I am not trying to spend a whole lot, I'd prefer to spend below $5k on a (new to me)diesel truck, so I'm obviously looking for a little older model. After quite a few google searches, I think I am going to shoot for a 95-97 suburban. Is this a bad choice?

I read that dodges of this vintage have bad transmissions, and the fords.... well I don't like the look of them as much as I like the chevys of that vintage. I would like a truck with 4 doors, just for added flexibility, and the only ones I see chevy-wise are duallys, and I don't really want/need a dually. So I am now looking at suburbans for the utmost usability. Is there a huge difference between the ford 7.5, and the chevy 6.5 of that vintage?

I'm open to reasonable suggestions...

 

the dodge will be the one to make the most power
i dont care for the chevy diesel the ford would be the second choice

 

While tons of power is nice an all, I want reliability first and foremost, then maybe a little tuning.

I've heard nothing but good things about the chevy diesels of those years until last night, I found quite a few people not happy with the 6.5 chevy.

It's tough on the internet to determine if someones comments about a certain drivetrain are legit, or they are a chevy-hating redneck.

I just want a reliable daily driver, with a little potential maybe, and I keep hearing all kinds of different things about different trucks.

Help meh....

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Oh and thanks for your reply, but even your name leans towards bias...

 

personally jizzle i would go with dodge because i like cummins motors especially the yrs you are talking about but i am not looking i already have mine and it has 300,000 miles on it. very good engines and the rest of the pickup i just deal with it but in my opinion it boils down to whatever you want because you will be driving it ,working on it and cussing it at one time or another you just need to go with what you want. cant cuss chevy or ford have a chevy gasser suburban now and it has 250,000 on it and have an old ford that has a million miles on it so good luck with your choice

 

the 6.5s are guttless and not much you can do to change that empty the fill like there over loaded

 

If you want reliability, hands down 5.9 Cummins would be my first choice...and second choice, hands down a 7.3 Powerstroke!

Remember, what you pay for is what you get

 

Some of the complaints are legit to a certain point. They do have problem's with the pmd you need to relocate them to the bumper and the problem goes away. The other problem is the power. You have to remember they are a mid 90's diesel and when compared to other 90's diesels there right with them. There are things you can do to improve the power and you can get some where between 300 and 350 horse fairly easy with out having to do serious mods to them. I have owned 4 of the 6.5's and love them. They are cheap to buy and cheap to maintain. They are reliable. The 95 I drive everyday has 300,000 miles on it and I hardly ever work on a engine problem. I also have a 94 but could not tell you how many miles are on it. Some where over the 500k mark the odometer broke. That was probably 200k or 300k ago and same thing seldom work on it.
I know 3 guys that own Cummins diesel to two heavy trailers but for daily driving prefer a slightly turned up 6.5. They make good power over a wide rpm range. If you are just wanting a truck to drive and two 15,000lb or less they are a great engine.

 

If you really want reliability, stay away from anything run by a computer. The 6.5 isn't a bad motor, I think 1993 was the best year for the 6.5, I also think it was the last year that it was mechanically controlled. Regarding a 6.5 vs 7.3 IDI, even the 7.3 IDI guys give props to the 6.5 for the better mpg and throttle response. The 6.5 doesn't pull quite as well though. It's unlikely I'll own anthing newer, my friend just spent $1000 to replace a computer part on his 96 PSD...nothing on my IDI costs that much to replace.

 

You are right 93 was the last mechanical and the best 6.5. The worst thing they did to the 6.5 was put the ds4 pump on them. Not that it's a bad pump but the pmd goes out on them and pisses people off. If you know how to fix it by moving it there fine. As far as the pulling I think stock the 6.5 does a little better but your trying to compare a turbo to a n/a. Put a turbo on the 7.3 and I think it would be a different story. I could be wrong though.

My father in-law has a newer cummins and is always trying to get me to buy a newer truck. I tell him I can replace my whole truck for the price of his fuel system.

 

thanks 2muchjunk and sycostang67 for the good info you give without the brand bashing