$30K CASH TO SPEND ON A TRUCK WHAT SHOULD I GET?

From : cosmo

Q: hi all i will be looking to get a diesel truck. these are my requirements 4 wheel drive. must pull a 30 foot travel-trailer from florida to texas. i prefer cummins turbo diesel for reliability. would like to minimize electronic controls. dont want 4 doors; extended cab is nice but not necessary. long bed; minimum 6 is necessary; for topper camping hauling. leary of automatic transmissions; easier for me to change a clutch myself in a manual. must be stone cold reliable! right now i have a 79 trailduster 4x4. 360 hi-po. which is the best year/model should i just build my own or refurbish an older one tia coz .

Replies:

From : geekboy

on mar 19 1052 pm cosmo res0ft9g@removeverizon.net wrote hi all i will be looking to get a diesel truck. these are my requirements 4 wheel drive. must pull a 30 foot travel-trailer from florida to texas. i prefer cummins turbo diesel for reliability. would like to minimize electronic controls. dont want 4 doors; extended cab is nice but not necessary. long bed; minimum 6 is necessary; for topper camping hauling. leary of automatic transmissions; easier for me to change a clutch myself in a manual. must be stone cold reliable! right now i have a 79 trailduster 4x4. 360 hi-po. which is the best year/model should i just build my own or refurbish an older one tia coz then you should get the ram with the first generation12 valve. its all mechanical. .

From : tom lawrence

should i just build my own or refurbish an older one with the money you have to spend you could just about buy a new truck. however with your desire to minimize electronics that may not be what youre looking for. trucks from 94 to early 98 had the all-mechanical cummins 6bt engine. trucks in that range are going to be high-mileage and need a good amount of suspension work. if you can settle for a little bit of electronics and dont mind putting a few hundred dollars into some aftermarket accessories i think youd be best served with an 01 or 02 truck. to get an extended cab youre going to have to accept the four-door model the rears are half-width doors that open suicide-style. with this year of truck youll have the high output isb engine and a 6spd manual transmission the nv5600. the transfer case is still manually operated and if you desire you can replace the vacuum-operated front axle disconnect with a cable-operated unit. youll have better brakes than the earlier trucks with dual-piston calipers up front. i would highly recommend a fuel pressure gauge and would also go with an aftermarket fuel pump setup i like the fass units myself - relocates the pump and filters under the bed gives you a larger fuel filter and water separator and lets you run a 3 micron fuel filter. the one weak link with the isb engines is the lift pump which if/when it fails can destroy an expensive injector pump. by monitoring the fuel pressure or eliminating the stock lift pump altogether you mitigate that problem or eliminate it completely. .

From : Annonymous

on mar 19 1152=ef=bf=bdpm cosmo res0ft9g@removeverizon.net wrote hi all i will be looking to get a diesel truck. these are my requirements 4 wheel drive. must pull a 30 foot travel-trailer from florida to texas. i prefer =a0cummins turbo diesel for reliability. would like to minimize electronic controls. dont want 4 doors; extended cab is nice but not necessary. long bed; minimum 6 is necessary; for topper camping hauling. leary of automatic transmissions; easier for me to change a clutch myself in a manual. must be stone cold reliable! right now i have a 79 trailduster 4x4. 360 hi-po. which is the best year/model should i just build my own or refurbish an older one tia coz i have a 1995 ram 2500 cummins td and the 94-98.5 are very impressive but maybe you should consider a 03-07 models if you dont get 4 doors you can find them cheaper. i do not like the 98.5-2002 because of the v-44 injector pump it is just not a good design. the first of the new body style are actually coming down in price and hop up parts are all over the place. first look under the hood is impressive how simple they are. i drove a 6 speed and it was hard to drive around town but obviously easy on the highway. i only went 20 miles of mixed driving. for $30k you could