Best Truck engine you have ever driven or owned???

I've had a few trucks but the best engines I'd have to say that I have owned
1.ford straight 6 - 300 -------- bulletproof as they come ... not sure why ford they quit making this bad boy maybe it was just too good of an engine
2.ford 5.0 302 ---- very strong engine and sounded even better
3.22r .... not a fan of toyota trucks only cars but not matter what i did to that truck it didn't faze it one bit ....

heard that the short block chevy engine it another good one but i have yet to own a chevy truck ....

My f250 has a v10. Best motor ford ever made.

dodge 318 hands down. But I might be biast. :-)

Mine would be my first f150. It was a 1979 f150 ranger xlt with a 351M. Way back when a ranger was an option package and not a little truck. Second would be the 300 six that was in a 1987 full size Bronco(wife bought brand new). Third would be the straight six in a 1997 Toyota land cruiser (smooth, quiet and strong).

Ford 300, when I had my 78 f100, that thing would just not die. Hell, when I drove it 4 miles to the junkyard to scrap it, I took the radiator out so it was running real hot. The scrap yard owner then started it back up and drove it to the back lot.

:)

Chevy 4.3L V6 93 1500 pick up. its a power house! I can load 1800lbs in my 1500 and drive 40miles highway to drop my loads off! Sips gas when I'm out scrapping around town.
Chevy 4.3L V6 93 s10 same as above when I had it.
Wouldn't mind getting something newer.

There is no good gas motor for pulling trailers.
Cummins diesel. Best motor ever made. And there is no desputing that.

Best gas is the 300 Ford I have never killed one even with holes in the block I have always made it where I was going favorite diesel is the IH dt 466 and the idi 6.9 or 7.3 for light duty trucks

Sbc hands down

Ford 300 straight 6...i have one now and just as everyone else says you CAN NOT kill them. Mine has almost 200k miles and it still kicking.

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Originally Posted by ctscrapping

Ford 300 straight 6...i have one now and just as everyone else says you CAN NOT kill them. Mine has almost 200k miles and it still kicking.

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yeah my straight 6 is my daily driver .... they lag on power and sound but there pretty much indestructible ... swear id never get rid of my this truck but i need a lil more power and sound .... i like the 5.0 302 ford motor

You won't like the 302 in a truck they make allot of noise but that's about it no torque to pull anything if you want more power there is a Ford inline 6 forum lots of tips on getting the most from a 300 I have never had a 300 run out of power they aren't for drag racing our at least not stock we did have a heavily modified one in a Torino and it was very respectable

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Originally Posted by joef1812

You won't like the 302 in a truck they make allot of noise but that's about it no torque to pull anything if you want more power there is a Ford inline 6 forum lots of tips on getting the most from a 300 I have never had a 300 run out of power they aren't for drag racing our at least not stock we did have a heavily modified one in a Torino and it was very respectable

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The 300 had something like 300LBs of torque at 1800rpm. Outpulled a Chevy 350 chained bumper to bumper. Of course I had the granny gear 1st. :)

I also had no issue loading a ton and a half on the back and driving it to the scrap yard.

Again, that's because a 300 6 is a torque monster. The SBC not so much. I still love and would take a SBC hands down over anything.

Reliability wise I will say the ford and jeep inline/straight six will run forever

I do have a Jeep with the 4.0 inline 6, and you're right it's a beast.

Hmmm, pickup trucks?
a 63 Chevy Fleetside stick shift, 327 4 bbl, which I changed to a 2 bbl so as to punch it without draining the tank
73 E300 one ton with C6(strong) tranny(later switched to C4 when a C6 wasn't available), 300ci, later replaced with a 78 300ci
80 Chevy LUV, 4 on the floor(awesome mileage) later swapped to a 3speed auto, Isuzu 4 banger
87 Ranger 4 banger, no power in overdrive but great lil truck
93 Ranger 4.0 6cyl 5spd stick 4x4 w/low gear, also a great little 3/4ton truck
Didn't own, but drove an early 90s Nissan w/6cyl for about a year doing hotshot delivery of truck parts, incredible acknowledgement of that gas pedal, uphill, loaded, whatever, it went!
Just for engines I knew well in cars, 64 283 Chevy Impala, early Dodge Dart w/slant 6, 70 Olds 98 w/455(monster), 77 Delta w Chevy 350
My memory's failing me, that's all I easily recall, although I know there were a couple straight 6 Chevy's in there somewhere, both the 230, and the 235
All great vehicles and motors, maybe cause I did my own work
Case in point, you can have the best engineered vehicles and engines in the world, but if it is not well maintained, it won't be worth a ****(dime)haha!
Proper, adequate, and well educated preventive maintenance is the best safeguard against a sorry experience with(most) any vehicle

82 F150 straight 6. This was a work horse. Hauled as much as 6,000 lbs in the bed.

86 F250 6.9L diesel 4 speed manual trans. It woul pull a 19' stock trailor with 10,000 lbs and cruise at 80. Hated the hydraulic clutch on it tho.

84 F250 6.9L diesel auto trans. The trans made this a gutless truck but you couldn't kill it I tried.

86 F250 straight 6. Can you say gas guzzler.

86 Bronco II V6 Eddie Bauer edition. It would pull a load for its size and weight. Only thing I hated is it would blow the rear trans seal out at 130. Never did find out what that one would top out at.

My baby till she died. 99 F150 (all specs refrenced back to an F250) 5.4L Triton. Wider than most trucks, extended cab with 8' bed. Pulled anything I put behind her. Stopping got kind of hairy at times :). She would float on the road at 120-130. When the engine went in her I borrowed a 20' flat bed trailor to get her home, the hitch stuck out past the end of the trailor. Fast *** truck I bought her off the lot 0 miles. I think some one had her custom built.

Currently in a 2002 chevy 3500 with fully enclosed utility bed. She crosses the scales at 8,450 lbs. She not fast but she gets the job done. Hate the gas milage she gets.

as far as tractor trucks goes, with cats, or cummins, I can't count the number of those I've driven, and worked on, at least a thousand, most likely more, but that was only as a mechanic, not really a driver of those

350 sbc hands down, granted not a fuel sipping motor but still best dam motor for all around use. I'd like to see you diesel guys build anything cheaper than a 350. Throw in some decent gears and a slight cam and it'll pull anything a one ton can handle. and parts for a sbc are dirt cheap, under 40 for a starter. No plugging it in the winter time, no expensive glow plugs or injectors to go south, and no down time for gelled up fuel. It's not perfect but it's pretty close as far as I'm concerned

My F250 Super Duty has a 7.3L Power Stroke. It has been a wonderful engine since it was new in 2001. There is no need to let her go yet as I have not had any issues with it. It is the truck in my picture.

I don't care about cost. I paid 40k for my truck. But I will pull any trailer and get 14mpg all day. And it has all the power in the world. I wouldn't pull a snowmobile trailer with a gas truck after driving a diesel.

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Originally Posted by happyisthealero

Chevy 4.3L V6 93 1500 pick up. its a power house! I can load 1800lbs in my 1500 and drive 40miles highway to drop my loads off! Sips gas when I'm out scrapping around town.
Chevy 4.3L V6 93 s10 same as above when I had it.
Wouldn't mind getting something newer.

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I need to edit that total weight, I recently went to the scrapyard only to find out in the end I had close to 2400lbs I wonder how the tranny felt after that 40mile trek

you are going to see a trend :)

first one was a ford 351
318
318
225
360
318
12v cummins
24v cummins
350 chevy (towtruck)
12v cummins

got the last 4 still and the last one is recently aqcuired, i personally like the 12v better than the 24v but both 12vs are 5speeds and the 24v is an automatic, if i had a 24v as a manual i might change my mind, also the 225 i believe might be as indesructable as the cummins

Starting with my first truck, an

83 f150, 302 automatic; piece of worn out crap. Traded it to a guy who wanted it for a

67 f250 with a 390, 4-speed in it that ran decent with a tap in the top end. When I decided to re-do it I found: two bent pushrods, over half the lifters were frozen, two lobes were gone from the cam, some of the rocker arms had worn grooves into the rocker shafts, and the stock aluminum timing gear was worn down so sharp that I cut my finger taking it off. All that and only a tap... needless to say, it ran like a whipped dog after I got it all back together... sounded great too! Sold it before I left to be a missionary for two years, when I got back I bought an

87 f250, 460 automatic, I got snookered into this one, it was a POS. Somehow I found a guy who really wanted it, despite the long list of things I told him that were wrong with it, and he traded me an

88 Ranger, 2.9 5-speed that I still use for all my driving around. I also bought a

94 f250 with a 460, 5-speed that I use for my hauling/ occasional towing.

I have a 1980 ford ranger F100 (full size truck) 300 straight 6. 33 years old, I don't know how many miles but I would guess at least 300,000 and it starts right up at a turn of the key. Also ownd a 72 Ford F150 with same motor (I think) ran that truck till the body fell apart. The motor was still running when I got rid of it. I will only buy Ford trucks for now on.