Learn me: older 3/4 ton trucks

So with the new house in the hills complete the wife and I have moved off the local water supply. We have a 1200 holding tank for our domestic fresh water needs. There are two options: have it delivered for $0.09/gal, or haul it ourselves for $0.02/gal. It doesn't take much math to see that we're gonna want to start hauling our own water sooner than later. Wife doesn't want to have another trailer at the house (we have a single axle tilt bed trailer for our snowmobiles) but has ok'd a truck.

Water is heavy. 8.34 pounds per gallon, most of the truck bed tanks are 325gal, so that's about 2800 pounds with the tank itself. We're going to be getting water at least once a week and the water station is about 5 miles away. Definitely want/need 4wd, we live in Alaska after all, and it'll be used for taking the sleds in winter, a second bad weather vehicle for me, camping in summer, hauling for home projects, etc. truck stuff.

I really don't want a dually. Is a 3/4 ton enough truck for the weight?

I'm going to be looking at older trucks, pre 2000 likely, given that it's a second vehicle for 1-3 times a week. How old is too old? Are there any generations of trucks to avoid? Any trucks to look for in particular? I'm partial to ford and dodge but as long as it starts at -40 and does the job I'm happy.

1992-1997 F350 460 gas or PSD without question.

Maybe look for a retired fire truck that has the tank already?

I'd avoid the PSD, or any diesel.

For occasional use in a cold region, you can spend an hour or more every time you need to start it.

The 3/4 ton "HD" or "Heavy Duty" models, (Ford F250-HD) starting in the Eighties, typically were rated 8600# gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and weighed about 5,000 pounds for a regular cab 4x4, leaving the difference for people and cargo. Without going all the way to a dually, you could look for a single-rear-wheel "one ton" such as an F350 and get a few hundred pounds more capacity.

We had chevy and dodge trucks in nw penn. They always started, but we only got down to -16 or so. These were carbd.

My suggestion would be a tbi injected 1 ton mid 90's chevy lingbed. Id also go dually, as thosewill be eeasier to find, as well as giving you extra load capacity. If you can add mire water, you'll use less fuel and time, which I figure would be very beneficial when its cold enough to get instant frost bite on your nuts.

I have a 280 gal water tank we use to water new trees that are too far away from the hydrants to easily run a hose. We have it on an old ag trailer running gear and just hook it to whatever and move it around the yard. If your single axle trailer has a 3500# axle I wouldn't hesitate to use it, especially going 5 miles.

Side benefit to using a trailer is that eventually you'll have neighbors of a sort and they will need to get water too, and a trailer is easier to rent/ loan/ split the cost of than a truck.

What kinda tank is it? Seems you'll be haulin' ice..

Can't you drill a well?

For a 5 mile drive, yeah - a 3/4 ton will be fine with the weight. I hauled more than that with my 2500 Cummins 4x4 a number of times (3 yards of mulch; mounded fire-wood). That much weight in the bed made it ride like a Cadillac.

With the Cummins, power wasn't an issue, but I did make sure to be aware that extra weight affects braking distances.

Might a trailer with a larger tank be more useful?

Maybe I've watched too many episodes of Ice Road Truckers, but I wouldn't worry too much about getting a diesel. Most will start well below zero without too much difficulty if you can plug it in, which I'd assume you could.

Two good batteries, quality glow plugs and good harness and PSD should be good. Esp with it plugged in.

But even though I like Diesels, I personally would stick with a 460.

forget everything you think about any of the big 3's trucks and buy the best one you can get for the price you want. i'm partial to gm but would find the best 2500/250/3500/350 i could to do the job and not worry about the badge.

i have a 325 gallon tank from tractor supply that mounts neatly in the bed over the wheelwells. we filled it in a half ton chevy and it did move it 2 miles, but wouldn't have done it more than once.

^what he said.

Also, how is rot up there on older trucks? This sounds like an ideal opportunity to do a fly drive from somewhere warm and non-rusty.

This one's just down the road from me and might make a decent fly'n'drive. You tend to have to work pretty hard here to find a rusty truck.

BoxheadTim wrote: This one's just down the road from me and might make a decent fly'n'drive. You tend to have to work pretty hard here to find a rusty truck.

EXACTLY what I was thinking.

Plus we have Alaska Airlines locally so Skierd can probably get here with one plane change in Seattle.

Just get a water buffalo and be done with it..

ClifFord is available. F700 FTW, tow and carry all you can use, no 4x4 though

Dunno how winter road treatments might affect vehicle rusting but stuff just don't rust in Alaska. There's a lotta really old equipment out in the field that's barely rusted. Totally different clime. My brother brought back a radial engine jug from a plane crash in the 50's. Looked like it only needed a media blast to be new again. Same w/ aluminum parts and airframe. Got pics somewhere.

SVreX wrote: I'd avoid the PSD, or any diesel. For occasional use in a cold region, you can spend an hour or more every time you need to start it.

Disagree... unless you're talking about a diesel from 1965. My 95 PSD started right away in -28F a few times, and consistently started in -15F. No plug in, just using the glow plugs.

In reply to curtis73: Good to hear, I thought I was crazy for a second there

In reply to curtis73:

Yup. Cold starting a diesel can be done. But even a modern plugged in diesel can have problems at -55F or more. They get that cold there at night.

I don't think a diesel would be a problem if it was a daily, but he's talking occasional use. I think keeping fuel in the liquid state in an occasional use truck might be more trouble than it's worth. Starting a gasser at those temps would be difficult enough.

Here is a great blog post on it. Unless he can keep it inside, I'd say no occasional use diesel. http://childventure.com/gear-reviews/starting-a-diesel-truck-at-55-f/

Other blogs mention plugging it in all the time and having a block heater or having more heaters and pluging it in up to 4 hours before start up. Some people even rig their auto car starters to start and run the truck every 3-4 hours to ensure no issues.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: In reply to curtis73: Yup. Cold starting a diesel can be done. But even a modern plugged in diesel can have problems at -55F or more. They get that cold there at night.

Ah. Simple solution. Move somewhere warmer

But it's so pretty here!

I'm thinking I should talk to my old boss about his 99 f250 psd he wants to sell for $5k. But my old landlord also has a 75 power wagon club cab that ticks a lot of want boxes for me too.

Threadjack: how long (in seconds) does it take you guys with a diesel to crank on battery power alone in 25° weather?

My first diesel (my 2000 Chevy 2500hd with a 6.5) takes a little less than 30 seconds of cranking to light off completely, is that normal? If it's plugged in, it starts in about 3 seconds...

That doesn't sound unreasonable. If it was too cold and I couldn't plug in my 6.9 it would like a shot of either which from what I understand is dangerous with glow plugs but I never had a problem.

WonkoTheSane wrote: Threadjack: how long (in seconds) does it take you guys with a diesel to crank on battery power alone in 25° weather? My first diesel (my 2000 Chevy 2500hd with a 6.5) takes a little less than 30 seconds of cranking to light off completely, is that normal? If it's plugged in, it starts in about 3 seconds...

Sounds like you might have a few dead glow plugs. Pretty common thing to fail. Also possible your GPR is failing or failed completely. 6.5s have very high compression due to the IDI, so 30 seconds worth of compression and half-lit fuel will bring up temps enough to light it off even without glow plugs.

I've had three PSDs, and none of them took any longer to start regardless of the temperature. Unless the GPR failed (which happened every 60k like clockwork). From the time I hit the key, it took 4-5 revs to start. Didn't matter if it was 90 degrees or -10 degrees. Duramaxes (dad has two) seem to be the same. He has an 08 and I swear the wait-to-start light goes out faster than your eyes can find it on the dashboard. Even in this cold weather, maybe 5 seconds of the light, then fires instantly. I've had a 6.2 and a 6.5TD that were the same way, although I never operated the 6.2 in temps lower than about 40F

On a properly operating diesel (at least 6.5, dmax, cummins 6bt, or psd) you really shouldn't notice a difference in crank times between cold and hot.

EDIT: Provided you don't live in Moosenuts, AK.