BTM

I have no desire to have either of these, but what do you think is the better engine? Rich

Rare1

Who makes the 6.2? Please post some specs.
Who makes the 6.9? Please post some specs.

fiveology

6.9 Way Better

Scotty

Had a GM 6.2 for a week. Replaced it with a 6.9 Ford and ran that until I bought my first new Cummins in the fall of 89'. That 6.9 was reliable while I had it.

Scotty

'strokeThis_'07

6.2-GM (Detroit basically-I believe)
6.9-Ford (International)

Which ones better? 6.9, handsdown. Seems to be pretty reliable

Buckshotram

Dad had an 86 6.9 it was pretty gutless then sold it to a friend when he got a powerstroke. They put the old school banks stringer turbo and exhaust and turned the pump up I not exactley shure how they did it but they have mechanical pumps on them and it made night and day differnce. They sold it to some one local and I saw it a few years ago pulling one of the big liquid nitrogen tanks and you could hardly see the tralier when he took off.

kas83

6.9 far and away superior to the 6.2. They had headgasket issues in their infancy, and the glow plug system needed some attention, but the rest was rock solid. 170 horsepower actually moved those truck pretty decent. I think the 6.2 was rated at 130, and hardly had enough power to get out of it own way.

I had an 85 F250 6.9, my neighbor/buddy had an 86 Blazer 6.2 at the same time, I've had plenty of experience wrenching on both.

74dart

We have a 6.2 as a brush truck at the Fire Dept and it will scoot. When it had the old dually bed it would spin the duals. It is an old Military truck with 4.56 gears 74 mph is all she has and she is screaming when going that fast. As far as relibility it has only been in service for about 6 months so only time will tell.

Tate

Seems these engines aren't very consistant. I've heard of 6.2's being gutless and pigs, and others that are little hot rods with good mileage. I wonder if its all a matter of opinion, or just the difference between a Wednesday built engine and a Friday built engine.

wannadiesel

Depends on how big your boat is...

Dartmouth 12V

I think that the 6.9 is better. The 6.2's were gutless but they actually held up pretty well considering.

archer39

We have the same set-up in our brush truck at the fire house. With 250 gallons of water, 2 200ft booster reels, toolbox on each side she is a complete dog. We had a bush fire this past summer and the truck ended up back on the paved road because it could not make it up the hill (was not all the steep) in 4lo. But it has been very reliable, no mechanical problems. although it does not see more than 1000 miles in a year.

RAMRODD

Actually a 6.5 turbo has a hard time pulling away from the 6.9
I think the 6.2/6.9 were about the same for reliability.
I saw a 6.2 at a truck pull last year, Powered out around 55 feet

DaveB.inVa

Overall the 6.9 is better. They're known for eating glow plugs.

One of my friends had a 6.9 with a 5 speed. Besides his glow plug problems and being underpowered it was a good truck. He sold it to a guy and I saw it at a fair last year pulling a decent sized gooseneck horsetrailer.

Another friend had a 6.2 with a 4 speed. It was worse on power than the 6.9, got decent mileage unloaded. He still ran it when he got a new truck in 98. His 98 was a 3500 Chevy 4x4 5 speed with a 454 and 4.56 gears. Thats when the 454 was rated at 410 ftlb, but he got a good 12 mpg unloaded and around 6 or 8 loaded. Anyway I dont know how he got both of his trucks to one place but I ended up driving the 6.2 back to his house. We both had unloaded goosenecks, his was bigger than mine though.

He walked all over me with his 454. We stayed pretty close coming out of where we were at because the road was pretty winding. I stayed with him until we went through town and got on the main road to his house. He absolutely left me and he wasn't speeding either!

He never told me but his 6.2 had an overheating problem. I drove the whole way home driving by the water temp gauge and had the heater on high with the windows down in the summer. Id say I got up to about 45 or 50 on the flats and dropped down to 30 or so on the hills. It certainly did not like being lugged so I kept it revved up decently. Whenever rpm started to drop you better downshift! He beat me to his house by a good 10 minutes.

I rode with him and his uncle in the truck one time, this time the gooseneck was loaded with a John Deere 60. His uncle is a truck driver and tried driving it like a big rig running low rpm. I was cringing when he had it matted to the floor in top gear running about 1400 rpm with the water temp pegged and he didnt pay any attention to it. I even told him about my experience and that he could cool it a bit by getting some revs but he wouldn't hear of it.

The old thing still is running though!

farmer0_1

don't know much about ford stuff but have had many 6.2s and towed some 6ton plus loads over mt. hood 4500ft elev. was a long drive but came home fine made many trips. i have an 84 1/2 ton shortbox that would out run a 6.9 at the truck drags coarse his was heavier. brother ran his 84 6.2 on a cow ranch with a twenty foot cow trailer on behind a good half its life and got 215k on it before the crank broke and he does no maintainence. dads 87 stick has pulled a gooseneck with many a load across the state and has 150k on it now. moms 85 suburban has 150k on it and still going fine. yes they are not a cummins but for the year i wouldn't own anything else. remember what year the cummins came out. as far a fords well don't get me started. good friend has worked for a ford dealer thru all this and he has some great stories. dad and my uncle pull about the same size trailer house and uncle has 7.3 and it was a toss up on hills .