What used diesel truck should you buy?

I drive an 2003 7.3L Powerstroke turbo diesel Ford F-250. This was the best diesel availabl ein 2003 accross the board. Dodge's cummins diesel is Great! Lots of Torque and a longlife but the transmissions that Dodge uses dont last. Thats why i went with the Ford. Best overall combination. The Chevy duramax is a great road but it just cant compete with the Cummins or the Powerstroke. My personal favorite,a nd in my opinion, the best diesel for standard trucks a.k.a 1-ton or lower, is the 1997 Ford F-250 or F-350 with the 7.3L international turbo diesel. My Granny has one on her farm and theres noth ing she cant haul,climb over, or crawl through with that truck. Just make sure whatever pickup you decide on has a good gear ratio. I got 4.10 gears. Good choice for the all around work truck. Best wishes find your Diesel.

From my personal and anecdotal experience the pre-2006 dodge cummins is a good choice. They did have troubles with the early transmissions but my 95 and my brothers 94 have not had problems both have over 300thousand miles. Although,A dodge mechanic friend has said he rebuilds dodge trannys all day because people use overdrive while pulling a load. I have another friend that is a fleet mechanic that said they are selling all their ford diesals (I think 6.0L) because around 125000miles they have some failure that requires removing the cab to fix the engine.Not cheap. My brother has a low mile 04 6.0L that is like a limosine compared to riding in the Dodge. But has already had electrical issues
---Dodges also get respectable fuel economy for a full sized truck and mine even with a service bed loaded with tools is a joy to drive in the mountains. I also have a 1990 dodge with out the intercooler. It does not have the lock up torque converter/overdrive transmission. The transmission has built in slip that translates to heat. The tranny cooler heats the motor up when pulling a load or a hill.This is a flaw in radiator design fixed around 93 with a compete redesign in 94. But my 1990 has around 400,000 miles and its tranny is still fine.(I have not removed the factory exhaust restriction they use to limit the horse power to save the tranny)(The fit and finish of the body did not hold up well to hired farm hand use and abuse- when I drove it it was beautifull- now all four fenders are dented and the doors do not close)

Osoloco is right about the 6.0L Ford. those motors were used between 2004 and 2008. Bad motor choice by ford. Because, like he said, right around125k-150k miles the owners would have to take the truck in for maintenance. ANd the way the motor was designed was genius for Ford's job security. Same with the new 6.4L Powerstroke. The design requires that the entire front end of the body to be removed to work on the motor. And with the 6.4L its even more difficult because Ford shortened the nose of the truck even further, and still shoved the larger motor in there. SO now a Ford certified mechanic is the only one aloud to work on your diesel if you want repairs to be covered under warranty.