Need a new tow truck... Advice ? Suggestions ?

[Catt]

Ford the #1 selling trucks in America for 31 years straight  

Right now I have a Ford Ranger Edge V6 fuel injected and since I live in the country I get 25 mpg mixed highway & town driving.  

You can't run fast enough to give me a Chevy or Dodge  :

[Tin]

I figured it was the Hemi's that gave Dodge the reputation for poor mileage.

Hemi's = Torque Curve

Where is 5.0?

[Bassn Blvd]

I have been driving Ford and Chevy trucks everyday for the last 10 yrs.  I swap out trucks every 2.5 to 3 years.  These trucks are brand new and have on average 80-90k miles when I turn them in.  They are used for law enforcement and take a beating.  They are serviced every 3k miles.  I have not experienced any after market problems as of yet.  We also use Dodge but I personally pick the Fords and Chevy's.  Personal preference.  Toyotat on the other hand are nice but are a bit more expensive, or I've been told.  I have several friends who drive Dodge and like them.  

I would go with the Dodge you mentioned.  Consider getting it without power window/locks.  Get vynal or cloth seats instead of leather.  Also get vynal flooring instead of carpet. This will save you some money.  Standard transmission sometimes saves a little too.  

[IL_Bassman]

Your right, i'd go with the larger motor to make all of your future miles 'easier' on your pickup.

BUT

If your looking for gas mileage, Dodge is the wrong truck. Dodge's are notorious for being the worst gas hogs. I'm not sure any window stickers are 100 percent accurate (unless your doing 55mph for the whole tank) This is one reason the price of a Dodge is considerably lower than some of the other trucks. (and gets lower every year)

I'm a chevy guy, so i am a little biased, but its easy to be biased when my chevy 5.3L gets the best fuel economy out of all the 'full sized' V8's on the market today. Anybody seen Howie Long picking up people on the highway in the latest Chevy commercial??? the dodge guy gets picked up first. i'd guestimate the dodge will cost you between 50 and 100 more per month in gas alone (depending on how much you drive of course)

my .02 (that i saved in gas....lol)

b

x2....I also own an 05 Silverado with the 5.3 and have no complaints with gas mileage.  I will also guarantee anyone that the 5.3 is one strong running motor.

[=Matt 5.0=]

Where is 5.0?

If it ain't a Ford, it's crap!

[Top]

come on now... when your talking a Dodge/CHEVY/FORD whatever.. admit it...its ALL about preference.. mileage.. you will hear stories from ALL brands about how theirs is better... the HEMI isn't any worse than any other engine.. the only thing is you get ON the HEMI more because.. ummm ITS A HEMI!!! hahahahaha   I went a couple years older model just so I wouldn't have to eat the depreciation on this thing... and I LOVE IT... OH YEAH... I haven't even driven it yet hehehe BUT.. my WIFE LOVES IT... and won't drive her JEEP anymore *sigh*

NOW where else you going to get all this for less than 19K OUT THE DOOR.. this is MY dream truck.. when I envisioned a truck while day dreaming of my new truck THIS was it... and yes... it has less then 50K miles on it... the wife is NOTORIOUS for having a lead foot around town.. and she tells me it gets no worse gas mileage than her Jeep with the 4.7HO about 13 MPH on the Highway she says it gets 18.5... but like I said... she has a lead foot.. when I would drive her Jeep I would get consistanly 3-4MPH more because I don't do the jack rabbit starts she seems to love.. GO FIGURE HUH?  ;D

WHATEVER you get Chris... while yes Mileage can be a factor.. if you LOVE the vehicle and its what maybe 2 MPG less than something you will "settle for" its a no brainer in my book... just my opinion and good luck picking out YOUR truck...

AL

[=Matt 5.0=]

Where is 5.0?

(working on his car) LOL       8-)

;D

Haven't touched it in 2 years. Turn the key and go..... FAST!

8-)

[Fish Chris]

the truck I'm most seriously considering, is a 3.7 V6 Dodge Ram ST. (not the hemi... just can't afford the gas for it) The 4.7 small block V8 sounds like a sweet motor.... but it forces me up to the SLT package, which not only would run me about $3000 more, but also, forces me to get chrome bumbers, which just flat out, will not work with my paint / finish scheme.

On the other hand, while I prefer the vinyl floors in the ST (it's a fishing truck.... wet, dirty boots need to be okay :-).... I absolutely won't own vinyl seats ! If I have to rip them out, and have them reapolstered, I'll do it. Oh sure, I'm going to get Mossy Oak Shadow Grass seat covers for them anyway.... But they still wouldn't breath as much as fabric, and I can just see those seat covers sliding, twisting, and stretching all over the top of that vinyl ! Yuck !

Anyway, I'm loving this paint scheme :-) Now keep an open mind here..... I'm not going for pretty and flashy, but rather, tough and outdoors'y..... and remember, it will always have my Mossy Oak Shadow Grass boat right behind it :-)

Oh.... and one final note; I probably won't go with this style of rims.... I'm looking into a set of factory Dodge 20 inch alloys from E-bay..... but having them powder coated flat black ;-) Just wanted to show you the truck with flat black, 20" wheels :-)

Wish I could spin it about 45 degrees for you. That flat black grill looks tougher than $#@& :-)

I think my little aluminum baby will just love it ;-)

Starting to get excited :-)

Peace,

Fish

PS, It will also have a fiberglass Snug Top bedcover from day 1. Also probably a Flow Max exhaust system.... not that I'd expect the 3.7 V6 to sound like a 5.7 Hemi anyway, but just hoping for a few extra HP's and maybe a 1 or 2 mpg increase at the same time, because of easier breathing.

[Fish Chris]

That is an absolutely beautful Ram you got there ! Even though I'm going for tough and outdoors'y with mine, I can totally appreciate yours, on the other end of the spectrum too.

And a 5.7 Hemi at that ! I bet that thing flat gets up and GOES ! Wish I could afford a 5.7 Hemi to begin with..... and then the gas to drive the thing as much as I drive !

Hey what do you think about the 500hp RT 10's ? I'd be afraid of pulling the tongue off of my trailer :-)

Drive safe, and take care of that sweet ride.

Peace,

Fish

[fatmanslim247]

I believe american racing is now putting out camo rims, you might want to check those out, those would look good.  The srt10 trucks are alright, u can get them way cheaper now b/c they aren't selling very well at all.  All the chrysler reps are driving these and the srt8 chargers etc.  b/c they aren't selling well at all.

[Top]

That is an absolutely beautful Ram you got there ! Even though I'm going for tough and outdoors'y with mine, I can totally appreciate yours, on the other end of the spectrum too.

And a 5.7 Hemi at that ! I bet that thing flat gets up and GOES ! Wish I could afford a 5.7 Hemi to begin with..... and then the gas to drive the thing as much as I drive !

Hey what do you think about the 500hp RT 10's ? I'd be afraid of pulling the tongue off of my trailer :-)

Drive safe, and take care of that sweet ride.

Peace,

Fish

Fish,

  Thanks for the compliment on the Truck I absolutely love it, its weird how I came to get it... when I came over here to Iraq I told my wife that when I came home on my leave that we were going to look for a fishing truck for me... well one night I was searching on cars.com and there is was... the lights shone down from the heavens and the angels sang...  ;D  actually I sent the wife the link... she thought it was nice and since she had to go to Savannah anyways she stopped by there... she told them she would give them 17,500 for the truck AFTER they replaced a rim that had curb rash they said OK and that was it... its now in my driveway. I DID look at getting a truck like yours... but by time I got all the things on it I wanted I was up to 30K and you know... I can buy a WHOLE LOT OF GAS for the difference on what this bad boy would cost new... upwards of 35-38K  

I guess my view is if you want something with gas mileage stick with a subcompact car and leave the trucks alone.   The main reason I wanted the quad cab is because this way I can still take my family with me whereever I go even in the truck.. this is the IDEAL truck for me and what I want... something I can take fishing and then later on wash her off and take her out to a fancy place to eat

that SRT-10 truck is just INSANE.... LOVE the tires.. those would look AWESOME on your truck... they are 22's though I have seen the aftermarket version in the black in 20's

As far as it getting up and going.. wife says its INSANE... but in about 39 days I will take a picture of the smile on my face that I will most likely have to have surgically removed from the GO factor of this truck. I have already given her specific instructions.. that when they come to pick up up at the Savannah airport on my leave.. they WILL be driving the truck...

good luck picking out your truck.. that is always fun...

AL

[bigdog]

BUY AMERICAN!!!

[KYbass1276]

Can't advise you on what to get, but something a little different you might want to consider. Does the new truck you're looking at come in diesel? And if the price of fuel is a concern, have you investigated the Greasecar conversion (link below) that runs on vegetable oil? Also, do you have restaurants (mostly Chinese) that use a lot of vegetable oil, in your area, that you can pick up for free rather than have them pay someone to take it away? Also, I think buying vegetable oil in bulk is cheaper than gasoline. Like I said, just something additional to think about. I don't know much about the system, you would have to investigate it yourelf, unless any else here had utilized the conversion system that could give you advice.

 

 It's not as easy as it sounds.   While making it is in a sense not hard to do.   You do have to pay atten to what your doing.    The hardest part is actually finding the grease to convert over to bio diesel.   Your confusing  SVO with WVO.     Straight Vegetable Oil  requires a conversion kit and is harder to produce and more headache in some aspects.    Waste Vegetable Oil  dosen't require a conversion kit.  You refine the oil and after you complete the refineing process it's ready to use and alot less headaches.    

 My freinds and I  have just finsihed running of a couple of batches of Bio diesel.   It's cost was around a dollar a gallon and we expect that to go down after a few refinement changes.