Awsome truck!

[RobertN]

Dodge over Ford for a few reasons. One, My Dad has worked for the dealer(Parts man) since I was 5. The dealership did well by me.

I like the Cummins. I believe it has long been the best diesel in a pickup.

I like the interior ergonomics, the exterior style. Now, realize, mine is an '01, so things have changed in trucks since then...

 

[sassafraspete]

I have never driven a diesel truck, but if it is anything like the power/torque sensation I get with driving my tractor....then I can understand how people could get hooked on driving one. On my trips out west in the mountains, I used to get my gas doors blown off by those guys with the Cummins engine and pulling a stock trailer no less. I enjoyed reading about Mr Banks and his dodge dakota that set a land speed record at bonneville for diesel with a cummins engine. It got my attention when I read that Mr. Banks actually drove the truck from California to Utah....(didn't trailer it), then just goes out and sets the record. My neighbor has a dump trucking business , but is also a fan of truck pulling. Imagine my surprise when I looked inside his every day driver Ford and started asking what all those extra guages and levers were for. I found out this was not your father's pickup....it had a nitrous set up and who knows what else ! He then proceded to tell me about how he ruined the transmission in the local county fair's truck pull, with this virtually new truck. Did I mention he is an excellent mechanic? I can only dream ......

sassafraspete

 

[fractal]

I have a 91 f350 long bed, 4wd, srw, crew cab with the idi diesel motor. Let me share with you a few things I wish I knew before I bought the truck.

1 - A '91 F350 is rated at 9200 pounds GVWR (+- a couple hundred pounds depending on model).

2 - A diesel motor adds 500 pounds to the base weight of a truck (taking away from the cargo capacity).

3 - 4wd adds 300-500 pounds to the base weight of a truck (taking away from the cargo capacity).

4 - Crew cab adds some number of pounds to the base weight of a truck, taking away from the cargo capacity.

My truck weights 7450 pounds with me in it according to the local weigh station. I have 1800 pounds of cargo capacity. My brothers 3/4 ton truck (the f350 is suposedly a 1 ton truck) has close to 5000 pounds cargo capacity.

Nothing I own is slower off the line than that truck. Nothing I own belches that much smoke. Anything that was not a diesel that belched that much smoke would not get smog certified. Then again, nothing I own can take 10 cubic yards of stuff dumped in it and hope to move it. I have badly overloaded it with 2 tons of stuff and it drove better than empty. Fortunately the CHP didn't weigh me.

My first experience at a drivethrough was an eye opener. I have driven trucks before so I knew my best chance of getting through. I took it wide. I climbed the curb with my front wheels. As it turned out, I also climbed the curb with my back wheels. Moving at 1/10000 MPH, I crawled past the signs missing them by fractions of an inch. They had to send someone out to take my order since they could not hear me through the squack box over the noise of the motor.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a modern turbo diesel pickemup, and you can certainly get trucks that get up and go, but do be prepared to park in the far back of the parking lot to get 2 spots in a row to take up and don't expect to get through the micky d's drive through, and do be prepared to live with 10-12 MPG diesel (6-8 mpg gasser) on a F350 crew cab. 25 cents a mile for fuel adds up fast.

 

[ScottAR]

My experiences couldn't be much more different...

'99 F350 PSD/6spd 4x2 reg. cab:

Shorter than my friend's F150 super.

Gets 19ish overall mpg.

Accel is brisk, I'm usually not at the back of the pack.

weight is 6,200 by the landfill scale. GVW is 9,900.
hauled 750lbs of junk to the landfill and couldn't tell the difference between cruising empty. Loaded trailer capacity is 13,600.

Only smoke I've seen has been from cold start after sitting a few days and when the pedal is on the floor.

Big smiles per mile... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[_RaT_]

"hauled 750lbs of junk to the landfill and couldn't tell the difference between cruising empty"

750lbs, thats all? I hope you can't tell much difference between that and running empty. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif


Fractal, your numbers confuse me. Your brothers got 5000lbs of cargo capacity and you have 1800lbs? I have asked the Highway patrol about overloading a pickup and for the most part, they just don't bother with us unless it is obviously a safety hazard. In California, PU's are not required to go to the scales on our highways. Let's just say I am always over the GVW limit when going to the dump with concrete. My tires are pumped to 80 PSI and can handle well over 3000lbs per tire, that to me is what judges how much I'm going to carry.

If you ever go to a drive in again, rather then sit there yelling over the noise, just turn the engine off.

I agree about the smoke and anemic perfromance of the IDI, I live at 1000' and frequently go to Tahoe, the Donner summit is just over 7000' and well before that my truck is belching black smoke. I am constantly monitoring the exhaust and backing off.

I was sitting next to a new quiet Dodge with a diesel and was quite impressed with the much, much lower noise level, I personally much prefer it. Some folks are reporting in the low 20 mpg on their diesels, I have yet to see a gas come remotely close, add in the power and the very clean burning, CARB complying emissions and it's a great combination. Rat...

 

[mitchdb]

The Powerstroke is built for Industrial use too! 7.3 (444 C.I.)

http://www.internationaldelivers.com/site_layout/engine/t444edetail.asp

 

[cowboydoc]

Rat and other are right. You can't even begin to compare a 91 diesel to the current diesels. The hp alone is 2.5x greater, they burn cleaner than a gas engine, the days of black smoke on the new diesels is gone, the payload is significantly increased, the motors are so quiet in the new Fords that there was actual less cabin noise than a gas engine, the new diesels will almost all do 16-21 mpg on the highway while making 300 plus hp and 550 plus torque. Loaded with my big trailer I'm at 25-26k GCVW and still make 11-12 mpg. My buddy with a V-10 makes 5-7.

 

[mitchdb]

Nice Truck! Is that a 6.0 Powerstroke?

 

[ScottAR]

I know I could have handled a lot more, but I didn't want to pile it above the bedsides and have it blow out on another car. I know it was 750 ish lbs as they gave me a weight slip at the dump. Besides, a bed full is about all I had energy to load and unload in the heat.

I need a dump truck! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[_RaT_]

I certainly can understand that. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif