What kind of truck?

[SultanGris]

Originally Posted by Fred1609

I had the infamous F350 "fix litre" and spent buckets of dough on repairs, all paid for by the extended warranty. We upgraded to the Ford 6.7 litre and have nothing but good things to say about the engine so far. If I could get away with a gasser I would consider it given the potential for problems with diesels. How come a commercial transport can get a million miles plus on their engines and ours are done after 250k miles?

They keep fixing them cause new ones are far more costly than repairs. They don't get to a million trouble free, lol

Yours is hardly done after 250k either, it's barely broke in by then, assuming proper care and maintenance of course.

[SultanGris]

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

Marketing is the reason. Not cause they're better. How about the billion dollars that Ford had to spend on warranty work for the mighty 6.0.?
I don't see shops out there offering to "bullet proof" a CTD or Dmax.

Ford has had their share of problems from the 6.0 to 6.4. The 6.7 has had HPFP issues. Ford routinely denies warranty work for it. I think your tone would be different had you owned one of the POS 6.0's.

Don't get me wrong as I've been a Ford guy for most my life. But the latest issues with the HPFP turned me away and towards Ram. They still use the old style CP.3.

How about the billions dodge spent on new transmissions every 10k miles from 1995 to present? probably why they went bankrupt, lol! They've all had issues at some point. They all got decent motors, nothing I know of wrong with any current diesel of the 3, but the rest of the truck is not up to par.

Id take a dmax or a Cummins in a Ford but I wouldn't want a Chevy at all even with that same choice, I'd be willing to try a new dodge ram cause they've come miles and miles with improvements, time will tell on reliability issues but I doubt they are gonna hold up as good as the ford ten years down the road. Maybe you trade every three years and don't care, fair enough.

Chevys are rattletraps with doors that don't shut properly after five years if you drive gravel roads regularly. I've got a 1967 f100 custom with doors that shut like new after 380k+, the proof is in the pudding.

[jacknife]

I have had 3 Dodges and the tranny on the 94 is still there . I agree they were not the best . But comparing todays Ram Tranny
with the past is like comparing a Ford 6.0 to todays 6.7. To say that the rest of the truck doesn't stack up is just so much Blue oval BS. Go look and see which truck won the heavy duty Texas truck of the year 2 in a row ! Hint, it was not a Ford and those Texans love their pickups .
Maybe you should look out your window and you will see a lot of Rams going down the road .
I am not saying Ford is a bad truck, which it is not . I just get tired of you Ford people putting down the other 2 brands . If you are happy with it fine. Chevy and Ram owners are happy with thiers. Quit beliving all the marketing hype no matter what brand you have
All dealerships have repair shops for a reason..

[onechaddude]

Originally Posted by jacknife

I have had 3 Dodges and the tranny on the 94 is still there . I agree they were not the best . But comparing todays Ram Tranny
with the past is like comparing a Ford 6.0 to todays 6.7. To say that the rest of the truck doesn't stack up is just so much Blue oval BS. Go look and see which truck won the heavy duty Texas truck of the year 2 in a row ! Hint, it was not a Ford and those Texans love their pickups .
Maybe you should look out your window and you will see a lot of Rams going down the road .
I am not saying Ford is a bad truck, which it is not . I just get tired of you Ford people putting down the other 2 brands . If you are happy with it fine. Chevy and Ram owners are happy with thiers. Quit beliving all the marketing hype no matter what brand you have
All dealerships have repair shops for a reason..

Jackknife, I couldn't have said it any better myself. I have put over a million miles on various dodges over the years since late 90's and never had a tranny failure. Yes they did build some weak ones but that was years ago just like fords weak engines were years ago. Give it a rest and just be happy with what you have and stop bashing other brands because it's not what you have. Calling it a fiat and other names, get real. Yes fiat is the parent company now but it's still not a fiat. It was recently released the number of cars that were built in the US. Guess who had the most? It wasn't Ford or GM, yes it was chrysler and they build less cars than either of them and still build more cars here. So instead of bashing them maybe you could be thankful they are building them here and giving fellow Americans a job. Rant over.

Chad

[SultanGris]

Originally Posted by jacknife

I have had 3 Dodges and the tranny on the 94 is still there . I agree they were not the best . But comparing todays Ram Tranny
with the past is like comparing a Ford 6.0 to todays 6.7. To say that the rest of the truck doesn't stack up is just so much Blue oval BS. Go look and see which truck won the heavy duty Texas truck of the year 2 in a row ! Hint, it was not a Ford and those Texans love their pickups .
Maybe you should look out your window and you will see a lot of Rams going down the road .
I am not saying Ford is a bad truck, which it is not . I just get tired of you Ford people putting down the other 2 brands . If you are happy with it fine. Chevy and Ram owners are happy with thiers. Quit beliving all the marketing hype no matter what brand you have
All dealerships have repair shops for a reason..

Go look what truck wins every year, it's always the brand that has something new no matter if it's actually any good or not, every brand wins those when the new body style comes out, Toyota even won it and they don't even make a heavy duty real truck that can even compare to the other three! Chevy win it once with their quad steering where the back wheels turn too, how many people you know that own one of those? I know exactly zero, those awards are a joke and meaningless. They are your marketing hype, lol!

There's no market hype here, Im taking real real world experience from owning Fords and Chevys and being around all three trucks in work environments, go look at some old ones of all three and see how they've held up, there's a reason Ford dominates the workforce, ive seen fleets use all three, they always go back to Ford.

I see lots of new everything going down the road, but look out your window once, you'll see way more OLD Fords still going than any other make.

Brand new they will all get the job done, I've test drove them all, I bought a PLATINUM, the others don't compare interior and technology wise, but dodge is way closer than Chevy in this area no question. If you're not buying top trim level and don't care about options and seek Rock bottom price then a Ford is probably not in your future cause they aren't cheap but you get what you pay for.

if you trade every few years then you don't care about longevity, but if you're buying for life you might. The differences are clear, just go look and do your research, I'm maybe slightly Ford bias based on past results I've experienced and seen with all three but I still have an open mind and test them all every time I buy, as any smart consumer would. Open yours and you'll see that I'm not blowing smoke, the evidence is there, that's all I'm saying.

[jacknife]

They actually test them . Granted it is subjective but so are all these opinions given on this forum.

[jacknife]

As far as longevity goes l will put an inline six against all those V8 Chevy or Ford. Look under the hood of any class 8 truck and you will see a inline six engine. About 90% of the trucks that tractor pull are cummins powered and finally did you ever see a conversion kit to put a ford diesel into anything ? Surprise there is a market to put Cummons engines into Fords. My old dodge is 20 yrs no engine problems and outsids of batteries and brakes it has been a great truck.
Just don't tell me l have a cheap truck that won't last because it doesn't say Ford! That is more Blue Oval BS!

[jamesrxx951]

Originally Posted by jacknife

I just get tired of you Ford people putting down the other 2 brands .All dealerships have repair shops for a reason..

To be perfectly honest I see way more Ram guys putting down ever other brand hands down. I have seen a lot more mistruths coming from Ram owners also.

To be fair all three are really stepping up their game. Not only is the current market a HP/Tq war but an interior war. Everyones interiors are really getting nice and not even truck like anymore. So what ever you buy with the exception of the price of todays trucks everyone really wins.

In my line of work I visit the local International, Detroit Diesel/Cummins, and dedicated Cummins dealers and guess what, dealer has multiple engines torn down for repairs. I have talked to the Cummins guys (because of possible 6.7L purchases in a International chassis) and that engine also has problems. I had to go to a Dodge dealer and seen 3 engines sitting on the floor. So you are correct there is a reason every brand has a full staff of techs to keep everything running. The part we all rarely know is how well everyone takes care of their vehicle. When I worked at the dealer I have seen customers never change their diesel fuel filters in 100K and when you try to sell them the maint they turn it down. I have seen customers go between 10-20K miles past their oil change due date. The one that really surprised me was a Ford 4cyl Fusion that had an engine failure. At 55K the oil or filter was the original from the factory. Some how that engine lasted 55K miles.

[jamesrxx951]

Originally Posted by jacknife

As far as longevity goes l will put an inline six against all those V8 Chevy or Ford. Look under the hood of any class 8 truck and you will see a inline six engine. About 90% of the trucks that tractor pull are cummins powered and finally did you ever see a conversion kit to put a ford diesel into anything ? Surprise there is a market to put Cummons engines into Fords. My old dodge is 20 yrs no engine problems and outsids of batteries and brakes it has been a great truck.
Just don't tell me l have a cheap truck that won't last because it doesn't say Ford! That is more Blue Oval BS!

For one thing it is hard to put a 15L V8 in a class 8 truck. Those engines are very wide and there is hardly enough room for an inline. However when you look at Locomotives and large mining equipment you find plenty of V designed engines.
QSK95 for Rail - Cummins Engines
QSK78 for Mining - Cummins Engines

[jacknife]

Cat had a 3408 Detroit had a 2 cycle V8 and a V 6. A lot has to do with weight also . I am not stating that one or other engine is the best just showing that you can talk up any product you believe in
. As far as bad mouthing another truck . I read this forum all the time and rarely see that happening.
Just some people crowing about how they have the latest and greatest and everyone who doesn't have that truck,own substandard cheap trucks and are just not smart enough to realize it.

[SultanGris]

^ yup and ^^ yup, but like I said I'd take a Cummins any day, that's not the part that has the problems, 20 years ago dodge were great, 19 years ago they turned to crap and 1or2 ago they really stepped it up and are ahead of Chevy whole package wise IMO. In 10 they were not that good, but the 13 I looked at was infinitely better than the 10, I never saw an 11 or 12 so I don't know for sure when they made the switch, but I look at them all every time I buy, it's quite possible I'll get a ram in 2016 or 17 when I plan on getting a new one. They are deff in the the running.

Im really not even putting them down, I have no issues with current rams other than unproven reliability, they look much better that Chevy inside and out, I just think Ford looks a little better, don't take take it so personal, I'm not saying ram sucks worse than Toyota or anything like that, lol! They are an easy close second to Ford in my opinion, but they do/did cost less and have less resale due to past reliability issues which they may or may not have corrected at this point, that it's all I meant. Time will tell and if they hold up the value will increase.

Ford doesn't sell the most trucks every year the last 35+ years in a row cause they suck you know, lol!

Knew a kid that went 33k on oil change in a Honda prelude, changed it and it blew, lol

[JIMNLIN]

Yeah McDonalds sell the most burgers which proves.....nothing other than the most sales.

I made a living pulled GN equipment and flatdeck trailers with several one ton DRW trucks over the years. With five trucks/trailers on the road for my business I learned a lot about which trucks could go the distance with the least down time on repairs.
Never ran a Dodge till I came up with a used '96 3500 DRW Cummins/ 5 speed manual. That truck ran close to 290k miles before nickle and dime maintenance costs forced me to take it out of service. That sold me on Dodge trucks which many haulers had been crowing about.
I owned three DRW truck out right at all times and leased the other trucks from my employees if they were under 50k miles and 3 years old.

The Fords and GMs I usually ran them in the 150k-175k miles before maintenance issues came along to often.

I would say on haulers forums I frequent Ford and Dodge/Ram trucks are about even in numbers with GM a distant 3rd place but closing fast with the new '10 and up models with increased GVWR and RAWR for bigger payloads. Pretty much mirrors what I've seen in the LTL hauling industry the last 25 years or so.

One haulers forum even issued a warning they were no longer accepting Ford owners with the 6.0/6
.4 diesels. Too many went down out on the road which forced the company to dispatch another truck to pony the trailer.

Looks like Ford may have a winner with the new 6.7 engine. Its about time

[SultanGris]

Yea the 6.7 is a monster, and the 7.3 was bulletproof, hopefully the 6.7 brings back the 7.3s bulletproof qualities.

[elliott-maine]

Back to the original poster - If you are looking for a 3/4 ton, Ask the dealer what a comparable 1 ton would cost. You may find the difference is not that great. This will give you the opportunity to upgrade your 5er in the future. If you plan to tow in the western mountains, a diesel would be your best choice. I'm not going to get into the battle of what truck to buy, although I have a strong preference, so pick out the one you feel most comfortable with.