Help deicide truck to buy

[70Post455]

I am looking at two trucks right now. I have been driving the company truck for several months and will continue to do so, however my brother has a 1995 F250 2x4 Powerstroke with a 5 speed. His truck has 170k miles, and is a plain jane XL, no power anything, but it runs great and looks very good with little to almost no rust. I can pick up this truck for $2500.00.


I also have a good friend of mine who has a 1985 Chevy 4x4 with a 6.2 N/A loaded to the hilt for a 1985, power windows, locks, tilt, A/C, cruise etc...New radiator, starter, and fairly new tires. This truck does have rust in the box, but the cab is very nice as far as rust goes. Paint is faded, and the interior is dirty since they used it for the last 4 years on the Farm. I can buy this one for $600.00. The only problem is that they parked the truck about 6 months ago because Eric told me they start it up and it runs for a minute and then stops. He thinks it is a fuel filter problem, but I think it could be old brittle gas lines and he is possibly getting air in the lines.
Any ideas on why it will not keep running would be great. I know neither of these are IDI's, but the knowledge on this board is great. I recieved many good answers on my 1987 IDI a year ago.
I am actually leaning on buying both of them since the prices seem very reasonable, or wanting you guys to talk me out of one.
Thanks,
Tom

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Stray FAR FAR away from that chevy. My dad had one back in the day and they dont have squat for towing power, and are a high maintenance engine. The only up side to the chevy engine is they get good MPG, but at the cost of power and reliability.
If that OBS PSD is that nice just buy it, save yourself the headache of that chevy.

 

[ne buckeye]

For the 95 that seems like a pretty good price,hell the motor is worth that for a core, the 85 is priced good too, but with its problems u could get it cheaper, I would think

 

[jwy]

In my opinion, if you have the money, go for the stroker. I think you will be happier in the long run. Whatever you decide, just don't look back. Good luck.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

The 6.2 is as close to our motors as you can get, most of what you know about the IHC will apply to the Chevy as well. And it ain't really true they're bad engines, it is after all what lives in the HMMWVs, tis just that people often run them like they stole them. Sure they got some design flaws, but so do our engines. And tis true, they can be quite the fuel-misers, low 20s usually.

I'd say get both, drive the 6.2 as an all-around truck, then when you need to pull something fire up the PSD

 

[Andylad13]

get the powerstroke, hands down.

 

[fsr7]

The 6.2 is as close to our motors as you can get, most of what you know about the IHC will apply to the Chevy as well. And it ain't really true they're bad engines, it is after all what lives in the HMMWVs, tis just that people often run them like they stole them.

You gotta run them like you stole them to get anywhere - my 80k miles Hummer will not pull itself up a hill faster than my 350k idi dually can pull the hummer on the trailor I like the 6.2, I have 2 of them right now. Its just not an engine that will be the ideal for the work most people expect out of a diesel these days. btw, in the 10k I've put on the hummer, it has gotten between 9 and 11 mpg every single tank, regardless of driving conditions.

 

[towcat]

You gotta run them like you stole them to get anywhere - my 80k miles Hummer will not pull itself up a hill faster than my 350k idi dually can pull the hummer on the trailor I like the 6.2, I have 2 of them right now. Its just not an engine that will be the ideal for the work most people expect out of a diesel these days. btw, in the 10k I've put on the hummer, it has gotten between 9 and 11 mpg every single tank, regardless of driving conditions.

you can't do better than that with the hummer.
they aren't areodynamic and the parasitic losses in the final drive make them serious fuel hogs.you can just only imagine if there was another make in there.

 

[k_williams1982]

Out of the two, I'd go with the PSD for two reasons... 1) It's a Ford and 2) even though I haven't owned a 6.2 NA, I have friends that have and they were disappointed in the towing better, which I'm told improved in the 6.5 Turbo. It's really your choice in the end, but it looks like the PSD has most the votes here.

 

[discbrks]

Go with the p/stroke. If you really want power windows & locks, its really easy to intsall them. My truck was an XL too, but I installed the p/w & pdl... find a truck in the junk yard (it can even be a F150) and get everything you need for the swap.

 

[70Post455]

Thanks for all the repliles. The Powerstroke is a lock that I will buy it after the first of the year. I have to wait for my brother to pick up his Jeep he is buying. I have used this truck a few times and, I was really suprised how much more get up and go it seems to have with that manual transmission over what my automatic had.
I am not dissing automatics, actually I prefer them, I was just a little shocked that the manual seemed to really pull.

The Chevy 4x4 with the 6.2 I will think about. I am aware of the fact that they have a hard time getting out of there own way. I am still looking at maybe buying it to possibly use as a plow truck and also the 4x4 and the fuel economy for a possible daily driver during the winter. I asked the owner what kind of fuel milage his truck was getting and he said it always averaged around 23-24. I think since it is a 1985 it has a 700R4 overdrive tranny.
Thanks,
Tom

 

[fsr7]

you can't do better than that with the hummer.
they aren't areodynamic and the parasitic losses in the final drive make them serious fuel hogs.you can just only imagine if there was another make in there.

I'm in the process of swapping a 12 valve in there now, so I'll let you know how the fuel mileage turns out... in a couple months hopefully

 

[towcat]

I'm in the process of swapping a 12 valve in there now, so I'll let you know how the fuel mileage turns out... in a couple months hopefully

take lotsa pics
you're working with a chassis with the HD suspension right?
with the cummins going in, it's going to make a difference.

 

[4x4TruckinGirl]

PSD for 2500 bucks with a 5 speed........ need we say more?