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Old 02-24-2017, 09:49 PM   #29
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Honestly - I'm not sure any of the big three are any better then the other. Now granted my truck is higher mileage - but I am AMAZED at the constant parts replacement to keep it on the road.

I spend a lot of time on the Ford truck forums and they seem to consider it all fairly normal. Crazy!

My last two higher mileage (240k, and 180k) Nissan's didn't require anything NEAR the maintenance these things require to keep on the road!
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:27 PM   #30
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This just keeps on getting better... ... I get to take it back to them because since they worked on it, the CE light comes on and goes off a couple of times per trip... It's spitting codes pertaining to the turbo charger. It looked like they didn't get all the air filter intake put back together right, so I took it back apart and put it back together carefully, and reset the codes. Next trip OK. Next trip here's the CE light, now coming on for 10 minutes and going off. Stayed off for the remainder of the trip until I got about a mile from home... and it's back...

Some suggested I trade it in... You may be right.
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:30 PM   #31
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This just keeps on getting better... ... I get to take it back to them because since they worked on it, the CE light comes on and goes off a couple of times per trip... It's spitting codes pertaining to the turbo charger. It looked like they didn't get all the air filter intake put back together right, so I took it back apart and put it back together carefully, and reset the codes. Next trip OK. Next trip here's the CE light, now coming on for 10 minutes and going off. Stayed off for the remainder of the trip until I got about a mile from home... and it's back...

Some suggested I trade it in... You may be right.
Your sanity has to be worth something.
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:34 PM   #32
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Your sanity has to be worth something.
So.... you're suggesting that I might be... sane... ... I am an RVer, after all...
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:55 PM   #33
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Not defending RAM, but all the Big 3 have their lemons. For every owner that has one, there are hundreds of satisfied owners. However, if you are one of the ones, it will give you a sour taste for sure. I agree than many of the things you listed should not have to be replaced in 52K or 100K for that matter. Just the inconvenience alone is overwhelming, let alone the lack of trust you must develop.

My current 2013 F250 just turned 80K. I drove a 2007 Chevy 3500 for 186K relatively trouble-free miles. efore that. I drove a 93 F250 7.3 for 256K, and a 2000 7.3L for 220K, none of them ever saw a mechanic except for wear items.

I agree with a previous poster. Life is too short to be unhappy with your truck.
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Old 02-25-2017, 04:54 PM   #34
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I see a lot of normal wear items listed.
Not for THAT new a vehicle, and the low mileage in my opinion. Maybe tires, but the rest would be unacceptable to me. Plus, if it were legitimate "wear and tear", you can bet it wouldn't have been done under warranty as the OP stated. Apparently the TIREs were also replaced under warranty from what he said.

Not unbelievable, as Ford replaced my tires on my F-350, a total of 6 of them, on a 4 tire truck, the Continental Contri Trac's. Out of round when new, and delaminated. All 4 were replaced by me again at 30k miles when they started coming apart as well.
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Old 02-26-2017, 12:28 AM   #35
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True, I would consider the items noted to be part of maintenance. Their timing would depend upon the driving conditions and loads. The water pump is rather early, as are the seals, but not unheard of. Electronics can fail at any time: no brand is immune. For my towing, I would expect to replace tires, brakes, shocks, tranny fluid at 50k miles or before; as the stock items are crap on all trucks. I have owned all of the Big 3 LD and HD. None are 100% reliable: they are all built to fail, to ensure a steady post-purchase cash stream for dealers and Big 3. I buy a truck for the drive train, not for 5star creature comforts. I am partial to Cummins, as it is proven to me to be the most reputable, can go 1mm miles, and can be rebuilt easily. To avoid tranny problems, I prefer a manual, and the optional Benz tranny is a great one: no cooler needed; it has the very low gearing I like to crawl along when moving my rigs in tight spaces; it will last [how many clutches you burn is up to your habits]; and gives me the most control. If stock tuning is kept, both the Cummins and Benz will outlast the truck [I cannot say this of the other brands]. The rest of the Ram 2500/3500 truck, though, is regrettably not of the same standards. Towing is heavy to extreme duty, requiring more than normal maintenance, and I would expect to replace/upgrade many items after say 75k miles, regardless of the truck brand.
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Old 02-27-2017, 06:38 PM   #36
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True, I would consider the items noted to be part of maintenance. Their timing would depend upon the driving conditions and loads. The water pump is rather early, as are the seals, but not unheard of. Electronics can fail at any time: no brand is immune. For my towing, I would expect to replace tires, brakes, shocks, tranny fluid at 50k miles or before; as the stock items are crap on all trucks. I have owned all of the Big 3 LD and HD. None are 100% reliable: they are all built to fail, to ensure a steady post-purchase cash stream for dealers and Big 3. I buy a truck for the drive train, not for 5star creature comforts. I am partial to Cummins, as it is proven to me to be the most reputable, can go 1mm miles, and can be rebuilt easily. To avoid tranny problems, I prefer a manual, and the optional Benz tranny is a great one: no cooler needed; it has the very low gearing I like to crawl along when moving my rigs in tight spaces; it will last [how many clutches you burn is up to your habits]; and gives me the most control. If stock tuning is kept, both the Cummins and Benz will outlast the truck [I cannot say this of the other brands]. The rest of the Ram 2500/3500 truck, though, is regrettably not of the same standards. Towing is heavy to extreme duty, requiring more than normal maintenance, and I would expect to replace/upgrade many items after say 75k miles, regardless of the truck brand.
Interesting post to me. I have no knowledge of the Benz transmission and the last truck I had with a manual was my '01 F550 (previous truck was a '97 with a manual as well). The funny thing to me is since we've switched to autos our transmission repairs have dropped drastically. My belief is that all the R&D has gone into autos and they have improved drastically in the past 20 years or so. I understand wanting to grab the correct gear and so on.

That said, I tow a lot with my truck. The awesome thing about my truck is I basically just have to hold onto the steering wheel and drive the truck. Press Tow/Haul, Exhaust Brake, set trailer brake setting and then just hold onto the wheel. Very little unscheduled maintenance other than emission control (exhaust) items.

We had a '12 or so 3500 CC LB Duramax and it was basically trouble free other than the DEF tank pump went out and was not covered under warranty (again, emission related). My buddy that drove that truck said it was a great truck (towed a 43' [I think] TH as well as work trailers) and only went with a Ram as we kind of switched to them. Actually, he ordered his '14 Ram a week after driving my '13. I think he had something like 220K miles on his Dmax when he ordered his '14 Ram. Now he has a '16 Ram.

Like I said before, hopefully the OP gets the issues out of the way during the warranty and sees trouble-free miles down the road. The only option I see otherwise is to trade it off for a different truck. Best wishes.

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Old 02-27-2017, 10:37 PM   #37
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The Check Engine light came on several times and went off... The codes said the turbo control unit was not working correctly. The truck then gave me a low coolant alarm on startup... 3 days after they changed the water pump. I added about a half gallon of water. Apparently, they didn't top off the coolant very well. The CE light came on about half way through the warm-up and then went off when the truck came up to operating temperature... and hasn't come back since. Seems really odd that the coolant alarm would have waited that long to pop on. But... I think you all are right. They all have problems. If I had the Ford, I'd probably be cussin' it, too.
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Old 02-28-2017, 07:55 AM   #38
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The Benz G56 tranny is good for what it was designed to be. It is installed in many millions of commercial trucks world wide. The 2017 Cummins at 900 torque is too much for this tranny now, so the engine is tuned for less torque, down to about 650. The pros are control, long life, and no hassle with coolers. Benz makes stronger manual trannies, but Ram chooses not to offer them now. I agree with your comments about autos over the past 20 years. Ram trannies have a not so good reputation, but the recent years are very much better, so let's see. I think the Ram 3500 combo of Cummins and Aisin is unbeatable for brands reputations, and can go 500k miles without overhauls, if properly serviced and driven. Others may disagree, but at least Ram does offer a manual tranny, the last to do so.
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Old 02-28-2017, 05:48 PM   #39
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I agree with your comments about autos over the past 20 years. Ram trannies have a not so good reputation, but the recent years are very much better, so let's see. I think the Ram 3500 combo of Cummins and Aisin is unbeatable for brands reputations, and can go 500k miles without overhauls, if properly serviced and driven. Others may disagree, but at least Ram does offer a manual tranny, the last to do so.

As you've noted:
The manual is now a Benz
The auto is an Aisin.

of course the transmissions have gotten more reliable - Chrysler no longer makes them! Its still true to this day that any transmission Chrysler built since the Powerflite has been junk.

To me it makes 0 sense to get the RAM with a 6-speed manual anymore - all the benefits that you pointed out are there, but you lose nearly 300ftlbs of torque - I dont care how much control is there - to voluntarily lose 1/3 of your total engine torque for a transmission choice is ..a no brainer.
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Old 03-01-2017, 06:43 PM   #40
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agree with your comments. the manual Benz tranny is indeed rated for about 2/3 the total torque of the new 6.7L. and this really gets my goat! as I wrote, Ram refuses to give us an updated manual tranny for the new 6.7L.

but a few things I "discovered".....
1/ the Ram 2500 auto tranny is programmed not to deliver full torque until the o/d gears are reached. same for 3500 + aisin tranny.
2/ I pulled the same 9k# TT with the 5.9L + manual tranny - and - the 6.7L + auto tranny. from a standing start, both trucks were about equal power in pulling the TT up to highway speed of say 55mph, and both could easily hold speed on flats. The 6/7L seemed to have more power in o/d going into strong headwinds and at the base of mountain hills. After shifting to a lower gear, both the 5.7 and 6.7 gave about the same pulling power up the hills at the max posted speeds. due to gearing, the rpm for both were about equal, too.

this experience causes me to question how much power I really need for adequate towing. even at the downgraded 600# torque, this is seemingly quite adequate for my needs. I am thus leaning more to accepting less power for greater reliability. but hey, this does not apply to everybody.
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Old 03-02-2017, 09:25 AM   #41
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agree with your comments. the manual Benz tranny is indeed rated for about 2/3 the total torque of the new 6.7L. and this really gets my goat! as I wrote, Ram refuses to give us an updated manual tranny for the new 6.7L.

but a few things I "discovered".....
1/ the Ram 2500 auto tranny is programmed not to deliver full torque until the o/d gears are reached. same for 3500 + aisin tranny.
2/ I pulled the same 9k# TT with the 5.9L + manual tranny - and - the 6.7L + auto tranny. from a standing start, both trucks were about equal power in pulling the TT up to highway speed of say 55mph, and both could easily hold speed on flats. The 6/7L seemed to have more power in o/d going into strong headwinds and at the base of mountain hills. After shifting to a lower gear, both the 5.7 and 6.7 gave about the same pulling power up the hills at the max posted speeds. due to gearing, the rpm for both were about equal, too.

this experience causes me to question how much power I really need for adequate towing. even at the downgraded 600# torque, this is seemingly quite adequate for my needs. I am thus leaning more to accepting less power for greater reliability. but hey, this does not apply to everybody.

If you are a "hand shaker" guy you will be very happy with the RAM 6 speed manual. But I can tell you from personal experience towing 33K combined the AISIN is unbeatable. I can start out on a grade and it simply takes off! Drives like a built trans.
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Old 03-02-2017, 06:33 PM   #42
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If you are a "hand shaker" guy you will be very happy with the RAM 6 speed manual. But I can tell you from personal experience towing 33K combined the AISIN is unbeatable. I can start out on a grade and it simply takes off! Drives like a built trans.
agree. if I had to pull over say 15k#, I would likely buy the Cummins/Aisin combo in a 3500. those brands are unbeatable for reputation and performance. once the decision is made to buy a 3500/Cummins, the extra $ for the Aisin are immaterial for the added assurance. if the new 2017 is up to this standard, the truck should last: but it is a serious question. my towing needs cap at about 10k#, so such a 3500 combo is unwarranted. I do wish Ram would offer us the Aisin in the 2500. I am willing to pay the extra $ to have assurance.
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