Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives What about Ford's '05 6.0 diesel?

I don't hear any bad talk about the v10



Don't hear any 20MPG claims either though.

Doesn't much matter if it's just towing average stuff. But don't kid yourself, a 7.3 has nowhere near the power of newer trucks. The older 5.9's didn't have much power by today's standards either. Towing heavy the new trucks pull a whole bunch harder. The 7.3's and older 5.9's are good engines but agree or not, as daily drivers they were also slow pigs and noisy clattery things.

But diesels aren't only good for towing. It's also about enjoying what you drive. At altitude or on mountain grades nothing comes close to a diesel. I rarely tow and wouldn't trade mine for any gas truck. No more noisy clank and clatter either. The newer trucks are so smooth and quiet and torquey and accelerate so well, that they turn a diesel into something really enjoyable to drive. It's also easy to get more power and make them even faster/more fun, it doesn't take that much. These things will be faster than a gas truck with better mileage, obviously tow better, and be great for everyday driving.

The 6.0..... A good friend works at a large diesel repair shop. I once asked him what goes wrong with the 6.0's. He said, "Better to say what doesn't go wrong. Those things are awful." His brother is a diesel mechanic who had a much modified/built 7.3, a real good one......it towed about the same as his current early DMax which is completely stock, running only mild tow tune. There's a difference.

Big time gas hogs.

Thanks for the info, guys. I think we might have just run into something we can really live with. We went to the local Toyota dealer to see what he had in a good used Tundra. We need a long bed and when we asked if they had one, his eyes lit up. They have a new '12 long bed that they haven't been able to sell since early winter. There's no interest in that bed for some reason. We had no intention of looking at a new one but I think we can get this for well under $30k, plus there's a $2500 cash back on it. He said make an offer. They won't lose money on it, but they need it off the lot. We're giving it a real serious think.

my dad aways said "if it aint got a 8' foot bed, take it back and get the rest of the trk"........

myself , rather have the V10 Ford than a Toy truck

the V10 is a good workhorse that will get no worse milege than the V8 s in a 3/4 or 1 ton....

Not a fuel mileage champ for sure. All of Ford's "modular" engines had some issues with exhaust manifold bolts breaking and many had spark plug issues. They used a one piece plug that was pretty long and stuck it down deep in the head with little room to work on them. Then to compound the issue they cast the head with only enough room for 2-3 threads for the spark plug. Worked OK till they needed changing, by then they pretty much grew fast to the head causing a lot of problems. More than one mechanic has stripped the threads on those heads while changing spark plugs.

The spark plug issue is common on all early tritons. My heli-coil kit for the tritons has been well used. I will say the lower end of them are strong with the traditional main bolts and the 2 crossbolts for the caps. Heads are expensive if it comes down to needing one. I think I paid $1700 for a head for a V-10 this spring.

The early tritons had the short threaded problem and there's LOTS of stories of blow plugs (hence the Heli coil comment), the later ones had two piece plugs that often broke when trying to remove.

And than as mentioned the manifold bolts, I replace mine on my last truck ('98 5.4). Talk about a pain in the a$$, but other than a few choice words and some of my time I saved about 400.00 bucks doing it myself.

The Ford V 10 will out tow and out haul ANY rice burner excuse for a truck AND the mileage won't be much worse than the rice burner either.

The 5.7 liter Tundra engine is very stout. In fact the engine and transmission helped me pick the Tundra over the F150.

I think we just found a dandy. It's an '08 Dodge quad cab with the long bed, 6.7 diesel and a 6 speed manual!! Love those stick shifts. I ran a VIN check and it's clean. 66k miles. Plus, it's priced $4000 BELOW KBB. The lowest gear is a granny, the top is an OD, so essentially it's a 4-spd around town.

In spite of what the Toyota salesman told us, they wouldn't deal on the Tundra at all. We'd have bought it if they'd come down a couple grand.

This Dodge is 13" longer than the Tundra in spite of having the same bed length. Much of the difference is in the rear seat leg room. The Tundra is a little tight there. The rest of the difference is the hood. The Dodge is also a couple inches higher under the tranny. With that length, it need extra clearance.

I wouldn't be scared of the Dodge. I was a die hard Ford guy until I bought my 2004 6.0 diesel. At 35,000 miles it was bucking and blowing black smoke. The dealership "cleaned" the turbo and all was well except my confidence. I traded it in on a new 2006 Dodge 5.9 and really like the truck. I have had to replace the ball joints (60,000 miles) and axle U joints (75,000) but other than that it has been solid. I now have 91,000 on it. I have friends with the 6.7 and they all seem happy.

Andy

Sounds like a nice Ram you found, I wouldn't buy one for a daily driver unless you do the emission deletes though.

If it's going to actually be used (pulling) it'd be a hell of a truck.

And a word of advice for any of the common rail diesels these days, FILTRATION FILTRATION FILTRATION (buy an aftermarket .2 micron filer)

Sounds like you have plenty of money to upgrade diesels when you please. I'm serious when I say good for you. I love the new ones too.
That said, I love my old '02 Excursion Ultimate diesel with the 7.3. I like them so much this is my second one. I've done some mods that certainly weren't expensive, and now it's very quiet, is fast enough for me, and pulls all I ask it to, and I tow often. It has a mild tune and easily pulls a big twin-engine offshore boat, even through the mountains. Unloaded I get 20 mpg if I keep my foot out of it and stick to 2000 rpm.
The cheapest new Ford diesel on the lot I've seen here is about $50K, and they go up from there. My Ex has been paid for for 7 years and has less then 100K miles. I think I'll keep the slow clattery pig. They can't be all that bad; it's funny how so many folks seem to want to buy it out from underneath me.......

I know the 6.7 engine and manual tranny are good. Can anyone tell me how the rest of the 2500 trucks hold up over the long run? We plan on having this thing a long time. It won't get hard use like farming or construction.

At this point, we really don't need the diesel and the capacity of the 3/4 ton. However, we're thinking that in a few years we might get us a couple horses. I could haul 2 in the truck and still tow a camp trailer. The Tundra can't do that. The payload of their biggest is only around 1800 lb, less than 2 horses will weight.

How in the heck do you get two horses in the back of one of those trucks and haul them?

Most guys use a loading ramp but I need something portable. I'm working on that one. Most stock racks have a lift gate and you back up to a hill or something. If one isn't available, you have a problem unless you've trained a jumper.

One of the good things about buying an HD P/U and using it for light duty is it almost guarantees long life. Hope you enjoy the new ride!

I gotcha. I can see myself getting crippled attempting anything close to that maneuver.