posted 09-22-2000 04:51 PM                  

A car is transportation and plain and simple, does it have enough room and power. Does the look appeal to you and is it in your price range. That is about it for buying a car.

A TRUCK on the other hand has to fit the owners needs.

Full size, mid size, compact, standard cab, extended cab, 4 door, long bed, short bed or flat bed V6, V8, V10, inline 6 diesel & V8 Diesel .

You say you want a quad diesel I second that but WHY? Oh I guess that is 3rd's, Love the Dodge trucks

I have an old Bronco and love it....I use it to plow snow and drive when the goldwing isn't the vehicle of choice due to weather. It does not pull my 24' enclosed car hauler very well though. To plow small areas the short wheel base and size make for ease of doing driveways. I KNOW YOU IN THE SUNSHINE STATE ARE SAYING, PLOWING SNOW? It does a great job of pulling the 16' open trailer.
The gas mileage is BAD....... 8~9 mpg at its best, so I don't drive it long distance. When I do pull my 24' trailer I can watch my gas gauge drop on my 35 gallon tank.

Now if I was to buy a new truck or newer one and was planning on plowing a heavier, short wheel base truck is what I would want, another Bronco.

To haul material, A truck with heavy load capcity & long bed is best, In the snow belt a four wheel drive is VERY handy.

For combo unit that can haul material and more than 2 people, a quad cab is ok but if it is more people mover than STUFF a true 4 door truck with short box would be best.

If you are planning on long hauls the diesel is a definate PLUS.......the mileage is better and the durability is superior over the gas, but if you are driving to the grocery store 5 miles away and never going to haul a heavy load it is alot of money, weight and noise for nothing. Plus the diesel is not friendly for short trips.

Pulling a trailer the longer the wheel base the better ride and handling. Remember when pulling a trailer to have vehicle rated higher than the total weight combo of trailer and content. Use weight distributing hitch for large trailers.

Go fast and look cool, the compacts, mid size are the ticket, or get you a ticket might be a better statement. R/T Dakota YEH

Now I use a 3/4 ton DODGE 4x4 extended cab with cummins diesel to pull my enclosed trailer with my Prowler & trailer inside. This truck was built to haul long distance on the road and great good mileage, 21 MPG on the road. But it has 3.54 axles and when I pull my 24' trailer it is short on power. It really needs 4.10's.

So a truck is something you have to think about. HOW WILL I USE IT?

If I were to buy a new truck and cost no object, 3/4 or 1 ton 4x4 quad cab DODGE diesel loaded to the hilt. even though I work at Ford and can buy it right, can buy the Dodge right too. This would not be a good plow truck due to poor turning radius.

Lots of things to think about when talking trucks.

Gary, Why a diesel?

posted 09-22-2000 05:23 PM                  

I would go with 3/4 ton dodge quad diesel fully loaded including sport appearance package & short bed and use it to pull enclosed 20' trailer...

posted 09-22-2000 06:09 PM                  

The motor will last 500,000 miles or longer.

Resale, you can't find a use diesel out here in the Left Coast Area.

One more thing you flat landers don't have this one problem, Hills. SoCal is loaded with them. The diesels rule on the hills, they love the load.

posted 09-22-2000 11:05 PM                  

Re trucks: DODGE RAM TRUCKS RULE!!!!

I have a 1996 Dodge Ram Indy Truck and I love it because its cool and FAST! It is the very first one (of three) off the production line. It was built two months before the remainder were batch built. The other two were scrapped! It was also on the track at Indy!!

I also use it for alot of other purposes.

If I knew how to post pictures I would show you the Dodge Ram truck Bob built to pull the Plymouth Prowler Road show! They called it "The Little Truck That Could". It was a highly modified one-ton, two-wheel drive dually. The engine was modified and produced over 700 lb. ft. of torque. It had a custom built 5-speed manual with a 22% Gear Vendors overdrive. It had 4:11 gears and would run 96 miles an hour at 30,000 lbs.gcw, towing a 35' tri-axle trailer which was 102" wide and 10' high. No problems with hills or mountains! The Cummins engine was modified with a gear-driven air compressor on board. The trailer had air suspension and air-over hydraulic brakes, just like the big boys! At major events, the tow rig was almost as popular as the Prowler!!!