I am in the market for a work truck I haven't had much luck with dodge. I was thinking about crossing over to the other side, plus a F350 sells about 8k less around hear. I was under the impression that they had most of the bugs worked out of these truck??? any first hand experience's?
Thanx

 

I go to church with a guy that just bought an 07-08 6.4 power stroke 350 with a service bed on it. it has 6000 miles and it has spent the last week in the shop with the cab off getting new injectors and some computer box ( he didn't know what) replaced. it started smoking white real bad and lost a lot of power.

 

My expereince with them relates to a friend who is a diehard Ford guy. He had an 03 which was terrible, it had stuttering and missing issues, poor cold start, rough idle and eventually lost reverse gear. He traded it in on an 06 PS and he really likes it. Apparently it has been trouble free, gets better mileage, no missing and does everything he wants it to do. I too had heard that most of the 6.0 problems had been worked out in the first couple of years but who can really say for sure? My friend might have just been lucky, maybe not, or maybe it will grenade next week, you have to just have to decide what risk you're willing to take. It's your money. If I were you I'd definitely think real hard about the reputation the 6.0 has in general even if a deal seems hard to beat. The trucks might be cheaper to purchase but not if it sits broke all the time. Talk to more people that have the newer ones.(05 and 06)

 

FWIW I work on a ranch/farming operation that is owned by a muti-millionare fron another state. He buys all new ford trucks every year for his business and for the ranch. We got 3 new trucks in the last 2 months. All are F-350 4 door dually 4x4's. They get about 6 to 8 mpg. All have been in the shop for numerous problems many times. One of them has been in the shop more than we drive it. We generally end up driving the '97 to '99 gassers most of the time because of that. They dont even ride nice. All are King Ranch versions. The gassers are there because he got a buy on 5 of them from a business he bought out, otherwise there are 9 new diesels. They give me a lot BS about my dodge untill it ends up mine is the only diesel runnin around the place! From my experience being around them I wouldnt own one. I couldnt afford to drive it!!

 

I drive an F550 daily.....hopefully the F350 your looking at rides better, feels like I'm riding on top of a 55 gallon drum full of concrete at 70mph.

The fuel mileage....yikes, I think it'll almost go 300 miles on 30 plus gallons, usually 300 miles is around 27-30 gallons used, loaded oh boy, I can watch the fuel gauge drop.

20,000 miles it ate off a set of front tires. We're at 49,000 now and don't see any abnormal wear on the tires......yet. It has been it the shop, had the seat belt replaced, it would hang any ol' time and if you tried to lean back it would just pin you closer and closer to the seat. It's had a left front wheel noise since I got in it at 5000 miles. Had it at a few different places the Ford boys can't figure it out. If you go around a high speed corner(interstate) to the left the noise goes away, to the right it gets louder. I keep saying wheel bearing, but what do I know I only worked at a Cadillac dealer for 4 years.

Also had an oil leak on top of the engine, not sure what it was but it was warranty. The tranny does some crazy things at times, shift into drive and feel it engage then hit the throttle and it slips and then slams and goes forward.....I dunno, glad it's not mine. I take care of it, change the oil, check fluids and such, I'll get into the throttle when I need to so I can get out of jobsites and on the road, but don't drive it any worse than my dodge.

It's an alright truck, but under a load the other day, I had two excavator buckets on a tandem axle trailer and when I hit hills that thing was horrible. You'd have to floor board it to get the tranny to downshift to build boost to keep the turtles from passing on the shoulder.

 

Personal reccomendation, if you are unsatisfied with the Dodge/Cummins setup, I would give a long, hard look at a Chevy or GMC with a D-max. If you don't mind a V-10, look at a Ford.

 

At one of the fire departments I work for, I am the maintenance officer. We just bought two new 2007 F-550 4x4 6.0 6-spds. The truck commitee was comprised of die hard ford fans. I could not convince them to buy a dodge, even though our previous brush truck was a 98.5 3500 24 valve that never gave a problem other than tranny. They used the tranny issue as a reason not to buy a dodge. One truck is at about 4,000 miles and the asst chief calls me last night to tell me something blew up and oil went everywhere. I'll know more tomorrow when I go in to check it out.

On another note, Ford's diesels have became so unreliable that they are now offering gas motors (both the 5.4 V8 and 6.8 V10) in their ambulance packages. They haven't offered a gas motor a gas motor in the ambulance package since the 460. That right there should tell you something.

 

I consider the new D-Max over the Ford. I've heard great things about the new D-Max.

 

there is no reason to choose a 6.0 over a 5.9, give Dodge a second chance.

look for a nice '06 5.9

 

There is a reason that you can buy that Ford so cheap. When you go to resell it or trade it in you're going to take a BEATING. I see it nearly everyday.

No one is willing to pay a decent price for a 6.0 no matter what year it is.

 

I would recommed that you run, not walk from the powerstroke, We run 6.0's in our ambulances and have non-stop problems, and ours range from '03's to '06's with no real difference in reliability, other than the older one's tend to be in the shop a little more often with injector issues, but all have had injector problems at some point as well as turbo failures, also head gasket issues are fairly common. just my .02

 

...also remember this year's motor will no longer exist next year since they broke the contact with Navistar and they are trying to come up with another solution/motor.

Who buys a 07/08 Ford will be in for a surprise few years down the road.

 

buy a first gen cummins. we own 4. 3 diesels. 1gas. besides a few body problems here and there the motor will last forever. there cheap by the way.

 

i know what your talking about. i blew the intercooler out of one of the boosters at my part-time job, they have 2 more 6.0's and they have both been in the shop numerous times for injectors, egr and random codes that send it into limp mode while responding to a call or the tranny wont shift out of 2nd. i hate them. they thought they were the best thing since sliced bread when they came in, now they say theyll never buy another one. one is an 04 the other is an 06.

granted they are driven very aggressively, and ran hard when the motor is cold and shut off when they are hot. the fuel milage is horrible too...less than 9 most of the time.

brett

 

I owned a brand new 03 lariet 6.0. In the first year of owning it I had the rear main seal replaced, 3 injectors, two turbos, intercooler, tranny harness and new rear locks on the passenger door. The truck lived in the shop 5 months out of the 8 that I had it. I called Ford to threaten a Lemon Law case and much to my surprise they purchased the truck back. They gave me every dime I had invested into the truck even down payments tax included. Then I /They went and baught me a new Cummins. 72,000 miles a not one single problem.