Tow vehicle for a 16K 5'er

[Road Ranger]

Advice to me has been to get the Cummins 5.9L diesel engine with the Allison 6-spd tranny. The Dodge 3500 dually would come with the Cummins engine but not with the Allison tranny. The Chevy 3500HD dually would come with the Allison 6-spd tranny but with the Duramax diesel, not the Cummins engine. (The Ford is out because of the issues with the 6.0L diesel.). Now today comes along the salesman at the Dodge dealership who says his personal experience, after owning both a Checy and a Dodge, is that the 2004 Dodge 3500 dually on the lot with the OEM 4-spd tranny would work every bit as well as a 6-spd. His explanation is that the 6-spd is not 2 extra gears but, rather, 6 closer gears packed into the same "space" as the 4 gears and that the RPM is relatively the same for the 4-spd or 5-spd or 6-spd when traveling at 60-65 mph or in town. Could I have some feedback on this question, ppppplleeeezz???

[RustyJC]

Sounds like a salesman, alright!

There's no comparison between the 48RE 4-speed and the 68RFE 6-speed automatics. The 4 speed automatic is a single overdrive transmission while the 6 speed automatic is a double overdrive transmission (i.e., 5th and 6th gears are both overdrives). Because of that, 60 MPH with 4.10 axle ratio in 6th gear in my truck is only 1612 RPM. With the 48RE and 4.10 gears, 60 MPH would be closer to 1900 - 2000 RPM.

The 68RFE has proven itself to be an excellent towing transmission since its introduction with the 6.7L Cummins in January 2007.

Rusty

[Road Ranger]

@#%^* salesmen! Thanks, Rusty.

[RustyJC]

To be specific, here are the gear ratios of each transmission:

48RE:
1st - 2.45:1
2nd - 1.45:1
3rd - 1.00:1 (direct)
4th - 0.69:1
Reverse - 2.21:1

68RFE:
1st - 3.23:1
2nd - 1.84:1
3rd - 1.41:1
4th - 1.00:1 (direct)
5th - 0.82:1
6th - 0.63:1
Reverse - 4.44:1

Rusty

[Road Ranger]

Muy bien, Senor Rossty. Muchas gratias!

[Cat320]

GM is the only pick up builder using the Allison six speed. I'd go with the Dodge or the Duramax/Allison combo in a Chevy/GM.

[waroland]

I love my GMC with the Allison. Just completed 2400+ miles from Tenesse to Washington State. Tranny handled the grades great with tow package.

[TXiceman]

You have to remember that sales people are there to sell a vehicle and to make a living. If it means selling you the wrong vehicle, hey, they put some food on their table. You will run across a few honest and knowledgable sales peopl, but not too many.

Ken

[Groovy]

Love our Cummins 6.7 liter & 68RFE 6-speed automatic tranny. Pulls our 15k lb. fiver beautifully in the mountains.

[JohnBoyToo]

And unless you are buying used, you won't get a ford/International 6.0....
(I had two of them and the last in an 05 Ex and loved it until the time I updated)

Now have the 6.7 FORD made diesel in my avatar and it is a pulling beast !

but I may be in the minority here

get a new one and they are all good - up to you which one you like best...

[3665RE]

Hi

I live in an agriculture based community.

I have a policy of not ever purchasing the first year production of a new model vehicle.

The truck users here use their truck under sever conditions.

Our Chevy dealer tried to sell me a Duramax the first year they came out.

I waited until 2009 to purchase one and purchased it only because in 2009 it was the only light duty truck that I liked thet had a GCW of 23,500 lbs. which is still 400 lbs short of what I needed. I just don’t load the trailer to its GWR.

The Duramax has a good history. When first produced they had their problems with both the engine and the transmission. GM stopped producing the stick shift model in 2008 or 2009 and the truck is now only available with the Allison transmission.

When Ford changed from the International engine to their own design the had serious problems with short-lived engine. I haven’t heard much about the Ford for a year or so and our community favors the Ford.

If you really want to know about the Dodge go to a number of used truck dealers that are not associated with Chrysler and look at the used Dodge trucks. Ask the salesman when the automatic transmission was overhauled last. You will not find a used Dodge truck on the used truck lots with 60,000 miles on them that haven’t had the transmission overhauled and if you do you find out the truck will appear to be under priced. This pretty much tells the tale on your Dodge truck automatic transmission. This information is now a couple of years old and I found this when my son was looking for a used truck and we went around the area (150 mile radius) looking for a truck. He purchased a Ford rebuilt wreck with low mileage and he has had good service from this vehicle.

If you are looking for a used TV in the 23,000 GCW range be vary careful. The good ones will be very high mileage and probably traded in from a commercial hauler. The low mileage ones are there because they are problem trucks or repossessions. You take a chance with the repossessed truck in that some people tend to abuse the truck when they know it is going to be repossessed.

This is my opinion and I am sure we will get some responses that have different views.

I am fortunate that I was able to stop purchasing used vehicles 20 years ago.
I purchased a Dodge van 40 years ago and had so much trouble with it I decided not to purchase another Chrysler product. 30 years later I purchased a ½ ton Dodge truck. This vehicle never ran correctly, didn’t get the published gas mileage, broke down many times under warranty and the dealer was a jackass. I finally gave it to my grandson and got a new truck. It will be another 30 years before I purchase another Chrysler product.

3665RE

PS the Dodge dealer finally went bankrupt.

[shortlance]

I pull about 15000 lbs when loaded with an 06 GMC one ton dually 6.6 Duramax/Allison combo and I love it. It really works well with the 6 speed and has yet to hit a hill that was a challange for it. The bigest trade off is that I get between 10 to 11 MPG when towing but when I push the gas pedel takes off like a rocket so I'm not going to complain about milage. I have had Ford, Dodge,Chevy and now GMC so as you can see, I have no brand loyalty- I get what seems to work the best for me and as of now the GMC is the best for me even though I like the looks of the Ford better I like the preformance of my GMC.

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by 3665RE

If you really want to know about the Dodge go to a number of used truck dealers that are not associated with Chrysler and look at the used Dodge trucks. Ask the salesman when the automatic transmission was overhauled last. You will not find a used Dodge truck on the used truck lots with 60,000 miles on them that haven’t had the transmission overhauled and if you do you find out the truck will appear to be under priced. This pretty much tells the tale on your Dodge truck automatic transmission. This information is now a couple of years old and I found this when my son was looking for a used truck and we went around the area (150 mile radius) looking for a truck. He purchased a Ford rebuilt wreck with low mileage and he has had good service from this vehicle.

If you are looking for a used TV in the 23,000 GCW range be vary careful. The good ones will be very high mileage and probably traded in from a commercial hauler. The low mileage ones are there because they are problem trucks or repossessions. You take a chance with the repossessed truck in that some people tend to abuse the truck when they know it is going to be repossessed.

This is my opinion and I am sure we will get some responses that have different views.

I am fortunate that I was able to stop purchasing used vehicles 20 years ago.
I purchased a Dodge van 40 years ago and had so much trouble with it I decided not to purchase another Chrysler product. 30 years later I purchased a ½ ton Dodge truck. This vehicle never ran correctly, didn’t get the published gas mileage, broke down many times under warranty and the dealer was a jackass. I finally gave it to my grandson and got a new truck. It will be another 30 years before I purchase another Chrysler product.

Although the post above and my response, IMHO, are violations of our Community Rules regarding no brand wars, I'll leave that to the Mods and Admins to sort out.

Do you want to hear my story about why I quit buying Fords after never owning anything else (except for 1 Volvo) from my first car onward? Because of my experience with a 1986 Mercury Sable purchased new, I haven't owned a Ford since. I won't bore you with ALL the failures that led to my decision, but suffice it to say that my list would probably top yours.

My point is that any number of us own the brands we do (and don't own the brands we don't) because of 1-off personal experiences. I'm sure, just to keep things balanced, we could find someone who will never own another GM as well.

I've been towing 5th wheels with Dodge duallies since 1996. I've never been stranded by the side of the road by any of them, and I've been called on a number of times to rescue 5th wheels belonging to friends and relatives whose Fords and GMs had died and literally left them on the shoulder of the road.

As I said, the 68RFE is a ground-up, totally new transmission that has been on the market since January 1, 2007. It has nothing to do with the prior 47RE and 48RE transmissions that, in their basic architecture, were the old Torqueflite 727 as used behind the 426 Hemi in the 1960s with an add-on overdrive 4th gear and a lockup torque converter. The 68RFE has won rave reviews from the Dodge owners as a towing transmission, and there are very few reports of problems on the Dodge/Cummins forums. If my Dodge/Cummins trucks didn't provide good, reliable service, I would buy something else.

Unlike you, I'm not going to trash the current Fords or GMs because I don't own one and have no first-hand experience with them. I'll just say that, based on my trouble-free experience with my 4th generation Dodge/Cummins, I don't have any problem recommending one to anyone looking for a tow vehicle.

Rusty

[TXiceman]

What it all boils down to is that all 3 major maufacturers are building pretty decent towing machine. every man has his favorite, but Ford did a major stumble on the 6.0L engine.

Ken