Anyone here own a diesel truck? I have been setting my sights on a dodge cummins when I can get the chance. I have never dealt with a diesel rig before and would like to know if there is anything important I should know about?
Will it save me more money in the long run? A guy I was talking to at work said it may not be a good idea as a diesel engine takes more crankcase oil and you have to have an oil additive in the fuel? Not to mention he said that gas mileage is about the same(but loaded down) with gas vehicles(not loaded down). So I would be paying that much more in diesel than gas cause diesel is more spendy.
Input?
I don't have one myself, but I have seen the same recommendation over and over and over again as a "best buy" in a farm magazine we get. 1990-yr 2000 dodges with the cummins. After that year apparently they changed some things and they aren't quite as good. Still decent but not the same. Note: not me saying that, just other owners. This is from "farmshow" magazine, they have a feature "best and worst" buys, those particular trucks are like 95% best buys compared to all other pickup sized work trucks, no comparison at all. I mean, really. Not to start a flame war but you just don't see the fiords and chevys being pushed as a best buy comparied to those older dodge diesels. All kinza dudes got them with a half a million hard miles on them, still kicking, zip repairs besides like starters, etc. Over and over again I have read that..just might be true.
If I had a need right now for one, a larger pickup, and the scratch, that is what I would get.
With that said, we have access to a variety of big trucks here, from a f450 on up, so I don't need a big pickup if I have a big load. I got an old half ton datsun diesel for my personal ride and *precisely* because of the diesel engine they put in them, an industrial forklift engine. I get right at 40MPG highway, and it varies in the 30s with a moderate load and on the more backtroads and in lower gears. Can't beat it with two sticks for being reliable and good mileage. I see them occassionaly being offered in ace shape for like three grand or so, fair running shape for 1500. Got mine for four hundred but it "needed work" as in the body is a rat (I never cared much about bodies if the drivetrain was doable) and I had to pull the tranny fix a few things, and do some new front end pieces. Have around 800 in mine now, total.
I been through that OPEC nonsense way back (under fifty cents gal to TEN BUCKS over night, and you could only get two gallons max with mile long lines at the stations) and learned my lesson, your fuel cost and availability can change OVERNIGHT, and it won't matter one bit how "bad" and "redneck" someone is with their own mindset and their huge hopped up gasser truck..them big international energy fatcats and wall street commodities speculators could give crap one how "bad" some redneck gearhead is with their 6 MPG bigfoot stump jumper or bonedoed out old rat camaro. They'll be pedestrians real soon if they don't have a huge fuel stash to tap, or they'll be forking over more than their trailer rent just for fuel. And that's just what the fatcats want, all your money.
So yes, diesel has its place, the engines are built stronger, because they have to handle just much higher compression, they get much better mileage cube for cube over gassers, etc, and got the torque you want in a truck. I know I won't own another gasser nuthin, especially with ethanol fuel now and next year they are bumping it to 15% all over (heck, I mean *this year*, supposed to be happening soon). Gonna be killin a lot of older gas engine stuff.
I wish we could get those great european diesel passenger cars over here,(or the smaller pickups like those great toyotas you just can't kill) but for some reason we can't. They have cars over there just as safe, plenty "clean" enough, they get upwards of 80 MPG!!!
Over here they are bragging on 30 and you'll pay through the nose for that. They sell all the electronic add on do dads now, seems the big three, here anyway, have lost sight of what transportation means. That should come first. Heated DVD players with GPS equipped curb feelers and 500 horsepower framis valved muffler bearings and..what the heck IS all that crap they put on new rides anyway , and why do you need so much horsepower just to go to the store or to work? No wonder new cars and trucks cost what a house used to cost not too long ago.
