Whole truck sputters shakes when going up a hill

It could be multiple things. The easiest I would start with is the spark plugs and spark plug wires. If they are bad it will cause a misfire in the motor which would cause shaking. They are fairly cheap and easy to replace. It could also be a plugged fuel filter, a weak fuel pump, bad distributor cap, these are just a few things to check out. It's hard to tell what it is without actually being there. But here are the basic rules, no compression, no fuel, no spark, no start.

Look for a vacuum leak.

could be it just needs a tune up

Sounds like one of the coil over plugs have gone bad. this will cause mis-fire which causes your car to sputter, skip, and shake. It can be changed easily when finding out which one it is. But rather expensive for a simple part $40+ each.

Possibly the timing belt is wore out, loose, almost slipped a tooth - one of these. This missfire wouold lead me to this. When was the last time you replaced the timing belt? If it's over 80,000 miles have it done.

Well,at 180K it's going to need some work.i would start with a tune-up (spark plugs,wires,fuel and air filters. Maybe a bottle of Techron injector cleaner in the fuel tank. See how it runs,,,,go from there. I always say,"do the easy stuff first"

I would try to replace your spark plugs, and spark plug wires, My 88 Vic did the same thing...now it runs like a champ....you could also try fuel injector cleaner.

spark plugs wires needs complete tune up also synthetic oil change not designed to run on regular oil then check bearings

the catalytic converter could be startin to plug up. check the air filter and that you have all the plug wires on the right plugs

Hello;
The problem is most likely break down of the spark plug wires. The demands on the spark during acceleration and load destroy the wires as they age. I would start there. Hope this helps.
Thanks;
Rich
RPM Northwest