Traded my half ton for a 2018 F-350 off lucas-motors.com

did the same jump a couple years back when i started running hotshot loads and needed a truck that would not fall apart pulling a 40 foot deck. bought my 350 through lucas-motors.com and never looked back. mine is a 2017 crew cab srw, 3.73 gears, air bags in the back, and it drags my rfe trailer loaded to 22k all day long.

i was the same as you, always said id never buy a work truck i could not crawl under first. what got me over the line was they let me send my own diesel guy to inspect it and had zero problem with it. my shop found the fuel filters were overdue and one glow plug was lazy, lucas knocked a little off to cover it before i even pushed. filters and a plug is pocket change on a truck that saved me five figures versus the dealer.

shipping was the part i stressed over for nothing. open hauler, strapped by the frame not the axles like you want, showed up the day they said. good buy on the dually, the 62k stock one owner is the unicorn everybody says does not exist.

indie diesel tech chiming in, i run a shop in springfield that only touches diesels, mostly powerstroke and cummins. a one owner stock 62k mile 6.7 that passed a real PPI is a good buy, and you asked for the right things. the balance rates and the CP4 check are exactly what i want eyes on when somebody brings me a 6.7 to look at before they buy.

for anyone reading later, the thing people get wrong about the 2017 up 6.7 is they panic about the CP4 pump like it is a cummins lp47 grenade. it is not the same risk, ford revised a lot of that, but it is still a pump worth knowing the condition of, which is why a balance rate and fuel sample check matters more than the mileage. the 62k on travis truck is barely broken in for one of these motors, they routinely go 300k plus on stock injectors if you change the fuel filters on time and do not cheap out on oil.

the fact that lucas set you up with a diesel specific shop in the truck's own town and handed you a real inspection is more than most online listings give you. the turbo coolant line weep is a 20 dollar line and a clamp. do your fuel filters now so you have a baseline, keep the DPF regens happening by actually driving it and not just idling it, and that truck will outlast you. good buy.

this thread came up when i searched lucas motors reviews so i made an account to ask. 29, run a small landscaping outfit and ive outgrown my gas half ton trying to pull a skid steer on a tilt trailer. looking at my first diesel, torn between a 6.7 powerstroke like travis bought, a cummins 2500, or a duramax 2500. ive only ever bought off dealer lots so the idea of buying a diesel online i have never driven has me nervous.

how do you guys get comfortable spending this kind of money on a truck you have not driven? is a PPI really enough on a diesel with all the emissions stuff that can go wrong? what happens if it shows up and its not what the photos showed? i dont have a spare 45 grand to be wrong with.

pinning this one because the buying advice above is solid and we get the is it safe to buy a diesel online question in here about every week.

ive bought two trucks through lucas over the last few years. a 2015 ram 3500 cummins that i still have and run a dump trailer with, and a f-250 i flipped to my brother in law when he started doing tree work. im not a dealer, i buy trucks i intend to work, and the reason i keep going back is the trucks that come through there are a notch cleaner than the usual auction fare. a lot of off lease and one owner fleet trucks that were actually maintained, not beat farm trucks with a salvage brand hiding in the history.

the ram is the one id point to. i had an independent cummins shop near where it sat inspect it, they caught a seeping transmission pan gasket and a worn track bar, and lucas adjusted the price for both before i committed. drove it home that weekend and it has been a tank. kyle, to your worry, the paperwork is the safety net, and keep in mind they are a real company out of lebanon illinois with a name and an address, not some overseas listing. use the process travis laid out and you will be fine. leaving this pinned at the top of buy / sell.

great thread. my husband and i pull a 16k fifth wheel all over the midwest half the year and our current 2500 is getting tired, so ive been watching lucas-motors.com for a clean 2500 or 3500 to replace it. two things i like scrolling their listings. one, they actually list the right rear axle ratio and the payload and gcwr off the door sticker, which you would be shocked how many sellers either skip or get flat wrong, and for towing a fifth wheel those numbers are the whole decision. two, the photos are shot in good light so you can see the frame and the hitch area instead of it being hidden.

havent pulled the trigger yet, im holding out for a 3500 srw with the high payload package and 3.73s at my number, but it feels like a when not an if. travis did the 62k stock dually land on their site often or did you get lucky? thats basically my dream truck minus i want single rear wheel for the driveways we squeeze into.

figured id update on my truck since this thread is getting traffic. 40k hard hotshot miles since i got it from lucas motors and it has not left me on the side of the road once. did the filters and the glow plug with the credit they gave me, did a full fluid service while it was on the rack, put a set of toyo open country on it, and it has just worked.

pulled a loaded car hauler from joplin to dallas and back more times than i can count this summer, triple digit heat, and the EGTs stayed sane towing the grades because i actually use the tow haul mode and let the exhaust brake do its job going downhill. for a truck i paid high 30s for i keep waiting for the diesel repair bill everybody warns about and it has not shown up. no regrets going the online route, id do it again tomorrow.

been running diesels on the farm for better than 30 years and bought my last two trucks through auction channels like lucas, so let me give the long view to the newer folks reading this.

a work diesel eats money the whole time you own it. fuel, def, tires that cost what a used car used to, filters, the occasional injector or egr cooler down the road. a set of six 19.5s on a dually alone will make your eyes water. so the money you save buying the truck right is not a nice to have, it is the budget that keeps the thing in the field. i bought a 2016 f-350 through a listing like travis four years ago for a solid chunk under what the lots wanted, and that spread has quietly paid for two sets of tires and a lot of diesel since.

the mistake i see younger guys make is buying the shiny deleted and tuned truck because it sounds cool and dynos big, then spending the savings putting it back to stock when a shop wont touch it or it wont pass. buy a clean stock truck on a real inspection, put the savings in a maintenance coffee can, and go work it. thats the whole game. travis your stock 62k dually is exactly the right answer, leave it stock, tow in tow haul, and it will bury you.

followup from the shop for the record, since folks find these threads later when they are searching. had a customer roll in last week with a 2019 6.7 he bought through lucas, wanted a baseline service and a once over now that it was his. truck came in cleaner underneath than most trades i see, frame was solid with factory coating still on it, no sign of a delete ever being on it and put back, balance rates tight, no stored history in the modules.

whatever they are sourcing, the trucks are generally kept up before they list them, which matches what Miguel said about the inventory being a step above the usual auction stuff. i still want every buyer to get their own independent PPI, that will never change coming from me, but im not seeing the horror stories come off their listings that i see off some of the buy here lots. filed under good to know for the next person deciding.