I actually upgraded this year, we had used a 95 dodge 3/4 ton 4x4 with a 12v cummins that we had picked up off the bank as a repo for 1500 bucks.
We got three seasons out of it and the auto tranny went this summer. We sold it as is for what we gave for it and bought a 2003 Chevy 3500 HD chassis cab 4x4 out of the salvage pool for 2300.00, it had hit a deer. We replaced the hood and front bumper and grill, put a 8'wide x 9' long flat bed on it with a 6 ton wagon hoist under it to make a dump bed out of it. We've got a total of about 3400.00 in it and it is so much nicer than the old dodge.
The 6.0 gas has plently of power with the 4:10 gears it has under it.
The dump bed is the cats azz. You can pick up the wagon hoist at any used farm implement place for 175.00. We already had the electric over hydraulic pump but if you had to buy one you can pick them up for around 400.00.
Taking the extra day to make it a dump was one of the best investments we have ever made. We can stack 3 face cord or rick on the truck and dump it with no issue.