Need diesel truck advise

Well I am in the market for a diesel truck and I am on the fence on what to buy. I know what I am looking for as far as being crew cab, 4x4 and long bed. I cannot decide on which truck to buy. I have narrowed it down to Ford or Chevy, and have a spending limit of $18K. My issue is that I like the ride and comfort of the Chevy and of course the Allison transmission. For my spending limit it basically puts me in the market for the first generation LB7 Duramax. From what I have read on the forums, it is an injector eater. Once it is fixed it is the most sought after due to the lack of emissions on the LB7. The next year is the LLY which was produced for mid 04 to late 05. It basically has the same issues that the Ford 6.O had with over heating, EGR issues and blowing head gaskets.

Now I like the overall stance, and the cab space of the Ford crew cab. The late 99-03 7.3L is a great engine. With the right mods it is fuel efficient and will last damn near for ever with proper maintenance. But there auto trans is the weak link form what I have read. I see more 7.3 PowerStrokes with over 300K than I do Duramax. I am sure there are some out there, but I see far more 7.3 for sale with more miles on them. Not to mention the Fords are cheaper than the Chevy.

What I am looking for is what are your personal experiences? What truck would you buy and why?

Well, let me be the 1st to open the can of worms, I have a 04 F-250 6.0.......113,000 miles no probelms But it does have the Cat gone and the EGR cooler welded.....when you do that to the 6.0 I'm convinced it's a good engine, I get 18 mpg......you can actually buy the EGR cooler delete's and up pipe now on ebay for $150.00.......When the EGR problem is dealt with it stops the potential for it leaking or busting sending coolant into your intake and coolant wont ignite then BOOM you loose your head gaskets......I know you can stretch the head studs with super hot tunes but ARP studs take care of that......I wouldn't hestitate to do it again, but I wouldnt trust the 6.0 without eliminating the EGR issue....thats my opinion

I have A 2006 Super Duty 6.0 truck. Had some problem at first but with a new oil cooler and a egr delete kit all has been fine since. But it only has 49000 miles on it

Let me add to the 6.0...use synthetic oil, either Mobil 1 TDT 5w-40 or Rotella T-6 synthetic 5-40, whatever you do dont put regular Rotella or your injectors will stick and other issues, ......change every 7000-8000 miles, fuel filters every 15-20,000 miles and I've been good to go......

yea forgot that i use rotella too. I change my oil every 5000 miles and fuel filter every 10000.

My dads 6.0 has been decent, we did delete the egr and cooler.

However, the injector issues in the Duramax really cant be fixed! Its the same with the 5.9 common rail dodge. You can spring for the stainless steel bodies, but they have yet to really prove if they are any better.

GOOD filtration is the key. I added in a 2 micron fuel filter after the factory filter on my Dodge.

I think the 7.3 would be my choice if you have ruled out a Dodge.

I got a 7.3, no problems after 170,000 miles. As for tranny, you can get one built to tow for around $2,000. The 6.0 is decent, good power and fuel mileage. I have been looking at newer ones the last month. I love the cummins for reliability and ease to work on. I have a 99 5.9 5 speed with 200,000 on it, never a problem, it was bought new by us in 99 and pulls a trailer everyday, probably averaging 10,000 pounds. Ford bodies are built tough. Just my personal experience with these two brands

As far as reliability goes the ford 7.3 can not be beat. They should of never stopped building that motor. Imagine the twin turbo setup on the 6.4 now on that 7.3??? Dear god. The 6.0 CAN be a great motor, you just unfortunately have to take care of a few things first IE the egr and cooler. I would say for your budget and what your looking for FORD 7.3 crew cab, you will love it and they are dam near bullet proof.

However if you want to spend the extra change go with the newer for 6.4 twin setup crew cab. Thats going to be my next truck, they are the top of the food chain for now IMO their only weak point is to do any major work on the motor ford designed it where the best way to do it is lift the cab off the chassis which sucks but there are no major issues with that motor yet (and its been 5 years)

I am quite familiar with the 6.0. I bought my wife a 05 Excursion and it was a good vehicle, never had any issues other than it over heated once due to the coolant filtration system I installed. If you guys own a 6.0 and have never looked into coolant filtration, and you are towing, you are driving a ticking time bomb. There is casting sand still in the block from when it was cast. My Excursion only had 49,000 miles on it when I bought it. I installed the system, followed the instructions with the kit and no sand after my until we made a 2000 mile round trip. About a week later my wife went to town, noticed the temp gauge needle bouncing and then it pegged out. Towed it to the house pulled the filter off and it felt as if it weighed 5 lbs. I poured what I could out into a ziplock bag and it was FULL OF SAND. Take a look at the link I provided, I learned of this on a powerstroke forum, and sure enough, my filter looked just like the pics in this link.
http://www.dieselsite.com/2003-200760lcoolantfiltrationsystem-preservethelifeofyourwaterpump.aspx

Love my LB7, has been a great truck! You only hear about the bad ones.

BigAlCash wrote:

Love my LB7, has been a great truck! You only hear about the bad ones.

How many miles do you have on her? Any issues?

80,000 no issues at all. I am a diesel tech and wrench on them all
the 7.3 is a very reliable engine, the 6.0 has some problems but can be fixed. SOME LLY duramaxs had cooling problems when heavily loaded.but you can put the LBZ cooling system on them and cure that.

Have a 7.3 in my excursion, best motor ever built period! My f250 is a 6.4L love it but sucks the fuel.

Well it looks like this has been covered very well!

Thanks for the help gents, I think i am going to stick with my gut feeling and go with the 7.3!

Joe.USMC wrote:

Thanks for the help gents, I think i am going to stick with my gut feeling and go with the 7.3!

Thats a wise decision. Good proven engine!

Joe.USMC wrote:

Thanks for the help gents, I think i am going to stick with my gut feeling and go with the 7.3!

I would have loved to have found a 7.3 at or below 100,000 miles with a 6 speed manual tranny......thats a 350,000 mile combo easy

Stakk wrote:

Joe.USMC wrote:

Thanks for the help gents, I think i am going to stick with my gut feeling and go with the 7.3!

I would have loved to have found a 7.3 at or below 100,000 miles with a 6 speed manual tranny......thats a 350,000 mile combo easy

That is the combo I want for sure!!

Joe.USMC wrote:

Stakk wrote:

Joe.USMC wrote:

Thanks for the help gents, I think i am going to stick with my gut feeling and go with the 7.3!

I would have loved to have found a 7.3 at or below 100,000 miles with a 6 speed manual tranny......thats a 350,000 mile combo easy

That is the combo I want for sure!!

I guess then try to find a 2002 model, I have seen a FEW 2003 models with the 7.3, but at some point the switched the 2003 over to 6.0....older than that and I'm betting they have high mileage

I have found some just a bit over 100K, I am willing to travel to get the right truck.

Yeah they switched over halfway through 03 from the 7.3. Hell I would say as long as its under 150,000 thats still not too terribly much for a diesel

Well my brother in law has had both the 7.3 and the 6.0 and he's a mechanic. He said he would never own another 6.0. I personally own a 12 valve cummins. Manual injection no computer and I love it. You can work on it with simple hand tools and turn the power up with a screwdriver. And it will pull anything I hook it too.

I have an 07 CCSB LBZ Duramax, it's got 74k .....I also have an 04 LB7 CCLB with 62k....Love em both, zero problems with either of them. the cooling problem everyone talks about with the LLY's is the turbo "mouthpiece" is too small from the factory. You can cure this problem with an LBZ mouthpiece or an aFe BladeRunner one. GM will warranty the injectors on the LB7 motors for 5 years or 200k miles.
The LBZ gets right at 21mpg all day and 16-17 pulling my camper, the LB7 gets right at 20 all day, and about 15-16 pulling the camper.

i have a 350 with 7.3 6 speed in my service truck 93,000 and a few pull over 12,000 lbs. all the time with tools and fuel tank inside get 14 miles to gal. no problems so for nothing done to engine but oil and fuel filter changed

Smith700 wrote:

I have an 07 CCSB LBZ Duramax, it's got 74k .....I also have an 04 LB7 CCLB with 62k....Love em both, zero problems with either of them. the cooling problem everyone talks about with the LLY's is the turbo "mouthpiece" is too small from the factory. You can cure this problem with an LBZ mouthpiece or an aFe BladeRunner one. GM will warranty the injectors on the LB7 motors for 5 years or 200k miles.

Yeah but that thing struggles tryin to pull that trailer!!! Hes gotta give it all shes got to get up the hill to the windrock campground