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Why did you get a diesel?

5K views 60 replies 43 participants last post by  weareweird69 
#1 ·
So why did you buy a diesel? Whats your story?

Ill go first. I never really considered one before about 2003. Never knew about their efficiency or power potential. Just that they were loud and usually used to pull loads. When I started researching alternative fuels, diesel came up left and right. I joined another forum, and within a few years ended up getting my first PSD, the now totaled 95 in my sing. I the previous truck was an 02 Chevy 2500 6.0. Loved it, great truck but its got maybe 10 city and 14 hiway. With a new job it was motly the grocery getter and I was driving the car. In 08 I bought the 95. Minimal trouble with it, did almost all my own work, great truck! My Chevy was 300hp stock, and the 95 with 215 felt really darn close when warmed up. Learned that with the torque of a diesel HP numbers seem inaccurate or misleading coming from the gasser realm. I learned everything i know about PSD's from this place. When I bought it I know almost nothing about the 7.3. Thats all changed with the org!
 
#2 ·
Been raised around Diesel my whole life. First car was an 82 Scottsdale with a 6.2. I have never had anything else. Now I actually use my trucks for what they are meant for. Pulling and towing.
 
#4 ·
i was a chevy guy in the 90s. the dream truck was a cc lb 4x4 with a diesel. when the 99 superduty came out and fell in love with it. and through out the years i kept up what ford put out, and trim and options. kinda pictured what i wanted. in 2007 dad bought his first diesel. 1988 f350 idi. in sig.....rewired a lot to get the lights working and other major items to get it road worthy. finally get to drive it for a semester for school and fell in love with diesel trucks.

in 2008, i was informed by my sister about a 1997 f350...in sig....was forsale down the road. got that running and drove it till mid year of 2009. bought the sd and drive that since. sold the obs late 2009.
 
#6 ·
Towing, pure and simple. A few years back, I got my father in law's 96 F250 Super Cab long bed. It was great! I did not need a truck then, but dang it was useful! It went back to him a couple of years later and I drove the 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.9. Also a great truck. We bought a travel trailer, and I saw the HORRID mileage that we would get towing it with my wife's Durango 4x4 with the 5.9. The jeep was past it's use by date for us, so I sold it and went shopping. SWMBO ordered that the truck must be crew cab and white was the color of preference. I dictated that it be a 7.3 Powerstroke. I found a smokin deal in Missouri, flew out and spent 3 nights on my buddy's floor to get the deal done, then drove her home. I love my truck! We now have a 5th wheel and this is just a sweet package. I would like the cab to be a little quieter, but beyond that it is all good. Just a few minor mods to go!
 
#9 ·
Please, whatever you do, don't ever call a Jeep a truck again. That might be deserving of a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the balls!

My first diesel was an early 99 F250 CCSB 4x4, I wanted a diesel for towing, I had always heard the fuel mileage was better, and it seemed like with simple things like chips and intakes and exhaust etc you could get a strong running rig pretty easy. I'll never go back to a gas pig for my DD/tow rig that's for sure!
 
#7 ·
I started out in cunstruction for a phone company. I installed underground phone lines. I bought a nice 7.3 IDI non-turbo and loved it! Used it to haul just about every thing. Then I happen to drive by a car lot that had a 96/97 White 7.3 Turbo, 5 speed 4x4. That was the fastest,strongest truck I have ever seen (I was young:thumb:) After a couple years it started to act up and I didn't really needthe big truck any more AND the new wife didn't like the comfort of it so I traded and got a gasser. Owned SEVERAL gassers untill recently. I was back in the market looking for a full size truck. I have some heavy trailers and find myself hauling every thing for myself or the family and the gassers just wasn't cutting it anymore. All the full size trucks had 100,000 plus miles on them and I just couldn't make myself buy a truck that was already about wore out with miles. So I started looking at Diesels again. Lets face it. With proper maintance they will last 5 to 600,000 miles. That to me is worth the money.:nod: Looked at a couple nice ones but they just didn't make me feel warmand fuzzy:wink[3]: Then while I was surfing Craigslist one night I found it. I knew I had to have it and after some back and forth on price I bought it (truck in sig) and have LOVED every minute of it:woot: Now I am back to pulling/hauling what I want safely and when I want. Then I found this site and can now fix any issue that comes up!:thumb:

Sorry for the long post, I haved owned a LOT of vehicles:doh:
 
#8 ·
I wanted to be able to tow anything that I wanted without killing my truck :sly:

Truthfully though, I took my 02 fF150 to have the cracking paint looked at and was swarmed by sales people. 5 hours later, and ZERO vasoline, I end up with my 06 :doh:. BTW, by 150 was paid off! :tard:

Oh well, I LOVE my truck :rockwoot:
 
#11 ·
I bought my truck because I needed something bigger than the 1500 chevy work truck I had to haul around all the materials needed for my flooring business I used to own... Now I mainly just use the truck for play and hauling around junk cars I buy and sell
 
#12 ·
I got mine so I could tow trailers and have a truck last doing it. I also didn't want to always have to put petroleum fuels in my vehicle. It's a 7.3 powerstroke since I grew up with ford trucks and international tractors. My second diesel I got because I liked the first so much!
 
#14 ·
I got my 86 6.9 from a buddy who had just bought a new 97 PSD. So I guess around 1998 is when I first had one. Bought the 6.0 in 05 and the 97 in 08. Sold the 6.9 to a guy who was building a winery.
 
#15 ·
Mostly for towing the travel trailer with two ATV's on the quad deck for.
 
#16 ·
i started as a chevy fan building 350 and 396s through high school before i left for boot i went on a camping trip and my inlaw had a 01 duty max 2wd but he used the hell out of that truck only prob was the trans overheating on the way and injector but yeah i have always liked big bad things and i was big into sports cars i sold my 92 camaro 396 when i left for boot camp joined went to fl for school and bout an impreza 2.5 thinking bout makeing big power with it but i wasnt truly happy finally i got a phone call one day from a guy i was in school with said a ford dealship by me had brought in a 99 f 250 standard cab 4x4 with 147k on the clock for 9,900 so im like f it traded the impreza to car max then went and got the truck bout 6 months later i crashed it and i had to wait a month to find another now i have my f-350 never agian will i drive a gasser the wife told me id be less of a man if i bought a gasser
 
#17 ·
I got mine because Toytoa Tacomas and Nissan Frontiers are too damn expensive for what you get! In reality, I only need a midsize truck for my DD, but these diesels are cheaper, get better MPG, bigger (more room), and can produce way more horsepower for half the budget. :thumb:

I don't think I'll ever go back to a gasser...
 
#18 ·
First "car" was a 73' Bronco. Bought it for $800 and heavily modified it. It was enough to pull my boat at the time. Sold that with 365K miles on it when the wife demanded heat in the car and solid floors that she could not see the road through. Bought a 00' 1500 used and put 140K on it. It was big enough to pull the next 3 boats and handle the house renovations I was doing. Great truck. Sold it and bought the 97' F250. The 1500 was not big enough for me to pull my current boat. (12,000 lbs loaded). It also came with a 2 yr old plow which will be another source of income for me. I keep my cars/ trucks for a long time and figure I will this have for as long as I want and won't outgrow it with a boat that is too large for it to tow. I am now hooked on the diesel. Much easier to work on, better mileage, and will last longer.
 
#19 ·
Be honest, this is my dream car, not joking. When I'm out of the service I plan to own a little ranch out west, so I wanted a truck that was going to last 400K+. You're only going to find that in a diesel. I think the 05-07 body style is the best looking Superduty Ford made. I have a truck I can't outgrow, CC with comfortable seating for 6. A payload of 5100#, and a towing capacity of just over 18K. Anything bigger and I'd need a CDL anyway.

There may be those that doubt a 6.0L can last that long, I've only got 74K on her and I'm just getting started. I upgraded from a Chevy K1500 that had seen better days, and never looked back.
 
#20 ·
My gas obs Ford went out at over 300k on a 5.8L, so I bought a diesel obs to tow it with, and herd diesels ran alot longer than gas, figured if I can get over 300k in a gas motor I should hit 600k on a diesel
 
#22 ·
Bought it to pull anything and everything I could throw at it
 
#23 ·
Glad you had good luck with the Grand Cherokee. I had a 94 and found it (like yourself) a real nice ride. The engine and transmission were great. But everything around it was a constant maintenance hassle. A buddy had one to. Same issues. I'm hoping you didn't have the problems with yours that I had with mine.

I've always had better luck with Fords. So that's what I stick with.
 
#25 ·
The Jeep was the first of it's kind that I have owned. It had over 170k on the clock when I sold it. The drivetrain was fantastic. Towards the last 6 months of ownership, a lot of other stuff started to crap out - sunroof, ac, etc. That is what lead to the decision to replace it. The guy that bought it thought he hit the jackpot as he wanted a 5.9 Limited. I thought I hit the jackpot as I sold it for $1500.
 
#27 ·
I was a die-hard gasser guy. I thought diesel were noisy, I thought they stunk, I thought they were slow. I had a F150 (5.0, E4OD) with a 24ft Travel Trailer. Went up to Lake Tahoe (on the CA / NV border) Summit is 7000+ feet. I had towed this trailer all over with my truck and never a problem. Going up there, I was behind a Dodge w/Cummins with a Bed-in Camper, towing a boat. I was keeping up with him................................until we got to higher altitudes. He walked away like I was going the other way. By time I got to the summit, this little 5.0 was sucking wind and I was down to no higher than 30. I honestly thought my tranny had fried.

We also have friends who RV. He had a 93 Dodge w/Cummins and 34ft 5th Wheel. A couple of trips out, he went up and over hills and I couldn't keep up.

Started re-thinking my strategy especially when Momma and I started talking about getting a 5er. So, we got the truck first, then got the 5er. The truck pulled the 24ft TT like a champ. Way better than the 5.0L did. Does the truck slow down on hills pulling the 5th wheel yes, but it pulls like a mother and it has been my turn to pass gassers on the up hill.

Are diesels noisy? Do they stink? Yep, but what's your point? :hehe: :hehe: Those things are now what I love about diesels. I just wish I'd have woken up earlier!!! Now....are they slow? Not as slow as I thought..... Did I mention I love my truck? :nod:
 
#28 · (Edited)
I first bought an 86 4 x 4 Ranger 1/4 ton 4 cyl. 2.3L truck so I could make it home safely in the snow because I had a new job and was on call often at the mill.
I pulled everything with it and decided I would pull a 24ft 5th wheel camper for the summer. It did ok but I found a cheap 88 Ranger with a STX fuel injected 2.9L. Well we did 3 trips to Florida with the truck and one cold day I found a deal on a 90, 6.2L diesel GM 1/2 ton. Well that truck with no speeds in the hill was taking 1/2 the fuel my friends gassers did pulling similar trailers. The fuel savings from the Ranger was as high as 40% and peace of mind.
I then bought a high end trailer and needed a stronger truck and got a deal on a new 6.5L diesel Gm in 98 that I towed the trailer for 9 years with. 4 years ago I got a great deal on the present F250 and was very satisfied with the equal fuel economy than my modified GM. But found that the hills realy were uncomfortable with the overdrive standard shift like I had experienced with the 6.2L standard.
A programer helped with the problem and now we have a 15K RV that I tow with the same fuel economy my Ranger gave me pulling the much smaller 5th wheel. Fuel mileage empty has been similar to the Ranger that surely keeps me satisfied. Last winter in Florida my fuel mileage with the F250 towing the 15K 5th wheel was as good as the 6.2L GM gave me with the 24ft trailer. This truck can haul a house and still give the performance of a small truck with less parts breaking down with the load.

P.S. I could afford to buy the RV because I had just purchased a VW diesel that cut my fuel cost by $200.00 per mointh in 1993. So my diesel experience started with the VW that I truely miss.
 
#31 ·
its was the cool thing to do but everyone has a fummins around here so i got a Powerstroke....lol naw i used to have a 00 f350 CC and missed it since i sold it...my buddy bought a 01 f350 CC and i rode in it alot and said the hell with this traded my rat rod for one and loved it since
 
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