F 350 or a Silverado

I am looking at buying a new truck next week. This will be my first truck purchase. MSRP on both trucks is about 57,000 for fully loaded vehicles with a decent lift and tires. It will not be a work truck, just used for towing the boat and going snowboarding

I am trying to decide between a F 350 Diesel and the Chevy. What are your thoughts?

I would like to hear the pro's and con's of each

Is the Chevy a 3/4 ton?
I have the ford f-250 crew cab Fx4 lariat and love it. I pulls like a mofo. Im not pulling anything over 10k lbs so no need for anything more. It has been an awsome truck

The indipendent front suspension on the chevy will give a smoother ride than the straight axel on the f-250. I love my d-max. Both are great trucks. I hope you are not going to pay MSRP on either truck!

Tom you should be able to get the fully loaded Silverado 2500HD with duramax for 47K easily. This is the 3LT package, with every option.

I have a chevy 1500 and have driven a dodge 3500 dually for an extended period of time. I drove a F250 to and from Arizona - Washington this last winter and hope to never ride in one again. That solid front axle is for offroad only in my opinion. They should come with a kidney belt. Worst ride in an extended period I have ever experienced. IFS = weaker for offroad but comfort on the highway and debatably safer (more rubber on the road in the bumps. but I digress and regret potentially starting a huuuuuuge flame thread and must say I would go with the one which has the better interior. All the diesels from what I have seen are powerhouses. Plus from the flash perspective, we saw a brand new 2500hd pulling an xstar the truck was lifted probly 6" and had some nice wheels. I was skeptical of the new body on the chevy but it looked MONEY. If you go ford its just another big spring f350 with 35's <yawn> I want to drive the allison duramax combo I have driven the duramax/4L80e combo but felt like my truck with more torque and power.


Just my 2 cents. Not looking to start a flamewar or anything just the humble opinion of an average guy. :-)

You will not be unhappy with the Ford. Check out www.thedieselstop.com You can get all the information you want there.

my opinion is to get one that is not lifted.

Pickuptruck.com has a great article comparing the new Ford, Dodge, and GM trucks both in 3/4-ton gas engines and 1-ton diesels. The comparision is something like 15 pages long. Interesting was that with the Ford, thier V10 gas engine was as good or better in some respects than thier diesel. This was not true with the Dodge and GM V8's. The new Silverdao Duramax/Allision combo was the hands-down winner in the 1-ton class.

Any of these trucks are going to pull your boat fine. If you asked me last year the chevy would have been my last pick due to looks and mainly the interior but if I was buying one this year that would likely be it.

Scott, do you know if the handling issue with the new ford F 350 has been resolved or not? I am not doing much hard core 4 wheeling. After testing both, I like how the GM handles but like the front of the Ford (with the chrome package) looks.

Nu bu, thanks for the price range, I will make sure to negotiate it out for around 45-47 K with every option, thanks!

Chad & Nbeihl thanks for the info. It helped a lot.

Tim, why would you not lift the truck?

$60k for a truck!?!?!

Tom I'd buy used if I were you. You can find a real clean 06 for high 30's with pretty low miles. I hate taking the hit on a new vehicle unless you get a sweet deal on it, which you won't with the 07's.

Question= "Tim, why would you not lift the truck?"
Answer= "I am not doing much hard core 4 wheeling."

The Chevy has the G80 Locker which is worth it's weight in gold!

I like the look of the Ford. However, the GM stuff definatly has a proven drivetrain. 57K for a silverado? I haven't seen one that expensive yet 52-53 for a dually LTZ I think is about the max.

Chris, thanks that is exactly my thoughts.

Non lifted will tow better.

Beware. Long post (rant?) ahead.

I came from the crazy insane offroad thing locker's big dana axles big tires winches and used them all. I was an original poster/member of pirate4x4's forum and know a little about drivetrains. Granted my application was for a different purpose than towing for extended periods of time. Solid front axles are horrid on the pavement but the only way to go on the road. I personally have a chevy 1500 w/ towing pkg (non HD) and will not lift my truck, will not do tire and wheel package, will not regear the factory 4.10's, will not buy another size tire for it other than what came from the factory. I know I sound like a 90 year old man but the engineers who build these trucks do so for the long haul *gratuitous pun intended. As far as I know the 4x fords still have the solid front axle which will ride like absolute crap comparatively (IMO) to IFS. Drivetrain aside I would do IFS 4wd if you're not going to 'wheel a lot. On the flipside you say you want to lift it (see below) go ford. They are cheap and easy to lift and look like crap if you don't (IMO). As for the other aspects you're on your own I don't know enough to comment.

Tim's last post about non-lifted towing better is correct. With less rotational mass to stop spinning being the larger, heavier wheels and added mass of rubber. It will accelerate and stop quicker. Final drive ratios will likely be lower unless corrected (~$3k) or beyond I believe with the ford dana/sterling you can go 5.13+? when you do this the pinion gear gets smaller and in theory is more prone to twisting off under super loads. The added rubber gives more surface area not only sides but front to back on the footprint adding to the loads on the driveline which the factory didn't design the truck for. As well as higher center of gravity say you have a blowout and steering becomes a concern will this affect the higher CoG of the truck and it's handling abilities? Absolutely. Also know the aspect ratio of the tire will be substantially taller and will be a loooong fall at speeds from say 40psi to 0 in no time. Pure towrigs are 18wheelers and the like don't have lift kits for a reason they add tires for safety redundancy as well as traction. They are typically on 3 piece stamped steel wheels and have no style whatsoever but do what they do their jobs extremely well. In a pure utopia everyone who towed would have a dually long bed quad cab and don't have to worry parking @ the local grocery store. Also Mudflaps... http://www.800-923-jeep.com/techCorner/lift_laws.cfm

Hideous monstrosity made to counteract the cool factor of a lift. Luckily my jeep was classified as a station wagon and Az doesn't have station wagon mudflap laws yet


In conclusion. While I don't think its optimal in all practical situations to lift a towrig... Although it can define badass by a simple glance. Also if all you tow is a 4,000lbs boat with a truck rated for 15k what the hell it can easily be crippled a few thousand pounds and still perform like the rotund monster it was designed to be. Just don't expect to pull that fifth wheel trailer or gooseneck car hauler like it would stock.

This is not a judgement against you or your thoughts feelings or taste whatsoever. I am NOT implying you DON'T already know this information. I just rant about this as often as possible because I came from the offroad world and know a lot of states place silly restrictions on vehicles because of irresponsible owners (again not implying anything).