Cummins 6.7

[srsu99]

My o6 1 ton dodge with cummins and 6 speed manual shudders when I pull a gooseneck load of roundbales up my driveway. It is paved. The truck is a 4 door long bed. Pretty long driveline. This is the only time it does this and my 04 dodge was identical to this one and it did the same thing. With 14 bales aqnd the dual tandem trailer I probally weigh around 20 -21k but never had this particular combonation over the scale. Other than that no problems. Friend of mine has a ford with new 6.4 deisel and it got about 6 mpg at first. Took it to the dealer and they did something with computer, claims it gets a lot better mileage now. One reason why fords weigh so much more is all the dumb novelty items like a step in the tail gate. COME ON!

 

[john_bud]

Radman, Thx for the info.

I do also know only owners with problems report and that a few posts can make it look like the sky is falling.

But, I don't think that a person at the dealership is a verifiable data source in determining statisticaly reliable failure rates. There seems to be (qualitatively) more negative issues with the new 6.4 ford than with the latest incarnation of the 6.6 GM diesel. The fuel ecomomy seems to be 3-4 mpg less with the 6.4 VS the 6.6. That one is shaded with variable gearing. The Ford can be had with much steeper gears and we all know spinning the engine higher uses fuel faster.

The 6.7 Cummins seems to be having few issues. DPF being one, but that will plague them all for the next few years. I do like that it still can be had with a manual transmission. I would love to see 2 identical trucks, 1 manual and 1 auto, go cross country side by side and see the milage difference. I wouldn't be real shocked if there was little to no difference.


jb

 

[RobertN]

I do not worry about HP anymore; I want to see torque numbers. Torque does the work, HP is a calculated number. Gas engines don't put out the torque numbers...

You are right on about fuel cost though. Diesel is 40 cents or more a gallon than regular in the Sacramento area. My truck gets better mileage than the previous gas trucks I had, but at 40 cents a gallon premium, gas does not look too bad now...

When I got my RAM in 2001, diesel was 10 cents less than regular locally, and I got better mileage than the two previous gassers.

jcmseven
Your right. IMHO, it is getting hard to justify the diesels over gas. The big gassers from chevy and ford are very good engines and produce almost the same hp. Unless you pull a lot, pull very heavy loads or plan for 250,000+ mile usage, the gasser is probably the logical choice. 6K more for diesel engine than gasser and MPG/performance is not dramatically better. Cost of repair for diesel is significantly higher. At times, diesel fuel costs more than gas.

 

[radman1]

srsu99
The tailgate step is a brilliant idea if you have to crawl into your truck frequently. I have a tool chest and numerous tools/stuff in the back of my truck. Always crawling in to get something. Chevy and Dodge will have something similar in the future.

 

[radman1]

john bud
Your right, the Duramax has become a very reliable engine but did have some issues in the early days. The ford 6.4 at this time is not as reliable. I have looked at the newer Chevys, but cant get over the front bumper. Big plastic shiney chrome appearing corners on the front bumper are just hideous.

 

[cp1969]

john bud
Your right, the Duramax has become a very reliable engine but did have some issues in the early days. The ford 6.4 at this time is not as reliable. I have looked at the newer Chevys, but cant get over the front bumper. Big plastic shiney chrome appearing corners on the front bumper are just hideous.

I like the looks of the GMC much better.

The tailgate step wouldn't be necessary if they hadn't unnecessarily lifted these trucks so high off the ground. The beds of these new trucks must be a foot higher off the ground than they were 20-25 years ago.

 

[jcmseven]

srsu99,

It would take a lot of tailgates to make up that weight difference. The Ford 250 tailgate weighes 96 pounds, the Dodge tailgate (at least the one lying in my friends garage from his 2005 model) is about 70. Where do the other 900 or so pounds come from?? There are not that many more do-dad's. As for mileage, if one buys a Ford with 4.10 or greater gears kiss fuel mileage goodbye. However, my 250 gets about 16 mpg in combination (highway with some city -- about 70/30) and my friend's Duramax does no better. It seems the Dodge engine does a little better but with the emissions standards, even it is not as good as the past on mileage.

John M

 

[jcmseven]

cp1969,

I agree, to me the GMC is much better looking this year than the Chevrolet. My friend went to get a Chevy, and I just could not let him do it, then I saw the GMC and thought it looked much better. Actually, it is a pretty sharp truck. I like GMC/Chevrolet, but really wish they would get the larger wheels (at least an 18") on the truck. From an aesthetic point of view, I do not like that so much frame shows, and one can easily see the parking brake cable which runs along the frame. With larger tires, the fender wells would be more full and I think they would look better. My JD dealer, who loves Chevy's has several to pull his delivery trailers. Even he said the style had yet to grow on him.

John M

 

[srsu99]

Well I was just going with what someone else said about the fords weighing more. I really dont know. Never scaled my 04 ford but it was the same size truck as my o6 dodge is. Yeah I forgot about the larger wheels. That is so annoying. All of my trailers use a 235 r 16 wheel. In the past when I got new tires for my pickup it meant "new" tires for a trailer. Also all of my trailers have 8 hole wheels so I had 2 spairs all the time a truck spair and the one mounted on the trailer. Now my truck spares still fit trailers but trailer spairs dont fit truck (wont clear the break calipers) Which if you live in or near town or drive down populated roads this is no big deal but......... when I travel to ranch in west texas its about 300 mile trip. Cell phone only works about half the time. Would hate to get stranded along that stretch a 2 a.m.. because my spairs dont fit other things.

 

[john_bud]

john bud
You're right, the Duramax has become a very reliable engine but did have some issues in the early days. The ford 6.4 at this time is not as reliable. I have looked at the newer Chevys, but cant get over the front bumper. Big plastic shiney chrome appearing corners on the front bumper are just hideous.

{chuckle}

I agree, the early 6.6 had head gasket issues, injectors and the stepper motors on the dash gauges go wonky. Still, there is at least one person hauling for a living with an '02 GM 3500 with 727,000 miles. Engine and tranny never been apart. Saw the post yesterday. Cross referenced with the GM 200,000 mile club where they were listed at 600,000 some miles. That is certainly the far end of the bell curve! I did the math and it can be done with about 1650-1800 hours of highway miles per year. Other folks are driving as hard and harder, but they trade off with "only" 2-400,000 miles. I don't think my 03 GM will ever reach those numbers. It just get's the normal 15k miles a year. About 2-5k pulling a 6 ton trailer with tractor/implements on it (9k pounds unually).

I also strongly agree that the GM HD truck is, well.... let's just say, "not pretty". The GMC version is nice. The Dodge is nicer still (externally) and the Ford looks the best.

I wonder what the Toyota 1 ton's will look like?


jb