Hey y'all... hoping for some unbiased suggestions. I'm a Toyota guy. My '06 Sequoia just blew a wheel, meaning I actually did drive it until the wheels fell off, and now the upgrade I'd been considering for a long time has been thrust upon me.

I've had 5 Toyotas. The reliability is unmatched in my experience. My main mount is a 2008 Sienna with 337,000 miles and still going strong. Every Toyota I've had just keeps going and going and going. Until the wheels fall off, that is. I picked the Sequoia because, at the time, I needed 3 rows, 4x4, and decent interior capacity.

Now, I no longer need 3 rows, and I want better towing capacity. I'm looking at 1-ton pickup trucks. I know that there are Dodge/Ram guys, Ford guys, and GM guys. I'm not in any one of those camps particularly strongly, so I want unbiased opinions on which truck is the best for my situation.

For starters, I need full crew cab, 8' long bed, and 4x4. I also need 9,000 lbs minimum tow capacity but would like to have a good bit more - 15,000 would be more than I'd ever need unless I get one of those cool three-car trailers. I'm not set on single rear wheel or dually - will consider both. I also want something that's easy to work on myself, where parts are readily available and not terribly expensive. I'm not a trained mechanic, but I can hold my own with backyard wrenchers. I would consider a 3/4 ton model if it could do what I wanted. Oh, and NO RUST. I can deal with a bit of surface rust on the undercarriage here and there, but none of that Northeast rust. (I live in the Northeast and will travel anywhere to get the right truck. I undercoat my vehicles and it seems that very few people do that around here. Everything affordable is a rust bucket.)

For my backstory, I have owned the following heavy duty trucks:

-1996 C3500 Silverado 6.5 turbo diesel single rear wheel: This was a decent truck. Had it from 142K to 217K miles. Got good fuel economy, pretty gutless above 60mph, had to deal with the injection pump and pump mounted driver mess once. I feel like I would get another one of these, though everyone says that newer models are greatly improved over this one. I liked the cabin room and comfort in this truck.

-1996 F-Super Duty Class C RV w/7.3 Power Stroke turbo diesel: For as much as people venerate the 7.3, my experience with it was quite poor. I had it from 62K to 74K miles, and in there, the cam sensor went out (got stranded), the high pressure oil pump went out, and it started smoking out the tailpipe and drinking about a quart of oil every 100 miles. Plus, it also seemed rather gutless, though to its credit it was always pulling about 14,000 pounds. However, if I am going to pull at least that much weight between the truck and my load, I'd rather not have a "gutless" engine. I recognize that I may just have been unlucky, but I'm wary of Power Stroke for that reason. (And I heard that the 6.0 sucks, the 6.4 was only marginally better, and Ford only stepped it up with the 6.7.)

I haven't owned any modern Chrysler products, and everyone rips on Chrysler/Dodge/Ram as being crap. But I did own three 1980's Mopars and my parents had another one... they stand out in my mind as being very reliable. So, I'm not automatically in the "Mopar is crap" camp. A friend had a 2009 Ram 1500 and said she'd never get another Ram. But Ram has the Cummins engine.

I want something reliable, that will keep going and going and going like a Toyota. Extra credit if it is tolerant of poor maintenance, because I'm going to be buying something used, and chances are very high that it will not come with every service record from the time it was new. Historically, I have bought cheap used vehicles that have low mileage and are cheap because they're old. I don't like losing money to depreciation. But, one of the new vehicles I did buy, I kept up with the maintenance, and it didn't need a major repair until 216,000 miles. (Yes, it was a Toyota.)

I can drive stick and frankly, I love it. But my wife would have to use the truck occasionally too, and she can only drive stick going forwards. (I have told her that she should learn how to do it in reverse.)

I am not currently considering any makes other than Ford, Chevy/GMC, and Dodge/Ram because no other makes have a truck with a full crew cab and an 8' bed. The Toyota Tundra only offers an 8' bed in a standard cab and an extended cab.

I'd also be leery of any Dodge/Ram prior to the 2010 model year, as Dodge didn't have a real crew cab for its heavy duty trucks from 1994-2002, and from 2003-2009 the offered crew cabs were noticeably smaller than the crew cabs offered by GM and Ford. The Ram crew cab only became full size for heavy duty trucks in 2010, and with how tall everyone in my family is, we need that full crew cab.

I intend to use the truck for towing, perhaps anything and everything. Car trailer, enclosed trailer, firewood, travel trailer, 5th wheel, etc. I'm open to gasoline or diesel engines. I don't care what transmission I get as long as it's as close to indestructible as possible.

If you can humor me, I'm interested in knowing: If this were your situation, and you had a budget of $10,000, what would you buy and why? Suppose you bumped the budget to $20,000 - what then would you buy, and why?

(Please, don't tell me that some brand sucks without explaining why. Every one of the Big Three says they make the most reliable, longest-lasting trucks. Only one can truly lay claim to that, and none of my research has yielded a conclusive answer. I've owned some well-regarded vehicles that sucked for me, and some vehicles considered trash that were fine for me. My mind is open. Let's rock.)