The Truck Thread

I went to Wally World today and noticed they had Delo 400 15w-40 on sale for $28.84 for 2.5 gallons. That's about $11.50 per gallon and it is better than Rotella by several magnitudes. Oil changes are big bucks on big trucks and oil isn't getting cheaper any time soon. I grabbed 4 jugs which is enough for 2 oil changes. I figure that's about $30 savings per oil change.
 
I've got to change the oil in my bucket as well. I've been switching everything over to t6 rotella. Chipper fuel economy seemed to improve vastly since the switch.
 
When I ran Rotella I would lose oil pressure at an idle after about 250 hours. Lifters knocking, low on power, just awful running until changed the oil again. Now I'm running a mix of Delo 400 and Mobil1 synthetic 15w-50 ( 2/3 Delo and 1/3 Mobil1 ) and I'm going 350+ hours per oil change. I'm almost due now but oil pressure is still 25 at idle and 50 at full throttle when warm. Truck has almost 12,000 hours.
 
Interesting. Maybe I'll try a mix. I always ran mobil 1 in my lawn care equiPment. I just put a few quarts in my Honda motor on the log trailer.
 
Strange I've been running Rotella in my powerstroke and no problems. I'll give the the delo a try next round. Any other reasons why you're not a fan Brian? A lot of diesel guys recommend rotella highly...

jp:D
 
NickfromWI said:
You can click here I'd rather get a smaller chip box than get a bigger truck. Some of the hills around here are crazy and that is where most of my money is, so if I can't get around the hills, I'm stuck renting a pickup and stacking branches again.
Click to expand...

Take Tucker's advice, you're going to max out quick with a 350 I can speak from experience. Carlos beat this into my head which I didn't take the time to actually listen to him but the 350 is the exact same size and exact same cab/chassis as the 450 and the 550 difference is suspension and brakes etc and gearing for the engine. I can put about 8,000 pounds of wood/chips into my 550 so no sweating a dot inspection and the curb weight is probably close to slightly more than same year 350. I don't think price is a major factor on older used trucks.

Also, find a 7.3L truck if you're going ford, or plan on spending several thousand to fix the problems with the 6.0/6.4L diesels. If you find a good deal on a 6.0 which there are a lot of them out there factor in several thousand to get the bugs worked out.

jp:D
 
Delo 400 is great oil,Can use it in virtually every situation.

44gallon drum is best way to buy
 
treesandsurf said:
Take Tucker's advice, you're going to max out quick with a 350 I can speak from experience. Carlos beat this into my head which I didn't take the time to actually listen to him but the 350 is the exact same size and exact same cab/chassis as the 450 and the 550 difference is suspension and brakes etc and gearing for the engine. I can put about 8,000 pounds of wood/chips into my 550 so no sweating a dot inspection and the curb weight is probably close to slightly more than same year 350. I don't think price is a major factor on older used trucks.

Also, find a 7.3L truck if you're going ford, or plan on spending several thousand to fix the problems with the 6.0/6.4L diesels. If you find a good deal on a 6.0 which there are a lot of them out there factor in several thousand to get the bugs worked out.

jp:D
Click to expand...
I don't agree with the 6.0 statement. Many six liter owners have paid to do egr deletes and head bolts. After that point, there's no shame in a 6.0. If you see one that has been done, you're fine. That, and a 6.0 with more then 100,000 miles on it is usually out of the woods. The issues will usually reveal themselves by then.
 
treesandsurf said:
Strange I've been running Rotella in my powerstroke and no problems. I'll give the the delo a try next round. Any other reasons why you're not a fan Brian? A lot of diesel guys recommend rotella highly...

jp:D
Click to expand...

I thought I just explained why. I grew up being told Rotella was the best also, but began noticing that most users were constantly having to add oil because the engines were burning lots of it, and I have run many machines worn out before their time which only used Rotella. When I worked for the city, all the chipper and stump grinder motors were worn out prematurely (7-10 years old) to the point of failure and those machines were not used very hard. They all had excellent maintenance schedules except they used Rotella instead of good oil.
 
You've got my attention Brian. I'm going to try your brand. I won't mix viscousities, but I'm going to grab some of the oil you speak of.
 
A lot of the 6.0 I had looked at while in the market had not been bulletproofed and had simply been replacing the egr over and over. From what I understand doing the bulletproof is not cheap.
 
Oh no. It's a lot of money. I myself wouldn't buy one that hadn't been done. Around here, lots of them have been done. In pickups mostly. They aren't too bad after that. Very doggish with a stick tranny however. I was going to buy a chip truck with a 6.0 but grabbed one with a 7.3 stroke instead. If choosing between a 7.3 and 6.0, it would be 7.3. But a bullet proofed 6.0, for the right price wouldnt be horrible.
 
I talked Paul Cox out of buying a 6.0 last year. He had called me about checking out a 6.0 truck for sale in Tampa and I obliged. I found two almost identical trucks a year apart, one with the 6.0 and the other with the 7.3. Similar mileage, same price, but the newer 6.0 was beat to crap with lots of leaks. Paul ended up buying the 7.3 on my advice. I think he got a good truck.
 
And just how does one Bulletproof a 6.0? My pickup has a 6.0 and it has 198,000 and has only cost me roughly5,000 in repairs since I bought it new in 03. I do have a decent oil leak now though. So what's the skinny?
 
You've obviously got a good truck. The factory head bolts or studs were known to stretch. Aftermarket and factory upgrade hardware fixed that. Ruined a lot of engines. Also a great deal of egr problems. Egr delete kit fixed that. The 6.0 was the beginning of the end for Ford and Navistar. Ford had to sue Navistar several times, which led to them parting ways.

My uncle and I are pretty tight and he is a Senior Master Diesel Tech for Ford. I pester him with questions constantly.

Here's some info he shared with me recently. When you smoke a tranny, specifically an e4od or 4r100, and have it rebuilt or replaced, have the tranny cooler flushed. 95% of the time folks don't do that. Ford did a quiet study not long ago and found that it can take 3 replaced trannys to free up the garbage in the tranny cooler. Flush that puppy.
 
Someone told me a few years ago to watch the tranny. Hence I have yet to change the filter or the fluid. I know I know WTF are you thinking? 197,000 and still haven't f'd with the tranny and now I won't until it blows. I think the oil leak is related to running bio. That shit kills rubber, orings hoses belts even plastic. I was getting 27-30 mpg in a crew cab f-250 for around 70,000 mi so I think the payoff may have been worth it. Now we will see. ???
 
So I am looking at getting a new vehicle as my Outback is starting to pile up repair bills... My budget is around 9k, which would be financed, and I want to get a pickup. I dont think a dump makes sense as my daily driver, as much as I would want to have one I will need to use this vehicle for everything...

I am thinking diesel over gas... thoughts?

How many miles is too many for 9k? diesel vs gas?

My thoughts are that if I start doing any debris removal for sidework it would be with a trailer so something with some tow capacity and a dually seems ideal.

I live in Ohio, does it make sense to buy a southern car thats rust free or would I kill myself in transpo costs?

I dont know anything about trucks or engines... HELP!
 
You will not get a very nice diesel truck for 9k. I would vote for a diesel car. And make friends with someone that is setup to cleanup side jobs for you!!
 
I think you should go retro.....

vw-bus-stoled-35-years-ago-returns-to-owner-13067_1.jpg


And then find someone to clean up after you ;)
 
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