Ford vs chevy vs ram SRW one ton diesel

[Monster5601]

I asked my wife if she could picture driving the ram on a long RV summer vacation and she said no.

Asked my wife the same question, she asked if it had a heated seat, I said yes, they all did (referring to the GM and Ford), she said I don't care which one as long as it has a heated seat. I chose the RAM because RAM offered the rear air leveling suspension system and the cargo camera, Ford and GM didn't. Also the reliability of the Cummins was a big plus.

As far as the new Ford Super Duties, well, there seems to be a change with the automakers and they now have a rush to market and have adopted Microsoft's business style, let the end users do the debugging. When you have expectations of an unknown product you are setting the stage for disappointment, typical hype versus reality.

I thought the Ram just had big change made in their suspension on heavy duty trucks, supposed to "ride like a car".
It will be interesting to see and drive the 2017 Ford Super Duty, it may out ride them all, but sure to be $$.

I know the 2500 went to a rear coil spring but the 3500s are as stiff as ever. I never saw an advertisement suggesting their ride was like a car.

 

[JMER817]

I've got a 2014 F250 Super Cab. Really like the truck, but as stated elsewhere it has a stiff ride. Crazy as it sounds, when I ditched the Firestone Destination ATs and went with BFG All Terrain KO2 the ride did soften up just a bit.

I too recently put the BFG all terrain tires on my truck. Very surprised that even with the thicker sidewall how much nicer it rides over the Michelins that I had on it.

 

[dieselcrawler]

Tires and the pressure will make a big difference in any vehicle.

I adjust the pressure to match the load, so the wear is even. Otherwise, the center of the tire wears out faster (psi too high) or the edges faster (psi too low)

 

[ruffdog]

I gave up on GM long ago.

Several years ago my cousin and his business partner both bought new diesel trucks. The partner bought the Ford with the 6.0 and my cousin has the Duramax with 250k on it now. The Ford 6.0 blew a rod at only 10 miles........then he bought a Duramax.

These trucks are only machines and there are success and failure stories with all makes. Some people always seem to have failures regardless of what make they buy.

 

[dieselcrawler]

I agree on 'there's a lemon in every crowd', but there's quite a few duramax trucks at work with 250k to 300k plus miles... but there's nearly 300k on my wife's Excursion, and my f250 has motor issues at 212k, but will be getting a long block put in it with (gasp) 378k. I realize it's not fair to compare the 7.3 in my trucks to the 6.0, but the 6.0 can be just as dependable as a 7.3 if it's emissions aspects are deleted. The 7.3 with the emissions garbage the 6.0 was saddled with would likely suffer the same failures.

However... this isn't a 6.0 vs anything debate. Sorry... sometimes I get carried away...

Relevant comment: I personally like the <2016 body style, and due to the massive discounts you're likely to get, I would get a well optioned old style over the new style. Perhaps, like the latest f150, the new style will grow on me, but for now... not so much. My all time favorite? 2005-2007 F250/F350 superdutys.

 

[TSO]

I agree. Now that my 6.0L is fully BulletProofed, I'm very happy with it, albeit at 135k miles. But the Duramax (Isuzu) engines are also very good motors. Everyone I know (quite a few) with the Duramax are very happy with it.

 

[444Powerstroke]

I agree. Now that my 6.0L is fully BulletProofed, I'm very happy with it, albeit at 135k miles. But the Duramax (Isuzu) engines are also very good motors. Everyone I know (quite a few) with the Duramax are very happy with it.

Just curios and I know there is a whole lot to it, but basically what have you done to "bullet proof" your truck?

 

[TSO]

- Heads removed, inspected, milled, tested.
- ARP Head-Studs
- New Oil cooler
- EGR delete
- Coolant flush and non-Ford ELC (twice now)
- All new injectors (and all related parts)
- Stand Pipes, Dummy Plugs, 6.4 fuel rail banjos
- STC Fitting
- IPR valve & screen
- Turbo serviced (and related parts)
- New up-pipe, Y-pipe, 4" exhaust, no-cat
- also recently replaced batteries, alternator, intercooler pipe boots.

..... I think that's it lol

 

[GManBart]

As far as the new Ford Super Duties, well, there seems to be a change with the automakers and they now have a rush to market and have adopted Microsoft's business style, let the end users do the debugging. When you have expectations of an unknown product you are setting the stage for disappointment, typical hype versus reality.

I don't know where you're getting this, but it's not really factual. All of the big-3 torture test new powertrains before they release them to market.

I spent about five years working with all of the big-3 very closely and got a lot of inside access not normally granted to the public. In 2012 I was at the Ford world headquarters to make an introduction between some folks from my national home office and a handful of folks at Ford. It turns out that I got there about two days after the world's oldest surviving Ford arrived after being purchased by Bill Ford Jr (a 1903 model). They took us down to the executive garage to look at it because they know I'm a car guy. This is where all the C-suite folks park, and a small crew of folks fuel and hand wash the cars every day. An interesting side note is that there's actually an automated car wash there, but it no longer works so they hand wash. There's actually a line of cars that are all owned by Bill Ford Jr...so there were a couple of Mustang variations, and even a Ford GT along with the 1903 in the lineup. The guy who runs that area showed me a Shelby GT500 mule that had 700hp....we were going to take it for a spin, but it was raining and that would have been a waste of time. The version they were selling to the public had 550hp at the time. They said that's part of how they determined whether planned increases in power would cause problems or not. Two years later the GT500 was up to 662hp....not exactly a coincidence.

In similar fashion, one of my friends that works at Ford said they actually sent F150s with aluminum body panels, but in the old body style to a handful of their fleet customers (with their permission) to test how the aluminum would hold up in typical service. Again, this took place a couple of years before they sent the new models to market.

I've also spent a lot of time at the Chrysler world headquarters and seen all sorts of test mules coming and going long before those combinations made it to market. I haven't spent nearly the same time at GM, but know enough folks that work there that I know they do the same thing.

Then again, I bought a 2007 Tundra which was the first year of the true 1/2 ton and it's been flawless. Maybe the Japanese companies are better about testing in advance of market release

 

[Monster5601]

I don't know where you're getting this, but it's not really factual

I have many years in automotive development, it is also important to note my opinion was not about powertrains, but the entire vehicle in general. I retired GM Powertrain in 2006 and went to work in the Tier 1 supplier market working with body electronics for all name-plates so I am quite qualified.

I know how many reflashes campaigns we go through each year, always related to cost reductions and incomplete testing. The number of recalls on vehicles, any brand, is well above number ever seen in history remembering recalls are only about safety issues.

Short list of recent screw-ups:
Condensation in inter-coolers
The Powerstroke
The Duramax
2015 and up RAM integrated brake controllers reducing braking effort to 70% below speeds of 30 MPH
Ford Sync
GM Smartlink
Lincoln headlamp swivel system
and I could go on and on and on with issues that were released to the buyers with out full development and testing.

The Japanese are not better, their vehicles are behind in technologies with respect to American automakers. They are slow to release and I don't blame them, the cost is more expensive vehicles with out the wiz-bag crap most of us don't want/need.