2500 class truck

[TaperPin]

Definitely check the gvwr rating, overload springs, and sway bar thicknesses on anything you look at. Some light duty 3/4 ton pickups aren’t much better than a half ton - especially if you have the extra weight of a 4 door. On the other hand, some 3/4 tons will haul more than a light duty one ton, but don’t count on it. Toy haulers are heavy enough to definitely be a good application for a stout one ton.

I get a kick out of videos with heavy trailers and lightly sprung pickups or Suburbans - hauling ass, going down hill and whamo - self disassembling. Lol

 

[BeardownAZ]

Have the 6.4 hemi, like it so far but bad on mileage. I always wonder if the trade off between the two are worth it or not. I don’t tow a lot so….who knows.

 

[KY_coop]

I've got a 2021 2500 chevy 6.6 gas with the six speed transmission. I tow our 32' toy hauler and sxs about 400ish miles 6-8 times a year. Its around 12k pounds all loaded up. Haul plenty of other trailers, boats, and truckloads throughout the year as well. For my use it's been a great truck. 15.5-19 mpg daily use depending on highway or back roads. Towing, it's plenty strong to climb hills and keep speed when needed. The mpg drop to around 8-10 with the toy hauler on it. Just hauling a loaded utility trailer or boat it's usually around 12-13. If I was towing heavy weight more then 1/4 of the year then I'd wish I had the diesel, but just having a truck capable to do it when needed and not struggle it's done great. When I bought new the diesel upgrade was about $15k option. I'm glad I saved the money upfront and on upkeep, fuel, etc.

 

[displacedtexan]

I have a 05 2500 5.9 cummins (currently for sale) and a 2021 6.7 2500 cummins and they both are pulling brutes. You can't beat the torque of an in line 6. The 5.9 is great because you can avoid all of the emissions b.s. but after getting used to the newer truck the 5.9 is starting to feel like, and sound like, driving around in a farm tractor.

You can't go wrong with anything with a cummins in it as long as you maintain it properly and keep an eye on your trans temp.

As a Cummins guy... The 6.7 Powerstrokes have made me not miss my inline 6s.

 

[RDF1]

I'm on the other side of the fence. I'd much rather has a gas burner than a diesel.

I use to work on all my brother's company trucks that were diesel (6.7 CTD, 6.6 Dmax, 6.7PSD) and the price for parts and amount of labor to fix anything on them was silly.
After running numbers over and over we finally decided it would be more cost effective for him to sell all his diesels and swap back over to gas burners.
Funny part was after he sold all them expensive newer trucks he was able to use the money from one of them and bought 3 beaters that have been flawless well except the body and beds were beat up. But they are work trucks so no point in buying a pavement princess and be worried it's gonna get scratched.

So far in the past 3 years I swapped one transmission and one water pump on the 2500HD 6.0 trucks. So a total of $2700. Compared to the 10s thousands of dollars on the newer trucks for high pressure fuel pumps, injectors, turbos, head gaskets, CCV filters, EGR issues, DEF heaters, exhaust SCR/DEF issues and then ended up just deleting them.

I Have 480,000 on my '04 2500hd with original 6.0. Had to put a transmission and transfer case in it at about 345,000 miles. I pull a 40' gooseneck with it often. It's not gonna win any races but it gets the job done. And worse fuel mileage to date was hauling 29,000# lumber on the 40' gooseneck to New Orleans. That was 8.6mpg but I can't complain.
My brother's '18 ram had DEF issues and wouldn't let him get over 45mph so I hauled it down there.

Now I'm building a new engine for my truck for next year. Can start over fresh and add a turbo to it.

 

[Snowwolfe]

My current truck is a 24 F350 with the 7.3 gasser. It does OK with pretty much anything I ask of it. The two things I don’t like about it are the shorter bed and the constant refueling when towing.
I ordered another F350 to make up for the things I don’t like about it. New truck is a crew cab diesel with the long bed. This model has a 48 gallon tank which really helps the range. When not towing it should go.
PS: The only F350 that has the 48 gallon tank is the crew cab long bed

 

[98XJRC]

I have a 17 Ram 2500 with the 6.7L cummins. It's "missing" some parts but the truck runs fantastic and hasn't given much much issues other then a few leaks. I purchased the truck with 100k on it in February '21 and am now getting ready to roll over 200k. My only complaint with the 2500 rams are the payload capacity. If your following the door sticker and are set on a 2500 then you need to be running a gasser. My 17 tradesman has a payload of 2,200 lbs due to the diesel. If I had a gasser it would be closer to 3,200 which when towing a 5th wheel you need the higher payload due to the increased hitch weight.

My truck could pull a 5th wheel and go over the payload without an issue as the numbers are just number to keep the registration under 10k, however legally most 5th wheels will put you over the payload number particularly when you start loading the camper and truck. The 17 Ram 2500's are rated to tow 18k with the diesel, however getting to that number while remaining under the payload number is impossible.

 

[MuleyFever]

I went from a F250 Powerstroke to a GMC 2500 6.6 gas. I had a toy hauler that I pulled with the Ford and when we sold it I went to the GMC. I will say that I liked driving the Ford more and towing with it was great. I have a SXS that I tow with the GMC and coming from the diesel its annoying towing with the gaser. The GMC tows fine and all but the Ford just did it better. I would really like another diesel but I dont tow enough or heavy enough to need it and the costs of having an issue with the new diesels is a deterrent.

 

[tdhanses]

Personally if your looking at a 2500 I’d look at 3500’s, you can get a 2025 3500 cheaper then a 2024 2500. 2500’s seem to be more popular as daily drivers that never tow but sell easier.

Also I’ve noticed the price difference from gas to diesel has significantly shrunk since the Covid pricing, it’s still around $9k more but you can get a nice new diesel truck for around $67K now that isn’t a work truck trim level.

There is a dealer around me that has used 2024 Ram bighorn diesels for $50k but I wouldn’t buy a Ram with their current financial issues and my buddy has had to replace his Def pump twice in his 2020 Ram, my 2021 duramax has been great.

 

[Marshfly]

As a couple of guys said prior, go 3500 SRW. Unless for some reason you can afford a late model HD truck but can't afford higher registration (huh?), 3/4 ton trucks just don't make sense. There is very little, if any, ride quality difference that can't be solved by dropping tire inflation to a reasonable level unloaded with HD trucks. You gain 1500# or more additional payload for zero downside.

I would venture to bet the vast majority of 3/4 ton trucks with a family inside and a big toy hauler on the hitch are at or over GVW. There's just no reason for that.

Also diesel, you will make that increase in cost back when you trade 100%. I did every single time. If you keep the truck for a while, like 5 years plus the difference in value increases substantially.

 

[ben h]

My current truck is a 24 F350 with the 7.3 gasser. It does OK with pretty much anything I ask of it. The two things I don’t like about it are the shorter bed and the constant refueling when towing.
I ordered another F350 to make up for the things I don’t like about it. New truck is a crew cab diesel with the long bed. This model has a 48 gallon tank which really helps the range. When not towing it should go.
PS: The only F350 that has the 48 gallon tank is the crew cab long bed

Fuel range was my primary reason for going with diesel.

 

[Marshfly]

Fuel range was my primary reason for going with diesel.

Huge deal out here in Montana. Having to screw with fuel every single day on an antelope hunt is for the birds.I just jumped back to a 3500 from my Power Wagon and in addition to the inability of the PW to handle the load I needed with a family hunting range was a huge deal.Going to drop a replacement tank in this Super Duty in the spring for sure.

 

[Customweld]

Huge deal out here in Montana. Having to screw with fuel every single day on an antelope hunt is for the birds.I just jumped back to a 3500 from my Power Wagon and in addition to the inability of the PW to handle the load I needed with a family hunting range was a huge deal.Going to drop a replacement tank in this Super Duty in the spring for sure.

My GMC gasser had a 26 gallon tank,@ 9mpg, I was forever searching and planning my whole trip around fueling.

 

[Gobbler36]

So 3500 Chevy/GMC or Ford is sounding like the way to go.

 

[Marshfly]

So 3500 Chevy/GMC or Ford is sounding like the way to go.

I went Ford this time simply because the new SDs are so darn nice and Ram seems to have zero intentions of updating things. My last two 3500s were both Rams. A 2014 and a 2019 in addition to the 2020 Power Wagon I just traded. ZERO issues with any of them. Drop Thuren coils and shocks in the front and they ride amazing for what they are also. If a 23+ Super Duty is out of your budget I would not leave Ram out of the mix.

Personally, the GM trucks are a non starter for me since they won't fit larger tires easily and they don't have a solid front axle. I like to run 37s for ride purposes (way better in the dirt than anything smaller) and like the strength of a solid axle.

 

[Alpine4x4]

Be aware when looking at Rams, the 2500 rear end is coil sprung and does ride significantly better than the leaf sprung 3500 rear end. That said, the 3500 tows much better because it is stiffer. If payload is of concern you will want a 13+ Ram 3500 as the 2010-2012 are only registered at 10,001 and leave you with around 2800lbs of payload which can be maxed easily.

Also to reiterate, after 2018 they went to the CP4 pump which is problematic. (Ford and Chevy have been using it for awhile and still do. Its one of the reasons everyones smaller diesel trucks get ragged on, it just fails). Ram went back to the CP3 in I believe 21 but with the new 2025's they are going to a redesigned CP4. Theres also the lifter issue as mentioned before as well (21+ I believe).

 

[tdhanses]

So 3500 Chevy/GMC or Ford is sounding like the way to go.

Also look around nationwide, sometimes it’s worth taking a flight.

 

[Marshfly]

Be aware when looking at Rams, the 2500 rear end is coil sprung and does ride significantly better than the leaf sprung 3500 rear end. That said, the 3500 tows much better because it is stiffer. If payload is of concern you will want a 13+ Ram 3500 as the 2010-2012 are only registered at 10,001 and leave you with around 2800lbs of payload which can be maxed easily.

Also to reiterate, after 2018 they went to the CP4 pump which is problematic. (Ford and Chevy have been using it for awhile and still do. Its one of the reasons everyones smaller diesel trucks get ragged on, it just fails). Ram went back to the CP3 in I believe 21 but with the new 2025's they are going to a redesigned CP4. Theres also the lifter issue as mentioned before as well (21+ I believe).

As a point of reference my 2014 3500 Laramie 4wd short bed with the sunroof had almost 4000# of payload.

 

[Snowwolfe]

If going Ford look for a 24 already built. The 25’s have another price increase and dropped some features that were standard on the 24’s

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I just bought a rust-free 2009 crew cab Z71/LTZ 2500HD Silverado from https://www.dieselofhouston.com/details/used-2009-chevrolet-silverado-2500hd/105491462. He specializes in pre-DEF diesels and has some awesome units on the lot from multiple brands. Shipping from Houston to my door was only $700. When it arrived, everything was as described in multiple videos and pictures. Lee is an incredible guy and he will make sure you are satisfied. Super honest guy with excellent customer service that will make sure you get what you want.

I just returned from a 2500 mile round trip hunt to NW WY, and the truck performed flawlessly.