truck advice

[wagne223]

I'll bet it's leaked into the transmission bell house and you don't even know. I'll bet it drips too. It's a design flaw in the engine. Two main reasons a RMS will fail, failed bearing on crankshaft, warped crank.

Ive been in the auto/light truck repair industry for 23 years. I have to disagree with your statement. While a failed crank bearing and a warped crank will cause a seal failure, They are not the main reason.

The most common causes for crank seal (or any engine seals) is time and heat. Oil rots rubber. Over time, with all the heat cycles, the seals become less flexible and eventually turn hard and brittle. They can even shrink to the point of falling out of their seats.

Any engine, from any manufacturer will experience this. Typically seen once a vehicle reaches 10 years old or 100 - 150,000 miles.
The only way to avoid major engine damage is to inspect your vehicle at typical maintenance intervals and repair oil leaks upon noticing them.

Problem is.......most people see a leak and just deal with it adding oil as necessary. Well eventually the seal will come out on its own and oil will rapidly flow out of the engine. Then a catastrophic failure happens.

This issue will be "normal" until a new sealing material is developed.

 

[hawkeye08]

When looking at GM trucks with the 6 speed automatic, I recommend the 4.10 gears (not the more common 3.73). You will actually get better fuel mileage and never notice any downside.

If you are looking at older trucks with 4 speed auto, 3.73 will get better mileage.

The 6 speed has double over drive and at normal highway speeds, you are still around 2000rpms in 6th gear.

 

[houstonscott]

Would you have put a clutch in without changing the seal? We all know you don't like Cummins, or cummings. Millions of us have used them in pickups, trucks, tractors, and other equipment with excellent service. To each his own.

My back ground and experience with Cummins is in boats over thirty years. They were always the worst. Cat, MTU, Perkins, westerbeke, paxman, Detroit, Yanmar, all were better, more reliable. Westerbeke is a diesel you start up and never shut down, they are spectacular.

 

[timswi]

My back ground and experience with Cummins is in boats over thirty years. They were always the worst. Cat, MTU, Perkins, westerbeke, paxman, Detroit, Yanmar, all were better, more reliable. Westerbeke is a diesel you start up and never shut down, they are spectacular.

Not to get into the mess of this--But, I am not and probably will never be a Dodge guy. However, There are a ton of Dodge diesels around here and I have never heard of an engine failure for any reason beyond those that just mercelessly beat the begebbers out of their trucks...And even then the failure rate was very low...Front suspension parts and body rot, well, that's another story.

 

[dodge man]

My back ground and experience with Cummins is in boats over thirty years. They were always the worst. Cat, MTU, Perkins, westerbeke, paxman, Detroit, Yanmar, all were better, more reliable. Westerbeke is a diesel you start up and never shut down, they are spectacular.

So if the OP was looking for a boat, your experience might mean something. Your bashing of Cummins is almost to the point of being over the top. You've posted a couple of things from internet forums, none of which seem to have a lot of feedback in any of the threads to back up your statement. The last link you posted was someone with a brand new truck, one reply and the OP never came back with any more feed back. We get it, you don't like Cummins.

I'm just hoping the OP of this thread got some usefull info out of it before it degraded into a Cummins bashing, Cummins defending thread.

Back to the topic at hand.

 

[houstonscott]

So if the OP was looking for a boat, your experience might mean something. Your bashing of Cummins is almost to the point of being over the top. You've posted a couple of things from internet forums, none of which seem to have a lot of feedback in any of the threads to back up your statement. The last link you posted was someone with a brand new truck, one reply and the OP never came back with any more feed back. We get it, you don't like Cummins. I'm just hoping the OP of this thread got some usefull info out of it before it degraded into a Cummins bashing, Cummins defending thread. Back to the topic at hand.

The more information you have to help make a your choice the better... Been two Dodge Ram diesels in family (my son) a 2500 4x4 2012 diesel, it was recalled for safety issue in steering not repairable, dodge was forced to buy back, second one was purchased a 2015 3500 4x4 diesel and it had a RMS failure at 40k. That's my Dodge Ram experience, thought you might want to know.... In total that's about $125k of junk.... Not impressed.

 

[coobie]

My back ground and experience with Cummins is in boats over thirty years. They were always the worst. Cat, MTU, Perkins, westerbeke, paxman, Detroit, Yanmar, all were better, more reliable. Westerbeke is a diesel you start up and never shut down, they are spectacular.

Funny chit..Your story go with it.LOL.Typical Dodge ram hater.laffin.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

TBN has a resident troll. :laughing:

 

[oliver1555]

My back ground and experience with Cummins is in boats over thirty years. They were always the worst. Cat, MTU, Perkins, westerbeke, paxman, Detroit, Yanmar, all were better, more reliable. Westerbeke is a diesel you start up and never shut down, they are spectacular.

We didn't have much need of a boat in the oil patch. My boss had a party barge that we'd take to the lake and it was a lot of fun. But, other than building a raft when I was twelve, that's my boat experience. To use a bad pun, "Whatever floats your boat!"

 

[houstonscott]

We didn't have much need of a boat in the oil patch. My boss had a party barge that we'd take to the lake and it was a lot of fun. But, other than building a raft when I was twelve, that's my boat experience. To use a bad pun, "Whatever floats your boat!"

Sounds like your Diesel engine experiences is very limited and short.

 

[ericm979]

I'm still working on selling the camper van we no longer use before we start seriously looking at trucks. We'll test drive a 3/4 as it's been a long time since I have driven one. I wish that the sum total of the advice was all of the same opinion but that's what happens when you ask a question on the internet.

I'm not going to get a Cummins dlesel Dodge, so could we take that argument elsewhere?

 

[oliver1555]

Sounds like your Diesel engine experiences is very limited and short.

Okay, you win!

 

[dieselcrawler]

I'm still working on selling the camper van we no longer use before we start seriously looking at trucks. We'll test drive a 3/4 as it's been a long time since I have driven one. I wish that the sum total of the advice was all of the same opinion but that's what happens when you ask a question on the internet.

I'm not going to get a Cummins dlesel Dodge, so could we take that argument elsewhere?

If you approach the test driving open minded, you may be surprised at the comfort leval and drivability of some later model 3/4 ton trucks. Good luck in your search.

It is quite unfortunate that the squabbling has clogged your thread, it adds nothing of value to you.

 

[dodge man]

Keep another thing in mind, a 3/4 ton will seem to ride better when towing. The tongue weight will actually make the truck ride and handle better.

 

[TMGT]

Keep another thing in mind, a 3/4 ton will seem to ride better when towing. The tongue weight will actually make the truck ride and handle better.

Unless you are able to get a newer Ram with the rear air ride but those are new enough that the used market might be a bit sparse.
I will say that GM probably has the best unloaded ride for a 3/4 but dropping the rear tire peessure down helps aby of them.

On my 3/4 the unloaded rear tire pressure is 45 and loaded is 70psi.
Huge difference in ride quality!

 

[houstonscott]

The Million-Mile 27 Toyota Tundra

 

[Egon]

The Million-Mile 27 Toyota Tundra

Did you check out the Million mile cummins club?

 

[WilliamBos]

Keep another thing in mind, a 3/4 ton will seem to ride better when towing. The tongue weight will actually make the truck ride and handle better.

Will also stop better, stop safer and no worries on beating the truck or you up.

 

[3Lfarms]

Did you check out the Million mile cummins club?

Most common reported problem is that the odometers stop at 999999.

 

[coobie]

Most common reported problem is that the odometers stop at 999999.

who really cares