Picking it up today. Will be asking lots of questions.

2500 QC SB 4x4 SLT Cummins/Auto

Traded the Max

 

Congrats. Be sure to give us some comparison notes once your settled in.

 

Congrats Hoot. I'm in West Chester you know, not far from your favorite guy!

I just traded my PSD on Wednesday.

 

Thanks.

I always tried to get together with Duke. He can never get over this forum BS

I'm in West Chester usually once a week. Wife has band practice at a home there on Goshen Rd.

 

Congrats!

Are you the same "hoot" on the diesel place forum?

MikeyB

 

Tell us all why, in a few paragraphs, why you ditched your respective trucks. Glad to see both of you now have six-in-a-row.
Greg

 

I loved my Ford - it didn't love me back. It was a METICULOUSLY maintained truck, with three pages of warranty issues in 35000 miles - 1 which left me stranded and requiring a tow, and 2 others which WOULD have left me stranded had I not lived 1 mile from the dealer, and was able to nurse the beast there.

I have many friends with PSDs that are great. I happened to get a bad one. Too bad too, because, as I said above, I really liked it -the power, the truck, the styling. I just didn't trust it.

I had a 97 V10 2500 Ram - great truck. I had a 96 1500 360 Ram - great truck. I have a 2000 Neon - indestructable. My girlfriend had a 2000 Neon - indestructable. She traded it for a new Intrepid SXT (3.5 L HO 250 hp/250 lb-ft). Great car.

I ALMOST bought the Cummins when I bought the Ford, but I wanted to try something different. I should have stuck with my gut instinct.

I'm NOT bad mouthing Ford - just that their quality control has declined in recent years, while DC's has increased.

My $0.02

Scott

 

I'm a Ford crossover. Here's my story for those that are interested . . .

I loved my Ford. But I decided to buy a truck that could act as a daily driver and haul the 5er. As a daily driver, the Ford was too long and I wanted 4 real doors. Also, I was tired of being on the brink of overloading (according to the weight police) if I carried my dog along with me when towing my 5er. So, this was the time to find the IDEAL 1-Ton truck. I considered them all - including the Ford, because (unlike Wexman) I had one of the good ones.

I ended up choosing the Dodge for the following reasons:

1) Cummins engine is a proven, solid performer (now with 325hp/600lbft). GM's Duramax has had problems with injectors and the Ford 6.0L engine has been the cause for numerous buybacks - so many that I decided to change brands over it. Both companies claim to have fixed their bugs, but not enough time has elapsed (at least for me) to confirm that.

2) Quad (crew) cab with short bed is 15" shorter WB than comparable Ford (yes, I know the cab is smaller, but for me that isn't a problem) and it makes as tight a u-turn as my MDX

3) Short bed still has a 34gal fuel tank

4) 3500 for Calif is rated at a full 9900lb GVWR vs. 9700 for Ford F350 and 9200 for the GM 2500HD (3500SRW wasn't being delivered yet at time of order and shortbed 3500 wasn't available at all)

5) Michelin tires from factory (not sure of this one - but the example I saw on a lot had them)

6) Price is about $3k less than comparably equipped Ford (and that's with a Nav system and F/R side curtain airbags which aren't even offered on a Ford). I didn't end up ordering the Nav because I read a lot of bad things about the RB4

7) 7yr/70000 drive-train warranty and 7yr/100000 mile engine warranty

8) Nothing is perfect. I realize the auto trans is unproven and admittedly inferior to both the Ford and GM offerings. However, the 4R100 in my F250 was certainly no prize. My hope is that proper care and feeding of the Dodge tranny will serve me as well the Ford did. If not, I'm protected for the first 70,000 miles anyway. I'd have gotten the 6-speed, but the traffic in So. Calif. is brutal. My left leg would never forgive me.

All 3 mfrs make good trucks with tradeoffs. Some swear by them. Some swear at them. It depends on the luck of the draw sometimes. For me, the Dodge made the most sense.

Neil

 

Congrats hoot! Glad to see another person cross to the dark side. I hope you enjoy your new truck! Why did you get rid of the D-Max, though?

 

That was the number one reason for me as well. IF the 6.0 PSD had proved bulletproof out of the box, I might have considered staying with Ford. But, as I stated above, I have had EXCELLENT Dodge products. I'm really not brand loyal, nor was I raised that way. For instance, if I had to buy a GASSER truck today, you can bet it would have been the GMC with the 8.1 big-block.

Also agree with Neil that Dodge is the most competitivly priced out there. Full-toot GM duallies equipped like mine are pushing $50K around here . That's crazy. I can buy a nice Benz or Beemer or 'Vette for that kind of dough.

Bottom line - all the big three build pretty good products, ALL have their quirks, and ALL produce the ocassional STINKER. You pays your money, and you takes your chances, as my dad used to say.

 

I put 80+ miles on them a day. They rack up 100,000 miles in the fourth year. I sell usually during the third year. It's in my history.

My Dmax was a first year/early build. It treated me well. Never broke down.

Had lots of major body work including an $11,000 tree smash.

Headgasket went at 65,000

Recently I had a hollow sounding knock that wasn't progressing but I wasn't going to keep the truck another year to find out.

Kept with my normal plans and unloaded after three years and close to 80,000 miles.

I got decent trade in an a great deal with the current incentives.

I play it by ear.... if this one treats me better than anything I ever had... i might keep it longer. New is nice every three years.

Why did I go Dodge? Been hearing nothing but good things so i figured a Cummins would be fun.

Stickered at 42,300
They gave it to me for 35,264
Gave me 22,000 for my truck which was $1000 higher than anyone else.
Free bedliner and tonneau cover.

 

Hoot -

Where did you puchase? Raymond Dodge?

 

Congrats, post a lot and a small donation would be nice,,,, Unlike The Other Board where you run a great risk of being TOTALLY ignored flip jack a couple bucks to keep this fine board running with all smart or dumb questions being answer.

Welcome to the Cummins, you willl never cheat again

 

one of the reasons listed was the Michelin tires. my 2001 sport came with the factory installed Michelin but only lasted about 22000 miles? i replaced with a premium grade Michelin like i have had on my other 3 rams and i expect i will get 100,000 on them . factory Michelins are not as good for some reason.

 

Raymond played around with me too much. They would go invoice but they wanted me to assure them a deal before they would appraise my truck. I finally said, I'm not considering anything until you tell me what you'll give me for my truck. They came in pretty good there but had no truck to sell me. They showed me what was coming in. One was close but not close enough. Then they didn't bother trying to find one for me elsewhere.

Believe it or not I ended up buying from Family Dodge at the Philly Auto Mall