F250 or Chevy 2500

[AdironRider]

Looking at two work trucks. Looking for thoughts on each.

Keep in mind this is farm country, so truck prices tend to run a bit higher than say Florida. Also, Im in the middle of fucking nowhere so travel costs quickly add up.

Diesel while sweet is really not necessary for what I want to do. This will be a small homestead truck, used to build my cabin, haul firewood, and carry two sleds on a sled deck in the winter. Most it will tow is my FJ Cruiser 4x4 overland rig or a 4 place snowmobile trailer, so 6000 lbs or so.

1/2 tons are out of the question due to the snowmobile requirements. Payload is more important than towing to me.

1st. 2005 F250, 4x4 extended cab with the V8 gasser. 137.5k miles at 8k.

2nd 2005 Chevy 2500, 4x4 regular cab with the 6.0, 125K miles at 9k.

Both are rust free and appear at least to be not true work trucks, but more of a DIY type guys truck. Undercarraiges are clean on both and don't show the symptoms of a typical work truck.

Im leaning more towards the Chevy based purely on minimal bias and past experience with the 6.0 and higher payload capacity. Thoughts?

[SGT4677]

Personal choice I suppose, but I would pick the Chevy.

I own an older K2500 and love it despite its flaws, I haven't owned either of those trucks but my friends who do have all had problems with the Fords, Cooling systems, transmissions, and especially spark plugs. If the plugs weren't changed before 100k,walk away.
The Ford is nicer inside and the extra room in it is nice to have though.

My choice between the 2 might come down to which had a heavy duty transmission cooler, block heater and towing/load capacity. don't expect good gas mileage out of either truck.

[accident]

I had a 2006 2500HD as a work truck with a stake bed. That thing was a fucking beast. I used to be a parts runner for a place that sold semi-truck parts, and I'd load that thing up with pallets of mud flaps and other heavy ass shit and it never skipped a beat.

[E30 Wagen]

I've always been a Chevy/GMC guy myself so I say Chevy.

[iansane]

Chev. But I'm biased. I love 6.0s. What kind of maintenance/repairs have been done so far? Hubs, window regulators, instrument clusters, HVAC control heads, evap solenoids, steering shaft/bearing "wobble" are all common issues but crazy easy to fix on the chev.

[Kevinl]

Chevy

[Bmwdayz]

I vote Chevy as well.

[ravenlord89]

Ford F250; solid front axle, spark plugs break off in the head.
Chev 2500; torsion beam nonsense, brakes feel way undersized for the truck. They are also extra special easy to break into if you are worried about that.

If diesel I would definitely go with the Ford over the Chev, but if its the 5.8 tragity I would go with the chev. As much as I hate torsion bars on a truck... and GM.

[volvolover]

Ah, the F150! A fine vehicle. Mine was a 2004, had a lot of good times in that truck. Once I drove that truck all the way to Newark! Couldn't believe it made it, but that truck was one tough son-of-a-bitch. It was a long trip but I just popped in my Johnny Cash cassette tapes and I was set for the whole ride. Do you listen to Johnny Cash? Great man, he was. Anyway, the Ford. I was selling that, yes. Unfortunately, I sold it to a guy about a month ago. Had over 300k miles when I sold it, stayed on top of my oil changes and tranny flushes, and never burnt a drop of oil when I sold it.

[mrsleeve]

lord:
Really for 2005 you would go with a 6.0L Ford diesel over a LLY Duramax????? Your fucking brave or crazy, that is not the dead reliable combine engine we are talking about, ford has not had a diesel I would put a lot of faith in since that old bastard. Also have you jumped into the binders hard on a GMT880, they have been know to last over 120k miles on factory stock parts, IIRC they are 12.8" rotors up front and about the same out back. My 5600lb beast stops just as fast if not faster form 60 than my e30 did with minor breaking up grades and not even trip the abs. The soft pedal people bitch about is due to the hydraulic "hydroboost" power brakes and the design of the rear calipers and rotors. This is one of the reasons GM went back to drums on the GMT900's




6.0 GM gasser is THIRSTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But they are work horse, they will eventually start using some oil but they are a solid long winded power plant. Friend had one with almost 200k he put on it working it every day as a construction crew truck. The 4l80e is also a very very good transmission behind it, it does not suffer form the plagues of the 4l60E that was in the 1/2 ton platform. Its still basically a turbo 400 with a O/D gear, A different buddy brought one over in a 95 powered by a 454 and thought his trans was shot. I pulled the stick and it was BLACK and smelt burnt. We dropped the pan, put a new filter in it. buttoned it all up and proceed to do a redneck fluid flush with a couple of 5 gal pails and last I knew he was still hauling hay and cattle with it.

Everything I own is a GM truck platform so I think you can guess what I would recommend, even though I would much rather have a ex cab for the storage and room.

What are you planing on doing with this thing, that might help to dictate what might work a little better one way or the other for you.

[AdironRider]

lord:
Really for 2005 you would go with a 6.0L Ford diesel over a LLY Duramax????? Your fucking brave or crazy, that is not the dead reliable combine engine we are talking about, ford has not had a diesel I would put a lot of faith in since that old bastard. Also have you jumped into the binders hard on a GMT880, they have been know to last over 120k miles on factory stock parts, IIRC they are 12.8" rotors up front and about the same out back. My 5600lb beast stops just as fast if not faster form 60 than my e30 did with minor breaking up grades and not even trip the abs. The soft pedal people bitch about is due to the hydraulic "hydroboost" power brakes and the design of the rear calipers and rotors. This is one of the reasons GM went back to drums on the GMT900's




6.0 GM gasser is THIRSTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But they are work horse, they will eventually start using some oil but they are a solid long winded power plant. Friend had one with almost 200k he put on it working it every day as a construction crew truck. The 4l80e is also a very very good transmission behind it, it does not suffer form the plagues of the 4l60E that was in the 1/2 ton platform. Its still basically a turbo 400 with a O/D gear, A different buddy brought one over in a 95 powered by a 454 and thought his trans was shot. I pulled the stick and it was BLACK and smelt burnt. We dropped the pan, put a new filter in it. buttoned it all up and proceed to do a redneck fluid flush with a couple of 5 gal pails and last I knew he was still hauling hay and cattle with it.

Everything I own is a GM truck platform so I think you can guess what I would recommend, even though I would much rather have a ex cab for the storage and room.

What are you planing on doing with this thing, that might help to dictate what might work a little better one way or the other for you.

Gas milage is not really a concern. This rig will see maybe 8k miles a year max. With that kind of use it doesn't really make sense to spend any more than I am.

Uses are as follows: Haul firewood (8 cords a year), carry two powder sleds up and over the mtns on a sled deck during the winter when trailers aren't allowed, tow FJ cruiser to Moab, tow e30 to track events (eventually).

With my intended use, payload is much more important than tow capacity, as the most it'll tow will be 6-7k lbs, but I'll be right up on the max payload during my firewood hauls in March and whenever I put my two Polaris RMK's on the back on the deck. Also, if I do tow the FJ or E30, its like once or twice a year tops.

[bddog]

Hold out for a K2500 extra cab Silverado with a 350. You know its what you want, need and deserve. Why waste money on something else? Mine is awesome!

[mrsleeve]

Well adiron, a 6.0 will be prefect for all of that, You really dont "need" anything more that than that. Hauling wood the standard 8 foot bed is going to make you happy, also for the sled deck. But for longer trips and for the hauling the sleds and ex cab is going to allow you to carry your shit in where its warm DRY and safe as well. If you can scrounge one up you should be able to fine a long box ex cab for not too much more money. I still would be buying the GM reg cab in this case as long as it has the comfortable "bucket seats" (they are not really buckets but they have the comfort of them) and not that shity bench


Dog: 6.0 gasser is much better than old 350, and I loved the old 350's and 454's

[AdironRider]

Well adiron, a 6.0 will be prefect for all of that, You really dont "need" anything more that than that. Hauling wood the standard 8 foot bed is going to make you happy, also for the sled deck. But for longer trips and for the hauling the sleds and ex cab is going to allow you to carry your shit in where its warm DRY and safe as well. If you can scrounge one up you should be able to fine a long box ex cab for not too much more money. I still would be buying the GM reg cab in this case as long as it has the comparable "bucket seats" (they are not really buckets but they have the comfort of them) and not that shity bench


Dog: 6.0 gasser is much better than old 350, and I loved the old 350's and 454's

The sled decks actually provide a pretty decent amount of enclosed gear space under the deck. I plan on just having a bunch of rubbermaids back there for anything.

Frankly, snowmobile and ski gear just stinks up the cab anyway.

Bench seat it looks like on the model Im looking at, which if it is my only compromise I can live. Better for bonin and all.

[bddog]

350 is plenty of engine, for hauling and especially empty. You can call it a 5.7 Vortech if it makes you feel better. Mine is fine. The price of fuel these days. You can talk all you want but when its you forking over the cash at the pump--