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If you were to buy a diesel truck which one and why?

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2GFWDbeast

2GFWDbeast

10+ Year Contributor
1,094
11
Jan 17, 2010
kenosha, Wisconsin
Kinda thinking about looking into getting a diesel truck. Would like peoples opinions. My Friend who is a diesel mechanic for a dealership tells me i should go with a dodge because of its beastly inline 6. I was also looking into getting a banks power kit to. The only thing i would be towing is a 20ft ski boat.
 
I worked on oil rigs, our company had a fleet of diesel trucks. I have driven about 20+ of them (all being duallys and '09+) of my opinion I would get either a duramax or a cummins. Fords were all junk. They ALL had problems. Motors, turbos, exhausts, transmissions, Everything. Duramax has more power and more comfortable. I personally liked the cummins though, even though the seats always ripped. Lol.
 
Cummins. Id rather be cummin than strokin! But no, IMO, dodge is the way to go. It is a beastly inline 6, and is a power horse basically. Has great reviews, and last's long.
 
99-03 7.3L Powerstroke.

Why you may ask? Duramax's may be quick but the rest of the truck can't handle any kind of a load, and they are best if you only like city driving a diesel; Dodge's have the Cummins which in every way is the superior engine of the three, but the tranny and driveline is pathetically weak. The 7.3L, while not as powerful as the others, is still plenty powerful, and is almost as reliable as a Cummins, and the simple fact that Ford has the toughest drivetrain and suspension.

The Cummins swapped Powerstrokes are the ultimate truck, but I never see them for sale (because who would?).
 
Cummins for sure.. The new Rams look sick.
 
Last edited:
The only diesel I've had experience with is my dad's '01 F-350. Bought it in '02 and it's had a few issues. We aren't overly rough with it, we don't strain it or overload it, and we do all the recommended maintenance.

The tranny (the OE Allison) failed right around 65k miles. It went out in the middle of a cross country move, so the dealership set us back $4000.
The accelerator pedal assembly failed on us. We replaced it with the "improved" model, it failed a year later.
Lastly, one of the leaf spring brackets split and caused us a headache.

It's performed well and does it's job, but at 130k, we're waiting for the next major issue. Maybe it's just bad luck.

The rumor among my friend's circle is that Cummins are the way to go.
 
Id vote the dodge with the cummins. The cummings is an incredible engine, seem to have no end to them. Dodge drivetrain isnt very good tho. Duramax is ok and the allison tranny is the part i like about it tho. My vote is for the Cummins.
 
Duramax. Super tough motor and transmission. The quality of the rest of the truck is great as well.

Fords 6.0 powerstroke is actually supposed to be a pretty decent motor once you upgrade the head gaskets, put head studs in, an aftermarket egr cooler or block it off, and a few other things. The 7.3 was reliable but doesn't have as much power as the rest. And the automatic transmissions are weak on both.

The Cummins is an amazing motor but the drivetrain and quality of pretty much everything else on the Dodges sucks.

PieEyedPiper said:
Have you done any research on this new setup?
Click to expand...

Its an F150 though. It competes on a complete different level.
 
slow4g6392tsi said:
Duramax. Super tough motor and transmission. The quality of the rest of the truck is great as well.

Fords 6.0 powerstroke is actually supposed to be a pretty decent motor once you upgrade the head gaskets, put head studs in, an aftermarket egr cooler or block it off, and a few other things. The 7.3 was reliable but doesn't have as much power as the rest. And the automatic transmissions are weak on both.

The Cummins is an amazing motor but the drivetrain and quality of pretty much everything else on the Dodges sucks.



Its an F150 though. It competes on a complete different level.
Click to expand...
Very true. What are we towing, exactly?

EDIT: Hah, a 20ft. ski boat?! If I picked up a duramax or some monstrous decaliter sized truck to haul that, well... yeah.
 
Late 90's cummins. My buddy has one with 320,000 miles on it that's still going strong. It's got a 5 inch straight pipe on it too. Sounds pretty badass. I'd kill to own one.
 
PieEyedPiper said:
Have you done any research on this new setup? That statement leads me to believe you've not. And if you have, there's no way your conclusion ought to be so cut and dry.

Besides, just stating the truck that I'd purchase.
Click to expand...

I'm not dogging the new setup. It's actually very impressive, but it's in a different weight class.

360hp/350tq vs 300+hp/600+tq

The D-max has 2x the torque. I doubt the ford v6 will be dominating anything compared to that
 
For reliability and power... go old school with the 12v cummins, it just cant be beat, they are million mile motors and proven in that!!!

And those new turbo FORDS ARE GARBAGE, they make the same power as the v8's and get like a mpg better when using them for the purpose of a truck... if you want gas milage... dont drive a truck!!!
 
I too have been researching diesels for the past couple of months, originally I was stuck on the 7.3s and the cummins motors, because the 7.3 are touted to be the million mile motor nd the cummins are just known to work and they also get better gas mileage then the fords which is my big thing because I have a gas V8 that gets 14-16 mpg on the highway when these diesels are clearings 20's. I have no personal experience with one though, but from a lot of reading it seems all the trucks have different advantages and disadvantages, like for eample the 6.0s and the 6.4s from Ford require a couple of aftermarket parts to make them reliable and if you want to do any work yourself on the motor other then simple thing like the intake and exhaust the cab is coming off, but if your looking for stupid power they can do it. Cummins I honestly haven't read about a lot of problems with them, they accept mods well, and can tow pretty much whatever you throw at them, but the transmission is a weak link, at least you need a tranny cooler or better yet a built tranny if your looking to add more then 100hp and tow a heavy load. The duramaxes have the dread injector issue where if one goes out your paying a nice chunk of money to get it replaced, but they have the allison, which ones again requires a larger cooler if you are doing a lot of towing, but the gas mileage is there and another power best with some of the best tuning devices on the market available for it.
 
Cummins is the superior motor, this is a well know fact in the Diesel world. The drivetrain has been a weak part for the Ram in the past but with the new 6.7 engines they come with Allison transmisions in them. Im suprised no one has mentioned this. Now you have the best setup.
 
Given my choice, I would have a Cummins mated to an Allison and drop it all in an F350 :) Best motor+best trans+best chassis=WIN. It's been done a bunch.....check out Destroked.com.

The company I plow snow for has a bunch of Powerstrokes and the old 7.3 is the best of them all IMO. I wouldn't touch a 6.0PS with a 20ft pole. We've had trans issues in 2 of them and our F550 dump has had the motor replaced twice in under 25k miles. The first motor failed with only 9k on it :(
 
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