tcr

WHat are all these front end issues Dodge SAs have, I've been around awhile and don't know of any, other than u-joints and wear and tear items??? I've seen alot of pigeon-toed Dmaxes, that's for sure. If you want a pavement queen go for the Dmax they drive really NICE and are fast/STOCK, if you need a truck for more than 3-5 yrs you better get the Dodge.

Boss Hoss 540

No way I would be looking at a GM --- technically they are BK!! Announced that they will be out of operating cash by the EOY. Resale on GM stuff will be crap and in fact it is already taking it's toll...

98silver12v

sounds like everyone has there opinion but i own a 98 cummins and love it i have replaced the front end but it was all original and i got 120000 out of it so i guess it was going to happen sooner or later! now my boss owns a 03 duramax that has had more front end work done on it then my 98 cummins more then 2 times in its life and the last time it took out the stearing box also! Not to mension having all of his injectors replaced in that one because there was fuel in his oil. he now has a 08 duramax which is nice inside but he has already had to replace the injection pump and all injectors and the 4 wheel drive broke already also! this isnt even a year old! and its been in the shop more times then my 1998 dodge cummins truck that i have turned up and raced so shop time is expected when your doing that kind of stuff! just all in if you got a lemon or a truck or how you treat it everyone has there own opinion and if you plan on doing any performance plan on paying couple grand for soot collector delete at least thats what my boss has been quoted after buying the chip and new exhaust.......

CrashCade

I would have to say Lemon as well. Of course your tranny is going to break with a programmer on it. DW is a combination of a few different things. A lot of it has to do with worn parts, but also just the alignment can chage that.

Anyways, not all Dodge trucks are like that. I am absolutely sure that there is atleast one Chevy out there that has had as many issues as you.

I did not think about resale value on the chevy. I know Dodges have been holding their value very well for a pretty long time. Also, Like it was said. You can throw a 35" tire under the Dodge at stock height. Of course a leveling kit would help and make it look a little bit better as well.

duratothemax

you're getting absolutely hosed (or exaggerating, which Im guessing is the case) if you're paying 450 dollars for wheel bearings. If you go to the dealer parts counter (which we all know is about as big a ripoff as you can get) its not even 450$.

I have 100,100 miles on my truck right now and the only thing I have replaced in the front end is a driver side wheel bearing at 85k. Granted I DO have the essential tie rod sleeves and cognito pitman/idler arm braces, because without those two pieces the front end is beyond weak and wont take much abuse to break it. But with the braces and sleeves I dont see why its any weaker than a stock dodge front end.

That being said to the original poster, drive both and get which one feels "right" to you. If you are unconciously leaning towards one brand but everyone tells you to get the other brand and you buy the other brand, you will never be TRULY happy with the truck and you'll pray for something to go wrong so you can have a justifiable excuse to trade it in. And then you will lose money.

If you ask here, everyone will say buy the dodge. Go to the diesel place, everyone will say buy a dmax, go to the diesel stop and everyone will say buy a ford.

To be perfectly honest if you "have always had dodges" then that probably means you have a special place in your heart for a dodge and will only be truly happy in a dodge. People can reccomend the chevy all they want, and you can go buy one, and try to tell yourself you are happy with the chevy, but its not the same as owning the truck that you are internally biased to.

So with that being said, buy the dodge IMO. NOT because the chevy is a bad truck, I love mine to death and would not want any other truck in the world, but because I dont want to see you buy a chevy (and secretly be regretting it because theres still that nag inside for a dodge) and then post up in 6 months "well the blower motor went out and the left tail light stopped working, what a POS, this truck sucks, all chevy's suck, I should have bought a dodge, im trading this thing in now on a new Cummins". And then you get on the chevy forums and complain what a POS the chevy's are etc.........

I see this happen all the time because people were afraid to listen to their gut instinct and let other people make their decisions for them.

Make sense??

Ben

Stock 99 CTD

I'll take a different side to this question, one that no one has mentioed yet..$34K? Both GM and Dodge are hurting in this econmic slow down( may be a recession may not be..). I have seen several Dodge 2500 SLT w/ Big Horn package offerd for $25,999.00. I would decide which truck I wanted and go and make offers of $30,500 - $31,000 for loaded. Brother in Law just bought a decked out Ford P/S, all option including sun-roof for $14K off of MSRP, plus 12 free oil changes(3 years worth). If you are thinking about buying new, I would name my price and stick to it. Don't see sales of new trucks picking up anytime soon. Good Luck!

Texasimport

Wow. . . on my third dodge and the only real thing on any of them was the auto tranny in dodge number one, 70K miles and $2200. Now using manual tranny for the last two. My newest one had a leaky heater hose and power steering box leaked, a 3 hour underwarranty visit.

hivoltage

I've driven both, my last employer had a very large fleet of diesel trucks. They had Chevy and dodge and where replacing the Chevy's with Dodges as they wore out.
The trucks where used in power line construction and got used HARD. The dodge trucks held up MUCH better than the Chevy's did. I really feel like the type of use these trucks see is a TRUE test of a truck. Many of the guys would down right try to drive these trucks in the ground. A large reason I chose my current truck was because of how well the Dodges done under severe conditions. If the Chevy's would have been the top performer then a Chevy is what would be sitting in my driveway.
I'm not brand loyal at all but I seen both trucks work side by side while being beaten on day in and day out,the Dodge ALWAYS came out on top!

gsbrockman

The retail tire store I work at installs these for $450 + tax......$370 parts and $80 labor........just to clarify.

Greg

Devil Dog

I gotta stick with the Cummins.

djdc

It all depends on what you'll be doing with the truck. If it's for work, I would get the Dodge. When I decided to Hot Shot work, I never even went to the GM or Ferd dealer. I went straight to Dodge. 90% of the Hot Shot trucks I see on the road, are Dodges. If it's to run around town, go to dinner or to pull a light trailer, go with the Chevy. My biggest complaint about my Dodge is,( EPA problem not included) the fit and finish, and the lack of quality of the interior materials. The seats are as hard as rocks. You can just look at the carpet and tell it's of low quality. All of my GM trucks were very comfortable and road, drove and looked great. I could never complaint about the premature parts failure on my Chevy's. However, I have never owned a GM product that could do the work that my Dodge is doing so effortlessly. If I could get a Chevy 3500 DRW with the Cummins and an Allison trans. I would trade today.

MegaRam

I drove the 08 Chebby..... Super nice. quiet and tons of power.....
But felt like more of a car than my truck....

Mocho

Every second post on a GM diesel forum is about a engine problem, I would rather walk then buy a 1 ton truck with IFS and a V8 diesel that doesn't even come in a standard I wouldn't buy a new Dodge either, the relieability of the Cummins has been compremised with the 6.7 emissions BS. No one has a decent diesel truck anymore. I would rather buy a used 5.9 then any new diesel right now, they might have more creature comforts inside but the era of million miles diesels that you keep forever is gone. Hate to say it but i'd rather buy a new Hemi then Cummins, because the 6.7 sounds like a gasser might as well drive one

tcr

Well said except for the part that a 6.7L sounds like a gasser???? I don't get it

Mocho

Let me put it this way, when my dad picked up his new truck on the way home I had to ask him to make sure he got a diesel, and I did not believe it was a diesel until I got out and looked under the hood. Besides for a bit of turbo, the thing sounds like a gasser it drives me crazy.