Hi there,

I am going to be buying a truck in the coming months and i was just wondering if you could have you choice of any current domestic truck from 04 onward which one would it be based solely on the engine and powertrain.

 

I'll say right up front I'm a Cummins guy! That said, the '04 up Cummins are a common rail injection, same as the Duramax, and have the very good 48RE automatic trans, until '07 when they got the even better Aisin trans. And nobody has worn out a Cummins yet! Broken them through lack of maintenance or insane power levels, but not worn them out.
I hate to say it but the Duramax with the Allison is also a very good combo.
Just look under the hood and decide which one you'd rather wrench on....
Stay away from the Powerstroke. They don't call it the 6.oh-no, for nothing. There was a lot of bickering between Ford and International, and the quality suffered.
Search some of the diesel sites and see what the owners are saying.
OK Ford guys, flame away, but you know it's true.

 

Like said the cummins is a great choice. I went with a duramax because I hate dodge. Personal opinion. Loving the truck, so far has towed anything I have put behind it very easily and no problems.

 

Now this has put me at ease a bit. I wasn't a fan of ford to begin with for trucks.

I'll look into it some more now. I have always enjoyed the sound coming from a cummins engine bay.

 

If dodge finally has a good trans I would go with that, followed by the new ford, you couldn't give me a POS chevy!!! My wife told me duramax is a brand of tampon

 

As far as transmissions go, the 1000+ hp Duramax guys are using ........ wait for it..........DODGE transmissions. The Allison can't hold that much hp. Built 48RE's can.

 

Very good to know

 

CTD...plain and simple. We sled pull with and provide turbos to alot of the guys out there......best are the CTD's hands down. Internals will support STUPID amounts of HP stock.

 

There are more than one 1000+hp duramax's still using the Allison. With the proper parts and tuning they are holding up pretty well. Here's my take on it all:

7.3L PowerStroke - very reliable, most expensive and least popular to make big power out of. Awesome work truck
6.0L PowerStoke - alot less reliable, little easier to get power out of than the 7.3 but still not on par with Cummins and Duramax, HUEI fuel system sucks, need head studs early
6.4L Powerstroke - Looking pretty promising, guys are making big power out of these motors on tuning only, fuel mileage in stock form sucks.

12V Cummins - all mechanical, great work-horse, easy to make power but not so easy to make a good street/race/pull/economy truck with since everything is what you set it up at all the time.
24V Cummins - great motor, definately need a turbo to make decent power, no custom tuning so you have to stack programmers

Duramax - reliable motor up to about 600hp, after that need rods, studs, and pistons to go to 800hp or so, trans needs built with abuse over 400hp. They come with great stock turbos and with only a lift pump and tuning you can get over 500hp out of any year, run 12s, and do very well sled pulling. With EFI Live you can custom tune nearly every engine parameter. Many parts are interchangable for all years.

So while they all have strong and weak points it depends on what you want to do with it and how much money you want to spend. I wouldn't buy a Ford to race, pull, or try to get lots of power out of, it's the most expensive to build, the heaviest, and typically the slowest - but the 7.3s are reliable in stock form. Completely stock under the hood a Duramax will take you the furthest for your $ IMO, for under $3,000 you can put an 06-07 in the 12.4s with 540hp. After the first 600hp however the cost quickly catches up to Dodge (or surpasses it ) when you have to build your motor.

This is all just my opinion. I'm a fan of anything that runs on diesel and love the competition between the 3 brands.

 

Well, your asking just about engines, so being a tech at a shop that works on alot of diesels and of every make, i will say that I'd go with a duramax. Cummins has always made great engines also. I just like how quiet duramaxes are, and they have shown the be very reliable also. I own a 97 7.3l F-250 and i love it also, never lets me down, just not as fast as newer diesels(atleast for now). Out of all of my friends, they have every generation duramaxs, also 12v, 24v and common rail cummins. Im the only stroker. lol. I would take the 07LBZ duramax over them all. Now as far as trucks (since the engines do come in a truck) i'd go GM also. Highest quality by far. If dodge trucks were better, i'd go for one of them also with a common rail. My next truck will either be an 03 Ford Super Duty with a 7.3l or a newer (LBZ or LLY) duramax.

 

Funny ford outsells the rest. I wonder why.

 

Thats to keep replacing the ones that blow up or fall apart.
I know a guy who builds ambulances, he's switching to Duramax's because of all the Powerstroke problems.
It is nice that Ford has that quick removal cab, to help when replacing turbos and head gaskets.
I realize that 98% of Ford trucks built are still on the road. The rest made it back home.

 

Hey facts are facts, Ford has outsold the rest for the last 31 years straight. Oh BTW look at the thread about Post Pics of your Diesel Tow rig, A ton of Fords, several Dodges and a hand full of Duramaxipads, I mean turds, I mean trucks.

 

It's a funny world isn't it. If you add the Chevy and GMC trucks (both made by GM with minimal differences) together they outsell Ford by quite a bit. Gm sort of shot themselves in the foot by selling 2 brands, as far as numbers go.

 

You need to realize that your quote is misleading. The gm and dodge diesels out sell the ford diesels, the gas trucks are their numbers gainer. The other thing you need to realize is that most public works and cal-trans departments in cities get killer deals on bulk purchases from ford so this ups their numbers by a bunch. I work for a city so I see it with my own eyes.

Cummins all the way 2003.5 through 07 5.9 liter, stay away from the 6.7 not refined enough yet. Pop hoods open on the duramaxe's and the ford's and tell me which one you would want to work on ?.


I'm partial to the dodge's. this is my rig.


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I agree with the cummins as the best motor, I like my ford truck better than the dodges and wouldn't even think about a chevy. That being said if something major ever goes wrong with my powerstroke I will keep the truck and put a cummins in it.

 

That is the most popular conversion. http://www.fordcummins.com/

 

Isnt the Duramax a Mitsubishi motor?

 

No its an Isuzu Motor, and it makes the best power for the buck. And the 12-24v cummins is a good motor as well, wish the had all the bugs worked out of the new 6.7 but they dont, but ford is dead in the water after 04, junk junk junk get over it ford boys you were a one trick pony ..

 

As far as it goes with our construction company, the two Fords are in the shop almost every few months for motor work. The Duramax trucks have been to the shop---------never(!) and have more miles/time on them. We will never buy Ford diesel again although the suspension is more suited from factory to handle heavy loads and towing. The Chevy 3500's are a bit soft compared to the Ford but they run like a top. Major bummer Ford!