donf610

Hey all, I have a 6.0 and my warranty is almost out and gettin a little scared. Sick of all the egr, head gasket..etc with this truck. Just wanted to know how the dodges are holding up. looking to get a used 5.9 not sure what the best year is as far as reliability. I tow alot of construction work equipment.
Thanks for any input

bczolone

I just turned my 2004 6.0L back to Ford (Lemon Buyback) and that same day picked up a 2007 3500 5.9L MC 4wd for low book.

I haven't towed with it yet but have been driving it daily since then.

What I've noticed so far:

Doesn't have the turning radius of the Ford, I had leafs on the Ford and I thought the coils would make for a better turning radius even though the WB is 4.3" longer. Nope.

It get about 1 mpg better in town.

It has a 34 gal tank, which is better than my 6.0L 24 gal.

It's nowhere near as quick off the line or when passing as the 6.0L was.

BUT, for me if it's more reliable than my 6.0L was (20 pages of warranty work in 38k miles) then I'll be a happy camper.

Oh yeah...it sounds like a real diesel should.

boostjunkie1

........ You will never look back after towing with the Cummins

rich

if a ford was good at towing i would own one plus it seems like i can turn sharper the the ford guys around here. i'm not predjice i just want what will work and the only thing i have found that can take what i dish out is the 5.9 and i have killed 2 of those motors

TexasCTD

That can be cured very easy! Go get a Smarty and it will smoke any stock 6.0 powerjoke with ease.

My 04.5 has never had a mechanical break down of any kind in 116k miles....towing, racing, dynoing, even a couple of sled pulls. I have upgraded a few things because I chose to but never due to a failure, thus far. Still on the original injectors, cp3, turbo, batteries, brakes.

One KEY thing you need to do is add a separate 2 micron filter between your stock filter and the cp3 for long injector life. These high pressure common rails need clean filtered fuel.

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ljutic ss

Now what happens when the 6.0 powerjoke has a SCT tuner? who smokes who off the line, I think the original responder was talking about stock for stock.

rich

sorry i dont buy my trucks for drag racing thats what a sports car is for. hook up a 20k load and see who beats who down the highway.

rjm022

just turned 100,000 miles on my 04.5 truck-been to the dealer only twice in its life. once for a tsb on door weather stripping and once to have the high idle feature enabled.

sljim

Just replaced my 03 ford ,had plenty of problems now was losing anti freeze so had to go .bought a 2007 dodge 5.9 so far very happy

donf610

This is great info. for me.I thank you all for replying. really need to make a change. Is there a particular year Dodge that changes were made to the engine/trans that was made for more reliability?I dont want the newer 6.7. due to budget.

FastTaco

I would look for an 06 or 07 5.9. There is nothing wrong with the 03-05 models though.

TexasCTD

The Dodge Cummins with the Smarty still wins vs. the Ford with the tuner because the Cummins will hold together and 6.0 will blow the head gaskets.

How many REALLY high horsepower 6.0 powerjokes do you see? Not many.


Stock for stock, the Ford will probably win by a little......thanks to the high reving V-8 diesel and 5 speed auto. Like other posters have said, hook up a trailer and the low end Cummins torque will out pull the 6.0.

My brother in law owns an 05 6.0 (his last one he says).......and stock for stock he admits mine would out pull his truck. We never raced them though and mine has been modified now.

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ljutic ss

I know what you mean about your brother in law unloading the Ford, however a member at a club I belong to, just got rid of his Dodge Cummins 2008 (buy back) this spring. He bought a powerjoke and so far is happy. "stock for stock the Ford will probably win by a little" Remember when you lose at anything in life, it does not matter if it's by a little or alot. Still today Ford is selling 3 times as many diesel powered light duty trucks as Chrysler. GM is selling 2 times as many diesel powered light duty trucks as Chrysler. You would think with all these reported problems, customers would be flocking to the Dodge dealers.

rich

look at who is buying those trucks. the guys who work them are buying the ctd, fleet companies are buying the ford becuse they get good deals. gm is being bought for comfort

bczolone

I outgrew modifying trucks other than for function a while back. So needless to say I'm probably going to keep mine mostly stock. That's the same thing I got when I had my Ford: "if you do this...or that your truck will be reliable." I hope I didn't make a mistake.

I think a truck this expensive should do what its advertised to do and be reliable without having to sink another few thousand into it to have a good truck.

That's why I ended up with a Dodge.

Is there a kit for this secondary filter of which you speak? This is the first I've heard about that and I've been on two forums reading everything I could for the 8 months prior to buying one.