Going back to the late 80's I have always owned diesel pickups both Ford and Dodge. I currently have a 09 Dodge with the Cummins, pulls great but the new emissions stuff on the diesel motors are a PITA. The turbo has been replaced once but I still have issues and I am about at the end of the warranty.

I drive a company car for work and my 16 year old daughter has been driving the pickup for a school car. What I have decided to do is to trade the current pickup in and purchase 2 pickups, an older pickup to leave on the trailer (4 horse aluminum with an 8ft short wall) and buy my daughter 1/2 ton gas pickup to drive to school. I look forward to having a pickup I can leave hooked to the trailer and a smaller pickup is much more practical for my daughter to drive.

I want to stay in the $15,000 price range for a pulling vehicle. An older Dodge Cummins would probably be a good pickup but because the motor is so popular even an 04 with 175,000 miles brings $15k and that is too many miles for me so that is out of the question.I go back a forth between the Ford Diesel, I owned a 6.0 to 100,000 miles and didn't have any trouble but I think I was probably just lucky. You can find really nice, loaded, mid 2000 Ford diesels with not much over 100,000 miles for $15k sometimes less. It's hard to pass these by but there is a reason they sell so cheap...lots of people have problems so the market for the older 6.0 and 6.4 are really soft.

Where it looks like I have settled is a mid 2000 Ford F-250/F-350 gas pickup with about 75,000 - 100,000 miles. It's in my price range I fully understand these pickups won't pull like my Dodge but I still think they should be sufficient. I will probably put less than 5,000 miles per year on the pickup most round trips 150 miles or less, a few trips 300 miles round trip and maybe a 1000 mile trip once a year. My main concerns are reliability and power, it seems to me that 100,000 miles isn't what it use to be and vehicles go much longer than they used to and it shouldn't be a problem but any input would be appreciated. In terms of power I don't need to be the first one at the show and most driving is on flat ground but I would still like to be able to get to 65 miles an hour in less than 15 minutes and make it up a hill at a reasonable speed Would I be disappointed with a mid 2000 V10?

 

What does a 4 horse aluminum with an 8ft short wall weigh fully loaded?

I used to tow a 33 foot travel trailer that weighed 9100 pounds loaded. I used an E350 with a V10 and 3.73 gears. It would accelerate just fine to legal speeds. I used to tow in overdrive at 65 MPH all over the country.

I think you'd be happy with the V10.

 

I think the plate says 7800 but I would guess that was before the living quarters was added so by the time you add the AC unit, appliances, cabinets, horses, tack, etc. I think 12,000 might be a good guess? I should probably weigh it sometime to be certain.

 

Mark,

65 mph because that is the speed limit, sweet spot for fuel mileage, can't go any faster, or something else?

We live in NE with a speed limit of 75 mph. I should have added in my original post that I understand gas mileage can be a concern but at 5000 miles a year it won't make much difference in my case and with the current cost of diesel fuel it may even be a breakeven.

 

Fuel economy and I don't like going faster than that while towing. That's just my preference.

 

I, too, went from a Cummins (2003) to my current V10 about 6 months ago. I loved my Cummins and how it hauled/towed, but I also love my V10. I think you would be happy...so long as you are prepared for the fuel mileage difference and the difference in how it drives.

I used to get 15+ with my Dodge around town, 10-ish hauling my truck camper. I'm getting around 10 in the V10 around town (haven't hauled the camper with it yet) with the crappy winter blend + ethanol mandated by our gov't. I'm hoping it improves in the summer months. But even if it doesn't, I gained the peace of mind knowing I'll never have to worry about: injection pump, injectors, turbo issues, bad batch of diesel fuel, etc. My oil changes went from ~$50 to ~$20. No more worries with cold starts, short trips, etc. Keep it full of gas, change the oil/filter, and it just runs. And runs smoothly.

Considering your situation and the weight you'll be pulling, you will absolutely want 4.30 gears. Be warned, though -- a decent mid-2000 V10 with 4.30 gears can be VERY hard to come by.

The V10 likes to spin, redline is around 5000rpm. So don't be worried about 4000+rpm on grades and what not.

 

My 01 F350/CC/LB/4x4 gets 8.5-9 towing my 5th wheel which weighs a little over 10K ready to go....truck weighs 7400 ready to go. Pull a lot of mountains to the Oregon Coast with my V-10 with a SCT tuner and get around 14-16 empty. You will not have a problem with the V-10.

 

In general the V-10 seems hard to find let alone finding one with specific options. How would I know if it had the 4.30 gears? If it didn't would it be worth considering?

 

There are lots of V10 powered truck available. Look on Autotrader.com and do a nationwide search. You might have to travel to find the one you are looking for but it will be worth it.

 

Mine has 3.73 and it pulls 12k just fine, dont do any mountains but it does the hills in southern Il. just fine. :-)

 

Had a 99 with 3.73 and now a 2003 with 3.73. Both pulled a 38 ft travel trailer on a class 3 hitch. 10k or more at times. Both would do 80 if you wanted on level. 90+ downhill. 65 all day up and down hills, long steep ones. Dont let gears be the selling point. Tranny will downshift and get you over a mountain at speed limit most times.

 

If it came from the factory with 4.30 gears, there would be an axle code on the door jam sticker. Mine says C3 for 4.30 limited slip.

Another way is there would be a metal tag on the rear differential with a code. I don't recall what that code is. If you do a search in the forum for axle codes, there is a list somewhere.

 

I pull about 11K with my 2008. Pulls awesome.

If you are looking at mid 2000s you should be aware (you may already know) that in 2005 the V10 was redesigned to a 3V head and mated with the 5 speed torqueshift transmission. The 3v upped the torque from 425 to 457 and HP form 325 to 362. It, with the tranny, is a great combo.

 

If you are looking for a good used V-10, then look at the 2005's and newer as they have the highest HP and coupled with the new 5 speed Torqueshift up to 2009 which went to a 6 speed, has more power than the early 2V versions. My 2008 loaded with my crap and a full tank weighs 8100 and my 30' Airstream loaded weighs 10,900 and hitch weight of 990. My V-10 with the stock 4.10 rear will pull my Airstream up mountains where I pass many diesels towing not as much as me. A good tuner from Mike's 5 Star will even up your stock settings a bunch. You will not miss your Cummins after driving a V-10 for a while.

Pap

 

Slight correction; the 6 speed, 6R140, was not available until MY 2011.