What truck?

curtis73 wrote: As far as I know, a manual wasn't offered behind the V8. Dodge: I can't think of any redeeming qualities. Seriously.

Not sure about the 5.3, but the manual/4.8 combo exists, they're just unicorns. There was a 4x4 4.8 5 speed short bed regular cab truck that popped up in town on the local CL earlier this year. REALLY wish it would have waited until I was actually in the market for a 4x4 because that's one I would have jumped on.

As for Dodges, I recently had the misfortune of spending an entire day behind the wheel of the 02 Dodge 3500 stakebody we have at work. This truck really does not get worked hard at all for what it is, yet it had about 90 degrees of free play in the steering (that's not an exaggeration) and the build quality of the interior made my 4th gen Camaro look like a Lexus by comparison. Why the hell do people DD these things?

My parents had a 94 K2500 with the TBI 350 in it that was a freaking tank. That truck spent about 95% of its life either towing a horse trailer, hauling loads of hay stacked 2 rows above the roof of the cab, or being subjected to dumb teenagery driving by either myself or my sister and never had a single non-wear part replaced. My mom once T-boned a Neon that pulled out in front of her, caving the whole side of the car in like an empty beverage can (young girl driving was very lucky to have walked away.) The truck drove home with the bumper slightly askew. The perfect truck for just doing "truck stuff", although it wouldn't be my first choice for a DD and if you really stood on it and watched the gas gauge closely I swear you could actually see it move. My sister was shunned by the whole family when she ran it into a tree and totaled it.

The k2500 was ultimately replaced by a '00 Tundra reg cab V8 4x4, which was infinitely nicer to drive on a regular basis or for long periods of time. No manual with the V8 though and, for your budget, even a high mileage RWD V6 might be a stretch based on my very casual observations of Tundra pricing.

Why the hell do people DD these things?

Because some of them aren't ruined?

2 years ago iirc i helped my dad with truck shopping and we ended up with an 01 Ram 1500 5.9/auto 2wd ext cab shortbed with ~113k for $3800. Very good shape. Part of the reason for buying it was that we still had a lot of spares (alt, starter, ac comp, sensors, coil, etc etc etc) from his 96 Dakota that we took from 32k to 254k with very minor issues and only parted out because it had leaky freeze plugs and the v8 swap i started on it ended up fizzling out when he decided he wanted a full size anyway (dakota sort of sucked to tow with). So yeah, most of those spares will probably rust out before we ever need them.

Honestly, i've worked on every style of truck mentioned so far in this thread in my experience as an ASE Master Tech, and the only one i would say is in a different league as far as reliability is the Tundra, mostly because of its transmission. The engine is reliable but i figure most DIY people would still rather be replacing small items on a chevy/ford/dodge than doing the timing belt on a 4.7.

curtis73 wrote:

patgizz wrote:

NordicSaab wrote: Being a chevy guy it pains me to say this, but for under $3000 a Ford will be your best bet. That price point will likely put you in a mid-late 90's vehicle and both GM and Dodge were garbage in that time period. Ford's motors were pretty solid at that time. Not to mention they interchanged with everything else in their line,, so used parts will be cheap and readily available at a salvage yard.

dodges maybe, but GMT400 trucks are the king of reliable, interchangeable, and ford 302's suck for trucks(and 4.6's do too, ford never heard of torque). give me tbi 350 chevy with a nv3500 and it'll run forever and ever plus a few weeks. the body can fall off, the frame can crack, and you can still sell it to some guy who will weld the crack and put a bag on the busted out back window and drive it a few more years.

I never understood the love for TBI trucks. Junk valve seals that leak at 40k, wheezy pathetic power, 13mpg at best, off-idle stumbles... if I'm going to do an SBC, I would rather have a Qjet or Vortec (96-98). The TBI was (in my opinion) the absolute worst SBC that ever rolled off the line. It excels at absolutely nothing. Low power, thirsty, burns oil, flat tappet cam... No thank you. At least not for me.

Never had a TBI GM that had ANY of those issues. Valve seals died on my first one at 150k, made fantastic torque everywhere and got 19-20mpg all day. Towing or loaded, sure it sucked gas but show me a late 80's early 90's gas truck that DIDN'T suck gas.

Furious_E wrote: As for Dodges, I recently had the misfortune of spending an entire day behind the wheel of the 02 Dodge 3500 stakebody we have at work. This truck really does not get worked hard at all for what it is, yet it had about 90 degrees of free play in the steering (that's not an exaggeration) and the build quality of the interior made my 4th gen Camaro look like a Lexus by comparison. Why the hell do people DD these things?

If you were bright enough to buy one with the Cummins diesel, a little bit of work makes one scary fast for something that heavy. I have no idea why you would buy a used one with a gasser though.

Kenny_McCormic wrote:

Furious_E wrote: As for Dodges, I recently had the misfortune of spending an entire day behind the wheel of the 02 Dodge 3500 stakebody we have at work. This truck really does not get worked hard at all for what it is, yet it had about 90 degrees of free play in the steering (that's not an exaggeration) and the build quality of the interior made my 4th gen Camaro look like a Lexus by comparison. Why the hell do people DD these things?

If you were bright enough to buy one with the Cummins diesel, a little bit of work makes one scary fast for something that heavy. I have no idea why you would buy a used one with a gasser though.

This particular truck was a Cummins and I totally get the love for that engine. I also get why some people go through the hassle of swapping them into Force. I was moreso commenting on the rest of the truck around it based on the assumption that a Dodge diesel is out of the OP's price range.

I would love to take a ride in a turned up Cummins some day, must be absolutely terrifying. In the best possible way

In reply to Furious_E:

I'll give you the highlight reel from the time I drove a very mildly worked over 24 valve 2500, a heavier 4x4 longbox model.

On the highway, if you wanted to pass a slow truck, you could tip into the throttle an inch or so and it would just suddenly be going 10mph faster, like push you into the seat a little quick, without shifting out of overdrive (auto trans), just a little turbo whistle and boom, acceleration.

It would burn rubber all the way down the on ramp.

If some shiny happy person honked at you for not getting away from a green light quickly, you could stand on the loud pedal and it would leave a cloud of equal parts tire and diesel smoke.

Even stock, these engines didn't really have peak power ratings, they have peak power ranges. The whole "power under the curve" thing suddenly makes sense, it makes peak torque before 2000rpm and just stays that way to redline.

The E36 M3ty truck wrapped around the engine did have one redeeming quality, it has enough headroom to make me feel short. The front end can be tight, they're just expensive to rebuild.

Diesels have a E36 M3ty powerband. They make full power from 2000 rpm to redline, which is...3400 rpm? I've driven some fast Cummins, but i've also rebuilt a518 and seen the prices on bulletproof converters and overdrive sections, which sort of lessens the appeal of trying to build a truck that needs 1000 lb ft of torque to go fast.

Yes, cummins trucks are out of OPs price range.

The gas-engine 94-01 Dodges were perfectly normal trucks as far as power back then. The LS engine outshone them but it took a long time for Ford to build a more powerful gas engine, and when they finally did it was still less powerful and less reliable than the concurrent Dodge engine (5.7) which also didn't require you to have a specialist remove your broken spark plugs at $65/each. I'll grant that the LS chevys are way better, but that was a quantum leap forward from the 'old normal' in which the dodges were... perfectly normal.

We've just made a LOT of progress in the last 15 years, some of which OP can afford, some of which they can't. If HP is your main consideration, GM is the only way to fly.

Odd, yesterday while going through town, I spied the very truck at a small used car dealer. Late model Ford, single cab, painted grille and matching cap.

I didn't stop to check it out. I just viewed it as I sat at a traffic light.