New addition to the family, What do you think?...

**Camaro_94** · 10-23-2008, 08:30 AM

A few people in my Family snow plow. My Father used to use his 96 Tahoe to plow driveways, but sold it a few years ago to buy a new 05 Silverado 2500HD. Its not a diesel either. He says that overall it works good.

My cousins use Ford F-350's that are diesels, and i'm pretty sure they also have a few F-450's too that are diesels. They do a lot of commercial work, while my father does mainly residential work. They live in Springfield, Massachusetts though, while were in Rochester, NY and have a lot of Lake Effect snow which is even harder to plow.

Like I said, my father goes out and snow plows with a 05 Silverado 2500HD, that isnt a diesel, and doesnt have any problems with it. Lake effect snow is much harder to plow because its a lot heavier than regular snow (gotta love Lake Ontairo!), so you should be safe using either the 00-03 Ford Powerstroke 7.3L or 02-05 Chevy / GMC 2500 6.6 Duramax Diesel.

- Mike

**Fixxer99TA** · 10-25-2008, 12:32 AM

Thanks for the input guys, still considering mostly diesels because of the fuel mileage advantage when working. Still not totally sure though.

Going to look at some next week sometime. Have only really been able to find 7.3L 250/350s around the mileage (40-60k) and condition (just decent, I dont want to have to work on it right off the bat) that I am looking for. Found some real good prices on those fords too, between 16k-18k for right in the area (40-60k, good cond., leather, everything). Minimal dodge 5.9Ls for sale for some reason, maybe everyone bought em'

.

I will still try to test drive both a few times (different trucks) to see what I really like best, but right now its looking more like a Ford 7.3L simply due to no selection at all in the Dodge department.

**KissMyWhtSS** · 10-25-2008, 01:11 AM

I hate dodge trucks, but the only experience I've had is with 5.2/5.9L 1500 Rams. Shitty transmissions and terrible gas mileage.

**IronOutlaw** · 10-25-2008, 12:15 PM

I drive and 01 dodge 2500 evryday that is my boss's truck. so i guess its got teh smaller motor.

All i know is that it will pull a house but it is slow as hell. My buddy has the last yer model powerstroke before they went tt and it is a lot stronger than the dodge. I would go for the newer cummins if your gonna go dodge.

**Fixxer99TA** · 10-25-2008, 02:59 PM

Yeah I have actually been looking at the newer dodges more than I thought I would, they are very nice.

Only thing that keeps me away from the newer trucks is all the extra emissions BS.

**Fixxer99TA** · 10-29-2008, 12:18 AM

SO considering there are NO 5.9L dodges for sale (that are decent, anyways) right now near me, I have been giving more thought torwards the 1998-2002 7.3L Powerstroke OR the revised (and apparently pretty solid, from what I have heard) 2005-2007 6.0L Powerstroke.

The problems on the early 6.0Ls were tuning issues (bad from the factory, but fixed before 2004) and the Variable Vane Turbo/EGR getting gummed up from the earlier diesel fuels (NOT ULSD, they are designed to run on ULSD). People have also been killing them with aftermarket tuning... The 6.0L comes with a VERY aggressive tune from the factory, so a tuner really isnt needed to "get the edge". But people used them anyways, and blew head gaskets as a result.

Does anyone think looking at the newer 6.0Ls is a bad idea? The fixes for the problems are simple, if it even has them (Those EGR/Turbo clogs are a simple take apart/clean deal). So anyone else? Going to test drive some 7.3s/6.0s this weekend and will report what I find/like. Hopefully this thread might help someone else too in the future.

**Camaro_94** · 10-29-2008, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by Fixxer99TA

SO considering there are NO 5.9L dodges for sale (that are decent, anyways) right now near me, I have been giving more thought torwards the 1998-2002 7.3L Powerstroke OR the revised (and apparently pretty solid, from what I have heard) 2005-2007 6.0L Powerstroke.

The problems on the early 6.0Ls were tuning issues (bad from the factory, but fixed before 2004) and the Variable Vane Turbo/EGR getting gummed up from the earlier diesel fuels (NOT ULSD, they are designed to run on ULSD). People have also been killing them with aftermarket tuning... The 6.0L comes with a VERY aggressive tune from the factory, so a tuner really isnt needed to "get the edge". But people used them anyways, and blew head gaskets as a result.

Does anyone think looking at the newer 6.0Ls is a bad idea? The fixes for the problems are simple, if it even has them (Those EGR/Turbo clogs are a simple take apart/clean deal). So anyone else? Going to test drive some 7.3s/6.0s this weekend and will report what I find/like. Hopefully this thread might help someone else too in the future.

So you are only looking for diesels right now? If so, I'd get the 98-02 7.3L's over the 6.0's.

- Mike