Re: What truck to buy?
I personally look for my vehicles by whether or not they will do the job at hand, are cheap enough to own and still get out from under without losing money when I am done with them, and fuel mileage.
I bought two 4 cylinder Ford rangers last year for $900, both are 5 spd with air long bed trucks. One has a 3.73 rear, the other a 2.31 rear. The 2.31 geared truck has trouble maintaining 45 mile per hour with a bass boat behind it, the other one can pull just about anything. I also have a one ton 1996 Dodge van, that has a 3.55 rear, and a 5.2L (318CI) engine. It can tow more weight but it gets about 10 miles per gallon and has traction issues on the ramp due to a lack of rear wheel weight. It does fine on the highway, but is not the vehicle of choice to launch a boat. My other van is a 1991 Ford Econoline E150 Conversion with a 5.0L, overdrive automatic trans and a 3.55:1 rear ratio, that does the best out of all three, it's good on the highway, had good traction on slippery ramps and gets around 13 miles per gallon. It can handle the least in tongue weight though. On the other hand, the Rangers both get well over 20 miles per gallon, can handle tongue weight and have no problems with traction. If I had to go out and buy a new truck tomorrow, I'd most likely buy a 3.0L manual trans Ford Ranger, I'd expect around 18 to 22 MPG and it would be able to tow anything I have here in the way of boats and small trailers. The 2.3L in my 94 is fine but it could stand a bit more power when towing.
There is no way I'd spend the big dollars they want for a full size truck, especially a diesel just tow around a few toys. I agree that diesel is usually cheaper and they make more torque and last longer, but you can buy a lot of gas for that extra money you spent. I looked at a few used F350 diesels lately, the best price I saw for anything that wasn't way over the hill was well over $25k. They want over $18K for one with 150,000 miles that's been well used and abused. I'm sorry but I can't see the sense in it.
I just brought home a boat that I picked up about 80 miles from me, it's on a tandem trailer, weighs in at about 5100 pounds plus the trailer. I picked it up with one of my Rangers, it did just fine, the gas gauge only moved about an eighth of a tank up and back and I had no problem running with no brakes either. The trailer was loaded just about right, no swaying, and the boat was securely attached. I ran mostly back roads, but did run about 30 miles on the highway at around 48 mph. I was already there with that truck, so I couldn't see driving all the way back to get the another truck, I simply took my time and it got the job done. All of my trucks with the exeption of the Dodge have over 100K on them, the Ford Van has over 350K and had a new motor and trans at around 280K.
I have to agree with the driving a tack with a sledge hammer. Most boats don't require a big truck to tow, just some common sense and maybe some towing experience.
I don't fault a vehicle for high mileage, it all depends on how it was treated and what condition it's in. If it's a solid truck, it may be worth doing some rebuilding. On my van, it was up in miles, had a perfect body and interior, and I like the truck, so I had no problem dumping $2000 in it to freshen up the motor, trans and rear. I just added a new set of tires and new old stock aluminum rims as well. It was far cheaper than a new one, they wanted over $30K for the same thing, and I don't care for the newer body style.
Something else to keep in mind if you live near saltwater is the toll that those days it spends sitting by the ramp while you play, saltwater tears up trucks fast. I can't see buying a new truck when it will be just as salt eaten as a used one in a year or two. Brand makes little difference in saltwater, but the american trucks do seem to fair better.
I had one Toyota, I got a deal on it new in '88, fully loaded SR5 Pickup, it towed fine, but that truck cost me every time it broke down, it was always something, and the parts were more than ten times the cost of the same parts on a Ford or Chevy. I got rid of it after only three years when the bed started to rust through, there was huge holes in the bed floor, tailgate, fenders, and cab floor. That truck never saw a saltwater ramp either, back then I was only into bass fishing and towed only a small aluminum boat.
I had 53k on it when I traded it, at that point it had had a new trans, new transfer case, (three times), a motor at 12k, four ball joints, and four radios, three AC compressors, and at least 100 trips back to the dealer. Never again, I traded it for a used Ford that I had for 10 years with no problems.
I was never one to say buy only American, but that truck sure made me change my mind. I wasn't the only one with the same problems, I had two buddies back then that all bought the same trucks, around the same time. They all had similar experiences.
