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Message: <blockquote data-quote="_CY_" data-source="post: 1462083" data-attributes="member: 7629">for a low budget high mileage full size truck ... wouldn't even consider a gas engine at end of it's life. a diesel at 200k miles is just getting started. there's only two choices that's durable and cheap: 1. early Ford 7.3 diesel (88-2002) 2. first gen Cummins Turbo diesel trucks (88-92). both with manual tranny only. NICE early Ford 7.3 diesels commonly go for under $2,500 and hands down the best value. but it's getting hard to find clean low mileage examples. first gen cummins are higher priced due to folks salvaging the cummins for for late model Ford diesel conversion due to junk late model diesel engines. there's a bottom value of of about $2k for any good running cummins. prices range from $2,500 (junk) to 6,500 for a super clean low mileage first gen cummins.  stay away from auto tranny and diesels... a bad/expensive combo to fix. diesel generate HUGE torque which destroys auto trannies, mostly due to ignorance of folks knowing how to drive an auto with diesel. if you must go with an auto/diesel combo... know diesels typically generate max torque at about 1,600 rpm or too low to build up max pressure to operate an auto tranny at peak efficiencies. in other words keep your rpm's up, preferably over 2,000 rpm when pulling a load. if you have an overdrive.... ease up on throttle when overdrive is engaging. after overdrive is firmly engaged, then it's ok to stomp it after 1800 rpm or so. confusing... thought so... that's why soooo many folks destroy auto trannies with diesel engines!!!</blockquote>

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