ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2024
10K should be pretty easy with a Gas 3/4 ton or up. You want my truck almost exactly. 4x4, Crew Cab, Long bed. I paid 36,500 for my 2017 SRW 3500HD gasser with 27,000 miles on it in June of 2019. Same truck goes for over 40,000 right now. It will tow much better than your 1995. I believe your truck is 215 to 225 HP and 425 FT/LBS of torque. The 2017 6.0 Gasser is 360 HP and 380FT/LBS of torque. You are just going to get things done faster in a modern 3/4 ton and up gasser (unless of course your 7.3 has modifications). MPGs will be worse, and you have to get used to seeing 4500 to 5000 RPM sometimes but it is fine for those engines. I imagine you run close to redline on your 7.3 from time to time. I average about 8 to 9 mpg towing 8000lbs. That includes the bigger passes out west.Thanks for all the information on the thread. I'm the friend he's asking for. Not sure it will help but what we have is a 4 star 2+1 gooseneck aluminum trailer which is just shy of 6k pounds according to the manufacturer. I figure two horses, water, food & camping supplies gets us to around 10k.
What we're looking for is a 3/4 ton or 1 ton, SRW, 4x4, 8' bed, extended or crew cab. Originally we had been thinking diesel for the mileage while towing, power if we start traveling farther through actual hills/mountains and longevity in general (currently using a '95 F250 extended cab, 8' bed, 7.3 diesel, with a manual transmission). What little we found out researching has us leaning towards 3.73 axle ratio.
I'm more open to a newer gas option than my wife but concerned about power and fuel consumption. I remember towing an older steel trailer with a gas pickup and getting about 6 mpg on basically flat land. But as repeatedly pointed out, the $9-10k premium for a diesel buys a lot of gas.
Wife leans towards Ford, I lean towards GMC/Chevy but we're mostly agnostic and want the least headache to do what we want. Not concerned about the latest bluetooth, navigation, premium sound, etc.
I have to ask why 3.73s? You won't take enough of mileage hit with 4.10s to worry about it and in my truck 65 is still under 2000 RPM in 6th. You will want 4.10s in a gasser at that weight.
The Fords have a 4.30 rear end. The guy I camp with has a 2014 6.2 and tows right at 10,000lbs with it all the places I go. He just rolled 110,000 miles. He did have to replace a rocker arm early on and both exhaust manifolds (heads broke off the bolts and cracked them), but it is a solid truck and it has 4.30 gears.
This is my second GM 6.0 truck and they have been bullet proof and I use them mostly for towing. One thing they are known for is breaking exhaust manifold bolts. As soon I picked my truck up I replaced all the exhaust manifold fasteners with ARP ones. That will fix that problem. Cost 34 bucks and took about an hour. My old 02 and my 2017.
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