I've owned a couple of Chevy vans way back. Then a Dodge 1-ton B300 Maxivan. Then an '84 Isuzu P'up diesel that I put 188k miles on when the speedo cable broke. Drove it two more years. Probably 250k~ miles. It was a good truck for a little fellow. Then my '94 Fraud. It was ok but the windshield wiper motor and mechanism was noisy as all haities. It took away from the tinniness of the rest of the truck. Less than a year later with a mere 28k I traded it for a '95 Dodge Cummins. The rest is in the sig. I like the Dodge part so much I'll take one with or without the Cummins. For the money, the Dodge can't be beat either way. Other than the a/c evaporators, I haven't had a trip stopping problem with any of our Dodges. Nothing about them is weak.

 

Granted this may be from the OLD school thinking, but from what I have seen it is mostly true.

This is a quote form my favorite uncle ( who died recently)

" you want a truck that looks OK and rides nice, get a chevy. You want a truck that looks nice and rides worse get a ford. You want a truck that just plain works and wont quit get a dodge."


As far as the old chevy gasser crowd goes. I was in that crowd. because of 1 reason $$$$$$.

Dodges charges/charger rt and duster and what not with the 440 was bad as could be but was real expensive to trick out

Fords were not as fast and didnt cost as much to tick out. and parts were easier to get also.

Chevies were a dime a dozen and cheap as could be. more bang for the buck.

my 2 cents

 

You just never played with a Cleveland. Chevvy could not compete with it and had the power to kill factory racing. The Chevvy was early 1950's design and the Cleveland was 1960's. Chevvy had to choose between coming up with a new engine design or getting out of racing.

 

if you want a car with a bed and a hitch get the chevy "hd". if you want a TRUCK get the dodge! The allison 1000 works awesome...as a boat anchor, seriously, if you're going to tow with it you will have problems with it. If you want to tow with a reliable truck that gets good mileage you won't be disappointed by the dodge unless you end up with a lemon. I'm a die-hard chevy v-8 fan and there's no way I'd take the durajunk over the cummins. My grandpa has an '03 D-max, yeah it's got a little smoother ride than the dodge but it's uncomfortable to me because it has a horrible road feel, no steering feedback makes it a supersensitive PITA to drive around curves. Since MercBenz bought DC the truck interiors have gotten A LOT nicer IMO.

 

We've got almost 3000 miles on our company Duramax now. The Allison chokes the motor. It won't downshift unless you floor it. Sometimes it still won't downshift. The motor sings at 3000 rpm, but getting the trans to allow that rpm is tough. My supervisor is looking for a way to kill this motor so we can get a new Cummins. He hates this Chevy.

 

gas n go should kill it....

 

Ooops, did I put unleaded in there?




phox

 

You guys are bad. I don't have enough seniority in this company to be sabotaging $38k trucks. Looking the other way while he does it is another story altogether.

 

"You just never played with a Cleveland. Chevvy could not compete with it and had the power to kill factory racing. The Chevvy was early 1950's design and the Cleveland was 1960's. Chevvy had to choose between coming up with a new engine design or getting out of racing."

Thatsa fact, the Cleveland head outflows a BBC by NHRA Superstock rules. Lighter & easier to work on too. I don't understand why no one really persues it since Wayne Hutton ran his in GT/C years ago.

 

Haulin

I did play with them but for the parts cost more than the same parts for a chevy. So I could have more money to build with for a chevy than I could with the ford. Dodge parts were the most expensive.

 

Your mechanic wants you in a chevy because he is familiar with working on it. They are very common. Everyone with a chevy product must work on it to keep it going.

Dodges are less common and have fewer problems.

I grew up with the chevys and even as a kid--12 years old- I could take a motor out!!
By an odd chance I bought a Dodge van, a 77 and 10 years later with 133,000 miles everything still worked. Been buying them every since. Even bought a 87 chevy 1500 new. A year later it had trans touble, starter replaced, altewrnator replaced. Sold it to a friend who was dieing to have it!! Bought back into the Dodges and been very dependable. Up to this VP-44 pump failure. A Bosch product.