For the miles you drive it sounds to me like you need the diesel. You are saying you will put 220,000 miles on this truck in the next ten years, with some towing and wood in the bed at the same time.
For me personally, I would never even consider a pickup without a full length bed. Its like building a house with a 6' crawlspace - you'll always regret not adding the 2 feet and having a basement. I also wont even consider a GM product after the screw job they gave the American taxpayer.
Ford lost its way when the EPA forced them to retire the best engine they ever had, the 7.3l. If they could have continued to build on that powertrain we would have been spared the 6.0 and 6.4 fiasco, time will tell on the 6.7 I guess. The last ten years of Ford light trucks are awesome when they work but seem to be maintenance nightmares. Unless you want to take the risk of buying one of their older trucks as much as I hate to say it you are probably right going with dodge.
i have always had the 6-6.5' beds. i see what you are saying, but i have learned to live with. the only time regret having the short bed is when i haul my bike.
i am kind of leery with the new diesel motors that are being put out. they are all new and have no track record. the turbo blew on 450 after 16K miles.
KY is right on with the diesel. I think they use the Cummins which if a proven performer.
If your going with a one ton/dually why not a flat bed. You can haul a lot more and even ad a dump kit if you ever need it. Cost about the same, you dont need a duraliner and wont worry about dinging up the bed or rear fenders
i already have 2 dumps. a F450 and a F550. the heavy hauling goes to those 2.
I've had an '05 3500 Ram now for 8 years now. It's been a great truck with no mechanical issues. The only reason I wanted the Dodge was because of the 5.9LCummins reliability. The interior is very small and the trim is cheap and starting to fall apart, also the steering setup eats front tires and has a tendency to "death wobble". My truck started life as a DRW and I converted it to a SRW. The ride is extremely rough on all of the 3500's due to the extra springs in the rear spring pack. If I had to do it over I would have bought an older 7.3L Superduty. If you're looking for a gasser, I would not recommend a Dodge at all. The Triton V-10 gets as good of mileage, makes way more power and will last an eternity with proper maintenance.
i had a 5.9 cummins i bought off my brother in law. it only had 80K miles when i bought it. i think it was a '01??? it was a 2500. that truck was a truck. we put 3000lbs of sidewalk slabs in the back of that thing and the truck didn't miss a beat. i couldn't do that with my current f350. i tried! i got ride of it because it was starting to be a money pit. i only had it for a few months. the whole front end needed rebuilt when i bought it, the exhaust feel off a few weeks after i had it. then i would be driving down the road, and the motor would just randomly surge. and a few times i turned the truck off, had the keys in my hand, and the truck was still running, only at ~250rpm. tried taking it to a few places and no one had a clue. so it went bye-bye.
Buying a 3500 ANYTHING is WAY over kill for what you are going to be doing. Especially with going with a puny 5.7' gasser. You are talking about buying a truck that, if optioned correctly, could tow 30k lbs.
If you like the ram I would be looking at the 1500 with maybe the new small diesel. Or a 2500 gasser, but a 3500 IMO is WAY more truck than you will ever need and all you will be doing is getting shitty gas mileage while you haul around 5x the truck you really need.
a few years ago when i started my company, i had an f150, 5 speed stick, 4.6L. let's just say the truck wasn't happy about the machine on the back. the motor was fine, only because it was a stick. had it been a 4.6 auto, i think it would have feel on it's face. a buddy that works for me has an '09 f150 with the 5.4. his truck wasn't happy either when he borrowed my machine for a small side job. 1/2 tons are too small for what i need.
It's not overkill. I don't know why 2500/250 trucks are even made because they are basically the same truck as a one ton with less legal load capacity which is important for the op since he is running a commercial business operation on his truck. The only thing you give up is a stiffer ride on the one ton, curb weight will be near identical. Wood is heavy - a load of wood plus his 6k trailer and he could easily be putting 3k on the back of that truck or more, especially if his trailer is a gooseneck. Half ton trucks are for suburbanites who don't work their trucks more than the occasional trip to Home Depot to buy a new gas grill for the backyard. No half ton will last 220000 miles doing what he is doing.
Hey OP if you can find an old body style F350/7.3l in good shape you'd be set and look good too! They are hard to find in decent shape these days though.
no goose neck trailers here. just pintle hitches. i have been looking for an older f350/3500. i love my current one. all of the ones i have found are in rough shape like mine. so in 3 years, i will be in the same boat i am in now. my wife doesn't seem to understand it. my truck, the 450 chipper truck, and the chipper are the 3 most important pieces of equipment we have. if my truck is down, i can't do sales. if the 450 is down, the guys can't work. currently the 550 is down due to a fire in the engine compartment. it sucks only having one dump, but we are making it work. if the chipper goes down, we can still work by stacking limbs in the trucks and "hillbilly" chipping. we have had to do this numerous times.
you are also correct in the curb weight being about the same. the tow rating is damn near the same too. it is just the payload in the bed. now you have me thinking on the whole 2500/3500 ride quality. i am spend alot of time in my truck. no dealer around here has a ram 3500 for me to test drive around. a buddy of mine has a landscape company. his GMC 3500 actually rides better than the 2500.
you are correct on the suburbanite 1/2 ton truck.
I have had 4 or5 Dodge diesel trucks. I burned up a 36,000 mile warranty in les than 1 year pulling trailers cross country. No problems with any of them. Most of the ranchers around here, and people that use their trucks as trucks, drive Dodges. Ford is a close number 2. Whatever you diesel you get, install a 2 Micron fuel filter setup. It will save you in the long run!!
i'll have to remember the 2 micron filter, even for my current stuff. thank you. as far as the warranty, they offered me a lifetime bumper-to-bumper warranty for $2700. that was for a gasser though. i gotta stop in tomorrow and see if that applies to the diesel.
I don't think they make a 6k trailer in a goose neck. If they did I could not see why. 3/4 ton truck is more than enough for what he has listed. My work trucks are crew cab Duramax's and could not be happier with the reliability they have given me. And they have a 18k trailers hooked to them everyday.
I always buy diesel because they are always towing something. For the weight you are talking about a gas truck will be fine, but I have been told the new dodge diesel get good fuel mileage.
what kind of mileage? my '10 6.4L diesel 450 gets 6.5mpg. the '01 7.3L 550, i have no idea. i always ask the guys the reset the trip and log the miles so i can figure it out, but they don't. i hardly ever drive that truck. i might do a dump run once a month in it. my 03' f350 5.4L gasser gets 11. it used to get 14, but the front end is all fucked up. it is plowing the front tires, chewing them up and sucking up gas. it needs $2000 to rebuild the front end and a new bed. with 145K miles, i don't want to sink that kind of money into it.
