Buying broken trucks off Marketplace is an addiction, especially when they’re cheap diesel trucks. The guys at JH Diesel and 4×4 are back at it again, picking up another questionable find while also putting the final, final touches on their big giveaway truck.

Finishing the Giveaway Build Right

So, the giveaway contest for the first-gen Cummins swap is over, but the truck itself? Still getting worked on. Turns out, there were a few paint flaws they couldn’t ignore, so the whole thing is getting a fresh spray job at Justin’s friend. They pulled the bed off first so the painter could get everything perfect, including the back of the cab. While that was happening, Justin even fabbed up a cool custom front valance. They’re dead set on making this thing absolutely mint for whoever wins it.

Fixing Cheap Diesel Trucks

While the good truck was getting painted, they couldn’t resist grabbing another bargain: a beat-up 6.0-liter Power Stroke F-250 for just $2,000. The plan was always to yank the drivetrain, but first, they had to see if it even ran right. The seller wasn’t kidding about the transmission slipping – the reverse was totally shot. Justin pulled the pan, took one whiff of the burnt fluid, and confirmed the direct clutches were toast. No big deal, though; they had a spare 5R110 transmission sitting around from an old project and slapped it in, along with a working transfer case.

Send It, Break It, Weld It

With the truck moving under its own power again, the next logical step was obvious: weld the rear differential. Why? Because one-wheel peels are lame. Justin laid down some serious beads, creating the infamous HTP Locker. After that, it was burnout time to test the welds (and destroy the tires). The truck ripped surprisingly hard, proving someone had put a tune on it. Then, they hit the dirt track for some jumps, because why not?

Finding the Inevitable 6.0-liter Problem

The jumping part went okay, until it didn’t. After one particularly hard landing, the truck started puking coolant out of the degas bottle – the classic sign of a blown head gasket on a 6.0-liter. Justin wasn’t too surprised, he said, “Might as well blow it up now.” Even with the popped gasket, the $2,000 investment paid off. They’ll pull the motor and transmission for another project, but not before lining it up against their L5P Duramax donor truck for a tug-of-war and maybe some dirt drags.