A friend of mine wants to buy a 4x4 truck and add a camper shell and then put an enduro motorcycle on the back for a major South American trip he has in the works. He plans to ship the truck in a container from CA to Peru/Chile and do a major surf tour there for about 6-12 months and explore the land.
I have suggested getting a Turbodiesel as they run forever, get good gas mileage (vs. a standard gas engine), diesel is easier to find down there, and they are normally maintenance free motors with tons of torque for 4x4ing. We have found 5 of them locally with around 150K miles on them for under $9K that are 4x4 manual setups.
He is eyeing '94 F-250 and newer Turbodiesel 4x4's with 5 spd manual transmission. Are these good years or any common problems with them? He plans to install 35" M/T tires, a lift kit and do some serious wheeling down there in the desert and thru rivers. Are the manual transmission known to be beefy? They are also available with compound low 1st gear which I'm unsure whether it would benefit him..... if he plans to wheel big time I would expect it would help.
He is no mechanic but can change oil/plugs/filters and that is about it. Maybe an alternator/starter in a crunch.
Any good messageboards you can point me towards for Turbodiesel trucks?
Should I recommend a Dodge/Chevy instead?
What about '87 and newer Turbodiesel Fords?
-GNX7
I have suggested getting a Turbodiesel as they run forever, get good gas mileage (vs. a standard gas engine), diesel is easier to find down there, and they are normally maintenance free motors with tons of torque for 4x4ing. We have found 5 of them locally with around 150K miles on them for under $9K that are 4x4 manual setups.
He is eyeing '94 F-250 and newer Turbodiesel 4x4's with 5 spd manual transmission. Are these good years or any common problems with them? He plans to install 35" M/T tires, a lift kit and do some serious wheeling down there in the desert and thru rivers. Are the manual transmission known to be beefy? They are also available with compound low 1st gear which I'm unsure whether it would benefit him..... if he plans to wheel big time I would expect it would help.
He is no mechanic but can change oil/plugs/filters and that is about it. Maybe an alternator/starter in a crunch.
Any good messageboards you can point me towards for Turbodiesel trucks?
Should I recommend a Dodge/Chevy instead?
What about '87 and newer Turbodiesel Fords?
-GNX7