So is this a good choice for my first diesel??
 

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 :yeah:

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:yeah:

Yea I pretty well like all diesels I have my favorites of course. The only time I get in to brand bashing is when I am messing with people or someone misstates the facts about something.

No problem, I'm a ford guy but can appreciate just about any make/model of vehicle. I wouldn't mind having a 6.2/6.5 just to tinker with. :tu:

You want to buy one? I have 3 6.5 and 1 6.2. The 6.2 I will never part with but one of the 6.5s I am undecided on. It's a 95 3/4 ton 4x4 with 300k on it and it's kinda up in the air what I am going to do with it. I am thinking of selling it but am afraid it's not going to bring much. The other option is to pull the body off of it and put my 70 Chevy on it's frame which I think would be cool.

I would like to have one of each. Already got the 6.2 would like a 7.3 idi and a 12v Cummins.

personally i think the 6.5 burb is the best diesel suv out there. some people will say the psd excursion but the price of fixing a 6.5 and the price of fixing a powerstroke ill take the 6.5 everytime. now if you want to tow 20,000 pounds and take along 5 kids ill take the excusrsion but for everything else ill take the 6.5

I'm dirt poor at the moment, owe $9k in taxes and only work 3 days a week. :td:

I would like a 6.5 burb but there hard to find 4x4 with out a million miles on them and in decent shape. So I will probably have to go with the excursion.

I dont know if this will help or not but I've owned all of the above. from my experience the 6.5 is the most friendly for a daily driver/ occasional puller with decent power potential. by that i mean they have a nicer ride than the ford or dodge and drive more like a half ton with the capabilities of a h.d. but they do have some draw backs souch as aftermarket isnt as supportive of these engines as for say like the cummins. for your price range and app. i would say that it best fits you. just talk to 2muchJunk and he will let you know what to stay away from, and what to look for.

You talk like I know what I am doing. You just get good at changing parts when you drive wore out junk.

Wow, thanks for all the helpful info guys!! :tu:

I'm still in the process of researching, I can't seem to make up my mind. I don't think I'd find the 6.5 lacking in power, I mean, I drive a 2.4 liter 6 cylinder now! I hear nothing but great things about the 7.3, so I want one of those too. The thing with the cummins I am hearing is that the engine waaaaay outlasts the rest of the truck.

I guess it should be mentioned that I plan on leaving the truck mostly stock, except for a veggie conversion to save $$$, and the environment. *waits for treehugger comments* And the stock power levels of these trucks are pretty close.

It's hard to find non biased info on the web, especially when you ask guys about their trucks, so I appreciate the non-argumentative nature of this thread.

There is no wrong answer with any of them. They are all good engines with good points and bad ones. The 6.5 really doesn't lack power it's just a different vintage diesel and its not fair to compare them to a new common rail diesel. The 7.3 is a very good diesel to. The only problems I hear of them is cam sensors. As far as the Cummins out lasting the rest of them I don't completely buy it. I know some will disagree with me but all of them will last over 300k and most of them will let go somewhere between there and 500k. I know some will last longer than that but I also got a 6.5 with some where between 500k and 1mil on it I don't know the odometer has been shot for ever. I am guessing closer to the 1mil mark. The one advantage to the Cummins is the after market is there for them. I am not saying one is better than the other. You can pick the 6.5 up cheaper but it has a limited after market. Or you can spend more on the Cummins and have all the after market has to offer. Me personally I have a 6.5. I mostly drive the truck and pull a trailer on occasion and don't see the advantages of the Cummins being as great compared to cost. Now if you are pulling over loaded trailers and want max power go with the Cummins. Or you can go with the power stroke.

Just about any diesel is capable of outlasting the truck. A IDI owner on another forum is currently restoring his truck at 377k miles because the body is falling off but the motor still runs great, even with the original clutch. Plenty of other IDI's I know of around the 500k mile mark as well and still working for a living. It's all about how the truck is maintained, as I've seen plenty of diesel trucks with new motors and less than 100k on the clock.

In my opinion if your used to driving a small truck the dodge and ford are going to ride like a tank. I love my cummins but i've never met a diesel i didnt like. but like i said b-fore the chevy 6.5 sounds like it will suite you needs perfectly.

just a heads up, a DS4 (electronics) 6.5 will not support a veggie conversion well at all.

OPINION ONLY.. Being a Previous Owner of the 5.9L Cummins 7.3L powerstroke stock to stock 7.3L Far More powerfull and Far More reliable dont get me wrong first and sec gen 12vs are damn good but sorry 7.3L powerstroke has got um beet hands down all my 7.3L had over 300'000 HARD miles problem free :tu:

:humm:

ive owned powerstrokes, IDI's, a 6.5l and cummins trucks. cummins cant be beat hands down no doubt about it. there is a reason my truck is now missing the 6.5l in place of the cummins.

the best arguement you can put out there is a 6.5l and a 7.3l are light duty diesel. cummins are medium duty. whats that tell ya? also i will take an inline 6 all day long over a v8. just a better built motor i think.

now the trucks thats a whole different story. chevy has ride quality all day long, but ford makes the nicest truck all around interior wise and whatnot. but the dodge has got the best engine. but i would have to say the 2wd 3/4ton cummins isnt a half bad ride being a non solid axle front

you take care of the mechanical lift pump with a nice electric pump(or at least keep an eye on fuel pressure) on a cummins and they go and go and go and go. no stoppin em

If chevy, dodge and ford got together, they could make one damn fine truck. :c:

I think that is what tltruckparts did. If all of the big three got together to build a truck they would probably take all the worst stuff and put it on one truck.

:lol88:

Ford Powerstroke For the Road And Dodge For the Garage

Ask Dockboy which is better :w2:

:se:

Erm... Why's that? You got a link where I can educate myself?



And I'm glad you guys like my thread so much!! Please debate away! I'm soaking in all the info...

There is an optical sensor inside the DS4 that reads a cam plate to set the timing, fed back to the computer. if the fuel gets cloudy this sensor has a tendency not to work. sometimes even more solvent like fuels like B20 can cause it problems, happened to a friend of mine. some people have issues with it and some don't so it's a take your chances kind of deal.

Some of the optical sensors where junk on the ds4 from the get go most of them are gone now. If you get a 92 or 93 you get a mechanical db2 pump and a 599 block which is a better block.

I think I found a good link regarding the issue at hand;

SurvivalBlog.com

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks a million, you guys are great!!:tu:

Especially 2MuchJunk, you have to be darn near half the posts in this thread!! I really appreciate all your help!!:c:

I would say that article pretty much sums it up.

If someone decides to launch an EMP no electronics is the way to go.

If we get nuked I don't think it is going to mater.

I'll have to agree about being nuked.

Well the article I found just happened to be on a survivalist forum. I wasn't planning to buy a truck to survive the apocalypse, but because I can, why not go for it?

I found yet another article I think is appropriate for this thread;

What is the Best Truck to Buy for Biodiesel Conversion - CarsDirect.com

After mulling it around for a while, I think I have to go with a Ford idi 7.3. So if my facts are correct, that means I'm looking at 88-first half of 94 models, with them being turbocharged 93-first half 94.

Allow me to bore you with my thought process on this.

All three will run forever.

Chevy- I like the fact that they would be cheap to maintain, and the power aspect didn't bother me too much, until I read about the towing capacity. I don't have the numbers handy right now, but I am also mulling around the idea of starting a towing side to full time job, and then those numbers really start to matter.

Dodge- Everybody loves them, high demand=high prices. Too high for me at the moment.

Ford- Good tow capacity numbers, and non sky high prices seal the deal.

But of course I have a couple more questions....:argh:

The manual tranny, how good is it compared to the auto? I see that the towing numbers are higher in the auto, but I'd imagine I'd get more MPG out of the manual. (Plus I should note that I know how to drive a stick, just not well, and I don't want a manual that will be hard on newbies, so I don't have to shell out more $$$ when I break it.)

The numbers for the NA and the turbo are kinda close. I'd like to get the turbo, but that's a narrow 1.5 years of truck, and added to my already lengthy list of requirements, it's going to be near impossible to find the perfect truck. I saw a turbo kit for the 7.3 idi, and it was $2k, which is more than I want to spend on one mod. What are you guys' thoughts on that?

:ty::ty::yourock: