Diesel Pickup

[Len Silva]

I know this should probably be OT, but please leave it here for a day or two.

I have been driving a Dodge/Cummins pickup since I bought it in 1990, and it now has well over 400K on it.  Still runs great and has been extremely reliable.

I now have the possibility of a new gig where I would need to pull an 8-10K trailer all around the southeast and may be looking for a new truck.

I would lean to the Dodge/Cummins just because I have had such a good experience with it.

I have a general negative attitude about the Ford Diesel as having some serious and expensive maintenance issues.

Don't know anything about the Chevy.

Looking for any advice from those who have recent experience with any of these trucks.

Thanks,

Len

[rampeyboy]

I work for a GM dealer, and the biggest issue I have with the duramax is the recommended interval for changing fuel filters is relatively frequent 15000 miles I think. If you don't keep the water out of the fuel, it can corrode the injectors which are under extreme fuel pressure. I believe the injectors are around $700 each, and most TSB's recommend changing them all if one has an issue. Injector pumps and rails also are quite expensive and labor intensive to change. If you never have a problem they are great engines, but if the injector pump has an internal failure, the cost to replace it the rails and injectors can be $5000+ easily. We honestly don't get that many in the shop, but when we do, it's usually very expensive. Of course this being all relative as I am more accustomed to what gas engines cost to repair, and cannot comment on Dodge vs Ford vs GMC diesels in terms of repair costs. I only know what I've seen at my job..Plus I am pretty old school, and don't care much for all of the electronic engine controls.....

Boyce

[Eagle]

www.thedieselstop.com/forums/

Len you may want to go to the above link for some info on the Ford Diesel

JCB

[Bill in KS]

I drive an 03 Dodge w/ cummins.  Have 261,000 miles. 1st year for the common rail system and  I love how quiet idles/runs. the truck was treated pretty bad before I bought it at 189,000 miles.  I installed an edge juice w/ att. kit and generally run at level 3.  I love driving the truck and love the fuel mileage.  My EGT's run cooler than my friends Duramax w/the same edge kit.  My truck doesn't rev as quick as the duramax but once I get the RPM's up and turbo pressure built his duramax has trouble running with me ( both pulling 32' gooseneck trailers/ equal loads).  I have a friend with the older 12V cummins and after he rode with me pulling my 32' trailer he bought a newer dodge with the common rail a couple months later.  I could go on and on.......... I'd be happy to visit with ya about the few quirks of the newer common rail 5.9 engines.

Bill in KS

[bobofthenorth]

I'm pretty much in love with Powerstrokes myself and TheDieselStop is definitely the place to go to learn about them.  My last Powersmoke was a 2001 7.3 - after that they got into the 6 litres and I bought the Exploder so I haven't owned a diesel pickup for 5 years or so.  I think they eventually got the bugs worked out of the 6 litre but the early ones were a bear and I don't understand why they ever dropped a workhorse like the 7.3  I actually still have one 7.3 in the cubevan - its got about a million miles on it, is completely wore out, takes a wee sniff of go-juice to get it lit up 1st thing in the AM and I expect it will easily run another 100k trouble free which is about 98k more than we will put on it.

I know the guy who owns Van-X which is an RV hauling company based in Saskatoon.  They hire owner-operators to drag trailers from Elkhart into Sask & Alberta.  He says that his guys start out with all brands but the long term guys end up driving Dodges.  Personally I always thought driving a Dodge was like peeing yourself on a cold night - it might feel good at first but you don't want anybody to see you do it and it gets old quick.  YMMV

[busnut104]

Just keep driving the Dodge, Many go over 800,000. If you need a little more power have a few changes made, can easily get 300 hp at a very minimal expense. 

[zubzub]

My brother  has a 2004 Dodge diesel with manual , says he likes it alot, has not had any problems, and seems to get good economy when hauling on the highway.

[jackhartjr]

I LOVE my 07 Classic Duramax.  Have 150,000 on it with only a rear axle seal that went out.
I get about 18 to 20MPG driving it at 65 or so highway.
Towing a 7,000 pound camper at 65MPH gets 9 to 12MPG.
Towing a trailer with about 7,000 with no wind resistance gets about 15 to 18MPG at 65MPH.
Jack

[artvonne]

  I would only buy a cummins or IH powered pickup. I like old GM Busses, but thats about it. Dodge and Ford were smart not to screw around trying to make their own diesel and use commercial quality engines.

  I needed a small dump truck and was looking at about any 1 ton dually I could build on including GM. Local guy had a 95 Chevy diesel with under 100K I could have bought cheap, but it had major engine probs and the cost to repair it was mega dollars, more than the truck was worth. And it was the second time it failed on him. Ive seen a few others withe ngine probs, sorry, they just forgot how to build stuff that works well and that is unacceptable. I like Fords, so I just bought another old 7.3 IDI dually. Ive owned a few with over 500K miles cranked over on them. If youve been able to crank 400K miles onto your Dodge over 20 years of ownership, and you still like it, it has obviously treated you very, very well. You just cant knock what works.  Id probably buy a Dodge diesel, but I can buy two old Fords for the price of a Dodge, and im too cheap, lol. Just one mans opinion, YMMV.

[busnut104]

You will have to go a long ways to beat the cummins. Just lift the hood on a Ford or Chevy. No room it looks like you would have to remove the fenders or cab to do any work. This all takes time and if you do need anything done time is money. You will have a hard time finding a cummins in the bone yard. the farmers buy them up and put them in there tractors. A lot of Construction Equipment is running this eng. Esp Case. they are pretty water down from the factory, I have a 98 3500 std tran. pushing 350 hp. This is a dully  my work truck, lots of power, just love it would do it again if this one ever wears out.

[belfert]

The Dodge engine is nice.  The problem is everything around the engine.  I bought a new 2003 Dodge dually and hated it.  The doors literally flexed in and out causing terrible wind noise.  The rear seat was a joke for anybody over the age of 10.  Now, I believe Dodge has addressed some of these issues in newer models.

Ford killed the 7.3 diesel as it didn't meet 2003 or 2004 emissions.

[John316]

You won't be able to be the quality and reliability of a Duramax and Allison combination.

That said, I love my 2000 Ford F250, International 7.3, with a standard tranny. Stay away from the 04-05 Fords. They have had terrible issues with those engines.

FWIW

God bless,

John

[RoyJ]

I would try to stay away from any of the 07 - 10 diesels; they take the hardest hit from emissions requirements.

First, they use heavy amounts of EGR to combat Nox levels, which puts tremendous stress on the DPF. To clean out DPF, they then rely on heavy amounts of regen, which lowers their mpg considerably. To make these engines run good, you pretty much have to do a DPF and EGR delete (don't feel bad, even then it's 10 times cleaner than a 2 stroke).

I'm a big Cummins fan myself, and even plan on repowering my 35' Prevost with it one day (6.7 Cummins with 6spd auto). I would suggest a 5.9 however, if you don't like to tinker with the emmissions crap. The only thing I don't like is the wide ratio 4 speed auto, which hurts performance. I'd get the 6 spd NV5600 or G56.

[James77MCI8]

Isn't the Duramax an Isuzu with a bowtie?

[Mex-Busnut]

I do not have a diesel pickup, but we do have a 1992 Ford B700 school bus equipped with a 5.9L ISB Cummins engine. It is the one the Dodge pickup's diesel is based on.  It is a real workhorse, very dependable. I have heard many good reports about this engine in the Dodges. And their appears to be a huge market of after-market options for them. Just check it out on Ebay.