School me - F250's?

Lot's of great info on this thread and I appreciate you all chipping in. It is a great primer on 3/4 ton trucks.

After much head banging and "discussions" with Ann surrounding the family budget (of which she is CFO)... and plenty of looking around, being realistic of what I could get for my jeep, etc, etc, etc... I have yet again come to the conclusion to:

Suck it up buttercup. Translation of that is... Ann said, "What's wrong with trips in the jeep? Nothing but a thing." Damn. She is so much tougher than me. So to change at this point would be me having to admit that she can hack it and I couldn't... that might upset the delicate balance in my psyche and no one wants that.

So I think we put any plans for a vehicle change on the shelf for the time being.
 
Hahaha I think you're in a good position no matter which way you decide to go, the important thing is having a family that supports your hobby and goals. It sounds like your wife doesn't mind trips in the Jeep, which is huuuge.
The deciding factor that brought me to getting a pickup was one of utility. I could do the same stuff on trips with a pickup, while also being way more useful for day to day stuff like taking the trash to the dump, getting a load of mulch, or hauling the family boat. The gas mileage is a wash, as both my jeep and my truck got around 15-16mpg.
 
givemethewillys said:
Hahaha I think you're in a good position no matter which way you decide to go, the important thing is having a family that supports your hobby and goals. It sounds like your wife doesn't mind trips in the Jeep, which is huuuge.
The deciding factor that brought me to getting a pickup was one of utility. I could do the same stuff on trips with a pickup, while also being way more useful for day to day stuff like taking the trash to the dump, getting a load of mulch, or hauling the family boat. The gas mileage is a wash, as both my jeep and my truck got around 15-16mpg.
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Yep. We definitely need a pick up and she drives a double cab tacoma. That would solve all our issues if it was 4wd, but it is a prerunner.
 
Those big trucks sure are nice though.

My wife has an '05 F250 (the 6.0 that everyone says is so bad) that she's put 240,000 (or is it 260,000?) miles on. We had to do a head gasket at about 80,000, but it's been trouble free ever since. She's had it about 12 years. (bought it new), but it has only been driven a few weeks a year on trips to the US for the past four. It still drives great, and is solid as a rock. Last week we were talking about moving back to the US, and what to do about cars. She said she thought her truck was good for another dozen years, but wanted to talk about canopies and roof top tents for it.

I've got a '93 F350 that's had hard, hard, hard, life, (farm truck, construction company truck, six years in low range pulling a hydroseeder off road, wrecked four or five times, stolen and abandoned twice, etc .....) and is still as reliable as when it left the factory. Those big diesel trucks are expensive, but if you take care of them they will last a loooooong time.
 
I'm in construction and have had diesels in one form or another for 30+ years. We currently have 7.
I'll admit that I am a Ford guy after having some unpleasant experiences with the other brands. However, they all have their faults...
I had the 6.0 for ten years and I had to replace the turbo but other than being religious about maintenance it was a great truck. I just bought a 2016 with the 6.7 to replace it.

Having said all that I was going to suggest that what ever brand you buy consider a gas rig. It iwill be cheaper to run (except fuel costs) but will be less headache overall. Now that you've decided to keep the jeep could you get a trailer to help maximize its utility?
 
smlobx said:
I'm in construction and have had diesels in one form or another for 30+ years. We currently have 7.
I'll admit that I am a Ford guy after having some unpleasant experiences with the other brands. However, they all have their faults...
I had the 6.0 for ten years and I had to replace the turbo but other than being religious about maintenance it was a great truck. I just bought a 2016 with the 6.7 to replace it.

Having said all that I was going to suggest that what ever brand you buy consider a gas rig. It iwill be cheaper to run (except fuel costs) but will be less headache overall. Now that you've decided to keep the jeep could you get a trailer to help maximize its utility?
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Yes - we have a bantam tc3 that we use for camping and for work around the farm and we have a T@B that we use for camping as long as the terrain allows. It handles fire roads, etc... quite well. My wife has been super cooperative about the whole thing. LAst year she let me buy, update and then sell a Suburban... and I think that has left a little bit of wariness on her part. I cannot swing keeping the jeep and buying a decent truck, and she loves her Tacoma prerunner.
 
jscusmcvet said:
Lot's of great info on this thread and I appreciate you all chipping in. It is a great primer on 3/4 ton trucks.

After much head banging and "discussions" with Ann surrounding the family budget (of which she is CFO)... and plenty of looking around, being realistic of what I could get for my jeep, etc, etc, etc... I have yet again come to the conclusion to:

Suck it up buttercup. Translation of that is... Ann said, "What's wrong with trips in the jeep? Nothing but a thing." Damn. She is so much tougher than me. So to change at this point would be me having to admit that she can hack it and I couldn't... that might upset the delicate balance in my psyche and no one wants that.

So I think we put any plans for a vehicle change on the shelf for the time being.
Click to expand...

Hey jscusmcvet. I think you're on the right track/mindset about this. We were in a similar place about a few years ago. We had at various times XJ's, a TJ, a CJ-7 and a 3/4 ton burb in the lineup. It worked out very well for offroad/overland trips running a Jeep in the lead with the burb as our gear/people hauler/recovery vehicle. However, we found it very expensive to road trip on pavement in the burb as lodging will suck you dry and tent camping may not be appropriate on road trips. It got us thinking of changing to a pickup/slide in camper while towing a Jeep type of setup. Additionally, it's awesome having a fs truck for a number of other tasks and projects that need to be dealt with during the daily grind.

Anyway, we were patient about it. Socked away cash and came up with a very specific year, make/mod, engine, trans, body style and mileage spec that we wanted and kept to it for about a year until that exact truck at a reasonable price came up in a CL ad. Was worth the wait. Ended up with a F-350, 7.3 powerstroke with less than 100k on the odometer. Nothing wrong with shelving the plan until the right rig comes along.

I also thought about a F-250, but came to the conclusion that a crew cab 250 or 350 would essentially be the same truck, but the 250 would have less payload for the same gihugeic size. That being said, I shot for the 350. Better to have too much truck than not enough!

Performancewise they're solid trucks, especially with the diesel. For offroad/overland they have the turn radios of an aircraft carrier with a damaged rudder. They make the suburban feel nimble like a Jeep. Regardless, you can still get them into a lot of places if you're adventurous and patient with the 99 point turns. The real value in the setup is that we can use the truck and slide in camper as a base camp to go play Jeeps from or live cheap out on the road for pavement trips.
 
@Tango1Sierra thank you for that input. Holding off on this for the moment. Not sure how it will work out in the end. I am beginning to get the stink eye from Ann about my obsessing regarding vehicles and campers, etc... we'll see.
 
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