Hi im a 20 year old looking to buy my first diesel truck. I have about 17,000 to spend on the truck and am not sure what to look at? Any truck would have to be automatic dont want manual personal preference. Looking at dodge cummins with automatics i hear they have horrible reputations of blowing out very quickly and i dont have money to buy another trans. Duramax? has the reliability of the allision trans some say? or should i stick with the 7.3 powerstroke as it has shown reliabilty but not as many power additives as the cummins? Im looking for something to be a daily driver/ take to a local fair to the sled pull.

Thanks, Mike young diesel enthusiast

 

Well I don't think you'll be able to find a decent durmax for 17000 with low miles and what you want etc. Ford has good power mods you can do, just dodges are easier to work on because their six cylinders. All personal preference drive a few of each and go from there every brand has pro's and con's. Since you don't want a manual I'd stay away from an automatic dodge unless it's already built with papers to prove.


Strokin' Away

 

Or just by my dads 1999 f 350 7.3 dually bone stock

 

any diesel is going to cost more to repair, keep that in mind when making a decision.

they all have fine transmissions at stock power levels, but start adding more and they all need upgraded, some just take the abuse longer than others.. i had a dodge gasser the tranny went south on after a little beating, but there are cummins trucks that get 100k out of them untouched.

duramax will need a few hundred dollars in front end upgrades to sled pull. but for 17k you would spend about all of that on just the purchase of a beat down one, they really hold value

you might be best off buying a cheap 9-10k cummins and spending the rest on a transmission.

i don't really have enough experience with ford to say yay or nay

 

Bid makes a very good point like I said you wont find a decent unmolested duramax for 17 it's just not gonna happen, you could buy a cummins for 9-10 grand and then build trans but in my experience those trucks that are that cheap have something wrong with them body rot, trans us going out, or a kid has drove it and raped it.


Strokin' Away

 

then i will lean more toward powerstroke years 95-2002 7.3 auto crew cab long bed

 

there seems to be a lot of 7.3's hitting the market lately.

cummins are always plentiful and cheap, especially the rode hard second gens.

duramax are hard to find.

 

Yes, Cummins are like that, ford 7.3 are becoming more popular and harder to find not beat up, everyone knows there good motors and reliable and they price them so


Strokin' Away