whats your favorite diesel pickup

Cummins is the only option. The 5.9 liter six was designed from the get go for a life of 500k miles. This motor was introduced in 1984 and it's a proven design. 40% less moving parts inside than those off brand diesels. Have you ever seen a Powerjoke or a Duramax with 800k miles on them? There are even Cummins engines with over 1 million documented miles.

The 12 valve is a killer engine. You can add 30-40 horsepower in less than a half hour by tinkering with the fuel plate. Lots of free power to be added. Simple injection pump (p7100) that really doesn't give much if any trouble whatsoever. Just make sure the killer dowl pin issue has been fixed behind the timing chain cover.

I also love the 24 valve. It has a vp44 Bosch injection pump. The vp44 pump is computer controlled. The stock lift pumps are terrible unreliable so get a good one so that it doesn't take out the expensive injection pump. You can also add a programmer and add stupid levels of hp and torque. Power at the push of a button. The engine with proper care is everybit as reliable as the 12v. I love them both.

Somebody said "gutless 24v"...that is hilarious.
12v 160hp 400ft pounds
24v 5.9 235 hp and 460 foot pounds of torque.
75 hp and 60 foot pounds of torque. Yep ...gutless.
H.O 24v 5.9??? 245hp and 505 foot pounds.

Dad has a 24v from 2001.5. It has gotten low 17's to 18 ish mpg pulling a trailer. Highway 22. My friends PowerStroke gets 14.

I know that lots of the newer Duramax trucks have injector issues. When they go out, the dealer fix is around $5k.

Cat engines are good but in the lighter diesel truck range, "if you ain't got a Cummins, you ain't got s**t!!"