My father and I are going to be going in together for a truck here in a couple months. Just curious what brands, models, engines, etc to stay away from, whats good, etc. It’s gotta be…
1)4WD
2)Extended cab
3)Auto
4)Gas (no way he’d go for a diesel)
1/2 or 3/4 ton is fine. Probably gonna be looking in the 2000-2003 range.
Toyota Tacoma!
What are you going to be using it for?
It’s gotta be able to tow an open trailer with a car on it, I guess I should of mentioned that. Tacoma would struggle with that.
Dodge Ram 2500 5.7 litre.
How often are you towing a car with it and for how long (distance)?
I’ve had much better luck with GM than Ford in that year range. If you dont NEED a 2500, the price equivalent 1500 trucks will be much much nicer/newer.
Not towing often, and about 2 hours each way at a time. My father is diehard GM…
Any common problems with gas GM’s in the early 2000 range?
5.3 gets great mileage and can pull an open trailer comfortably. Jammer had that setup for years.
No major problems that I know of (but I have a 6.0 and am out of the loop).
The 5.4 Fords have nagging PCV, ignition coil, and other issues that arent terribly expensive but mine always had a CEL or a stumble for a stupid reason.
You should have no problem towing with a chevy/gm 1500. Pick up an aluminum trailer while your at it. That’s what Car Ramrod on here uses.
I’ve got a 2008 model trailer that won’t be replaced for a long time. But I agree that the 1500 should do fine.
Stay away from the mid '00s with disc brakes, apparently GM is too retarded to be able to design them properly. Otherwise the 5.3L does fine towing an open trailer.
the 5.3 will get the best gas mileage, you will probably find the best deal on a dodge though. THey get relatively cheap and have great power (hemi). Chevys tend to keep there value but it all depends on what your price range is. Oh yeah, stay away from ford
The Dodge’s are gas hogs but the older body (up to '01) is probably the strongest of the 1/2 tons in that year ranger. They have solid front axles.
My friend’s father has a '99 with a 360 and has over 160k on it and no real issues and he’s put 120k on it.
The Chevy’s run good but they seem to be rust buckets, especially the extended cabs. The rockers and cab corners and lower part of the rear doors rot pretty badly and need replacing. My grandfather had a '00 Sierra and he pulled a boat with it no problem at all. One of my friend’s has an early '00’s Sierra with 212k+ on it and beats on it and it takes the abuse pretty well.
My brother has an '01 F150 with a 4.6 and I think its a little too gutless to pull a car on a fullsize trailer. It pulled my Mustang fine on a dolly though. He’s had some front end (balljoint, etc) issues and needed a gas tank (rust) but other than that no real issues. I havent had any experience with the older 2 valve 5.4 (mine has the '04+ 3 valve).
The Toyota Tundra in that year range is really more the size of a Dakota than a true fullsize. My cousin has a '00 and its a nice truck but its rather small for whats supposed to be a fullsize truck. The bed is shallow and it felt like I was sitting on the floor when I drove it.
Truck values have gone up a bit in the past year or so it seems so you might not find as good of a deal as you could have a year or so ago.
Buy my truck, will tow a car no problem!
+1
That or a Nissan Titan. Just because it’s a Nissan.
hands down any gm with at least a 5.3 in it . orrr if ya can find one get a 1500hd it has a 6.0lt in it heavier duty susp better hubs and bearings and so on . the rear brakes are fine as long as ya dont use junk breaks on em the gm,s disk is lightyears better than any dodge or ford setup
also another truck is a v8 tundra
love my HD absoluetly no problems with it so far tows my 20ft dual axle with a car like theres nothing behind it! also tows my dads 5 place sled trailer with ease.
the susp is great on em . its basically people that hear hearsay and dont know first hand what to look for . remember i see most of the shit that breaks on a wide variety of cars and trucks . fords new 3 valve motor sucks if ya go anymore than 25-30k with the sparkplugs your fucked as they bust off in the head and are underpowered like a mofo . dodge welll its self explinitory front ends tranny,s and so on
1500 non-HD w/ the 5.3 will tow it fine, get better mileage doing everything, and you’ll have more and better choices while shopping for one. Just my $.02.
:thumbup i only brought up the h/d for another option if he wanted