Hello everybody
I have to buy a new truck , my Toyota start to burn antifreze so i am thinking to buy something diesel whith enough power to tract 300pd boat and to be a family truck.
I need your advise which engine type should i buy 6.5l 6.2 l or ford type .Also i should mention my finance situation is not so great max $7500 i can spend .Please if anybody has any experience with american diesels i will apreciate ,my 300 cd need a friend
thank you

In your price range you will be looking at mid-80's to early 90's trucks with miles on them. The early Dodge/Cummins are good trucks but the body style is hideous. The early non-intercooled cummins had a mismatched turbine housing so turbo lag is prevalent and they were paired with a 3speed auto, dunno about stickshift in these. Uggg. The 94-98 Dodge is nice but the auto trannys are crap. They can be reworked to live with the cummins but expect to spend about $1500. Stick is nv4500 5speed=bulletproof. The Fords had the 6.9 and then the 7.3IDI motors until 93. Good motors but known to crack heads. Powerstrokes 94+ but they have had cavitation problems. As the owner if they did the preventative maintainence on the cooling system and added the coolant additive periodically. If they give you a blank look, don't walk-run away from the truck. I wouldn't touch a PS without a warranty. Ford trannys are known to just STB and cost $2500 to but back together. Pumps/injectors on a PS are spendy too. GM 84-93 6.2 or 6.5 liter engines in NA and turbo models. They are known to crack heads and blocks. 6.2's prone to block issues, 6.5's-heads. The 6.5 heads are easily repairable. Also known for marginal cooling systems and poorly designed turbo systems. Both can be upgraded but you will spend some money. GM autos are bulletproof compared to others (except 700r4). Th400 3speeds in the 80's, 4L80s in the 90's GM tried electronic injection pumps starting in 94+ They are crap, don't buy one unless you enjoy trouble. The latest pumps are completely revised but I still don't trust them. Duramaxes are out of your price range. So heres my pics:
Dodge
88-93 w/5speed or auto if you can live without OD
94-98 w/5speed
Ford
84-93 stick or auto
GM
84-87 stick or auto
88-93 stick or auto
I would look on Ebay or in the Autotrader for a truck from TX. They are everywhere down there. Worth the trip to buy a rust-free example. As you can see there is good and bad in all of them. Do your research and cross your fingers. I got lucky. Good luck, RT

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Thank you verry much for the fast and complete answer
At this moment it looks almost all the choices are not so good like our MB setup, engine and trany
In ebay i found 2 suburbans one chevy and one GMC with 6.5 engines 94 and 95 for around $7000 and the 95 one is former guverment with 125.000 miles but to long for my taste.
The best solution will be to adapt the mercedes engine to my 4runner but keep the original gas trany, to bad i do not have enough guts to troy that
thank you again