I don't own any but have driven all late models enough to know what I liked the most. I would say the GMC with the LBZ engine and 6-speed Allison was the most impressive! The Dodge was pretty nice also as I like that real truck feeling Cummins and 6-spd manual combo. The Ford truck itself drove well but the turbo lag was horrible, it really needed to rev up to get cracking and well the 6.0 has such a bad history I wouldn't even try that. GMC LBZ with the 6-spd Allison or the Dodge Cummins with the 6-spd manual would be my choice.
To all of the light pickup owners. Why did u choose your PSD, Cummins, or Duramax?
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I've spent some time looking at the Cummins, Duramax, and Powerstroke forums. First of all, I think most people are not having trouble and are happy with their respective purchase. When you get a few hundred or even a few thousand people complaining about a product where there are hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers~ atleast not posting complaints, that's pretty low wear numbers if you ask me.
Seems more people who post about complaints are coming from the Powerstroke sites, namely the 6.0 The 7.3 seems to have a very good reputation. On the Duramax sites I've seen, most people are happy with their truck, and especially the 3rd gen LBZ with the six speed Allison. Seems fuel milage is the biggest complaint with the Duramax guys. The Allison seems to be a great tranny, but the cost of repair is sky high. The Cummins guys are very happy ' usually ' with their straight six, but the rest of the truck falls short sometimes. The Cummins auto tranny is about as good as the Allison according to some tranny guru's, and a lot cheaper to fix when it breaks.
There is a loyal following with each of the big three diesels. It depends a lot I think how well matched the truck is to the guys needs. I personally prefer a non V-8 diesel such as the Cummins. If I needed a diesel truck, I would drive all three and make a decision based on each of their merits.
Seems more people who post about complaints are coming from the Powerstroke sites, namely the 6.0 The 7.3 seems to have a very good reputation. On the Duramax sites I've seen, most people are happy with their truck, and especially the 3rd gen LBZ with the six speed Allison. Seems fuel milage is the biggest complaint with the Duramax guys. The Allison seems to be a great tranny, but the cost of repair is sky high. The Cummins guys are very happy ' usually ' with their straight six, but the rest of the truck falls short sometimes. The Cummins auto tranny is about as good as the Allison according to some tranny guru's, and a lot cheaper to fix when it breaks.
There is a loyal following with each of the big three diesels. It depends a lot I think how well matched the truck is to the guys needs. I personally prefer a non V-8 diesel such as the Cummins. If I needed a diesel truck, I would drive all three and make a decision based on each of their merits.
You've got an excellent point.
Chip mods from what I believe can do nothing but shorten the life on the engine, trans, and drivetrain. I can't believe that a stock Cummins, Duramax, or Powerstroke isn't making enough horsepower and torque for peoples needs. It's just the thrill of the added hp and torque IMO.
I agree that if the engines were left stock, that there would be a fraction of the problems you now see in these trucks. With all due respect, I think that chipping is a really stupid thing to do, and I'd never buy any vehicle that had power modifications on it. I'd never chip my diesel, but that's just me.
Chip mods from what I believe can do nothing but shorten the life on the engine, trans, and drivetrain. I can't believe that a stock Cummins, Duramax, or Powerstroke isn't making enough horsepower and torque for peoples needs. It's just the thrill of the added hp and torque IMO.
I agree that if the engines were left stock, that there would be a fraction of the problems you now see in these trucks. With all due respect, I think that chipping is a really stupid thing to do, and I'd never buy any vehicle that had power modifications on it. I'd never chip my diesel, but that's just me.
Excellent points in your post. I too am impressed with the new LBZ Duramax. The only gripe I have with my truck is the turbo lag or "dead pedal" as us 6.0 owners refer to it as.
FoMoCo's diesel next year will be a 6.4L (it's a bored out 6.0 w/o all the GD electronics which is a lot of the problem with the 6.0) twin turbo setup with common rail injection. Everything I've heard and read so far says this engine will be a big winner. Ford knows that if they put another engine like the 6.0 out w/the problems that the blood trickle will turn into more of a gush.
FoMoCo's diesel next year will be a 6.4L (it's a bored out 6.0 w/o all the GD electronics which is a lot of the problem with the 6.0) twin turbo setup with common rail injection. Everything I've heard and read so far says this engine will be a big winner. Ford knows that if they put another engine like the 6.0 out w/the problems that the blood trickle will turn into more of a gush.
Your absolutely right.
The Powerstroke will be back better than ever. Right now there seems to be a big following gathering around the LBZ with the six speed.
Your absolutely right.
The Powerstroke will be back better than ever. Right now there seems to be a big following gathering around the LBZ with the six speed.
Many of the people with transmission problems are running aftermarket chips boosting horsepower and torque. When evaluating any complaints, I find it is worthwhile to find out if the vehicle is factory stock, or has been "hopped up".
Savvy,
One of the big reasons that people mod their diesels is the stupid regs that the EPA puts on diesel engines. Quicker turbo spoolup and timing advance are the big advantages of most chips.
One of the big reasons that people mod their diesels is the stupid regs that the EPA puts on diesel engines. Quicker turbo spoolup and timing advance are the big advantages of most chips.
My cousin has had both a Ford PSD 7.3 and a Dodge with the 5.9 cummins.
he has liked both, but has agreed that my uncles 2005 F350 6.0 pulls better then his dodge and his older 97 F-350.
but he is also leary on the new 6.0, says if the dodge gives him anymore serious problems (tranny dropped out)
he'll be looking for another Superduty with a 7.3
he has liked both, but has agreed that my uncles 2005 F350 6.0 pulls better then his dodge and his older 97 F-350.
but he is also leary on the new 6.0, says if the dodge gives him anymore serious problems (tranny dropped out)
he'll be looking for another Superduty with a 7.3
I bought a Dodge 3/4 ton with the Cummins. I don't need a diesel, just wanted one. When my company picked up the Chrysler purchase plan I couldn't resist. 31K for a decked out diesel truck. The reason for the Dodge decision was that the wife and I have driven Dodge/Jeep vehicles for the last 15 years with no problems. I also like the I-6 design for a diesel engine. As far as mileage I have been getting around 20 MPG. My engine oil of choice right now is Shell Rotella T. Will probably change to Red Line or Schaeffers at around 30k miles
I own a 2003 GMC Duramax/Allison, Extended Cab, Short Bed. Purchased in September of 2003, got $6K in rebates. At 36K now, with not one problem, other than klunky steering wheel. Love this truck!
Have always been a loyal GM customer, since I was 16.
Have always been a loyal GM customer, since I was 16.
I love my old '97 12 valve Cummins dually and wouldn't trade it for anything. A simple $200 modification gets me 330 HP and 750 ft lbs torque. Fuel mileage has been 23mpg empty on the highway and 17 mpg towing about 8K lbs. I recently asked a question on one of the Dodge diesel forums, "Has anyone worn one out?" Numerous comments came back about trucks with over 500K and even one with a million! A few have broken because of mods or abuse, but not one comment about wearing one out. Ford 7.3's are OK, 6.0's are a disaster. Interesting the Cummins is an extra cost option over the Powerstroke on F550's and up. GM Duramax are on their third revision. Typical GM, let the customer do the real world testing, then change everything once they get it right. With the reputation of the 5.7, 6.2 and 6.5 I think the jury is still out on the DMax until you see some serious miles on them. I understand owners of the bigger trucks like a C45 or so are not happy with the Dmax.
For oil right now I have some $3 gallon Castrol Techion and .99 a gallon Delo to use up before I worry about what else I put in. I do use the best Wix XE and Stratopore filters.
For oil right now I have some $3 gallon Castrol Techion and .99 a gallon Delo to use up before I worry about what else I put in. I do use the best Wix XE and Stratopore filters.
I love my old '97 12 valve Cummins dually and wouldn't trade it for anything. A simple $200 modification gets me 330 HP and 750 ft lbs torque. Fuel mileage has been 23mpg empty on the highway and 17 mpg towing about 8K lbs. I recently asked a question on one of the Dodge diesel forums, "Has anyone worn one out?" Numerous comments came back about trucks with over 500K and even one with a million! A few have broken because of mods or abuse, but not one comment about wearing one out. Ford 7.3's are OK, 6.0's are a disaster. Interesting the Cummins is an extra cost option over the Powerstroke on F550's and up. GM Duramax are on their third revision. Typical GM, let the customer do the real world testing, then change everything once they get it right. With the reputation of the 5.7, 6.2 and 6.5 I think the jury is still out on the DMax until you see some serious miles on them. I understand owners of the bigger trucks like a C45 or so are not happy with the Dmax.
For oil right now I have some $3 gallon Castrol Techion and .99 a gallon Delo to use up before I worry about what else I put in. I do use the best Wix XE and Stratopore filters.
For oil right now I have some $3 gallon Castrol Techion and .99 a gallon Delo to use up before I worry about what else I put in. I do use the best Wix XE and Stratopore filters.
I have always been a fan of Isuzu Engines - they have been in the Diesel Engine business for a long time. I love my Duramax!
I went with the Cummins because I like the inline-six configuration; fewer moving parts, easier to do maint. work on (no repairs have been needed), and I think it looks cool. In the Cummins, it's a proven design that delivers great power and reasonable fuel economy (17 & 20-22). I'd probably buy another. Frankly, though, I wish you could trade a hundred HP for 5 MPG--in any of the diesel pickups.
I'm probably unique in having 4 different diesel vehicles-an '82 Mercedes 300D, an '85 6.2 Suburban, an '02 Ram HO Cummins 6 spd 3/4 ton pickup, and an '04 E-350 6.0 PSD. They all have their own personalities-but I can tell you the Ford is the most trouble of any of them!!! In 60K miles, it's been to the dealer 8 times for head gaskets, rear end, numerous reflashes-Ford is killing themselves with this engine!!! Running Royal Purple in the Cummins, Rotella synthetic in the Mercedes and 6.2 'Burb with good results, Rotella dino in the PSD.
BTW, my Cummins is my favorite-but the 6.2 is surprisingly good on the highway(but could never tow like the Cummins).
I'm in nearly full agreement with Go_Hogs_Go. I'd love to have a Cummins in a Ford truck. I really like the SuperDuty styling. Where he and I differ, however, is on the tranny... whatever I drive has to let me do the shifting.
Over the last 2.5 years I've owned a 2003 Common-Rail Dodge CTD, a 2005 6.0L Ford, 2002 7.3L Ford, and I currently drive a 98 Ram 12-valve Cummins. If I were a smart man I would have stayed with the 03 Ram. It's probably the best of breed: common-rail CTD w/ no cat, NV5600, great brakes. But I can honestly say the 98 Ram with the 12-valve Cummins is my favorite overall truck. I love the all mechanical fuel system and the fact that it's an engine I can work on myself. None of the trucks I've listed ever gave me any trouble. I really liked the 6.0L Ford but I didn't trust it to hold up for 10+ years. Also, the 6.0L mated to a manual transmission isn't the best combo. The 7.3L Ford was also a fine truck, but when I found the 12-valve I just had to have it.
I drive a diesel because I put a lot of miles on my truck and I live at 9000'.
As for oil, I'm running with Schaeffer 9000 and I have a Gulfcoast O-1 bypass installed.
-john
Over the last 2.5 years I've owned a 2003 Common-Rail Dodge CTD, a 2005 6.0L Ford, 2002 7.3L Ford, and I currently drive a 98 Ram 12-valve Cummins. If I were a smart man I would have stayed with the 03 Ram. It's probably the best of breed: common-rail CTD w/ no cat, NV5600, great brakes. But I can honestly say the 98 Ram with the 12-valve Cummins is my favorite overall truck. I love the all mechanical fuel system and the fact that it's an engine I can work on myself. None of the trucks I've listed ever gave me any trouble. I really liked the 6.0L Ford but I didn't trust it to hold up for 10+ years. Also, the 6.0L mated to a manual transmission isn't the best combo. The 7.3L Ford was also a fine truck, but when I found the 12-valve I just had to have it.
I drive a diesel because I put a lot of miles on my truck and I live at 9000'.
As for oil, I'm running with Schaeffer 9000 and I have a Gulfcoast O-1 bypass installed.
-john
I chose my 04.5 Dodge 2500 4 Door 4x4 SLT with Cummins following a bad 4 year experience with a 99 PSD CC Dually in which basically everything but the motor was coming apart. With no abuse it needed a tranny at 63K, new tie rods, alternator, starter, seeped oil around oil pan, the bottom edges of the doors were rusting at the lip, it ate front tires, I had to shim the carrier bearing for the drive shaft, etc.
Only several thousand miles after the new tranny was installed, it ceased shifting correctly and I took it to the shop, and they found valve body damage and several of the little beads loose and floating around in there. They patched it up under warranty for me, I sold it ASAP, and bought the Dodge a couple months later.
I chose it primarily because of a better tranny warranty, ease of maintenance, proven engine, upgraded tranny, and at the time I could buy it a lot cheaper than either of the other two. It is not as comfortable as my Lariat was by any means nor is it as appointed as a Chevy but I really don't need too many bells as whistles. It will easily outpull my PSD (even when heavily chipped shortly before I got rid of it), it is not as noisy, and the trans shifts with more authority than the Ford. I really like the ease of maintenance--I can do most anything that doesn't need the removal of the valve cover pretty easily myself, without gobs of cords, wires, tubes and who knows what else in your way like the new 6.0-no! PSD and the Duramax to some extent.
I like the Chevy trucks pretty well but 2 years ago there were hardly enough of them out there with high mileage to really get a feel for durability. I know some folks with extreme mileage on the 5.9 engine and everyone around here has good things to say about them.
Only several thousand miles after the new tranny was installed, it ceased shifting correctly and I took it to the shop, and they found valve body damage and several of the little beads loose and floating around in there. They patched it up under warranty for me, I sold it ASAP, and bought the Dodge a couple months later.
I chose it primarily because of a better tranny warranty, ease of maintenance, proven engine, upgraded tranny, and at the time I could buy it a lot cheaper than either of the other two. It is not as comfortable as my Lariat was by any means nor is it as appointed as a Chevy but I really don't need too many bells as whistles. It will easily outpull my PSD (even when heavily chipped shortly before I got rid of it), it is not as noisy, and the trans shifts with more authority than the Ford. I really like the ease of maintenance--I can do most anything that doesn't need the removal of the valve cover pretty easily myself, without gobs of cords, wires, tubes and who knows what else in your way like the new 6.0-no! PSD and the Duramax to some extent.
I like the Chevy trucks pretty well but 2 years ago there were hardly enough of them out there with high mileage to really get a feel for durability. I know some folks with extreme mileage on the 5.9 engine and everyone around here has good things to say about them.
Have the '01 5.9L HO Cummins 3/4 4x4 swb - don't have any complaints thus far, aside from oil pan needing new gasket, Airbag sensor went haywire, seems to like to eat tires = heavy truck.
Grew up around Chevy's all my life, fantastic experiences with the trucks built in the 70's, early 80's; don't know if I trust anything in the late 90's and thereafter, though.
Had major issues with a '99 Chevy truck that literally started falling apart (expensively) at 90k miles; through-out bearing falling out, cooling system failing, main computer failure, making the truck flair to consistently high RPM's while at stop lights.
Looked around for another Chevy at the time, anything newer and with the diesel was just off the wall in price.
Loved the cab size of the Chevy; but honestly don't know if I'll personally own another Chevy vehicle again; with the last Chevy, even when it was under warranty, we were treated very rudely and were told that it "was our problem".
I don't consider that an appropriate way to treat a customer/family that had bought/owned more than 10 Chevy trucks.
The ONLY thing I'm in arms about on the diesel was there was a bad run of the engine blocks - #53 that are known for developing cracks. I happen to have one.
But, supposedly the block failures are mainly occuring with those that chip/upgrade their HP/Torque and/or tow very heavy loads.
Grew up around Chevy's all my life, fantastic experiences with the trucks built in the 70's, early 80's; don't know if I trust anything in the late 90's and thereafter, though.
Had major issues with a '99 Chevy truck that literally started falling apart (expensively) at 90k miles; through-out bearing falling out, cooling system failing, main computer failure, making the truck flair to consistently high RPM's while at stop lights.
Looked around for another Chevy at the time, anything newer and with the diesel was just off the wall in price.
Loved the cab size of the Chevy; but honestly don't know if I'll personally own another Chevy vehicle again; with the last Chevy, even when it was under warranty, we were treated very rudely and were told that it "was our problem".
I don't consider that an appropriate way to treat a customer/family that had bought/owned more than 10 Chevy trucks.
The ONLY thing I'm in arms about on the diesel was there was a bad run of the engine blocks - #53 that are known for developing cracks. I happen to have one.
But, supposedly the block failures are mainly occuring with those that chip/upgrade their HP/Torque and/or tow very heavy loads.
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