Cummins, Duramax, Powerstoke?

[big_truxx]

this should not even be a question peopel just do not see cat enough since its not in their pckups wait till i get aswap done in a couple years. then everyone who sees it will want a cat in their truck

 

[i8yrsuv]

For a pickup, I think cummins has the best bang for the buck. Dodge trucks on the other hand, suck. They're the only diesel I've heard of being swappped into another brand. Guy named DWitcher over on Towrig would be good to talk to. He might be on here too.

There is nothing wrong with Dodge trucks !!! The reason I even looked at Dodge ,like alot of other peoples,was the Cummins !!! My Dodge drives like a car and some times I forget its a 9500 lb truck .My Dodge even drives nicer the the 'burb.
Alot of Cummins get over 20 mpg,in this day with fuel almost 3.00 a gallon that is a good thing. Our burb is like 8-10 mpg and the extra fuel cost would help support the new payments on a Dodge 4 dr truck as well a business tax deduction !!!

 

[jmd4x4]

To upgrade for your truck I would say put a cummings in it. It is the best engine to make power with, a friend of mine has one that makes 500 HP. I personlay own a 96 powerstroke with 200,000k. If you want to use a powerstroke use one from 99 or newer, they make more HP. Dont even bother with the ford 6.0 engine, thay are having to many problems with it and ford is changing it in 07 with a 6.4 liter.

hope this helps

jmd

 

[wasted wages]

just a few notes,,,

Cummins is leading the pole right now with 42 %,
seems like most of the posts for the duratrash and the powersmoke are people defending problems with each,,,

Cummins is number 1 in my book for simplicity and long life and fewest problems,,Cummins, NV 6 speed and Dana rear axle,,,damn hard combo to beat,,
And the Dodge wrapped around it ain't to bad either,,

 

[rjfguitar]

There is nothing wrong with Dodge trucks !!! The reason I even looked at Dodge ,like alot of other peoples,was the Cummins !!! My Dodge drives like a car and some times I forget its a 9500 lb truck .My Dodge even drives nicer the the 'burb.
Alot of Cummins get over 20 mpg,in this day with fuel almost 3.00 a gallon that is a good thing. Our burb is like 8-10 mpg and the extra fuel cost would help support the new payments on a Dodge 4 dr truck as well a business tax deduction !!!

Ditto, I bought my '01 because I wanted a Cummins....but dang...nice trucks. I love mine, beautifull black leather interior and I think the Sports are some of the best looking trucks around.

 

[rjfguitar]

It's a 95 powerstroke 11 years old made in October of 04, stock numbers were 250HP and 325LBft tourge. They are newer and suppoed to be better.

Your numbers are off. Ford's numbers for that engine is 210HP and 425ft lbs. Just because your engine is older doesn't mean anything when you are chipped up. They may have 30-40HP and 80 ft lbs over you in stock form but with the chips you are getting that 50HP and at least another 100 ft lbs, probably more like 125. No wonder you can outpull them.

Yes the new engines are better but power is power.

 

[Stoner42]

Dodges do have the same injector problems as the chevy - the injectors are very similar (I work at a dodge dealership- we see them and injector pumps every day) Second I will agree that JD uses very good engines, but you must realize that most engines are not JD (my dad has worked at a JD dealership for 30+ years and most of the engines are cummins)

 

[DavidB]

There is nothing wrong with Dodge trucks !!! The reason I even looked at Dodge ,like alot of other peoples,was the Cummins !!! My Dodge drives like a car and some times I forget its a 9500 lb truck .My Dodge even drives nicer the the 'burb.
Alot of Cummins get over 20 mpg,in this day with fuel almost 3.00 a gallon that is a good thing. Our burb is like 8-10 mpg and the extra fuel cost would help support the new payments on a Dodge 4 dr truck as well a business tax deduction !!!

OK, ok, I was too general. They are good-looking, they do ride/handle good. But FORGET using them for a 4x4. Always out of alignment, always replacing steering parts, dinky axle shafts, unreliable CAD, front axle/suspension is a joke for simplicity and durability. Auto trans isn't very durable either. I hate everything from the frame down in the front.

 

[HillJackCustoms]

I live in elkhart indiana.. THe capital of campers and rv crap... I see toiters everyday driving... Now-a-days, they are all the same... Local truck stop we always here the mileages of vehicles... Im a big Duramax fan but if you wanna motor thats gonna run forever with great fuel mileage... Cummins would be the way to go... 3 kids in my area have put them in their vehicles 2 silverados and 1 avalanche....

 

[big_truxx]

i like the newer cummins... 600 ft lbs at 1200 rpm with 300k+ reliability is flat out bad ass.

j

wtf? like a CAT 3116 will not meet or eagerly beat those parameters....

 

[89GMCSuburban]

Yeah, now lets go find one in a light truck...

Transwest here does swaps with a CAT C7, but I have yet to hear what GMC trucks they put it in...

 

[79chevyk10]

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.

I have personally seen several duramax's with 300k and still running like new.
Granted they are not on the original set of injectors, but from what I hear from the Ford tech's next door to my shop is that the Powerstroke also have injector problems. My vote is D-max, even thought it is an Isuzu motor (now built by GM after mid 04) I still gotta stick with GM, plus they got some POWER.

 

[rjfguitar]

OK, ok, I was too general. They are good-looking, they do ride/handle good. But FORGET using them for a 4x4. Always out of alignment, always replacing steering parts, dinky axle shafts, unreliable CAD, front axle/suspension is a joke for simplicity and durability. Auto trans isn't very durable either. I hate everything from the frame down in the front.

About the only thing you DO know about Dodges is that they are good looking trucks.

They are about the best trucks for 4x4 use besides the Ford. Alignment? It's a D60, Mine is perfect. I've put 8K on my new tires and they don't even have a hint of needing rotated.
What steering parts are always needed to be replaced? The CAD system is fine as long as it's changed over time. The liitle piston that slides gets warn out, no big deal, just needs to be changed every few years or 125K or so depending on how much you use it. I'll wrap up "dinky axles shafts" and unreliable front axle in one. It's a D60! Ask a guy that actually HAS a Dodge diesel 4x4 if he's had any strength issues up front. He'll probably say no. They are plenty strong and have proven that at the pulls and strip. The front suspension is pretty darned sweet...big azz coils up front with a 4 link setup. Rides nice and is plenty strong, not to mention it steers sharper. The only badly designed suspension part is the track bar. 2nd gens like to wander a little from it's weak design, but 3rd gens have better design and work great.

The trannies are fine. The 47RE has a bad rep because the Cummins is such a potent and super easily upgraded power plant. Well DUH 800ft lbs would shred one. Under stock power levels and normal trailer loads they are fine. It's like the Th700R4 thing, generally a person that doesn't know anything about them but knows their general rep will say they are junk, which isn't the truth, especially because they haven't owned one. The Allison can't be compared to the Dodge auto, it's overly built for stock conditions and can withstand higher than stock power and loads. But...They can't handle big power stock either.

 

[rjfguitar]

What the heck...how does an old thread get resurected when no one made a post....

The last post was in August of last year by me... Thats weird.

 

[TexasA&Mblazer]

Someone voted.

 

[1967k10]

FYI there are D-Max's out there with 450-500k . D-Max is the best overall way to go.The CTD will last longer under most circumstances. I'm very happy with my D-Max 6spd. I have always wanted to try a CTD out for a couple months because I believe it has better lugging ability but I don't like the interior at all.

 

[blackblazer717]

i rock a 01 cummins dodge every day for my DD hell yes. i vote cummins all day!!!

LUKE

 

[Pookster]

Lol, I still like old IDI diesels. They seem to last 300k easy as well. Granted, the've got 1/4th the power, they get great mileage, operates with just about any type of fuel you can find (motor oil, kerosene, JP8, vegetable oil, etc), and no electronics to malfunction.

 

[Cornfield creations]

I really like cummins, don't care much for dodge trucks, the trucks wear out before the engine. Duramax's are good engine, huge power gains just by reprogramming. As far as the cummins 600, I know of 3 people that have them, pesonal friends, and out of those 3, all of them are having issues. I know the one is because he cut the cat off of the exhaust, and now he has backfiring issues, the other one has gone through 3 or 4 fuel rails and a couple other issues, and the other one says it won't start sometimes, even when its good and warm and he drives 40 minutes to work, shut it off, and tries starting it, it won't start. Overall I would still say cummins are awesome. They have been around so long and have the experience.

 

[Teamstatic2001]

I gotta go with the cummins, anyone else heard of the steering system on the d-maxs being weak as hell, I've personally seen 3 with bent rod ends, one was do to a cummins in a pull when the front of the truck came off the ground and came back down the rod end snaped and had to be towed off, also the d-maxs and cv's where the dodge has a d60