I'm new here and new in the market for a tow rig. I recently settled for a buy-back on my 6.0L Ford and although it was awesome when towing (previous GM 3/4 ton gasser) it was completely unreliable. I tow a TT @ about 7K lbs. dry 8k+ loaded maybe a little more. I don't really want to buy new again, I'd like to save some of that money for a rainy day. I tow only in the summer time and need 4wd for my hunting and helping out on the ranch in the hills. So I use 4wd monthly. I also drive about 20 miles round trip for work daily. I often tow outside of Cali and since I live in the central valley that means I need to be able to climb in the mountains with no over heating or other problems, which the Chevy gasser constantly had. Any suggestions? I've been mulling over an older 7.3L, but they all have 100k+...or maybe a Cummins, but I get mixed feedback on those and I don't know to many people who have one. My wife like the Duramax ('06-'07 classic)...I personally don't like the looks or the 4wd IFS in the front, but at this point I'm open to suggestions. Basically I want the least amount of trouble, and something that's more trustworthy than my last rig which ended up with 20 pages of warranty work in 36K miles...all for EGR, turbo, EGR cooler and loss of power problems. Thanks in Advance
I am on my second Dodge CTD and have been very happy with the way the pulled my trailers. I pulled a 26' HiLo from Wyoming to PA and other than a bad thermistat in the 99 once it was changed did very well pulling grades in Colorado and Wyoming. My 2005 I pulled the HiLo back to Wyoming from PA and it had more power than I could use and then I traded the HiLo for a 5er at twice the weight and was very impressed with the way it handled it taking it over South Pass in Wyoming. My Dad has a 97 F350 that he has made some power upgrades but it still struggles on the grades in Wyoming and Utah with his slide in camper with a 7.3 Powerstroke but he is happy with it other than the transmission had to be replaced after his warrenty was up and Ford would not do anything until the warrenty ran out.
I have an 07 classic duramax. I absolutely love this truck. The only issue ive had was i got into some bad fuel and ended up with a fuel knock that went away. As far as power goes, i will never need more. On a recent trip i had a trailer of hay 18,300lbs i pulled over gunnison pass here in colorado. I never overheated and my Allison performed flawlessly. Ive had my pickup offroad numerous times without any issues. In my opinion, the IFS stigmata is not warranted. The weight of your TT wont even make one of these sweat. Plus you can get 20-23 mpg unloaded!!
