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Cummins, Duramax, Powerstoke?

Which Diesel is best?

  • Cummins

    Votes: 106 45.7%
  • Duramax

    Votes: 65 28.0%
  • Powerstroke

    Votes: 16 6.9%
  • CAT

    Votes: 31 13.4%
  • Detriot

    Votes: 12 5.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 2 0.9%

  • Total voters
    232

BIGCHEVY4X

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Mar 16, 2005
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Location
El Cajon, CA
I am curently running a GM 6.2 in my truck but later want to upragde to a Cummins. I wanted to see what you guys thought about the new diesels. Ive heard the Duramax and powertoke were only made to go 150K whiel the Cummins can push 500K with routien maintance. Cummins is a heavy duty power source and is used in all sorts of applications and has been prove to work and to last. Also with it being inline it is easier to work on. I dont know how they compare in proformance though. What is your opion?
 
Depends on application. Detroits are used the most in OTR rigs followed by CAT then Cummins. All three diesels for light trucks break down like this :
Powersmoke = 250,000 mile plus life
Duramax = 300,000 mile plus life
Cummins = 300,000 miles plus life

At least that's what I 've seen
 
i like the newer cummins... 600 ft lbs at 1200 rpm with 300k+ reliability is flat out bad ass.

j
 
The D-max should be a 300K mile motor, but i dont think anyone can say that it is yet. Seeing as how the D-max has only been arround for a few years, there have been very few to make it even past 200K miles. Not because of problems, but because they haveant been on the road long enough. Nobody knows what that motor is capable of lasting, simply because its still to new. Powerstroke's have been arround longer than the D-max and there are WAY more of them on the road, mainly because of fleet vehicles. With routine maintinence they easily make it to 300K(Im talking about the 7.3, again 6.0's are to new to really judge)

All are good motors, and all have their advantages and dissadvantages. Keep them maintained and all 3 should make 300K without to much of a problem, so long as they arent abused the whole time.
 
joez said:
Powerstroke's have been arround longer than the D-max and there are WAY more of them on the road, mainly because of fleet vehicles. With routine maintinence they easily make it to 300K(Im talking about the 7.3, again 6.0's are to new to really judge)

i think the current PS is in the same catagory as the duramax, in fact the current duramax design has been around longer than the current PS design if I'm not mistaken.

j
 
Thats why i put that little tidbit in parenthasis in there ;)

Although to get technical, there are a lot more 6.0's on the road than D-max's. But International doesnt call them powerstrokes, they call them VT365's. They get used hard, and are proving to be a good medium duty motor.
 
CAT is the best, but you cannot get one of those in a passenger truck (at least any passenger truck that I am familiar with).
 
89GMCSuburban said:
Detroits are used the most in OTR rigs followed by CAT then Cummins.


I think that Detroit is the first most used in OTR trucks, followed closely by Cummins, and then Cat. In my driving history I have only drove 2 trucks with Cats, but over 2 dozen with a Detroit or Cummins. I don't know of any major fleet operation that uses Cat engines either because of the higher cost of maintenance and the need for a rebuild sooner than a Detroit or a Cummins. Simply put - on average, a Detroit or Cummins WILL outlast a Cat when used in an OTR truck.
 
think that Detroit is the first most used in OTR trucks, followed closely by Cummins, and then Cat. In my driving history I have only drove 2 trucks with Cats, but over 2 dozen with a Detroit or Cummins. I don't know of any major fleet operation that uses Cat engines either because of the higher cost of maintenance and the need for a rebuild sooner than a Detroit or a Cummins. Simply put - on average, a Detroit or Cummins WILL outlast a Cat when used in an OTR truck.

I have a few years experiance OTR, and what you say is mostly true, but from my experience, the main reason for CAT engines not being used in fleets is because CAT engines are expensive high quality engines (which also comes with a big price tag for repair when needed, but not anymore often then the detroit). Detroits are the best alternative to a lower initial cost and still have quality.

The ultimate big rig would be a long nose Mormon or Western Star with a CAT engine, but I would settle for a Freightliner Classic with a Detroit.
 
jekbrown said:
i like the newer cummins... 610 ft lbs at 1600 rpm with 300k+ reliability is flat out bad ass.

j

fixed it for ya....

i love mine. no problems with the motor... trcuk on the other hand... dang dodge gets on my nevers now and then. no problems with it, just little things here and there.
Grant
 
For whats available today in a light pickup.....Cummins for sure. The best diesel out there...JOHN DEERE. JD makes the best engines period! Supposedly JD helped design the Series 60 Detroit motor, which is the best in OTR and is now a legend in the OTR motor world. I've owned and operated a lot of diesel engines and JD's are the best I've seen.
 
I have had 3 powerstrokes in the past all were the 7.3
I think Ford is the way to go. Most of my buddys have Diesel trucks
I can tow the passes here in colorado at 65-75 mph loaded 3k camper in the bed
18ft dovetail trailer w/k5.
My buddy with the Cummings is just as strong as my PS.
On the other hand we have a buddy with a Dmax and damm that thing is slow
and has a hard time pulling the load on any hills. He thought it was just a lemon of a truck so he traded it in and bought another Dmax same thing as the first.

So I think all of the three big trucks out there you cant go wrong all should last
300k if taken care of. It just depends on what body style you like the most.

Then agine my .02 worth
 
rjfguitar said:
For whats available today in a light pickup.....Cummins for sure. The best diesel out there...JOHN DEERE. JD makes the best engines period! Supposedly JD helped design the Series 60 Detroit motor, which is the cheapest in OTR and is now the most common in the OTR motor world. I've owned and operated a lot of diesel engines and JD's are the best I've seen.

Fixed it for ya. :)
 
On rolled in yesterday. 1.5 million miles on a series 60, of course it had some rebuilds.
The main problem with Detroits is the damn fuel line heading to the back of the cylinder head. They all are routed poorly and tend to leak. We get one every day with a fuel leak.
 
I dont know how many miles my current 6.2 has becuase i bought it seperate from a vehical, but the original 6.2 had 280K and ran beautifuly untill the idiot overheated it and blew the heads
 
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