stay away from any 03-04 Fords with the 6.0 Powerstroke, there are a few on the lots around here that were buy backs from unhappy owners. If it is used, ask to see any and all warrenty work done on the truck , that goes for all brands, make sure you arent getting a truck that has had a ton of warrenty work.

+1   Get an OASIS check on anything!!!

Quoted: ...but I would much rather have a Ford with a cummins put in it.

I LOVE my Ford SD, but numbers wins the prize for this one....

Thanks for all the input.  I was leaning to Ford for some of the reasons listed above, and now I am even more so.  This will still be a while as I save up some dough, just doing my homework.

Contractor

Not 4WD, but my dad drove the hell out of a '95 C-3500 6.5 diesel for work, got it up to 180K before the heads blew.  The Duramax diesel is supposed to be great.

After several gas Ford 4WD trucks, I got perturbed with their customer service, and just bought a Chevy 2500 Duramax/Allison. Everybody loves new vehicles, but so far so good.

Check out the following Diesel Truck sites, they are great ifin ya ask me

http://oilburners.net/

http://www.thedieselgarage.com/

And I love my 97 F250 PowerStroke

2003 F250 Fx4
7.3L Powerstroke
111,000 miles

I have had no mechanical failures at all.

Chang oil, fuel filter, air filter regularly.

16-17 miles to gal.

Love it!

Ok, not to sound like a "greenie", but what about the Bio-Diesel?  With the increasing cost of fuel ect. I am a little curious.  

Quoted: Ok, not to sound like a "greenie", but what about the Bio-Diesel?  With the increasing cost of fuel ect. I am a little curious.

You might loose about 1-2 mpg with the bio, but you can make it yourself from waster vege oil for about $1.00/gal

Biodiesel forum

Cummins is the best engine, but the automatic tranny is bad.   It is a tweaked 727 with OD, which is a strong  race car/light truck tranny, not a long haul tranny.   The manual is a good transmission.  

Straight 6 is a great design, harmonically and practically.  The cummins is also sleeved, like a real Industrial diesel.   unlike the Chevy and Ford.  

What it comes down to, is personal pref.  If it was me, pre 98 Cummins Dodge long bed ex cab.

The ford owners are not to happy with the new engines mileage. Not to mention the recall and engine failures. I really like ford dodge and chevy. my friend has a 2005 reg cab ford auto 4x4 and it only gets 15 mpg. even on the highway it never came close to my dodge 22.4mpg or chevy. I would get a chevy because of the strong 5 speed tranny and 20mpg. I still think the cummins is best engine. it has 600lbs of torque and its only a 6 cyl. I loved my 01 dodge. I had zero problems until 121,000 miles then it was only a sensor. Now it has 160,000 with new owner and he has zero complaints. do a google on new ford truck mpg. How did ford manage to lower mpg with a new smaller engine?
I would take and of the three companys but I think I would buy a chevy next time. Just because of the strong tranny.

I'd go with a dodge and a manual tranny.

chevy with auto or dodge with 6 speed.

Quoted: The ford owners are not to happy with the new engines mileage. Not to mention the recall and engine failures. I really like ford dodge and chevy. my friend has a 2005 reg cab ford auto 4x4 and it only gets 15 mpg. even on the highway it never came close to my dodge 22.4mpg or chevy. I would get a chevy because of the strong 5 speed tranny and 20mpg. I still think the cummins is best engine. it has 600lbs of torque and its only a 6 cyl. I loved my 01 dodge. I had zero problems until 121,000 miles then it was only a sensor. Now it has 160,000 with new owner and he has zero complaints. do a google on new ford truck mpg. How did ford manage to lower mpg with a new smaller engine? I would take and of the three companys but I think I would buy a chevy next time. Just because of the strong tranny.

It's not just Ford, it's all the Manu's.  It's the stricter emmisions control that are killing us